Ugh....Don't mean to offend anyone by the title but this does. I'm driving home and am on this two lane road where a expressway offramp joins and theres a "tech"ed out honda in front of me in the lane next to me and this fool behind me commin fast. we appraoch a light and it turns green just as I get to a full stop and I blow the handa away. Then I see the dreaded radar cop and sure enuff here he comes(I pulled over before he put his lights on too) He tells me the bad news...."Why are you doing 66 in a 35?" I said "New car and I was being stupid wanting to race that guy" He says "Well new cars due that" He leaves and comes back with a ticket for 31 over and I have to goto court. He says "Be more careful, you have a nice car. Don't ruin it. I live in Illinois close to Chi-town. The cop said i would most likely get school but I'm wonderin if I could be in some deep dog do do. I can't think of anything to get out of this and I don't have any priors. Any suggestions?

 

31 over

doubt thats gonna slide to driving school, how old are you? past driving record?

31 over is reckless driving, maybe even reckless endangerment depending on your state laws. thats a serious ticket... but the fine their gonna give you isnt gonna be anything compared to the ~6 points your gonna get for you insurance.

 

i got caught doin 123 in a 70 zone in alabama, i came up w/ a really good excuse so the state patrolman wouldnt take me 2 jail, but i got the ticket for 53 over..... he told me it wouldnt cross over state lines so i should be ok, my insurance would go up tho...

right when i feel like he was right saying the violation wouldnt cross state lines, i get a letter in the mail from the DMV saying my license is suspended for a serious violation, speeding over 25+....

i still have 5 more months till i get my license back... it was my only ticket i received ever.... and i lost my license for it

 

i'm 24 and i have no record. This is startin to look bad.

 

Go to court and plea bargain the offense down with the DA. Since you got a clean record you might even get a sizeable reduction. You may get a mouthful from the judge anyway, but at least you'll get less points on your record and insurance.

 

why would u tell the cop you were racing ??????
in new york you would lose the car if you told the cop
" hey , sorry for speeding but i was racing that guy "
no offense but that was stupid....

 

In Maine 30+ over is criminal speeding automatic 30 day lic. revoke.

 

how would you know unless it was a given. its obviously a given in newyork...but apparantly not where hes from, which is why the cop didnt give him a hard time for the racing.
man screw this, im never gonna speed, i couldnt afford to lose my liscence let alone the insurance increase. good luck dude, get a lawyer if you think it could help...its not quite as bad as DUI but it sounds heavy

 

Ok, you made a couple of mistakes here. (not flaming you, just passing on the wisdom of the ages)

First and worst, you admitted you were racing! Bad move. Even if he has you dead to rights for speeding you do NOT want to be written up for racing. (apparently he had mercy on this one). In most states the fines/penalties for "contest of speed on a public roadway" are WAY more severe than simply exceeding the posted limits. I think you got lucky this time, but be carefull about that.

Second, you admitted to speeding and to what speed you were doing. If you don't want to lie just say something vague like "I didn't think I was going that fast."

Just remember "Anything you say can and will be used against you."

 

thanks meat.....i called a lawyer and he said it shouldn't be that bad, he has to call me back. But the first thing i told him was the speed and he said "That's not that fast." So I don't know.

 

good call on the lawyer, actually, its not so much that they know things you couldnt find with a search on the net. but the judge is a lawyer too most likely, and Ive heard many stories where they sorta look out for each other. just for having a lawyer theyll drop it down otherwise why would you ever get a lawyer again?

 

when i was in high school a buddy of mine and i were racing home home from practice at about 6:40 in the morning. after stopping at a light, some cop comes flying by, cuts off traffic and lets all the other commuters pass but my friend and i. we thought we killed someone. very freaky stuff.
so we get our tickets for no signal usage, 70 in a 35, wreckless driving, and some other stuff. basically a liscence taker awayer.
my buddy who got what i got was dating a girl at the time whose father was a prossicuting attorny at the court house we were required to attend, and after basically plea bargaining, we got off with just a weekend of community service and a small fine. no points, no liscence stripping.
so it pays to have the lawyer

 

Also, one other thing, if they give you a ticket, and only after they've given you one (cause you don't want to provoke them if they're only going to give you a warning), ask to see the radar readout. If they cannot provide you with one they cannot give you the ticket, because the cop could be making up the speed, without having actually clocked you.

 

Re: radar readout... Maybe true in some states, others may not require it (what if the cop just timed you for example? There would be nothing to read...). Even if they did get you with radar, and showed you a readout, you can always question the calibration of the equipment. IMO, get a lawyer.

 

they are allowed to pace you atleast in GA, but its gotta be for like a LONG *** length of road, and theres no way he was pacing you in a race, had to have clocked you.

he also in GA anyway, has to offer to check the calibration of his radar. I dont know the right answer to that, if you say yes, your damn near gaurenteed its gonna be accurate, and if you say no, you could say it wasnt accurate, but you have no proof, and didnt request for it to be checked when offered.

 

True. I was just posting those thoughts for general information/discussion purposes, and to make the point that there are probably other plans of attack that a good lawyer can look into to eliminate or reduce a ticket.

Plus, having a lawyer may make the judge and police officer take the matter a bit more seriously. It can't hurt having someone in the courtroom that isn't getting their paychecks from the city/state. Who knows, maybe the cop won't even show up? It's happened before, although I'm not sure I'd call that "justice served" in this case, IMHO.

 

In CA, the officer is NOT required to show you the read out from the radar or laser as the Code states that returning to the patrol car for verification inherently places the officer at unnecessary risk while in traffic (I'm paraphrasing)... and IMO, asking for the readout would be like saying, "Bet you can't find anything else wrong with my car?" or "Just one ticket??? Come on, I know you can do better than that."

However, in CA, on the streets there's the speed trap laws which require engineering surveys to be conducted within the past 5 years, and all this other good jazz to help you get out of a ticket.

In my experience, it's not that judges give lawyers a break... most can't stand lawyers... it's more that lawyers will know what to say, when to say it and how to behave which makes the judge's job a lot easier. Also, after having to deal with non-lawyers who don't understand the law, procedure, etc., judges may welcome someone who knows the rules of the game. But it is far from anything like a good ol' boys club or the masons.

 

Thanks for everyones help on this....lots good ideas.....i feel slightly better....with my luck i might get the death penalty though....lol. The court date is the 3rd of july so maybe the cop won't show up huh?

 

I always get a delay once... so far its worked 2 out of 3 times to make the cop not show. I guess they reschedule to a day that the cop doesnt plan to be in court, I figure they write a bunch of tickets all for the same day, come in and get 20 guys, if you postpone, then he's gotta come in and try to get you, or he could go out and spend those 2-3 hours getting more people, 90% of which will pay by mail. unless he just wants to stick it to you, which is why you dont want to be a memorable guy.

 

Definetely NOT true here in CT. Got pulled over, got a ticket, asked to see the display. He said "Sorry, already cleared it, have a nice day."

I managed to beat the ticket by rescheduling the court date (cop didn't show).