Challenging speeding tickets

[rob]

Has anybody here successfully contested a speeding ticket?

 

This morning I pulled out onto a busy arterial from a residential side-street, and before I had even accelerated past 10 mph I saw an officer on the other side of the street, frantically waving down cars.

 

I was concerned, so I turned around, and pulled up next to him. I asked, "what's going on? Were you trying to wave me down, or somebody else?"

 

He said, "Were you coming this way originally, or did you turn around?"

 

I told him I had turned around, and he told me to pull over into an empty parking lot where 3 or 4 other cars were waiting. There, I received a ticket from another officer (not the one who was flagging people down) and he gave me a ticket for doing 36 in a 20.

 

36??! He didn't even know who I was when I first pulled up. How does he know I was the one he hit with his laser if he couldn't even recognize me when I pulled up to him?

 

What a scam. You can't just stand in the middle of the road waving people down and them give them all a ticket for speeding. I had just entered the fucking road!

 

No WAY I'm giving these bastards $201.

 

What do you think my chances are? I'll lose my license and bike/bus everywhere before I pay these fuckers a single dime.

[DPS]

Challenge the ticket. Request that the officer be present at hearing. Tell the judge your story. Oh, and shave and get a hair cut. Good luck.

[rob]

Oh, and shave and get a hair cut.

 

[mkporwit]

What I would like to know is which god you pissed off... there's been an awful lot of crap coming your way recently. This way I'll know to stay on his good side...

[Hugh Conway]

I'm trying to get one in the Office Park. My current record is 80mph between the stoplight and driveway

[denalidave]

Challenge the ticket. Request that the officer be present at hearing. Tell the judge your story. Oh, and shave and get a hair cut. Good luck.

What he said, but be sure to request the officer is there. If you don't request the officer to be there, he/she does not have to show up in court. Chances are good the officer won't even show up and then it will be dismissed altogether. I'm assuming this is in Washington? If not, it may be similar in OR and other states too.

[rob]

Yes, in washington

 

How do I request for the officer to be there? There was nothing like that on the ticket I sent in, contesting the charges.

 

As to God, I don't believe in him. Maybe that's what pissed him off.

Edited September 22, 2008 by rob

[rob]

what happens if the officer who shows up isn't the one who lasered me? The guy who wrote the ticket wasn't the one who was holding the laser gun and flagging people down. Can I be like, "your honor, that's not the right officer."

 

What a crock. They're just trying to make money. THey must assume that most of these people will just pay them without thinking.

[denalidave]

I think it says something about requesting a hearing on the back of the ticket. I'd be sure to get some official request, like registered mail or sumpin.

[denalidave]

Sure sounds BOGUS to me. I just got one a few months ago for doing 69 in a 60, what a bunch of crap! I usually fight every ticket but was to lazy and just rolled over on the last one.

[tvashtarkatena]

Rob,

 

Just walk into the courtroom, rip open your jacket to reveal a belt bristling with cordite, and yell "You wanna piece a this, motherfuckers????!!!!"

 

I guarantee you they'll forget all about the ticket.

[rob]

well, I checked the box contesting the ticket and requesting a hearing. They didn't ask if i wanted the officer there. They were mass-producing so many tickets I doubt they'd even know who to send to court. They didn't even put the time or date on the ticket

 

Honestly, it looked like the ticket was pre-filled and they just wrote my name and address on it

[rob]

Rob,

 

Just walk into the courtroom, rip open your jacket to reveal a belt bristling with cordite, and yell "You wanna piece a this, motherfuckers????!!!!"

 

I guarantee you they'll forget all about the ticket.

 

 

I wonder if my life is coming to that.

 

I'm hoping eveything will start fresh January 1st. I'll be 30 -- a new decade. If I get drunk enough new years eve, think I can purge the evil from my life?

[tvashtarkatena]

Jebus, I've been climbing with a sub-30 year old? I feel so...dirty.

 

Try not drinking on New Year's Eve for a change. I can guarantee that the first 24 hours of the New Year will go much, much better.

 

Nice one, sneaking in a little side post about the new GF, BTW. Oval went well, or is this a new release?

Edited September 22, 2008 by tvashtarkatena

[prole]

Being fully confident in your law-abidingness, you should've kept driving. Turning your car around to ask if he was flagging you down was, in his mind, an unconscious admission of guilt...for something, anything. You will be duly punished.

[denalidave]

well, I checked the box contesting the ticket and requesting a hearing. They didn't ask if i wanted the officer there. They were mass-producing so many tickets I doubt they'd even know who to send to court. They didn't even put the time or date on the ticket

 

Honestly, it looked like the ticket was pre-filled and they just wrote my name and address on it

Pretty sure if there are any errors on the ticket you can get it thrown out as well. Might want to ask one of the lawyer types around here though.

[rob]

Being fully confident in your law-abidingness, you should've kept driving. Turning your car around to ask if he was flagging you down was, in his mind, an unconscious admission of guilt...for something, anything. You will be duly punished.

 

I totally should have kept driving. He was so frantic though, i thought maybe he was in trouble. He had no car or anything and it looked like he was trying to just get ANYONE's attention.

[klenke]

If the date doesn't appear on the citation you may have a case for getting the ticket dismissed altogether.

 

I once got a parking ticket for parking in front of one of those red and white A-frame signs often seen at construction sites. Anyway, the sign itself was confusing and I went to see a magistrate to argue that point. But he threw it out for an entirely different reason: the traffic warden had put the wrong date on the citation. (This was a Seattle parking ticket.)

[prole]

Being fully confident in your law-abidingness, you should've kept driving. Turning your car around to ask if he was flagging you down was, in his mind, an unconscious admission of guilt...for something, anything. You will be duly punished.

 

I totally should have kept driving. He was so frantic though, i thought maybe he was in trouble. He had no car or anything and it looked like he was trying to just get ANYONE's attention.

 

In that case, stopping would seem a good way to get shot.

[builder206]

Many years ago I contested a ticket and asked the court clerk to have the cop present. About a week before the hearing I told a lawyer friend about the matter. She said, given the facts, I would do myself no good having the cop there. (this may not apply to you) Panicked, I called the clerk and told him I changed my mind, I wanted the hearing but the cop did *not* have to be there. On the appointed day, I showed up, the cop didn't...but the paperwork still showed that I had requested the officer. Case dismissed.

[builder206]

Three times when I lived in Texas I used the "going with the flow of traffic" shtick with the arresting officer and was let go each time. That doesn't mean I always got off but I skated plenty.

 

I don't drive fast any more.

[Stefan]

Challenge the ticket.

 

Tell the judge the truth.

 

Officer 3 months ago said I was going 12 over. I disagreed. I told the judge I knew I was going over...but I was going over by 5mph. The judge dropped the ticket from $152 to $75.

 

Stefan

[Stefan]

Oh, and be a little early.

 

Some judges are there doing other stuff with other matters. Since they see you there early, it shows your interest and NOT wasting the court's time.

[pindude]

Challenge the ticket.

 

Tell the judge the truth.

 

Officer 3 months ago said I was going 12 over. I disagreed. I told the judge I knew I was going over...but I was going over by 5mph. The judge dropped the ticket from $152 to $75.

 

Stefan

 

Bullshit. We all know from OJ and other trials, celebrated or otherwise, that you should NOT tell the truth if it will incriminate you. What you received, Stefan, was a standard mitigation. Different than an outright challenge. And it exists on your record. Not good for your insurance rates or for your job if you have to drive, among other things.

 

Rob, if you're going to challenge it, don't admit to anything that will get you a ticket or a fine: you weren't speeding, and you didn't do anything illegally. If successful, you can keep it off your record.

 

A third option is to defer your ticket. If you choose that, a lawyer-type on this board can tell you how. A deferral also keeps the ticket off your record, but only if you don't commit any further traffic offenses during a probationary period of time.

 

My little story. One of my faults is that I'm too truthful at times. I challenged a speeding ticket 3 years ago. Officer said I was doing 35 in a 25 leading up to and rounding the corner within a half-block of my driveway: I knew absolutely that I definitely wasn't over the speed limit just leaving my home. It's also my habit to try to always drive the posted 25-mph residential limit on all the streets between the highway and my home.

 

Once in traffic court, I had to wait for more than 50 folks who were there solely to mitigate their tickets: they admitted guilt, but had the judge reduce the fine. It was at least a couple hours later after all the mitigators were done and before the judge could get to me. I told him what happened, and that I thought the officer was in error.

 

He asked if I could have been going over the speed limit, to which I replied: "I could have been going a single mile or two over the speed limit, but don't think so" at which point he suddenly banged his gavel for the first time since the session began hours before. He proceeded to give me an angry little lecture in which he said one mile or 10 miles over, it was all speeding and I had admitted guilt. He reduced the original fine, but by only a nominal amount and not nearly as much as for the folks who'd mitigated before me. I wanted to say a lot of things but instead kept my mouth shut and walked out red-faced, pissed off as all hell.

 

Moral: If you're going to challenge a ticket, stick to your story that you did absolutely NOTHING wrong.

 

 

[rbw1966]

Oh, and be a little early.

 

Some judges are there doing other stuff with other matters. Since they see you there early, it shows your interest and NOT wasting the court's time.

 

Au contraire. If you are, in fact, guilty and just trying to mitigate your penalty yuo are wasting the court's time. Here in Portland, they've started RAISING fines for those thinking that if they just show up they can reduce the penalty.