Cop pulled me over for careless driving..

You know it's too bad.
But this enemy is a windmill and one better left uncharged.

You can "prove" your case, and still lose here. Basically all traffic infractions at that level are Your Reality vs. The Police's Reality and once the ticket has been written? Your reality loses.

Were you driving alone? About the most you could do would be show up in court and present that it simply was NOT you. You could add information about a eCVT transmission, and Atkinson cycle engine but I think it's really impossible to "prove" a Prius is incapable of squealing it's tires. It would be fun if you showed up in court with video tape of Toyota's last two Prius commercials. Play the "Harmony between Man, Nature and Machine" commercial and the Prius "Hum, Hum, Hum" commercial and then rest your case.

But seriously that is pretty harsh though. A reckless driving ticket "just" for squealing tires? My argument actually would be that squealing tires in of itself is not "reckless driving". Geesh, I've had tires that squealed depending on weather conditions very easily, and it wasn't reckless driving that caused them to squeal.

 

Hey, give it a shot. I mean if you have the time, you don't have much to lose. I think you could simply print up The Prius specs, and then the definition of a e-CVT transmission.

My experience is that judges usually just default to supporting the Officer. But maybe you'll get a judge that owns a Prius.

Let us know how it plays out, if you do decide to try and fight it.

 

My best suggestion would be to get a lawyer who will act on your behalf. It will probably cost you some money, but you might be able to beat the case on a technicality. If you don't have a lawyer, chances are you will be better off just paying the fine and accepting the marks. We all know what the Prius will do and won't do. Chances are the judge won't listen to technical reasons. But there are many things that can work with you IF you use a lawyer. It will cost you money. The justice system is blind, but it is also NOT ALWAYS fair.

Maybe the lawyer could produce the evidence of how the Prius will not spin the tires, and maybe the judge would listen to him. But I doubt very seriously the judge will listen to you alone even if you had print out's and what have you. On the other hand, if you had a "Toyota" technician there with facts and figures, it would be hard for that judge to dismiss those facts.

Ron

 

I disagree...
This is a traffic infraction.
A lawyer is overkill here...and even most likely to backfire.
A lawyer isn't going to be able to present any different or better information than the OP could present or obtain on his own.
And this certainly isn't a situation where one wants to embrace the cost of "Professional Witnesses" in the form of mechanics and Toyota techs.
I mean how much is the fine? Not too much solace in "Yeah! I won! I got a $300 dollar ticket dropped and it only cost me $1500 dollars!".

If motivated enough, I might just present my case myself, but I certainly would escalate a defense to the point of hiring a lawyer or getting professional witnesses.

I might try to win this...on my own, but I'd be prepared to lose, and I wouldn't compound the whole situation by treating it like an appeal to the supreme court.

One Caveat:
I'd want Marisa Tomei as she appeared in "My Cousin Vinny". That's the ONLY automotive specialist I'd want....and my motives are not pure here.

 

FWIW, I hired a lawyer for $150 and he beat a ticket that I received in a accident that was my fault.

I hope the OP does beat the case, but I will say this from personal experience. The only time I won was when I had a lawyer. It is unfortunate that Travis got a ticket. It is also unfortunate that Travis was wrongfully ticketed. But the fact remains that the justice system is blind, and 99 times out of a 100 is sided towards the law. It doesn't matter whether or not the cop made a mistake. What matters is if the judge believes you. That is where a lawyer helps out.

Ron

 

I think the fact the traction control does not allow the wheels to spin, even if the small gas engine had enough horsepower to spin the tires on dry pavement should be enough. You just need to do some research to be able to provide more details on this system.

The court appearance on this could really be fun. When you question the officer on the stand you could ask, Did you see the wheels spin? She was behind.

Of all the cars on the road you decided it was the Toyota Prius that smoked the tires on acceleration?

Did you know the Prius has a really small gas 4 cylinder engine and is made to provide ultra high efficiency of 45-50 mpg at the expense of power and acceleration?

Did you know the Prius has a traction control system that prevents it from losing traction therefore making it impossible for this little high efficiency car to spin the wheels on dry pavement?

If it is impossible for this car to spin the wheels on dry pavement due to this traction control system that cannot be disabled, and you did not see the wheels spin and there were a number of other cars ahead of you, could it have been another car that you heard spinning the wheels and not this underpowered ultra high MPG Toyota Prius?

 

It depends on the laws in your state, but basically you want to plead not guilty. If you are lucky, the cop will miss the court date and you will be off the hook. If you do go to court, just tell the truth...and unless they ask you, they do not want your long-form explanation. They will ask why you plead non guilty, and you say you do not want it on your record and it the cop just made a mistake. Then you have the option to lawyer up for appeal if the not guilty does not work.

A couple yrs ago I was in criminal court for parking in the fishing parking lot at the local park. A lawyer advised me that's non-sense, he said just say not-guilty and get back to me if that does not work. It worked. But a roomful of people in front of me pleaded "guilty" due to minor $20 parking ticket (not realizing it was listed as a criminal offense in the fishing regulations - sheesh!!...the judge did not realize it either). But all of the generic write-ups/brochures they had in court said, when in doubt just plead "not guilty". I thought for sure the judge was in cahoots, but no, she was not informed properly what was going on.

 

Even more reason for getting a DVR Cam for the car, one that records audio. You would have the pic of the Volksturd, and the fact the screech was coming from outside the car. If you left the cam running, you could also show that a idiot the cop was in the first place!

 

You cannot spin the tires on a Gen II Prius. The torque required to spin the tires is not available to the driver because the system is built to protect the electric motor from over-torquing and allowing it to spin the tires could damage MG1/MG2. If you give it enough gas from a stand still to spin the tires, it will engage the vehicle stability control and the car will just stop or pause, then acceleration will reengage. You could take a video of this to court. Hopefully, the judge will listen.

 

Can you simply offer them the keys?

A minute behind the wheel should convince any cop (or judge) that it's physically impossible to make the Prius powertrain do what you're alleged to have done. Plus they're probably not familiar with power-split hybrids anyway and it might be an honestly cool educational opportunity.

From a technical standpoint: The mechanism by which a manual-transmission car can be made to chirp its tires simply doesn't exist in the Prius -- you can't get the parts spinning at different speeds and then mash them together to produce a burst of torque. Everything in the Prius HSD is always coupled together in a fixed relationship, and acceleration/deceleration are accomplished by shoving electrical power around to set up different torque relationships. There's no such thing as a neutral-slam, no such thing as a power-shift, none of that, ever. There are no "gears" to "shift". There is no "clutch" to "pop". That's what results in the legendary smoothness of the HSD powertrain.

Furthermore, there's the aforementioned traction control. The bane of everybody who *likes* to make a little noise once in a while, the Prius TC can't be disabled, not even with wire cutters -- it's built into the powertrain and baked into the software that runs the ECUs. If even a tiny bit of wheel-slip is detected, the system backs off the torque, and it's astonishingly quick at doing so because it all happens electronically. The Prius is a very safe car, not just because it attracts granny-drivers, but because it turns all of us into them whether we like it or not.

 

Lawyer here.

What you are asking the judge to do is called "taking judicial notice." Basically, you want the judge to note a proven fact.

The problem is that traffic courts are, in most jurisdictions, not a real court of law. The rules of evidence don't apply and the judges in some places don't even have to have a law degree. They may have attended a one-week mandatory "how to be a judge" course.

But most of those courts are appealable to a real court.

Paying the ticket may likely be cheaper than paying for a lawyer.

If it's the principle of the thing, here's what you do: Hire a court reporter. You're going to want a record of everything that was said at the hearing. This will likely pi$$ the judge off, but it's your right. If you don't get the result you want, find out how to appeal the court's ruling.

Just remember, as a professor of mine said, principle has a lot of zeroes behind it.

 

One more idea if you want to be stubborn about it. Talk to a service guy at your nearest dealer. You need to find the guy there who is the most knowledgeable on the prius drivetrain. Find out if you can pay him to come be an "expert" witness for you. (of course, make sure he's going to say what will help you before you get him to testify).

Yes, paying a witness, at least if they're experts, is legal.

 

check what car you judge drives.. if its sporty or a pickup then just go and say i can not spin my wheels... i drive a prius.......

 

You probably wont' even have to see a judge. About 18 years ago, i got a speeding ticket in my brown '82 Volvo station wagon. when the cop pulled me over, I inadvertently handed him an old registration for my green '67 VW Beetle. he wrote out the whole ticket with that info and never questioned it.
Then I showed up at court and talked to the DA, I showed him the ticket and explained that I was not driving a VW Beetle, but the ticket shows it. I had a lot of supporting evidence and argument to share, but I never got a chance, he dropped the charges and I payed the $100 court fees and left.
If you don't have a history, my guess is that you will get the same. If the cop doesnt' show up in court that day to defend what she saw, even better.

 

Consider a defensive driving course to void it?

 

That is another option in your favor Travis. Some courts or juristictions require you to ask permission first before you take a defensive driving course. I have done that also and beat a ticket. You still spend money, but it keeps your record clean.

Ron

 

Squealing the tires does not cause a careless driving infraction, it is a show of speed infraction.
The OP may not tell the truth what is the ticket for.