Got a ticket

Yeah, thats the only reason that I am ever nice to traffic cops. They may have to save me later. As far as thanking him for saving him, forget that! Just be polite.

nate

Hey WRXtreme,

Traffic courts seem to be set up slightly different in every state. In Iowa, where I live, they are bunched into a small misdemeaner court. Here is how I mitigate the damage from unjust tickets (and this DOES work and has worked as recently as last January).

Call the county or city attorney that is going to be in charge of prosecuting your case. Explain the situation, and explain that you understand the officers intentions, but that you are a good and safe driver with a good record and do not feel the citation was completely warranted. Then proceed to suggest that an 'alternative' to the moving violation that involves a fine of a near equal or slightly higher amount might be acceptable, and that you would not drag them into court if such a change ticket order was issued.

I have received a couple of 'faulty muffler' violations in exchange for speeding tickets in this manner. Keeps the cops from being tied up in court over a small bit of revenue that they might lose, they still get their money, and I keep my clean driving record.

Unfortunately I still have to pay a fine, but I think of it as a driving tax. Every year or so I get taxed by the traxxic cops. Thinking about it this way keeps me sane and prevents me from becoming angry at the injustice of speed traps that are tools revenue and have nothing whatsoever to do with traffic safety.

Good luck.

nate

Where I come from, if you just go to court they will offer you a reduced charge in return for an immediate guilty plea. Its better than mailing it where the charge will not be reduced . You can also plead guilty with an explanation. Fighting it ,when the cops father is the judge, is probably not a good idea. Who is he going to believe you or his son? Its a small town.

"bark-psssshhhhttttt"

?? You don't know how much the fine is? Wasn't it on the ticket?

Shouldn't matter if he is truely innocent However, if this is just a ploy to get out of the fine and insurance surcharge and the cop is correct, the fine should be doubled for wasting everyone's time.

If you are correct and honestly believe you did no wrong then I would certainly appeal the ticket. Just be prepared (as someone else mentioned) and expect the cop to be certain when he says he saw your tire spin. It is very possilbe that as your turning a tire did spin for a split-second but that would not constitute "exhibition driving ". I would get photos of the road area as soon as possible and show (hopefully) that there are no tire marks and also get photos of the tire in question. If there are marks you may be able to show they aren't your tire marks. Another item to consider is to record the BOV and a tire spin and see if the two sounds are similar. If they are, then bring that also. Beware that if you start saying things like "when I'm at the track" and "It may sound like the BOV" they may be inclined to make sure your car is street-legal. Your driving record may also play into this, how is that? That may be more of a factor with getting the ticket initially but are you a frequent flyer?

As always, if you did pop the clutch and were showing off, don't waste the judge's time.

If you are correct and honestly believe you did no wrong then I would certainly appeal the ticket. Just be prepared (as someone else mentioned) and expect the cop to be certain when he says he saw your tire spin. It is very possilbe that as your turning a tire did spin for a split-second but that would not constitute "exhibition driving ". I would get photos of the road area as soon as possible and show (hopefully) that there are no tire marks and also get photos of the tire in question. If there are marks you may be able to show they aren't your tire marks. Another item to consider is to record the BOV and a tire spin and see if the two sounds are similar. If they are, then bring that also. Beware that if you start saying things like "when I'm at the track" and "It may sound like the BOV" they may be inclined to make sure your car is street-legal. Your driving record may also play into this, how is that? That may be more of a factor with getting the ticket initially but are you a frequent flyer?

As always, if you did pop the clutch and were showing off, don't waste the judge's time.

You can plead no contest or guilty here and then have the option to go to driving school. You pay a reduced fine and pay for the school (which is actually HIGHER than they actual fine), but no points against your license.

split-second

It usually isn't on the cite, in most places.

I guess I was assuming, here in New England I know that in Mass, Maine, and NH they take pride in telling you how much the fine is and putting it on the ticket. Here in MA is even if its a $20 fine, the insurance surcharge kills us for years. You wind up paying a few hundred more over three years because of one ticket. Thus the backlog in traffic court.

I knew a guy once who had a really old Escort. Got pulled over in it once and the cop claimed he was doing some unthinkable speed. I say unthinkable because he was driving *uphill* and there was no way he could have attained that speed from his starting point (which was at the end of a dead end street.) Anyway, he went to court with some technical documents involving his car's performance ability (or lack thereof) and he got a measurement of the street somehow, I think from a map or survey of some sort. Armed with this information, he proved in court that it was literally impossible for his ancient Escort to have reached that speed at the point where the cop supposedly clocked him. In fact, he hadn't even reached the speed *limit* yet.

Sorry I don't remember any details, I heard this story a good 6-7 years ago and haven't talked to that guy in at least 5. :)

-Matt

What he does at the track is irrelevant. It is not germane to the spinning of the wheels at the time the citation was issued.

I once had an old Ford Escort. An 86 model with a 4 speed manual and

200,000 some miles on it. Downwind downhill in a hurricane I think I may have hit about 105 once, but the magazines rated its top end as 99 mph.

Really wasn't a bad car. Ran and ran, didn't blow a headgasket until

166,000 miles. Wish I could say that about my low mileage Subaru.

nate

A cop only had a chance to save me once. Unfortunately, he arrived ten minutes after the fire truck, twelve minutes after the ambulance, and twenty minutes after I delivered my son parked on some iceplant on CA163.

He was the first to leave too. I think he asked, "What's your name? And your wife's?" Paperwork or something. Then he sped off to save others. Thanks officer! Three traffic tickets worth of kharma my ass.

Sounds like you got lucky. My Mercury blew a gasket at 66,666 miles. Actually started happening before that, but it became undriveable as I rolled into the Ford lot on what sounded like 1 cylinder.

I've gotten the Subaru up to 110, but nowhere near the 140 indicated on my optimistic speedometer. ;)

-Matt

You know where you were supposed to have spun up the tyres? An skid marks on the road surface? In my experience, you will be lucky to get out of it, not because you are wrong, but because the courts assume the cops are honest, infallible and never make mistakes.

Ok, an update to this. I did get out of the ticket. I brought my wife with who was a witness as well. The thing that is funny is that the judge asked if I ever partake in any racing. I said yes, I attend sanctioned events and am (really) a member of RASR (racers against street racing). He then asked if I could produce any "proof" that my car is AWD. I showed him the owners manual. Then he asked if my car was capable of spinning. I said on dirt sure, but asphalt, not real likely and that I have video footage showing my car running down the 1/4 mile if he would like to see what it looks like when I take off INTENTIONALLY hard. I played the video and about 4 seconds into my run he says "I've seen enough.....Not Guilty". I found out later he is a big NHRA fan and also that the cop had some questionable tickets in the past and is kind of known as a drunk who is unreliable for even showing up to work not hung over.