Yesterday- 1030 in the morning- clear skies- light traffic- I got a ticket for 58 in a 45 on a 4 lane state highway. The cop that pulls me over is a sergeant, based on his stripes, and a veteran officer, based on his 5 hash marks on his lower sleeve, and a detective, because his badge says he is. My problem is this: I think he should be out solving crimes, not generating revenue 125.00 at a time. There is no reason to give out tickets like this instead of, say, running this radar trap at night so you can catch a drunk driver. Since he is so bored, I plan to take it court and fight it. (I have a clean record and don't care whether I take defensive driving, pay it or get off at this point.) Why would a highly skilled veteran officer be messing with the revenue generation end? Surely only regular patrol officers have quotas. I am sick and tired of this kind of "police work"! Is there any reason I shouldnt waste his time by going to court? Am I wrong here?
Going 58 in a 45, I don't think you stand much chance fighting it. You were in the wrong and I don't expect the judge to have much mercy on you.
I can always play the 'prove the radar gun was calibrated today' or 'prove the speed was mine' game... like I said I don't care if I get off. It's the waste of resources by having this guy hiding in the bushes I don't like.
You never know he might not show up for court. If he does you could ask for a continuance, as you haven't had a chance to prepare properly. Then hope he doesn't show up to the next one. That's how the good attorneys up here get them dismissed.
Yup-you were wrong. If you were doing 5-8 over, I might agree with you a bit=he should be out there arresting those rapists and murderers. That said I generally get one like that about every 5 years-and I'm about due!!
He probably didn't like giving the ticket as much as you didn't like recieving it. Typically, veteran officers do not like to write tickets. But you were way over the limit, and he couldn't ignore you. If you make him show up at court, then you really have taken him out of public service for a day. I get a bunch of tickets, and some are speed traps, but I get them because I am going over the legal limit. I can't get mad at them for that. Good ole defensive driving on line can fix you up.
In NJ, most plead not guilty, then plea bargain down to a no point ticket with a hefty fine in court. No points for the driver, good intake of revenue for the municipality, so "everyone wins".
Take it to court! A week before,get a continuance. If he shows , ask him if he swore and signed the Oath of Office,which he did(Public official,Constitutional), ask him who he works for,which will be "City of..","town of..","County of..",etc. Ask the "judge"(administrator) the same. Ask the administrator who owns the court building. Ask if you can get a "fair " trial. Most judges will respond with "You get a fair trial in MY courtroom!" this next question will really get the judge. Ask if you can get a fair trial if there is a "conflict of interest". See? You cannot get a fair trial at all. The cop works for "the State". The judge works for "the State". And the court building is owned by "the State". It's all biased for the State. And it's all about revenue for the state corporation. And that's what the State of,County of, City of is all about. They are all operating as fictitious corporate entities under the guise of "law". Plus , you are presumed guilty by them no matter what,unless you can prove otherwise. That's how military jurisdiction courts work. Prior to 1938, you were innocent until proven guilty but the Supreme Court made a ruling that changed all that. Now it is basically international law under the Constitution misapplied for the gain of the government. BTW, lawyers and attornies are considered "officers of the court". Learn the Constitution and Know Rights or NO RIGHTS.:laugh: Why let them rob you. Highway robbery.
Hey, it's not like he was going 90 and driving wreckless to endanger. It's a frigging glorified extortion racket. Why be a victim of it? You people give up too easy. Making a low speed limit on a 4 lane road is a setup. Wonder how often those same hipocrate cops go exactly the speed limit there? If I am going along reasonable minding my own business ,not hurting anybody and a code enforcer gets me, I will bust his chops and see them in court just for the pricipal of it. I have done this the last 4 times over a period of 6 years and beat all 4 . They get enough frigging money from taxes and the feds. You guys do what you want,I'll look out for myself.:bglasses:
Maybe I'm old fashion, but if you brake the law you be a man and own up to it and pay up. You are doing nearly 1/3 again the posted speed limit and know you are wrong. If anything you typically feel bad about doing something dumb like that instead of trying to fight it when you know you are in the wrong. I don't see where you would want to mess around. You are going to miss work. If you try the delay tactic and they buy into it you are going to miss work at least a couple times. That's something else that I don't like to do.
Let's convert that into KM/H: You were doing 93 KM/H where you were allowed to drive 72 KM/H That's 19 KM over the limit. In the Netherlands you already get a 25 Euro / 35 US$ ticket when you are doing 4 KM over the limit. 4 KM = 2.48 MPH over the limit. 19 KM over the limit will cost you 126.00 / 178.50 US$ But we don't have a points system :TU:
I totally agree with junkman. Take it to court, Frank. Never plead guilty, make the state prove their case before a judge. You are innocent until then.
I have wondered if he was being punished for something. Not an issue in this case... I have 0 points now. The limit is artificially low in this instance (IMO, anyway).
I too have run into speed limits that I thought were unreasonably low. On one occasion I said so to a lady Mass. State Trooper who had stopped me. She was decent about it and gave me a warning. She also pointed out (correctly) that unreasonably low limits are another issue altogether. In most cases the police do not set the limits. Massachusetts is not overly aggressive on enforcing speed limits when compared to some other states; 30% over the speed limit will still get you busted every time. Write a carefully-composed letter to the local paper about the low speed limit if you feel strongly about it. Perhaps another to the DMV or whatever department sets the limits. You are still guilty, though. Do what ya gotta. I'd pay the fine and move on.
I know there are alot of overtime grants paid for by DOT to target speeders and seat belts. The detective was probably on at overtime traffic enforcement detail. As far as court goes, that is your right. Remember this, if you are taking it to court to punish the officer, he is probably getting paid OT to be in court. I work mids right now, so any court appearance for me is overtime.
