i m from NJ and went down to VA for a day to visit a friend. i was right by tyson's corner, and i made a illegal u-turn, so the cop said... i didnt even see the sign. he gave me 2 tickets, one for u-turn and another for having a radar in the car, geeez im from another state, give me a break! i hate these damn va cops.
my question is will i get any pts on this? i was looking all over the tickets and did not see the fine~~???? how much is it?
if i goto court in VA, do u think they can cut the price down alittle? what should i pledge guity or not guity?? and y?

 

on one of the VA tickets I got there were never fines, just charges...I think they send you the fines later when they send the optional court appearance letter. you can't fight the radar charge, they are illegal in VA, you can try to fight the other one , but chances are you'll lose that too since you said you did it! personally I'd just pay it and be done with it since you are from NJ...VA judges are strict on traffic crap form my experience.

 

da max: please help!!
i dont anything to be send to my house in NJ. i dont mind paying the fine, how can i prevent that? i ve gotten 2 pieces of paper, one for each charges and it has court appearance on it, the time and the location. i ve gotten a ticket from ohio before and they never send anything to my house.... are u sure va cops will send me the letter? what does it look like?
in addition, tickets should be a long rectangular sheet of hard paper, but this time they gave me 2 yellow copy of paper?? is this the court appearance sheet u are talking about?

some one else please ...

 

you might wanna call the information # on the ticket so you can find out the fines and pay them before they send you the court date reminder. and are you sure the option that says you don't have to appear is checked??

 

You can pay these without showing up to court. You only have to show up if it's reckless driving. You very lucky he didn't take you radar detector as they normally do and then give it back when you go to court or you pay your ticket. The radar is no points, but the u-turn is gonna be 2 points I think. If you really need the exact point I can find out as my brother is a cop.

 

Connecticut and New York are next door to each other.. and NY points don't carry over to CT.. so the points might not carry to NJ..

however PA and NY points carry over..

my license was suspended in NY but i got pulled over in CT and it was fine..

 

I don't think there is any way out of the radar ticket because probably every radar company states that they are illegal in VA, MD, D.C., and maybe somewhere else. Good luck though. Maybe try to reschedule your court date and the cop won't show up.

 

The radar ticket is gonna stay. They kindly point out that anytime you come in the state, not more than 1/2 mile down the road is a big black sign telling you that radar detectors are illegal. VA cops just are outrageous with some of their tendancies. The county cops in that area are even going into bars and arresting people for being drunk in public.

 

im in NJ, do u know if it will transfer over? can u also ask him if the court will send anything to my house, i do not want my parents to know this. i dont mind paying the fine or goto court.

 

oh one more thing, is it better to pledge guity or not guity in court?

last time i went to court and pledged not guity , they took off 2 pts out of 4.

 

i goto UMCP and i always have my radar on and the cops did not care. i didnt know it was illegal in MD and D.c.

 

Radar detectors ARE NOT illegal in Maryland, only VA and DC...a lot of people seem to think they are outlawed in MD too, but its not true.

 

Hmmm, I always thought they were illegal in MD.

 

Lucent, did you have the radar detector hooked up and on when the cop pulled you over?

My question is (to anyone that can answer), does the radar detector have to be ON in order for it to be illegal? If it's off when the cop walks up, is this legal? Or do I have to completely take it off my windshield?

When ever I roll to VA, I always take it off my windshield and put it in my console. But I leave the suction cups up there.

 

it is still illegal even if they radar detector isnt on. if it has any kind of power source (i.e. the cord that goes into the lighter) and it is in reach of the driver is illegal.

 

Ok, that's what i thought. Thanks. I will continue to do what I do.

 

Naw, you won't have to go to court. Those yellow sheets are tickets in themselves. There are usually standard fines printed on it for some things, if not the cop would write it in on the specified area. If none of those are present then when you call the number they will tell you.
You could try fighting the tickets but you probably won't win. The U Turn might put 2 points(not sure) on your ticket but the radar detector issue will just hurt your pockets. As posted earlier, they have signs stating the illegality of radar detectors when you enter the state from every direction on any major road and they will hold you accountable. Once they see one, or detect one they will pull you over and give you a ticket.
Just a little hint: If you are on the interstate, 99% of the time the troopers will be where you see those "authorized vehicles only" signs.
They won't send anything to your house either and you won't have to go to court(thats only for reckless which is anything exceeding 20+ miles over the speed limit)

To all, be very careful when driving through VA, they will penalize you for everything that is written in the lawbooks and it won't affect their concience. I have seen people get pulled over and given tickets for less where in some states you would probably get away with a warning. At least you are lucky they didn't make you strip your tints on the spot or something like that (if you have tints that is)
I used to live in VA and have a lot of family still there so I am very familiar with their laws...

 

That sucks man. I'm from MD and I just got a ticket myself the day after Christmas for speeding in Alexandria, VA. I was feeling very sick and I was rushing home from work and ended up getting clocked doing 47 in a 25. The cop gave me some slack and dropped the wreckless (20mph+ over limit) by making it 19mph over. I got the yellow paper with my court date on it, but I had the option to pay the waiver which was included on a separate orange sheet that listed $47 plus $3 for every mile over the limit = $104. The cop also let me go for the hyperwhite lights in the corners and sidemarkers. So do all tickets give points on your license even though it was out of state? I've been getting a few tickets in VA, and I'm getting a little worried about my license being suspended. In your case, my friends in VA say that just having the radar in the car period is illegal. If I were you I would just pay the fines and not worry about showing up to court, or else you could possibly pay court fees and if you lose the possibility of paying maximum amounts on the fines initially given, so I've heard. If you don't know the fine amounts, there should be a hotline on the yellow paper to call with a recording of all the violations and amounts.

 

Is it worth your time to draw it out? Realistically, if you plead not guilty you have nothing to lose but time.

Personally, if I do the crime, I do the time. Now that I found out the hard way about the cameras in DC, I make sure I don't go through lights that are yellow or red. You can look at the bright side, that they didn't take your radar detector away. VA and CT have long banned them, probably before you were even born.

If you haven't got time to waste, then pay it. Good luck.

 

You got your license suspended in NY? I cant imagine why?

 

Hey Sprint. A quick question for you. How did you find out that your License was suspended in NY? I got a ticket a few years ago while up in NY, but paper had the wrong date of the incedent on it. Then I never recieved any info from the court in the mail... so... how can I find out what the condition of my ticket is without saying "Hey, I'm right here...did you miss me...btw, what do I owe you?"

 

Call them up. Ask if you have any outstanding obligations. Tell them that you are about to apply for a new job or loan or apartment, and that you want to make sure that any and all civil/criminal records are up to date, and that you have no obligations that could cause problems. i used to do this all of the time for clients regarding drivers' licenses and criminal fines for public intox or disoderly conduct. People would come in and tell me that they had "forgotten" to pay, or that they simply skipped out on the fine. 90% of the time, the courts had NO record of the incident, and even less often did I find any overhanging suspension or points on a driver's license.

 

Call VA DMV and ask if they have a "reciprical agreement" with your home state. If they do not, your insurance will never know that this happened, and any points will never make it to your DMV.

Regarding the radar detector thing in VA, Newman was right- if the cord can reach the unit, or if it is plugged in, you are toast.

I know a guy who hardwired his and had it installed in sugh a way that it looked like it was built into the car, but then had it on a disable switch. The cop tried and tried to turn it on, but it was "inoperable." Since it looked like it was built into the car, the cop let him go on it instead of making him remove it.

 

Thanks. I'll try that. BTW, do I need to call the town where the ticket was issues, or should any NYS DMV be able to supply me with that info?

 

Another option for those unfortunate souls in the hell of Virginia is the Bearcat Scanner. Mine has a highway patrol alert feature where if a worthless state trooper is prowling and growling, the radio repeaters in his trunk will set it off, even if he's not using his radio. However, the scanner might be illegal to use in the car in Virginia as well. I use both that and my Uniden radar detector, making my Max nearly unticketable.

 

Unless you live in a paper-trail state (WV was one of the last, so NY is most likely all linked), you should be able to call any DMV in NY fo rthat info.

 

I believe that scanners are legal in all 50, but VA drivers can always call the state police barracks and ask. They have to tell you.


BTW: Unless you guys have a jammed up system of courts, it is a PLEADING of not guilty, NOT an pledge. Go in and make a pledge and they may look at you funny...

 

Well from my experience I got 2 tickets in fairfax, VA awhile back. One was for speeding and the other was for blue lights in my sidemakers. I called that hotline on the back of the ticket and they told me to call my MVA in maryland to see if the points applied. I end up going to court and the judge dropped the ticket I got for the blue lights. For the speeding ticket all I had to do was pay the fine, and he took the points off. Call you MVA in NY and tell them u got a speeding ticket in VA and ask them do the points apply in your state.

 

When I was in VA a couple of years ago, I pulled over to the side of a main street to look for my cousin's housing complex and a officer pulled up beside me to see if everything was ok. I forgot that I had my radar in the window and he says, "You know those are illegal here right?" and I said, "Oh!" and ripped it down and threw it into the back seat. Needless to say, I apologized and he let me go but I knew the laws in VA anyway. I just played it off.

 

That was one of the nice ones and they are few and far between...Generally if you have a decent attitude you should fair well.

The last time I got my car inspected they had me take out all of my clear lights and replace them with the appropriate colored one and then I had to purchase a fog light bulb from the station because one was out (if they are on the car they must work, even if the part is an option) and I had to remove the strip of tint from my windshield.
That was OK, though. As soon as I drove out of there I replaced them

 

I wish I was as lucky as you guys. I passed through VA earlier this month going to pickup some Z32 wheels. No B.S, I was keeping up with traffic on I-95 and got pulled doing 90mph since I was closest to the trooper.

This guy cut me no slack at all. 90/65 Reckless Driving. Class I misdeamnor. I have to go to court on Feb 27th. It is a 16 hour round trip. Up to $2000 in fines a year in jail!!

WTF?!? Needless to say, I am sweating it.

 

Supposedly, one of my friends told me it is against the law in Mississippi to use a scanner in your car. I have yet to confirm that. Any Mississippi folks on the org with that info?

 

Please tell me you got a lawyer...

 

scanners and radar detectors are two different things. just clarifying.

 

You can check http://www.afn.org/~afn09444/scanlaws/index.html for scanner laws..

 

Damn, sorry to hear that. Hopefully the Judge will cut you some slack and they do sometimes. Just let him know that although you were speeding, you were going the common speed which everyone else was going (since common speed is mentioned in the VA drivers manual and they teach it in drivers ed., you might catch your break there)
Good Luck...

 

I am a former Marine going to college on the GI Bill. The last thing my tortured bank account can handle is a lawyer!

 

See if your college has a legal aid department. I worked my way through grad school workign for one- we helped out on these sort of issues at no charge.

 

So you can afford a $2000 fine and/or jail time?

I'd call around if I were you, seriously..

If you don't get one please post how it went..