I was being tailgated and taunted by a Audi S4 on the interstate during my 2 hour drive back home. Eventually, I got fed up with him so I sped up and merged quickly onto the right lane as soon as I could to let him passed. And no we weren't racing. Heck, I don't normally drive fast either. This is my first ticket in 10 years and I've only received ONE since.

Unfortunately, right as I merged and began to slow down, I got pulled over for going 96mph in a 65mph. I explained to the cop the situation and he even admitted that the car behind me was going just as fast as I was, but his reason was that he could only pull over one car at a time.
Blah. My guess is because I drive an Integra with 17" rims and a Type R spoiler.
If it had been daytime, I would have spotted him but it was pitch black nighttime.

The ticket costs me $195.00!! The money sucks, but what is worse is the feeling or mental image I get of the driver in the S4 laughing his way off seeing that I got caught while he got free. I think I'm going to be sick. I thought cops can and do pull over 2 cars if they want to right?

I know this is not a tech post, but I needed to vent out my frustration.

 

go to court and plead guilty, but explain the situation... maybe you can get it reduced to a lesser charge, or possibly even dismissed.


[Modified by PatrickGSR94, 12:41 AM 11/4/2002]

 

Talk to the D.A. before you go into court. Tell him/her what was happening and why you did what you did.
A similar situation happened to me. I told the D.A. what happened (I was going70 in a 35.. yuck) and she dropped it to "Allowing a minor to operate a motor vehicle."
Still a 2 point ticket, but NOT a speeding ticket, way lower fine, and no insurance rate hike!

Best of luck to you!

 

are people actually successful in the court? i was told that usually its your word against the officer who gave you the ticket and usually, the court finds in favor of the cop.

and even if you do win, i hear you still have to pay court charges?

i would like to go to court but unfortunately, i have to make an hour drive. since speeding tickets are revenue, i highly doubt they will give me a break.

 

well let me tell you what just happened to me:

I'm from Memphis but go to school 2.5 hrs away. One weekend in Memphis I got busted for racing my friend's S2000 (yes I was a dumb@$$ for street racing, very unlike me to do that). Well the cop could have given me wreckless driving, which would have been a huge fine and probably suspended license. Well he decided to cut me a break and decided to give me "failure to maintain safe lookout and control."

So I call to see how much it is if I wanted to just pay it, it was $156.50, plus points on the license and no doubt another insurance hike (just had it hiked I guess because of #1 stolen car status). Well I was considering paying it and taking the consequences so I would not have to make the 2.5 hr. drive from school back to Memphis to go to court and miss class and all that stuff.

Well my friend who has been to court many times, strongly suggested I go to court. He said I should plead not guilty but I was afraid of them going in favor of the cop and me getting slapped with an even higher fine (not sure if that would have happened or not). So I decided to go to court and plead guilty and hope to get the fine reduced and maybe not go on my record.

So I missed class, drove to Memphis, and went to court. Turns out I was the only case that showed up, out of only 2 or 3 on the docket. The judge wasn't even in the room. The officer in the courtroom looked at the charge on the ticket and asked me if there was a wreck. I said no. He looked at the ticket funny, and wondered why the cop put down "failure to maintain safe lookout and control." He said usually that's for when a wreck happens. He asked what I had done and I said I was racing. He was like "Oh really... guilty or not guilty" (keep in mind this is still just the officer in the courtroom standing directly in front of me). I said guilty. He asked me if there was almost a wreck, to which I said no.

He looked at the ticket again and said "well I don't understand this ticket, so we're just gonna dismiss it and you can be on your way with court costs" SCORE!!!! By going to court I got out of the ticket completely with only $30 to pay in court costs. This is why I say you should go to court, it could definitely be in your benefit.

 

yeah man u should go to court..i got a ticket because my insurance was out of date...lol forgot to put the new insurance in the car...i wasnt speeding or anything...(maybe pulled me over cuz of my car..looked all modify and crap)anywhoo i went to court and the officer didnt show up..lol so my charge was dismiss and i didnt pay any court fees...this guy was drivin 90 in a 35 and his charge was dropped cuz the same officer didnt show up for him...lolz lucky bastard too..good luck to u in court

 

Here in NYC I went with my lil cuz (who got caught buying fireworks) a few years ago to court. This dude brought in a lawyer, the lawyer was excellent........kid was speeding to avoid a truck rear-ending him. The lawyer brought a board with drawings, little matchbox cars, I mean the works. The judge ruled GUILTY. Later on that day I saw the lawyer and the cop who issued the ticket sitting in a diner eating. go figure............

 

the only hope going to court is that the cop who gave you the ticket is busy doing some more important shtzz and miss the court day.

in court it is your word againts theirs. and cops lied in court, they all lied together to back up their story.
I had to fight for a ticket for running a stop sign last week. there were two cop cars involved. basically, the cop who gave me the ticket wrote down the wrong street name in the disclosure form. The other thing was that on his disclosure, he describe the situation wrong. and the other cop knows that. but the sworn to the book and lied.
basically, the cop gave the ticket out and made up a story what happen that day, and where he was, and how fast the car ran the stop sign.

it ended up the DA ask the judge to reduce the fine to minimium and no record for this ticket. the ticket went from $145 to $60 plus $15 court charge.
$145 was the max fine for running a stop sign.

 

Thanks for the support. I will probably go to court afterall. Some of my friends suggested the same thing while others laughed by saying there's no way I'd win since I was going 96mph regardless of the situation.

It is an hour drive, but probably worth it to save from paying the full fine. At least I'm given the chance to explain the situation and hopefully they will dismiss or lessen the charge.

I wasn't even aware of the point system until I got this ticket. Again, this is my 2nd ticket ever. The first one was 9 years ago for going 35mph in a 25mph zone.

 

Is this true or not? I DON'T BELIEVE IT but my friend told me that if you get a ticket just plead guilty or no contest and then mail ur ticket in with the appropriate payment in addition to like $5.00 above what your fine is. Then the court takes ur payment and then sends u a check for what u overpaid...But the catch is to NOT cash the check they send you, ever....He said the courts can't put in the system until "all financial obligations have been taken care of."

And without it in the "system" insurance will never know.

Just something i heard, have ya'll heard of this...i haven't but it sounded interesting.

 

someone i know did that but it didnt work from what he told me

 

I really wish I would have know this, I recently got pulled over for the same type of incident. I didn't fare so well, 88 in a 40!! Willow Park PD. I explained the situation and have to now pay a $200 fine. I guess it could of be worse.

P.S. there was three of them and they got him too!

 

you guys got it good here florida if your doing more than 30 over its like 300 bucks. i was doing 15 over and had to pay 150.

 

This is folklore or Urban legend......however, in dallas, just write a hot-check for your ticket and theyll never pursue it, and they post the ticket as paid as soon as they get the check. they dont have enough manpower to process the hotchecks, and dont have enough money to hire manpower, what a twisted Circle.

anyways, have fun writing hotchecks.