A comedy of errors; First, I never drive my Z to work, This is the first time. On my way home, 5 min after midnight, and five minutes into June 18th, my Birthday, I get caught doing 104 Km/ph in an 80 Km/ph zone. The bad thing on my part was that I was driving much faster, I was going about 150 Km/ph, my radar detector went off, and I chose to just gradually slow down instead of getting right on it.
Cop asks me first, "Didnt your detector pick me up?" I`m like "yeah, but I didnt think I was going that fast."
Then he asks, "How much does one of these cost?"
"With tax, $50,000 (Canadian)" I say.
" A new toy eh? I`ll be right back." He says.

Younger guy, $50 000 car, with a high end radar detector.
Think I got a warning? Not a chance. $200 bucks. What a scam.

 

You gota ticket for doing 24kph over the 80 kph speed limit when you were really doing 70kph over the speed limit - and you're complaining? I don't know what the law is there, but just about anywhere in the US, that would be considered a criminal charge. You walked away with a $200 CDN fine and are b!tching about it. Once again, I don't know what the law is there, but I'd be willing to bet that the fine would be higher at 25kph and the officer cut you a break to what the officer considered a very reasonable amount.

 

Your`re kind of right :-) Yes, if I got caught doing the 150 Km/ph that`s a $480 fine.
I was more bitching about how if I slowed down when my detector made a few little peeps, I would`nt have got caught in the first place. Just kicking myself a little. :-) Plus I don`t really speed that much anyway, so the one time I take the Z to work, I get nailed.
I`m going to dispute the ticket anyway. Hopefully the cop won`t show up. Which supposedly 50% of the time they don`t.
Not sure what the U.S. law is, but here if you fight a ticket, show up at traffic court, and the cop does`nt show, the ticket is dismissed.

 

Just curious: If he does show up (and despite what many people say, they do show up, especially in the U.S. where it's often overtime when they go to court), what's your defense?

 

dont speed next time.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Ticket sucks though

 

Yeah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! John Q. Laws take a dim view of sports cars radar equipped. Better luck next year.

 

I hate it when people say, "Don’t speed" as if they themselves always obey the speed limit. I wonder how many people "Don't speed" when driving to a Z meet? Sorry you were caught man. I don’t think I’ve met one person that actually always abides by the speed limit. Hell, to keep up with traffic half the time you pretty much have to be going 10 over it. Sucks you got a ticket on your B-Day. Any Z gifts ? Don’t listen to the hypocrites; they just like to feel superior to everyone else.

 

You guys allowed to have radar detectors in BC?

Around here, 20 km/h over the speed limit is usually the safe. I've driven right past cops at 20 over and they didn't even blink.

 

Bust! Good thing you invested in that radar detector. To the person who said don't speed ... How can you not driving one of these sports cars?

 

Yes, detectors are legal here. Legal in B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
20 Km over is the unwritten cut off line here as well.

 

I have thought about that :-) If he shows, do I just stand there, "Uh, Uh....." I guess I could just say some lame excuse. :-)

 

Sorry to hear about the ticket, but happy b-day though!

Where did he catch ya?

 

Well actually cop has to proove (at least in US) that he saw car going too fast, than activated radar, take a good reading, and he is sure it's the reading from that car, not ohter cars around... All that (especially visual traking) became a little difficult at night... So with some preparation it can be a good line of defence...

One of my friends won seatbelt ticket that cop gave her at night... She just asked how exactly cop saw no black seatbelt on a black jacket at night...

 

TRY HAVING YOUR CAR TOTALED ON YOUR BIRTHDAY BY A F@CKING COP AND THEN COME AND TALK TO ME!!!!


Edit: Sorry, that was a little harsh, by the way, happy birthday.

 

Speeding tickets can be beaten. I have two under my belt, one by a city cop and one by a state trooper. The city cop never showed, and the trooper's paperwork could not be found..."no record" or some ****. Either way, both got tossed.

I remember reading that if only 10 percent of the people contested their tickets, the number of tickets written would decline dramatically, due to the cost of hearing these cases and all the paperwork and manhours needed.

Having said that, it sucks to have that as your first b-day gift!! It could only get better right?

 

Down here, when you get a ticket, you're expected to surrender your license in lieu of bond (or at least that's the way it worked a long time ago when I got my last ticket). But you don't have to do that, you can have the cop take you to jail, and let you post a cash bond equal to the ticket amount. Takes a couple hours. That's what I did. As the cop was giving me a ride back to my car, he asked me why I did it that way. I told him it was so he'd be off the streets for a couple of hours and not able to hassle other drivers. My good deed for the day. He actually laughed.

 

Cool! If it were the rule in MI I'd do it all the time. He'd be able to give only 5 or 8 tickets a day if everybody were asking for a ride to jail. Of course in couple days cops would get an order to stop giving tickets because they are off the streets all time and it's not a profitable business anymore.

If all the drivers would contest their tickets, it would work too. I'm not sure about 10%... but guess that's a substantial number too... Unfortunatelly most people to lazy, scared or lawobeying to do it. Folks at my office (all 40+ y.o) are not taking serious my going to court every time. They saying "if you were speeding you should pay...". They are not able to get the conseption of using your rights to the full...

 

Court dates are included in the regular duty of a traffic enforcement cop. Usually, it's not overtime.

 

It depends on the time and day of the court date versus the particular officer's normal working hours.