Well, we finally had a nice day here in western ohio so I decided to take the Z out for a spin. I hadn't driven it in a month.

I was at an intersection outside of town and turned right along a country road. I was feeling like ripping off a few gears so off I went.. 1st...2nd...3rd...ahh, nice...4th... and finally settled into 5th. Looked at the speedo and was cruising at 103 mph. Looked in the mirror and a cop was about 1/8 mile back with his lights on. Damn!

Didn't no what to do so I slowed down (probably the best thing). He caught up with me and I pulled over. He sat in his car for what seemed like for ever. I was really puzzled too because I never saw him and my passport 8500 never went off. I was sweating bullets.

He came up to the door asked for drivers license and insurance and said “ I stopped you because you were speeding. You were doing 70 in 50 mph zone.”. Relieved, I said ”OK” he asked me if I had any tickets and I said no. He said he was going to have to right me a ticket for 65 in a 50 mph zone and I said, “ I understand, its the law.” He asked me why I was speeding and I told him that it was nice day to get the car out and I got carried away.

Well as he walked back to the cruiser I thanked my lucky starts. He came back to my car, had me sign the ticket (ended up being a 70 in a 55 mph), he made a point to let me know that he remarked on the ticket that I was “very cooperative”, he told me I did not have to go to court, and he let me go.

Now I'm a bit confused, did he right this comment and make me aware of it as a suggestion to go to court and get something reduced? I wonder if he is in a round-about-way suggesting that I go to court and maybe get points dropped for traffic school or something like that.

Part of me just want to pay the ticket and be done with it, considering I'm pretty luck in the first place. But the other part of me really wonders if he ever clocked me at all since my radar detector never went off. I think he just saw me from a distance and “guessed” a reasonable speed for a ticket. Or maybe he did clock me and he didn't want to give me a ticket for 100+.

When it comes down to it I know I broke the law and I'm not whining about it. But I'm also wondering if It might be a good idea to go to court and see if I can get point/fines dropped/reduced just for showing up. I wouldn't try to lie and say I wasn't speeding or the cop doesn't know what the hell he's talking about because I know I was speeding.

Has anybody ever had a cop write a “good comment” on the ticket?

 

Too bad he only wrote you up for 70 in a 55.

 

Sounds like you got lucky! Well, first of all, I use the Passport 8500 as well and they do AMAZING work, but a few weekends back in Troy I learned something the hard way after getting a ticket for going 90 mph on I-75. Cops, at least in Ohio, don't hafta use radar/laser to issue a citation. This particular cop actually SAW my radar detector in my window as he came up from behind me(my stupidity...it was dark and I should have dimmed it down) but he knew I would react by slowing down to his radar so he followed until he knew I wasn't going any faster and then pulled me over by "pacing me". Well, after what seemed like FOREVER complaining that he never used his radar gun, he explained it to me that they can also use the "pace" method where they keep their front bumper an equal distance apart from your rear bumper and go by their speedometer to determine your speed.
This isn't the first encounter I've had with police...actually I have been feeling like a professional lately(though Im not proud of this) and it sounds to me like you got lucky and are better off saving your time and money(on court costs, attorney, etc) and just pay the ticket. 2 points and $90.00 is much better than 6 points and $1200.00 in fines/court/attorney(the 103 mph you were doing would be considered Wreckless Op...yes, I've been cited for this too).
Hope this helps ya out...also feel free shoot me a PM sometime, maybe this spring we can get together and cruise or something...I'm only 40 min. north of Dayton and looking for other enthusiasts in the 350Z in the area.



[QUOTE]Originally posted by pulpz2

 

I'd keep this out of court.

Judge: The officer reported that you were driving at a rate of 70 in a 55 zone. Is this correct?

You: No, I was actually going more like 103.

...

 

If it's your first ticket pay the ticket and go to driving school, you won't get any points on your record.

 

I wouldnt go in saying you didnt do it, but I dont see why you wouldnt go for traffic school. even for no points plus fine. its the points you want to avoid, they cost way more than the ticket or fine ever could.

 

If you don't try, you might always wonder.

My OPINION is that if you were speeding on a deserted country road, with nobody around, and you were just "bowing the carbon" out......you shouldn't feel guilty about trying to reduce the fine or penalty.

The only nice comment I ever got (when pulled over) was "nice car!"

 

go for traffic school. he knew you were going faster, but couldnt prove it.

 

What do I do? Go to court and speak with the prosecutor before hand, or do I haggle with the judge?

If I understand the process correctly, the court date on the ticket is just the arrangement, at which time I enter a plea. If I plead not guilty (not that I will), then a trial date is set and I have to go back right?

Oh and I checked the ticket and it says he used laser. But my passport 8500 never went off. When it detects laser it’s freakin’ loud.

 

If you can opt for traffic school in your state, what are you thinking about????

Just tell judge that you are soory, and it's your first ticket and you want the school

 

you had to be accelerating to 103, or maybe he had to get the laser out and only hit you when you got down to 70. either way. dont matter.

go in, you can talk with them before, or just plead not guilty and talk to the judge and ask.

 

Take traffic school like everyone said. In CA you don't even have to appear in court. You pay the fine when it comes in the mail and they send along a paper with all the lists of approved schools and interent sites. You take the class, get your cert. and send it in. It's simple, you do it all by mail.

Good luck!

 

Too bad it wasn't you.

 

I called the court house. $65 court cost, $30 fine, and 2 points.

They also said driving school is a one time deal in ohio and requires something like 10 points on your license. I'm gonig to follow up on this a bit further, though.

 

i think that is correct about driving school in Ohio; in fact until I got my 350 and started lurking in the forums, I had never heard of driving school for tickets. It is still worth it to go to court and try to plead to a non-moving violation; it would save the points and the biggest expense in getting a ticket is usually the insurance premium bump.
Join us in Columbus sometime for some fun drives - there is safety in numbers:
www.zroc.org and check out the events section on this forum for our Midwest Z Event in July.

 

Wow, no driving school until 10 tickets? I think you guys need to move out here to Cali! Or at least somewhere else You get to go once every 18 months here. Also, if you go to court and ask, you can go to a level two traffic school withen that 18 months. So technically you can get 2 tickets in 1.5 years and have them off your record in Cali.

 

10 points, not 10 tickets. decent speeding tickets can easily get you to 10 points in 2 tickets. 15mph is pretty low.

 

In Ohio, I would want to plead "No Contest." It's treated legally as if you are admitting to the facts and circumstances, but not to the conclusion or punishment handed out by the police officer. I hope that makes sense. In Ohio, the ticket is actually the criminal complaint. If you just mail, or go in and pay it, you're admitting your guilty, end of story. If you contest it by showing up and pleading not guilty or no contest than it will be heard by the designated authority, sometimes an administrative judge or municipal court judge, and the ticketing officer will have to be present as the only witness to the alleged offense.

At that point, you could try and explain that the officer unlawfully issued you a citationa, a battle that you are not likely to win in front of a judge who deals with these by the hundreds. Or you could argue that the facts surrounding the ticketing event warrant some lesser penalty. If you get a judge or hearing officer on a good day who is willing to listen, he could do anything from throw out the ticket (again not likely), to dropping the points and any court costs, and imposing the same fine. This is the most likely outcome, and it's a good outcome given a bad situation. You still take a hit in the wallet for the fine, but no points so your insurance does not actually jump. And if your insurance company did get wind of it, you could argue with them that the offense was not serious enough to meet out punishment in the form of placing points on your driving record. For what it's worth....

 

Oh, come on. Like you never speed. That's why we bought sports cars, we like speed.




I had a 106 in a 65 zone ticket a while back. So the "nice" guy in court dropped it to 104 in a 65 zone

Oh well, I deserved that ticket & the $700 in fines

 

OK, I just got off the phone with the insurance agent. She said the insurance company runs the Motor Vehicle Record each time the policy is renewed. The insurance company has their OWN point system and do not base premiums on the MVR points. Their point system is based on the violations indicated on the MVR regardless of pleas (guilty versus no contest), even if DMV points are reduced by attending driving school.

The only way to keep the ticket from affecting insurance premiums is to have it dropped altogether. I would have to get a lawyer and likely go to court and contest the officer’s evidence. I am not about to spend the time and money to go to court and lie, and put the officer on the stand. Or even hope to get off because of some technicality.

The cop cut me a break and I’m going to take it. $95 and 2 points – I’ll take it and this is behind me.

Thanks for all the advice.