Speeding Tickets?

Actually, and maybe it is different in your state (I live in Massachusetts), but you should have 1/4 mile after the sign to reduce your speed to the posted limit. The officer might not honor this, but if you don't get intimidated enough to prevent you from taking the matter to in front of a judge, the judge should dismiss the case if you simply argue that you were in the process of safely reducing your speed when the officer stopped you. Slamming on your brakes right as you pass a speed limit sign might cause an accident.

 

I think you should try to fight it in traffic court (judge, not magistrate) on just those grounds. You just might win, and wouldn't that feel good?

 

Good job!

 

Only time was quite a few years ago in the Civic doing 75mph trying to pass somebody and the copper was shadowing in the left blind-spot in the carpool lane. Never again ticket-wise, or having a blind-spot.

Recently in the Prius, I switched to KmH from MiH display so I have NO IDEA how slow/fast I'm going except to keep it under 121KmH and to match traffic. It's great to eliminate that urge to drive faster too.

Cruise control.. great thing. When I see a copper, I just set it to the speed limit and drive normally (usually 70mph). I then relax and ignore the copper while everybody else on the road freak and become a general nuisance driving < 60mph.

 

Actually, I got a letter from my insurance company in the summer saying that I was getting approx a $200/yr discount on my insurance because I drive a hybrid.

Dave

 

Sir or Madam,

This is quite an outlandish statement. Where, pray tell, did you get your information. It sounds like something you pulled out of your......hat. I think you should edit the post and insert after the third word-,in my opinion,-

 

I don't see anything outlandish about the statement myslef. First off it has been completely proven beyond any shadow of doubt that despite any claims to the contrary, many police officers do indeed have ticket quotas that they need to meet. Second, most tickets are given primarily for out the purpose of revenue generation, not safety (talking about the regulations and legal procedures here--cops are mostly just trying to do their jobs). Third, out-of-state plates generally mean that revenue is guaranteed because the ticket is unlikely to be contested, and that means the offcier does not have to worry about being called in to court.

Why do you explain yourself instead? I know I've seen a police officer posting on this board before--was that you? If so, I think your perspective would be more valkuable than trying to silence Spartan. I also want to thank you for driving so fast on the freeways so that I can always spot you approaching from behind, but I also want to ask you to try to do something to address the problem of people not using their turn signals enough, and I also want to ask you to please not use you flashing lights or park inappropriately outside of an emergency situation--you are supposed to be law enforcement professionals, not rent-a-cops.

 

subversive-

first, i will admit that being a midwesterner in a southern state definitely has its downfalls. like you mentioned we do catch a lot more crap for having out of state plates. my husband was even illegally searched, up against the car, on the side of a busy highway, when he got pulled over. he was written up for 10mph faster than he was going, and when we called a lawyer he said that was common for out of staters.

now. reading your last paragraph, i thought it was pretty offensive. you can't place generalizations like that on to one person. if you've read some of schmika's previous posts he seems to be of very fair judgement and action and does not fit the insulting 'rent-a-cop' mold.

if you've read some of my previous posts, you'll know i don't particularly enjoy seeing people make assumptions about others based upon their profession.

i realize you're rather new here, but i'll tell you this now on behalf of the entire community. quit the personal attacks.

 

I have a friend of a friend who sometime in the 70s, got stopped by cops on a freeway while tripping and was asked did he know how fast he was driving. he said, 60-65? and the cop said 15mph....

And did anyone follow the editorials in Car & Driver a few years ago about the tiny town in OH I think that had about 1/4 mile of the freeway in their jurisdiction, no exit entrance ramps, and set up a radar trap that made about 1/3 of their ticket income annually? They were ordered by a court to disband it.

And everyone must know about the IHHS (insurance industry) that come up with bogus biased research that slower is safer and then lobby the police depts to enforce lower speed limits and thereby increase their premium revenues through increased ticket writing. The insurance industry actually funds police depts with new radar/lidar guns to that end also,

 

I wonder if drivers of RED Prii get a disproportionate share of tickets??? :

ckb

 

I have a story that is a looong time ago. I was driving my future wife home via the long route, in an affluent suburb of Columbus Ohio. We were going to cruse along the river on the way home and I stopped at a light. THE KID pulled up to me in his MG sprite and started to rev his engine. I was driving a Fiat 124 spider and I knew I could eat his lunch. Against better advice that I still hear about more that 35 years later I took off the line to the speed limit. At that point I was ahead and I backed off and slowed down, but in my review I saw the lights, then heard the siren, I pulled over and stopped. Did I mention that I have not heard the end of this, well that was the start. I stopped and waited. The cop took off after the kid. I waited for 5-10 Min and the cop to come back he pulled the KID over and came over to me. He asked me why I was there, and I told him that he pulled me over (secondary commentary deleted) and follow him. At the station he charged us both with drag racing and the KID with that and speeding, evading the police, and what ever it went on and on. The KID was 16 to 18. We both posted bond and went home. I prayed they would not cash the check I wrote. I showed up at the Mayors court the next week. At that time in Ohio you could be charged on local statues or state. In the former the money would go to the city. So I showed up in my white coat (I was in medical school at the time) and changed into a sports jacket and draped the white coat over the chair behind me. Our case came up (me and THE KID), I plead guilty to drag racing. The Mayor looked at me and my white coat ( a short one indicating at OSU a medical student) and asked me if I was a medical student, I said yes and he asked if I knew better, I answered yes, and he fined me $5. The clerk of the court gave me a check for $45 and I hung around for part B. As far as I know I made $45 on the deal because they never cashed my check for the bond of $50. THE KID was part 2. He and his Dad and his dad's Lawyer were there. They preceded on the spot and I was a wittiness. To make a long story short they charged him with everything but space piracy. $2500 fine and suspended license. You can take away your own message.

 

I bet I grew up just blocks from where this happened, both the departments that patrol that area have a low tolerance but can be pretty nice to you if you are not a jerk. It is good to hear that you didnt have much trouble when you went to court and perhaps even made some money (if it was UA they have plenty of it)

P.S. gald to hear they gave the legal smack down on the kid who ran off.

 

Heck no!!! I am too busy playing my newest favorite video game... "Let's Get Better Mileage in my Prius"!!! Speeding and fuel economy are mutually exclusive.

 

Can we say Upper Arlington ?

 

I guess I wrote my post poorly. The cop I remember posting seemed like a nice, respectful, regular kind of guy, and I never meant to imply that Schmika was not. That's not what I meant. I guess I should have used a smiley face or something, because I really meant what I said differently than the way you took it. Although I have difficulty imagining that there are police out there who don't at least occasionally consider indiscriminate non-emergency use of flashing lights and parking wherever to simply be perks of the job. If there are, I'd love to hear about it. But in any case, any cop that drives a Prius on his own time (and not just for undercover vice work) has got to be at least a somewhat cool sort of cop by me. So please don't take what I'm saying the wrong way.

 

Dittos. As an ex cop I was kinda wondering what was going on in his head as I read your post. Some of these laws I've never heard of and wonder how someone can enforce them. But then, that's why I'm an ex cop.

Re: tickets in the Prius. I can see how it can happen. The other night some coworkers and I were driving back from a social engagement and the gent in the back said," Are we really doing 75? It sure doesn't feel like it.". It may not be the quickest car on the road, but there is NO sensation of speed at speed especially at night. It makes it easy for speed to get out of hand if one isn't looking at the speedometer. Both the wife and I noticed and commented on that when we first got it. Most of our other vehicles can be driven by "feel", not the Prius. In fact, getting into the other vehicles after the Prius I find myself driving slow because they deliver "speed sensation" and the Prius doesn't.

 

I wasn't offended..just saddened. How do you know "why" the officer had their lights on. Let me give some "things to think about.

Part of the job of an offier is to get voluntary compliance. We do this by creating a "risk" of being caught. Now, if we always pulled people quietly over in parking lots and turned our lights off so as not to "draw attention", less people would see us. If we sit by the side of the road with our lights on as hundreds of cars drive by...THEN we give the impression we are out catching people and that might also include you.

I have been sent on a "hot" call before, turned on my lights, U-turned, or whatever (sped up, passed, etc) then get cancelled becasue a closer car "takes" the call. So I shut everything down, pull into a lot, turn around, slow down or whatever. So YOU, Mr. know it all citizen, can say "SEE, they just do whatever they want". Hmmmm...sound familiar????

The point is, YOU have no CLUE what we do everyday...since your education is likely via TV, movies, or sitting around the bar/kitchen table/etc and talking.

Here is a common joke though...Where does a police car park?....Anywhere he wants :lol: .

Or...Why can a police car speed?....because no one is gonna stop him.

I can joke about myself. I also have VERY thick skin...have to!

To the person who KNOWS an officer only writes tickets to generate revenue. That might be for traffic units who do it all the time, but the average street cop might write one or two a day (MAYBE...I got some guys who write one or two a month). When you add up all the costs of running traffic court and procesing fines and dividing the fines into the myriad funds that they go to...it's about a zero sum gain.

Someone mentioned the community near Columbus, Oh that actually had the PD disbanded by the State courts for abuse...Man THAT was an embarrassment and very funny (in a way) I want to think it was New Vienna. Well there was one more statemetn but I forget how to go back and look at it while writing, so I will have to post this and see if I want to comment on that.

Thanks Galaxee for stepping up and defending me.

Oh, Hah, scroll down...sheesh. Here it is - Subversive also said 'First off it has been completely proven beyond any shadow of doubt that despite any claims to the contrary, many police officers do indeed have ticket quotas that they need to meet. Second, most tickets are given primarily for out the purpose of revenue generation, not safety (talking about the regulations and legal procedures here--cops are mostly just trying to do their jobs). Third, out-of-state plates generally mean that revenue is guaranteed because the ticket is unlikely to be contested, and that means the offcier does not have to worry about being called in to court."

What's wrong with ticket quotas, so long as the tickets are written for actual violations. I spoke about the revenue generation. Out of state...again, 26 yrs in the biz and I have NEVER heard an officer say this. I LIKE being called into court, do you realize many officers get paid a minimum of 2 hrs OT for court duty. Some get 4 hrs. What a great part time job. I wish more people went to court (avg is 10% in our jurisdiction). Cha-ching!!!

Oh, the poster who said his case was tossed out i 2 minutes. Since that is too little time to even get into the facts of the case, let me guess that the officer did not show up so it was dismissed. Dismissed is different than thrown out.

 

This sounds very familiar. Were you in Upper Arlington?! I hate those [insert expletive] cops. It took seven UA Cops and two hours of my life to give me a $75 ticket!

 

Funny I should read this thread today; I spent all morning at "Traffic School" for a speeding ticket I received. It felt like the "Breakfast Club" to me as I sat there and saw all the other "speeders." Really, the course wasn't too bad but it was long (4 hours). The upside is the ticket does not go on my driving record and is not reported to my insurance company.

 

In the Thunderbird, or the Prius?

Hope the insurance co. doesn't read this forum.