AndreZ Cadena

Yesterday May 15th I celebrated my first year in the U.S. Navy....... and I also got a speeding ticket.

I really dont like speeding or driving like an ********, I rather beat my car at the track.

As soon as I woke up, @ 9am, I got my keys and left for Kragen Auto parts, I was driving down "the strand" from Coronado to Imperial beach, and I wasnt even paying attetion, I was still half asleep, then i see a bike in my rearview mirror and that was it.

I was going 78 on a 65 mph street, my first ticket since I got to Cali (July of 2007). So I dont know what my options are, or how much my ticket might be. And the back of the ticket doesnt help much.

Can anyony give me any help as to what I can do? What are my options?

I heard about traffic school. Can I take it now or do i have to wait for something?

Thanks for any replies.

cbasil

iTrader: (4)

when I got my first ticket for speeding at 40 in a 35mph section. I just did traffic school online and that was it. but it was like 186 dollars or something.

jubes

iTrader: (22)

You can do traffic school, but after you pay your fine and opt out for it... once you do that, your california record will be clean, but if you get another one within 18 mos, that will be on there 7 years... If you were on highway, I think those are higher in fines (someone correct me if I'm wrong)... but they usually send out a letter to the address the officer took down. That usually contains the date the fine is due, what court house to pay it at, and amount of the bail for the ticket.

dkorr

iTrader: (3)

I just moved here a few days ago... first thing people told when when I picked up my car was "you can go as fast as you want on the hwy, but be careful on the surface streets".... 78mph on surface streets is pretty fast dude...

nisbro78

iTrader: (2)

mine was similar..
i was going "approx 80" in a 65 mph
ticket was $115-- still did traffic school..


online.

haeshik

iTrader: (36)

just take traffic school online and your record will be clean

350ZTheStandard

iTrader: (4)

Just shoot the cop next time. Welcome to California, oooh yeah now you have to feel like your better than everybody now.

AndreZ Cadena

Did you wait until you got the letter from the court to do school?* Or you just did it right after you got the ticket?

General_Malice

iTrader: (5)

you pay the fine and do a week in county...
haha jk

online traffic school

Rommy

iTrader: (8)

Word to the wise. If a cop pulls you over for speeding, ask him the following questions before he writes you a ticket:

1) Can you please show me the radar gun to prove that I was going over the speed limit?

If he can't provide this you might as well tell him to F off, he has no proof.

2) If he provides it, tell him you were braking. When you are braking, it throws off the gun. This only works sometimes if it's a few MPH over the limit.

If he disputes #2, go to the last step:

3) Ask to see the certification for the radar gun. These guns MUST be re-certified and calibrated once a month. If the certificate is past the expiration date or the officer doesn't have it on him, the officer technically has to let you go without a ticket. If he still gives you one, fight it in court and you'll probably win if you point out the above.


KNOW THE LAW, AND KNOW HOW TO FIGHT IT AND WIN!

finalforce

iTrader: (68)

Good to know the breaking method. I didn't know it will throw off the gun.

JJBLACKBEAST07

http://ticketassassin.com/

wcbcruzer

No dude, I have learned that you should just say nothing when you get pulled over. If you get a ticket, well then you deserved it. Just be polite and respect the officer. He's doing his job and frankly, I would pull you over too if you're doing 78 mph on the street. I mean, come on...

onedirtyz

iTrader: (3)

here, i'm going to copy+paste what i wrote out for another member a while back.. it's a long read but it will guide you through the steps..

my response:
damn he wrote you up for 90 when you were going with the flow of traffic? what a crappy cop.

on the back of your ticket there should be instructions about how to do a trial by declaration. you have to plead not guilty and pay the bail anyway [which you'll get back when you're found innocent] and request a trial by declaration. the paperwork all comes through the mail. there should also be instructions online, if there's a website on the ticket.

first of all, however, i would recommend getting an extension. most counties grant at least one 30 to 60 day extension, if not more. the further you put off your final due date/trial date, the more chance there is that something will happen and the cop won't show up in court if you do end up having to go to court. extensions are your BEST FRIEND.

once the trial by declaration form arrives, go online and google 'trial by written declaration' + california. there are a LOT!!! of very very very helpful sites.. there's one that even walks you through the TBD process step by step: http://www.helpigotaticket.com/declar/index.html

just MAKE SURE to follow the instructions on you ticket and on your paperwork to the letter [you never know how old the websites are and how out of date their info might be].

the beauty of a trial by declaration is that if, once you send in your side of the story, the judge reads your info and the cop's info, and you're found guilty, you have the right by law in california to request a trial de novo, which is a brand new trial
with a brand new judge. it's like starting the process all over again..the only thing is that with a trial de novo you're REQUIRED to show up to court.

so what happened with my 86 in a 65 is that first, i got an extension (la county/city of glendale only allowed one 30-day extension). then i plead not guilty, paid my bail, and requested to do a trial by declaration. filled in all that crap, sent it in, waited for the decision. court found me guilty, i requested a trial de novo [the request info comes with your guilty/not guilty charge from the TBD]. got my court date, went, and LO AND BEHOLD the motherf*cker didn't show up. trial dismissed, i got a check in the mail for my bail amount a few weeks later.

the other beauty about doing a tbd is simply HOW MUCH TIME IT TAKES. with all the paperwork having to be done through snail mail, it seriously takes forever. i had gotten my ticket on february 3 and the final court date was on oct 22. for all i know the chp officer could have moved, been fired, been sick, etc etc etc. another thing i noticed, when in the courtroom, is that out of the city police vs chp, there was more of a chance of CHP not showing up. CHP governs the freeways so the chp officer could actually live kind of far away and just not be up to driving an hour or whatever into the town you actually got your ticket it.

just pay real careful attention to due dates too. some of the deadlines are tricky.. like '10 days or more before the date written on your ticket' and crap like that.

let me know if all this crap i've written makes sense, or if i can answer any other ?'s.

good luck!


naeiri

onedirtyz

iTrader: (3)

continued...his reply + my response:


ok grab something to munch on because this is long.....

i think the procedure might be different in different cities/counties, but i didn't have to go to court to declare not guilty and request a trial by declaration. as i mentioned, the back of your ticket should fully explains exactly what you need to do....

ok i found my paperwork... the back of the ticket [and this is also a CHP ticket so it should be the same for you] says, at the bottom:
if you contest the violation (select a or b)
b. (trial by written declaration)
send a certified or registered letter postmarked not later than five days prior to the appearance date (what'd i say about weird sounding deadlines?) or come to the court on or before the appearance date to request a trial by written declaration. submit bail amount. you will be given forms to allow you to write a statement. the judicial officer will consider the evidence and decide the case.
and it goes on to explain where to send the money.

so since you've gotten an extension, i would wait until about 2-3 weeks before your new "court date" and send your bail amount [write your ticket # on the check] and a letter just simply stating you plead not guilty and are requesting to do a trial by declaration, so can they please send you the appropriate forms. make sure it's certified so that you can prove the postmarked date.
you'll most probably get a 'courtesy notice' soon telling you how much your ticket costs [the bail amount] and instructions on what to do to plead guilty or not guilty. if you don't get the courtesy notice either log in on the court website to find out your bail amount or give the court a call and talk to the court clerk.

then, by mail, within 2-5 weeks or so you'll receive the trial by written declaration form, vehicle code 40902, form TR-200. follow the instructions and most definitely do some research online to see what kind of case you can plead for radar use.
actually... now that i think about it, do some research NOW and see if you can submit some subpoenas asking for the radar gun's calibration date and **** like that.. i dont know the specifics but i know that they have to be calibrated every # of months or something.. i haven't done this myself so im not sure about it.

so then you send in your written case by the due date, and wait for the court's decision.

the court will send you a form back with either guilty or not guilty checkmarked. if they found you not guilty it will note that you will receive your bail $$ back, yay. if they find you guilty there will be a paper about what to do if you're dissatisfied with the court's decision and how to request a trial de novo, with a deadline to do so.
then once you mail in that request for a new trial, they'll send you a notice that they've received your request and such-and-such date you're expected to appear in court.

for the court date, what seemed safest to me was to just take a copy of what you had sent in as your written declaration, and you can either refer to it as you're pleading your case or even simply just read it verbatim. the judge is going to be different but your cop is the same so changing your story is NOT going to be a good idea.

make copies of EVERYTHING you send into the court.

your tint violation is a fix-it ticket. the back of your ticket will say what to do to get that taken care of. my cop wrote me up for no plates [hahah...oops? license plates make the z ugly ] so i just fake-bolted my plates on, went to my local sheriff's station and had them sign off the ticket. funny thing is the lazy bum of a cop at the front desk didn't even come outside to check if i actually had plates on or not. he just asked me and assumed i wouldnt lie...
if you think your tint is legal you'll have to take it to one of those CHP/DMV inspection centers to have them inspect it and sign it off. if you dont want to deal with proving it's legal or not, take it off and you should be able to get any cop or cop station to sign off your ticket. call your local station and ask if they do it. some places might charge like $10-$20. most regular PD stations don't charge but i think the inspection centers do.
then when you've got your fix-it violation signed off, make copies of the ticket, front and back, to keep for yourself because you have to send in that signed-off ticket to the court to prove you got your violation 'fixed'.. i sent it in along with some $10 processing fee or something [you can call the court and see what the processing fee in your city is] when i sent in my request for the trial by declaration.
then, in the actual written trial by declaration i just made a note that the charge of violating CVC 5200(a) [no plates] has been dismissed as per my submittal of Proof of Correction and the $10 transaction fee.

by the way, all this info is on the back of your ticket.. i don't mind typing out my experience at all but if what i'm saying doesnt make sense just refer to your ticket.

by the way, since fighting these tickets with a TBD doesn't cost anything but a few dollars in stamps and certified letters, i would ALWAYS fight ANY ticket you receive, whether or not you feel it's deserved. vehicle code violations are what local and state governments makes BANK on. i was most definitely going at least, if not more, than 86mph but there's no way in hell i was going to just submit to the cop/government like that. plus i already had lawyers dealing with a 100mph+ ticket i'd gotten 3 months earlier so i MOST definitely didn't need this one to go on record, even with traffic school. yes, i'm slightly anti-big-brother-government so...FIGHT YOUR TICKETS! ALWAYS! especially since california is *kind* enough to have the whole TBD process

naeiri

jubes

iTrader: (22)

I remember when I contested a traffic ticket from a LAPD bike cop, I was like sweet, this sucker is not going to waste his time going to court for a lousy ticket...

low and behold, when I went to traffic court, I ran into my aunt who got a speeding ticket from the same freakin cop... just my luck.. he had to show up and he did.

I ended up paying the bail still, and paying for traffic school, in which the judge specifically said to do the 8 hour sit in class kind and not online, to remove my point...

**** happens huh? LOL

AndreZ Cadena

thanks everyone for the help. Im considering my options.

powerhouseZ

am yah you go to court before the due court date. and then you can go for traffic school in online or at the school. but online is better.

sae350

99.9% motorcycle cop will give you a ticket if he pull you over..The one with regular car sometime will give you a break..I was doing 60 on a 45 he let me go..I told him I sorry Im new in town..motorcycle cop are the worst...

ktulu805

iTrader: (2)

whatever way it goes down man your still pretty much F'ed in the A!