So, I get off school and am driving home. I get on this stretch of road where no one follows the speed limit. The speedlimit is 50 mph. I have been pulled over before here, and I was infact speeding. But this time I am driving behind an SUV. The suv is going around 55-60 mph and I am following a safe distance behind.

Up ahead we see a cop driving in the center lane and when we catch him we begin driving along side not to pass his speed. The suv then slowly goes by at his steady 60 mph and I was hesitant. The cop didnt seem to mind, he was crusing along with everyone else at 55 or so, so I gently drive along with the suv. Up ahead we aproach a turn and out of nowhere this cop punches his gas swerves around us and slams on his brakes. He gets out and says PULL OVER BOTH OF YOU! I am thinking WHAT THE HELL! I looked down constantly while passing the cop since I was NOT going to get another ticket on this road and my spedometer never passed 58 mph. Now I know 58 is still speeding, but if you understood how fast everyone went on this road all the time then you would agree with me that on this particular road that is a normal speed for the speed limit. The road is actually part of an interstate and has no industrial or residential property around it.

Anyway we both pull over and the cop goes up to the suv first then comes up to me.
He says, "Are you aware of the speedlimit here?" I said yes sir its 50 mph. Him- "And any idea how fast you were going?" I say, "Well it wasn't 50, but it wasnt anything over say... 58 mph either. I am not sure exactly, but I never did reach 60." He says, "try 70..." I reply, "umm... officer im going to be honest with you, I was going nowhere near 70 mph at all." To which he responds, "well you dont have to agree with me but thats what the ticket will be written for." So he gets in his car and writes us both tickets he comes up to me first and says this is not an admission to guilt etc etc and I just said okay thank you and took the ticket.

I look at it and just wanted to make sure there is no radar checked off, (I have a valentine and i know he didnt radar us; not that he needed to, but still!) and it was not. So I get home and I am so angry that I need to vent. I dont understand how something this untruthful can even take place. He wrote me for 70 in a 50. I wasn't surpassing even 60 mph... and I am POSITIVE. What the hell! Well I called my lawyer and left him a message. I am so confident in this ticket I might not even ask him to come with me. I might just go by myself to contest it. There is NO WAY this bulls*** is going to happen to me! Any advice?

 

Yeah, fight it for sure. That sucks man. Good luck!

 

speeding knowing there is a cop there, lol... maybe he's teachin ya a lesson.

 

its easy to get out of tickets with no radar. they have to have their speedo calibrated every so often, and have to be able to prove it, which rarely happens. the cop might not even bother showing up.

but I have found that it is better to take your lawyer anyways. no matter how easy you may think it is to get out of it, take him just in case, it can't hurt. better to have him and not need him, than need him and not have him.

 

just got off the phone with my lawyer and he says he doesnt recommend I fight it. He says 9/10 times its my word against the cop and that ends in me paying the ticket he says. So, he suggested either I ask to get it appended to a non-moving or he come with me and get it appended to a nonmoving. He says hes confident he can get it appended but its up to me if i want to try by myself or not. Just that sometimes people get stuck having to pay the ticket if they wont append it down. So I think I might just get him to do it :-/ all this for something that shouldnt have been an issue. I guess for now on I need to be super paranoid about cops driving next to me. Maybe I should drive EXACTLY the speedlimit next time.

 

[QUOTE I guess for now on I need to be super paranoid about cops driving next to me. Maybe I should drive EXACTLY the speedlimit next time.[/QUOTE]

This seems quite obvious.

Ken

 

I never drive pass or faster than a cop on a highway side by side. On a single lane road I might do 5mph over the limit if the cop is behind me. If you drive too slow they might thing something is wrong and pull you over anyway.

 

Here is a realisitic solution: http://www.ticketassassin.com/index.html

 

+1

 

I never pass a cop breaking the speedlimit unless Im going so fast I feel comfortable he can't read my license plate. But that's here, where they drive stock Toyota Tercels and most of them don't even have radio...

Danny

 

HAHAHA..you gotta love foreign countries....hahaha..I saw a video of a guy flipping off a cop, and took off, and the cops couldn't catch up, cuz they were riding 4 deep in a Ford Focus....hahha


but on a more serious not....your lawyer is gonna tell you you're not gonna have a chance, regardless....if you went to court yourself, he doesn't make money...but, if it was me, in Houston, TX, I'd take it out to court myself...and of course, you don't do anything stupid like saying I was speeding at 58mph, not 70....of course, you don't mention the 58 either...just say, "it wasn't much over 50 because I looked down when i saw the cop, and I barely doing a couple miles over 50"....egh....tell them to prove that you were speeding...remember, in the US, you're innocent until proven guilty!!!

 

Sucks man,

Just another case of a Bitcch *** cop. I'll pass them on the highway at maybe 5 over if the being little bitcches. You should get together with the SUV driver if you can. Maybe check if their court date is the same, and postpone for another date and form a strategy.

Good luck.

 

You should only speed past a cop if you know they're outside of their jurisdiction and they're not a state trooper.

 

Next time a cop pulls me over, and asks "Do you know why I pulled you over?", I am going to reply with a straight face, "Yes. I'm flattered, but I'm not gay. I am tired of you guys trying to pick me up." Because I know I'm getting a ticket anyway... since I'm not a chick, or a fellow police officer, and i drive a sports car.

 

Definately plead not guilty and make the cop show up at the trial. If he estimated your speed, which it sounds like he did you have some leeway with the judge. An estimate is not near as good as a radar or lidar reading. Also, there is a decent chance that he won't show up for the trial and your case gets dismissed automatically. They plan on people just rolling over and paying tickets and they DON'T like going to court. Shame on your lawyer.

Lastly, are you eligible for traffic school? For what it's worth I've gotten out of 5 tickets by fighting them or going to traffic school in the last 10 years. Most were BS tickets(40 in a 35) and the cops are less apt to appear when they give you a bogus ticket that can be dispelled.

 

The z is a cop magnet! its an eye catcher and their ed they dont have one! always beware when in that situation (driving next to a cop)

hate to say it, but you made yourself voulnerable by getting in his sights to begin with.

not worth the risk.....

 

We dont have traffic school here in Louisiana unfortunately. We are actually very old school when it comes to traffic laws. I can definately get it appended to a non-moving, and I am almost kinda worried if I plead not guilty and they pin me with the its his word vs yours thing. That sounds like a sure way to lose a case.

I still have another option I need to look into.... getting it pulled all together. I guess it helps to have as many friends as possible here in the city

 

Thanks for all the help and support guys. Whatever happens I'll try to remember to post the results.

 

I dunno how it is in California...but here in Houston, we actually have cops who are out there mainly just to write tickets and show up in court...that's their job, to show up in court...we have cops you write tickets on a pad, and then we have "traffic ticket" cops who use a little electronic hand held "ticket machine", and once the cop prints the ticket out, it's immediately sent to the computer database and those tickets, you can't have your cop friend call in and have it torn up....now we still do have cops who write tickets on the pad..if you know someone in the PD, you can usually call them have the ticket torn up before the end of day before it gets into inputted.

 

My uncle is a M/C cop in San Antonio. Write 400 + tickets a month between him and his partner. Take a certain breed to be a traffic cop. Most are legit but then some are a-holes. Sorry about your ordeal. I also hate dishonest cops as well! I mean there are far more other things they can be doing but guess what its a slush fund for the city! Hell most camera's out there are given free to the cities. The damn camera makers install it and give it to the city for free, but guess what, they get a cut of the action,

Guess what they have where I am at right now, BUI, Biking (and thats a damn bicycle) under the influence, amazing!