pjalst

most cops go to court on overtime why wouldn't they show up?$$$$$$. If they took all the cops off the road to go to court while on duty no one would be on the road to bang the pulbic

pjalst

very true, there's even a spot on the officer's copy where he can put comments that you made to him during the stop. Comment's like " i'm sorry officer I know I was going a little fast" or " I just sped up for a sec to pass another car", can be presented in court by the officer. The more you say to an officer on a stop, the more he will remember you. Especially if you are a real jerk or smart @ss. Your smart @ss comments like " shouldn't you be out there catching real criminals" go in his notes. When you go to court and try to get a plea bargin he looks at his notes and gives you the crappy deal instead of the sweet one. If you are a real A-hole , you may get no deal at all.

Scruit

Couple of thoughts...

Pleading "Nolo Contendre" will do you nolo good at all. The purpose of a No Contest ple is to allow a person to accept a ticket without actually admitting fault. This is helpful if you caused an accident - you can pay the fine and get the ticket dealt with without handing your ***** on a slver platter to the other driver's lawyer.

Writing the ticket incorrectly... These days that doesn't help you. UNless you can prove a significant detail is incorrect such as to cast doubt that you were speeding. If he marked the wrong car make, wrote 'Black' instead of 'Midnight Green' (in my case) or some similar detail, then the judge will say; "Did this officer pull you over?" and you will have to say yes, or perjure yourself. Are you gonna try to tell the court that you were never pulled over?

If the ticket is not 100% accurate it doesn't matter - all they need to prove is that you were driving a car over the speed limit.

The three things that will get you off a ticket are 1) a plea bargain, 2) clearly demonstrating that the speed reading cannot be trusted, or 3) The officer not showing up.

In some jurisdictions all traffic ticket cases are heard on the same day within a 3-4 hour period, so all cases will be schedule when the officer is available. The fact that the officer doesn't remember you is of no consequence unless you mean to argue that you were never pulled over. A dangerous defence, because perjury could get you jailed.

Your best bet is to argue that the device or method used by the officer to determine your speed was not sufficiently reliable or accurate. Don't attack a whole method, ie don't argue that lasers are inherently unreliable - this will get you nowhere unless you're willing to take your traffic ticket to the supreme court.

Attacking the accuracy if a specific rader gun, or the training or a particular officer will get you more mileage, but only if you do it correctly. If they got you at 77 in a 50, then you would have to prove that the gun was so wildly inaccurate, or the officer so woefully imcompetent as to render the results absolutely useless. So you have an uphill struggle...

- Was the officer trained in this partiucular gun?
- Is the officer's certification current?
- Is the gun's calibration/certification current?
- Is the department's FCC licence current? (You can make a motion supress the evidence if it was obtained illegally, ie operating a radar gun without a current FCC licence)

If you go to court and plead not guilty then you need a game plan - if you don't put up a reasonable defence then you will probably get a bigger penalty, not a smaller one, for wasting the court's time.

You could attack the officer's training;

You: What steps did you take to prevent "cosine error"/"tracking error"?
Officer: "I did this....." or "Eh? What?" (doesn't know = error could be generated)


At the end of the day, if you did it, and you know you did it, you are only inconveniencing the police and the courts people for your own personal gain - not very American. If you believe that you were travelling under the speed limit then good luck!


Famous last words, from a traffic court;

Judge: "You are accused of 75 in a 55 zone. How do you plead?"
Driver: "I wasn't going 75, I was only going 65!"
J: "Should I accept that as a guilty plea of 65 in a 55?" (found guilty)

J: "Driver, you may start you defence by cross examining the officer."
D: "Did you estimate the speed of my car visually before using the laser gun as required by departmental procedures?"
O: "Yes."
D: "****." (expected the cop to say "no" - found guilty, paid costs on top of original fine)


J: "The complaint states that you crossed a double-yellow line at high speed and didn't immediately pull over for the police, and therefore you were written up for reckless driving. What do you have to say?"
D: "My medication was found to be incorrectly compounded by the pharmacy which resulted in me temporarily blacking out at the wheel and drifting out of my lane, and that's why I crossed the line. The only thign I rmember is the sirens waking me up, and I stopped as soon as I was aware that the cops wanted me to srop. The DMV is aware of my condition and I made a good faith effort to take my meds, and I was unable to forsee or control the compunding of my medication. After getting the correct medication I have been cleared as safe to drive again."
J: "Oh, right. Well, I can certainly see that you would have a defense available to considering you took your medication and the actions that lead to the offense were not under your reasonable control. If you need, you can take an adjournment to gather all your evidence before you go to trial. How would you like to plead?"
D: "Guilty"
J: "What?"
D: "Guilty"
J: "Did you hear what I said?"
D: "Yes"
J: "And you want to plead?"
D: "Guilty. I don't want to go to trial."
J: (Sighs loudly) "Ok". (Accepted guilty plea, but with vastly reduced penalty by the judge) (I used to think judges were not allowed to accept a guilty plea if they were aware that a defense was available to you that you were not aware of)

Whitemax

Well, since you were speeding, why fight it? You were at fault, so therefore you should be punished. You were speeding, you did get caught, end of discussion. It always bothers me to see people do something wrong, get caught, and try to get out of it. If you know that it wasnt your fault, then fight it to your last breath, I have, and its saved my butt a couple times. But if you were, and If it means points on your lisense, then every time you pay more for your insurance, it will remind you to slow down. I know that sounds harsh, but its the truth.
If you dont mind paying the fine, but dont want the points, I agree on the suggestion of taking the driving course to reduce the points you have. I did that in NYC, and it knocked a couple points off.

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

It doesn't. It doesn't work anywhere. It may have at one point, but it is now folklore.

Your best bet is to make a court date 2 days before the back of the ticket says it needs to be paid by. Figure out how many times you can postpone in your state and postpone 2 days prior to each postponed court date. By the tiem you get to court, it will be 6 months later, the cop may not show up and if he does, ask the judge to tell you which box is checked on the ticket. When the judge says "Toyota" show the judge your registration and you will be free to go. If the cop doesn't show up, you will also be free to go. This is the time when I hope you were very courteous to the cop ... hopefully he won't remember the day and you more specifically.

F5Nikon

This may not be the smartest thing to do, however, if the cop is in a town you go thru frequently or live in. Cops that are made to look stupid- ESPECIALLY in front of a Judge- will never, ever forget you. Expect to be pulled over every time he sees you.

Trust me on that one!

F5

pjalst

That's IF you can make him look bad. Remember some cops live, eat and sleep their profession. You have cops that teach radar and laser and still work the road. Who do you think Academys' bring in to teach recruits? Of course This is not always the case. Believe it or not some rookies fresh out of the Academy will still have their radar training fresh in their head and remember the technical aspects more than some veterans.

96SE5Spd

I guess where you live they are less strict,in alabama it takes two years for points to clear your record. You can't plea no contest, after your first ticket even if you don't go to driving school you can't get driving school, and there is nothing a city can do to drop the charges unless the judge lets you off, otherwise you better just sit back and take it like a champ you won't get off the hook in 6 months here.

pro

Ask to see the records of when the radar was last calibrated. I think there is a law where it has to be calibrated every few months. However, some cops have new guns that calibrate automaticly, but it's worth a shot, worked for my friend.
Good Luck,
Paul

starchildmax

I caught a couple of tickets three week ago and I have to go to court on Friday. I need some help with this lame excuse. I was thinking maybe, I could tell the Judge that their was another Max like mine and the officer car could'nt catch it, so he pulled me over instead. How does that sound?

clee130

Exactly like it sounds ... a lame excuse.

FameMax

Last Aug. I got one for 65 in a 40, the cop walked up to my car and said u were going, ah i would say about 65. I then thought, cool no radar, im ok, but no i got a massive ticket, $250. I took it to court, and sat with the Clerk and the police prosecutor ( who is always an A$$), i agrued my case, and the clerk said ok how about $200?, I said no and appealed, that wasnt that good of a break and i didnt want the points, so we took it to thw court room about 2 months laters, and bam!, NO COP! I WIN! CASE CLOSED! Fight it, bring it to court, if u lose with the clerk, tkae it to court, good luck

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

Haha...

You spelled "spelled" incorrectly...

pjalst

Lame I bet they never heard that excuse before, Duh

maxwillden

That's got to be the DUMBEST excuse I've heard yet...

Scruit

I've watched people try dumber excuses, like; "I wasn't speeding - HONEST!" Yup, you get a very annoyed Judge...

The "It wasn't my car" excuse MIGHT work IF:

- You have a common car with no identifiable features
- You can make the judge believe that there was another car EXACTLY like yours on the road (better if a freeway)
- You can get the cop to admit he LOST SIGHT of your car as he initiated the pursuit

If the cop never lost sight of you, you're sunk. if you have a dayglo green car with a big-azzed spoiler and a sticker reading; "Thiz car iz da shiznit" all down the side, then you're sunk.

It has been sucessfully argued that, for example, a blue Accord was clocked by moving radar, and the cop has turned around, lost sight of the car, caught it back up... The argument goes like this;

Y: "Did you read the license number from the car as you read it's speed?"
O: "No"
Y: "Did you notice any distinguishing features as you read it's speed."
O: "No"
Y: "Did you notice any specific characteristic on the vehicle as you read it's speed that would allow you to pick it out from a lineup of same make/model/color cars?"
O: "No"
Y: "Would you agree that this particular make/model/color is common on the roads around here?"
O: "Yes"
Y: "Did you have the vehicle in plain sight at all times between reading the speed and initiating the stop?"
O: "No"
Y: "Given that you have indicated to the court that this is a vehicle that you agree has no distinguishing marks, and you agree is a very common car, and that you agree lost sight of of: Can you gave any specific evidence that supports your position that this was the exact same car that you read the speed of, and not one of the other countless numbers of identical cars on these roads around here?"

He could easily kill you with either of these, though;

"I never lost sight of the car"
"Your lights were on which is unusual during the day"
"I remembered your brightly coloured jacket"
"Your car was unusually dirty"
"Your aftermarket wheels are distinctive"
"I didn't see another car of the same make/model/colour"
"Shut yo bee-atch azz up, ****. You flash the property, an' you got the papers. Don't mean a thang to yo fancy azz. Don't be dissin' ma homey (props to the judge) or I gon' glock yo punk azz."

pjalst

I think I got you beat, the dumbest excuse I heard, are you ready for this one: I was speeding because I'm almost out of gas and I wanted to get home before my tank got empty

maxwillden

You're right, that is dumb...

I_had_your_mom

Ok, I can actually offer advicice in this thread, cause I have experience with tickets.

1.) If you are speeding, and you see a cop pull up behind you, do not slam on the brakes or chage lanes. If you have a radar detector rip that thing off its window mount and throw it on the driver floor near the pedals. Cops hate radar detectors, if they see one in your car they will most likely not give you a break. At the same time slow down gradually, do not break, just let the foot of the gas. That way when the cop will pulls you over, you can say that you didn't mean to speed you were just going with the pace of the traffic and as soon as you realized how fast you were going you slowed down. Cops hate when you do stupid sh.it like break heavily on a highway in front of them and they will most likely give you a ticket if you do.

2.) As soon as you get pulled over, you should immedeatley beg the cop. Don't [bad word deleted] start crying, but apologize as many times as possible. Now this is very important: Mention that you go to college. It doesn't matter if you do or don't, just mention it, something like "I'm sorry officer, I was just trying to get to class I go to ___insert name here____ College". This will get you at least 2 points lower than what he orginally was going to write. Get your self a good fake college ID if you don't have one, and keep it in your wallet, with the college name showing. When he askst for the licence give him the wallet, and make sure he sees the college ID.

3.) Court. This is how it works in NJ. If you get a careless driving or a lower class ticket(4points or less), the prosecutor will offer you a deal, wher you will pay around 200dollar fine and no points.
If you get another kind of moving violation ticket, the prosecutor will offer you to mend it to careless driving and give you 3points.
If you get a speeding ticket, he will offer you to take 1 point off no matter what the point ticket is. You take that deal. Do not hire a lawyer, they never win. All that discovery [bad word deleted], and radar [bad word deleted] its pointless, I guarantee you that.

taggate

iTrader: (2)

You can fight the ticket, if you got a Nissan and the ticket is mark with a Toyota brand than it is a mistake and you dont have to pay it. Had that mistake once.

Roman-dude

Since I have a totally stock car, and there is a **** load of Maxima's in NY, especially in my color, this may actually work.

Thanks

pjalst

pianoman41

While it is true that some cops will not give breaks for those with radar detectors, by trying to hide it before the cop sees it you are probably causing yourself a lot more grief than you realize. A police officer is trained to watch for what are called "furtive movements" from within a vehicle at the outset of the stop. In English, that means when people try to quickly hide stuff, they are usually trying to hide *illegal* stuff such as guns or drugs. Whenever guns or drugs are in a vehicle, it heightens the danger level for the cop and he/she will react accordingly. You grabbing a radar detector off the window and trying to hide it on the floor, or worse, in the central console/glovebox/under the seat looks exactly like someone trying to hide a gun or drugs before the cop sees it. Remember, the cop is watching other things too (like other traffic, surroundings, etc) and may not see you rip the detector off the glass (which is what you hope he won't see). He might only see you fidgiting around in the front acting like you're stuffing something under the seat. So what would have been a routine traffic stop, might now have you getting forced out of the car at gunpoint for officer safety.

My advice: leave it be and just turn it off so it's not beeping up a storm when he approaches your car.

KINGMAX

i was about to say the same as above, i think it really actually works i have heard of this being done in N.Carolina.......go canes!

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

KINGMAX

really!? how much? i'm in the market for a nice bridge.

pjalst

Nothing like some good old reaching around under the seats to get a cop to plant his nervous sweaty finger on the trigger of a fully loaded Glock 9MM with 16 rounds of ammo in the clip and one in the chamber.