So I got pulled over for speeding tonight, sweet! I was on my way to a local car hangout spot to meet some fellow team members when a cop pulls me over for doing 80 in a 55 on the highway. Mind you this highway is the major highway on Long Island and I was actually going with traffic, as a couple of cars were next to me.

So he pulls me over, and I take the car keys out of the ignition, place it on my dashboard above the steering wheel along with my license and registration, with my hands on the steering wheel. He comes over, asks for them and I hand it to him. Comes back about 10 minutes later with a ticket. I was very shocked to this as it was my first offense, (I'm 18 ) and I was VERY polite to him.

Now upon looking at my ticket, I noticed several things. He wrote down my car as a Toyota (yes I know ) and that it was a sedan. Also he mis-spelled my first name (Richard) and he wrote it down as Rirchard. Now can any of these small mistakes help me out should I plea not guilty to the ticket?

As this is my first ticket, I really don't know what the ins and outs are. Can anyone give a tip on how I could possibly beat this one?

 

You more than likely can't get it dropped giving the situation..

However, being this is your first offense... You can go to court, and attempt to get it reduced. Sometimes court will offer something like, if you go to a class for driving, they will reduce the points (if any) and you can pay the fine. Or, if theres no points envolved reduce the fine.

My mind is sort of dead right now, but good luck. I'm not too familar with the laws up north, so i have no idea what to tell you...

 

I dont know about NY, but in CA you can go to traffic school and get it erased from your record. I dont think you have much of a chance of fighting it though.

 

Ah right. Forgot about defensive driving courses. In NY it takes off 3 pts. Hmm think I should plead not guilty anyways incase the cop doesn't show?

 

Thats up to you, 80 in 55 is hard to fight. if it was closer to 55 then you would have something to work with, but 25mph over is really hard to fight! "i was going down a hill...the wind blew me even faster and omg don't kill me..." *run out the door*


hahaha..that would be funny if you freaked out and just ran out....nvm...

you get my point.

 

LOL, my first was going 120mph i-5 up north. limit was 70.

this was a week after i got my license xP

anyways, i got one month ban and 320 bucks. this was a week after my sweet 16. haha

 

In Ca, you can go to court and contest. If the officer who gave you the ticket doesn't show up, they have to drop it. If worse comes to worse, you can go to traffic school or do the school online. I'm not too sure about your state though-check it out. Good luck!

P.S. You're ticket will be expensive! Did he specify your speed on the ticket or put something like " 50+"? If he did specify, anything 10 mph over the limit will be costly.

 

I am in the same boat, well, was in the same boat last december,



I went from driving a 15 passenger POS van to a manual FM scion. you could say i was a VERY spirited driver in the tC, hah good times and i was going from North County down to San Diego on the 805 freeway. flow of traffic was 85 MPH and i passed a car, started to fill the gap between me and the car infront of me (~50 yards) and up untill that day I was a very agressive driver. Ends up a motorcycle cop got me going 100 (still to this day I dont know how fast I was actually going but 85->100 in the tC isnt exactly hard)

$341 for my first ticket and first time EVER being pulled over (and ive done some RETARDED things on the road) I didnt contest it because the judges that deal with tickets from that specific area have a tendency to 6 month revoke licenses for anything over 90. I took the hit to insurance and regret ever going that fast, now i look ALL up and down and behind me on the freeway and get uneasy even going 85ish.


Whats funny is when i first got on the freeway (i was running late on a 60 mile drive) I was going between 85-115 through moderate traffic (everyone was doing about 70ish) ok so its not funny but in a way, its a GREAT learning tool.


My dad is a cop and still doesnt know to this day and I still have the ticket hidden in my desk.

If anyone gets pulled over for going ~100 make SURE you get it written as 100 mph or LESS because 101 mph or more and I think its mandatory for them to revoke your license for __ amt of months. Mine was written as 100 exactly and that probably saved me ~150 more bucks.

I also did the same thing, try to find a loophole because he wrote my Flint Mica tC as a green toyota (i still had dealership plates on and had just gotten my real plates but not put them on) man I was scared ____less when he walked up to the window and I was beet red in the face, WHAT A GREAT WAY TO START 05! (i got it 1-1-05)

all this at the ripe age of 18... what a joy to be stupid.

 

pay a lawyer about $400 and he will get the whole thing cleared, it won't go on ur record, and ur insurance will never know

 

Now were you really doing 80 or were you doing more? In some jurisdictions going 25 over the limit is considered reckless driving. You may not know this, but you probably caught a break. You can plead not guilty, but you better have a damn good explaination as to why you were doing 80 in a 55. Go for the traffic school option. It works out for the best.

 

yeah he could've given you a cip. carless and inprudent driving.

 

Ok Dorthy, were not talking about Kansas anymore. Just kidding . Seriously though, lawyers cant just make everything just dissapear.

 

Wow your traffic lawyers are ripping you up there. Most folks down here pay a couple of hundred and get it dismissed. Which is about the same you would pay for deferred jubication (or what every it's called) Basicly your on probation for a few months. No other tickets and it's dropped from your record and it just cost you 2/3's of what the ticket would of. I did this with my 82 in a 45 with my last car. 20 over the speed limit is actualy anouther ticket if they want to add wreckless driveing (or some states I think it's a raceing ticket). I had to do it cause I had took defensive driveing for a non speeing ticket recently. Though that was over a year ago so now I can use defensive driveing for my next ticket. When you do that here you can still send in your class cert and they will give you a discount for the year cause it doesn't list on there copy why you took the class. I been ticket free all my life (well on my record) cause of Definsive driveing. Though with the tC I been more carefull cause I like playing with it so much. I got a siren and light flash the other day on the highway, looked around to see why I heard it, than noticed the cop a few lanes over and I was doing 80 in a 70.

 

This sounds about right to me- after fines and all. I got an 85 in a 40 and cost me about $500 and a day in driving school to get it off my record. They wanted to get me a lot worse, but my record is clean b/c i have fixed all my tickets (i've unfortunatly had a lot of them). In fact I just got a ticket yesterday for 74 in a 60 (and I didn't have ID on me). DAMN!!!!

I need to keep my foot off the gas.

 

Were you pulled over on the LIE going to the DPA meet? That suckx cause at that time, everyone is usually doing 80+ on that highway. Contest it by going to court and hopefully you'll just get a fine and no points.

 

Yeah

But when he pulled me over, he did say 83 in a 55, and when I got the ticket back, it said 80 in a 55, so I suppose he did give me a break. So I plead not guilty on the ticket, then what do I say in court as to why I plead not guilty?

 

"Your honor, I was just doing it cuz everyone else was..."

Are you serious? That's the WORST thing you could say to a judge.

If you MUST go along those lines, say something about "Everyone else had been going faster and I was afraid I'd be considered a hazard or get rear ended if I maintained the speed limit."

AT THE SAME TIME THOUGH:
Was *EVERYONE* else going 80-85 on that highway, or did you just not want to be in the slow lane? HUGE difference. If you could have been in the slow lane and still been run off the road or possibly hit... then you SHOULD have been going faster to match traffic. If there was a lane where people weren't going 20-30 over the speed limit, they're just gonna say you should have been in that one.
Grab a camcorder, go down the same strip and show them how fast everyone is going in ALL lanes in case the judge isn't familiar with that highway. You can show him/her the situation you were in. Pick the middle lane (or slow if 2 lanes total) and film all the cars that go FLYING past you... the ones that come right up your ___ before swerving into another lane to pass you...

Can't hurt...

At the same time though, all those talking about getting 85s in 40s and crap like that... EASY question for ya, and the obvious one, is WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! You can't EVEN justify being ____ed when you damn near doubled the speed limit... Be happy they didn't get you for reckless, impound your car and make you walk your ___ home... Slow the F___ down! (Not saying you can't go a little over (I do, I'm human) but 40 over?!?!

 

There's an old story about the cop that pulled over a driver for speeding. The driver complained to the cop that all of the traffic was going the same speed as he was . The policeman then asked him 'Have you ever been fishing?'. The driver says, 'Well, yeah...'. The cop replies, 'Did you ever catch 'em all?'

That pretty much sums up your chances of arguing that point in court. Ain't gonna work.

 

InTheWASide - good information, thank you.

So what defense should I hold up in court in the event I plead not guilty?

 

There's a number of potential loopholes, most of them centering around the method used to calculate your speed. Did the cop use radar, and if so when was the unit last certified and/or tested? Are there any known problems with the unit used, and if so how/when did the police department address them? What were the circumstances of your alleged violation, and could the circumstances have led the policeman to pull you over in error (i.e., was it someone else who was speeding)? I can go on and on.

My understanding is that this is the approach most attorneys will use to shed doubt on your charges. It is systematic, and requires time, effort, and expertise.

The rich and powerful can afford this approach, and will often benefit by its use. You, however drive a Scion...(just kidding)