Re: Speeding ticket

[Khan Klatt <kmk@pacificrim.net>]

At 3:56 PM -0400 9/12/99, MAOberer@aol.com wrote:
>Alright guys, here goes my sob story.  I was cruising up the mountain that we
>have here with another GLX right behind me.  This is a tight winding kindof
>road, and of course we were testing the power of the "O Bar" and really
>flying up this road.  There was a passing zone, so we went to pass this slow
>driving Explorer, and go around a corner and there sits a park ranger Bronco
>with his Radar gun pointed at us.  Great..  So he flags us off the road, and
>proceeds to ask us what the speed limit was there, and I was thinking that it
>was 35-40.  But nooo, it was 25, and he said that he said that he clocked us
>on radar at 57mph.  We both jammed on our brakes, and so it gave him an
>inaccurate reading, as he said.  He said at that speed, thats careless
>driving, blah blah, 8 points off of my liscence, possible jail time, etc.  He
>ended up knocking it down to 50 in a 25, and so the fine is $125.  And he got
>the same ticket as I did.
>
>Ok, here's the dirt that I need the help with.
>1st, my bud behind me was behind me, and there's no way he could have gotten
>us both on the radar.

That's not relevant if the cop can convince the judge that both of 
you were driving approximately the same speed, and that the reading 
was accurate for one of you. He can argue that the distance between 
the leading and tailing car was not changing, which means the first 
car is driving the same speed as the second, and therefore it is 
irrelevant which car he radars. This kind of "eyeball" judgement are 
easily accurate within 25 mph, meaning that even if he targetted your 
bud, and you were going 10 mph slower than your friend, it would 
still mean you're in for the $125 ticket and points off, etc.

>2nd.. my radar detector never went off

This is only important if you wish to show that the cop never even 
used his radar. If he has a record of it (like a printout, or if 
those things record the time/date/speed of the infraction), then 
making this claim in court will get you nowhere. On the other hand, 
if the cop doesn't have a record of the infraction, then you can 
suggest that he didn't actually target you with radar, and he was 
making it up. At this stage the judge can ask "well how fast were you 
going", and you're still screwed if you tell him anything above 
25-30mph. And if you tell him 25-30mph, you'd better say it with a 
straight face.

>3rd...  I asked the officer to see the radar reflecting our speed, and his
>competency., liscence to operate the radar, when it was calibrated.  He said
>that he was not required to show me the radar.  AND he did not have the speed
>locked in on it.  I think that is a load of it.  I told him that I would see
>him in court.

He doesn't have to. You can extend the court date, and request that 
this information be made available to you prior to your hearing.

>The ticket that he gave us says "U.S. District Court Violation Notice" if
>that has any bearing on this.  I have 21 days to either send in the payment
>OR click "not guilty" and they will contact me with a court date.
>
>I think there may be a technicality that I may be able to get some slack on,
>or at least take driver improvement school to take the points off my
>liscence.  I already have another speeding ticket on there.  Any advice would
>be great!!

IF YOU ARE GUILTY, the technique most effective to weasel out of a 
speeding ticket is to try to get the cop to not show at your hearing 
by some tricky techniques of rescheduling the court date, etc and 
then in court, draw doubt upon the cop, the equipment, or the 
severity of your infraction.

IF YOU ARE NOT GUILTY, the technique most effective may be a 
combination of that above, in combination with the truth, and why the 
cop's evidence is flawed.
-Khan