PhatboyNYC

I have a traffic hearing tomorrow to fight a speeding ticket I received. The cop says he clocked me doing 50 in a posted 30. First of all, there were no signs posted and from the location he was camped out at (on the sidewalk of a local road), the road bends away from him. So if you're looking from his perspective and looking up the street to where he alleges to have clocked me, there are numerous obstacles in his way such as trees, street signs and not to mention a lot of cars going in both directions. I want to raise the possibility that he pulled over the wrong car.

Here are the pics of the scene:

This picture shows where the cop was located on the sidewalk.

This picture is shot from the cop's perspective. The red dot indicates where I apparently was when he clocked me.

This is an opposite view from my perspective as I'm approaching where the cop is. As you can see, there are no posted speedlimit signs.


I really don't know if questioning the accuracy of the radar gun would be a viable defense because I'm sure the judge has heard it a billion times and might get pissed off at me. I don't want to call the cop a liar, but I wanted to suggest that from where the cop was located and where he supposedly clocked me, he could very well have easily clocked the wrong car. Mind you, I was driving on the outer lane further away from him and there was another car to my right when I was stopped at the traffic light. What do you guys think?

NiiS

that appears to be a residential zone. the prima facie limit in a residential zone is usually 25. the "prime facie" is sort of the implied safe speed that is the mean average speed of traffic taken by a survey crew. your best (and only) option is to check city records to see when the street was last surveyed, anything over 5 yrs(at least in CA) is inadmisable evidence and your ticket and cop loses it's credibility.

M-EJ1

So were you doing 50? I hate to be an ***, but if you were actually doing 50, suck it up and pay the ticket.

Otherwise, fight like hell.

PhatboyNYC

To be totally honest, I don't know how fast I was going. I wasn't driving like a madman or anything and I was going with the flow of traffic as far as I knew.

Allstar

your waiting till the last minute ehh, next time look into some legal help. Some advice from me is to say something along these lines. I'm not sure if there are any stoplights on that road, but I have had this work personally.

Tell the judge that you are positive you where not speeding because you where drving in the far left lane surrounded by traffic, that the road you where on is part of your daily commute to work and you know the speed limit and that you had your cruise control set to the legal speed because you know that the area is a speed trap.

Bring in all those pictures you posted and wear your nicest cloths, good luck.

B16A2

i believe that cops are suppose to get there radar checked or tuned every so often and they keep a log on when the radars are checked and sometimes the radars were not tuned when they should of, therefore resulting in "beating the ticket". this actually happens alot, its just that most people dont fight it i guess.

NiiS

the officer does not check the calibration, the service that the dept. contracts out handles all the maintence for them and the can provide meticulous and detailed records on each check. the days of cops getting "beat" by your defence of inaccurate equipment are over. lots of luck.

win on a technicality, not luck. use their mistakes and arrogance to make the judge dislike the officer for slacking. keep in mind, writing tickets is hisjob and ensuring he does it right is the judges job. if you're correct the judge may just side with you.

Mr. Thunderlips

Is that a school or park? It looks like one of the two. If there's kids in that area at any time, the speed limit is automatically lower. I personally feel that you have enough evidence, and a detailed enough story to at least lower your sentance. That's better than nothing.

PhatboyNYC

My focus isn't to question the speed limit or the accuracy of the radar gun. I just think that from where the cop was in relation to me, I think it's very well possible that he pulled over the wrong car. I actually came to a stop at the red light where he was located and that's when he pulled out and came behind me and told me to pull over once the light turned green. Like I said though, I happened to be on the lane further away from him and there was another car right next to me to my right.

Unfortunately, traffic courts in NYC don't have a prosecutor like other jurisdictions do where you can plea to a lesser fine or penalty. Here, you're either guilty or non-guilty 100%. That being the case, I'm fighting the ticket because I do not want points added to my license. If I could just pay a fine, that's one thing but if I'm going to have to pay a fine and get points on my license, I might as well do it while putting up a fight. It's not like I was speeding or driving wrecklessly in this situation. I'm not questioning the authority or duties of the cop but in this case, I just feel like there's enough room for error. Around here, import cars are often "profiled" and believe me, I've gotten pulled over for some of the most trivial things.

aeolus

Best thing i can tell you that has worked for me alot of time is just prolong the ticket by getting the two extensions,then when you finally go in,plead not guilty,i would say you have a 50/50 chance of the cop showing up.Most cops Won't bother comming if they dont remember your face.Also depends on whether you admited you were going fast.If you did,then the officer may show up .If you in anyway admited or implied you were in a hurry or speeding,then chances are he will be around.Thats why i have learned every time i get pulled over....no matter how fast i was goin....i always say "I was going with the flow of traffic" to the officer. On the radar gun calibration issue,from what i understand,only some police departments have the calibration service done outside.I guess its a bugdet issue with some departments.Do somesearches on the net,im sure youll find some usefull stuff.Good luck!

aeolus

OOPS!.Nevermind.You have court tommorow.Good luck!

Mr. Thunderlips

In CA, if you recieve a moving violation, you can take a traffic school to remove the points. Last time I recieved a ticket on X-Mas eve two years ago, I did it online. The easiest thing I have ever done.

Crazydave

you are F$cked

what do you mean you don't know how fast you are going..
you are operating a lethal weapon
a piece of steel that weighs over 3000 lbs and you weren't Paying Attention!

there are no tricks.... the courts and cops know them..
eat ****.. take traffic school and slow down

p0oty

Even though sometimes it isn't posted, the tests which you should have taken when you got your license should make you 'aware' of certain instances of when the speed limit should be changed. They merely put the signs up for 'good will'. Sounds crappy, but that's the way they handle it.

p0oty

Crazydave,

Simma down!

itzxeo

Word.

VegasVTEC

Yeah, I'm with CrazyD, Pay attention, slow down, save the speed for the track, and definately take it easy in residential areas.

Grimm

don't commit the crime if you can't do the time.
never place a bet if you can't pay the debt
and if you do get caught, or lose.
Stand up nice and tall and and put the crisp money in their hands and walk away.

B96v6

Jesus, you people really like to bust his *****....

I have a suggestion, but you will need to get an extension. The ticket the officer issued should have a date/time recorded and what the conditions were on the road (it is on the tickets here in GA, at least). It should describe whether the road was wet/dry, weather was clear/overcast, any presence of fog, and the density of traffic on the road. Take a camera with a date/time stamp to the area where you received the ticket and take pictures of the traffic around the same time you got pulled over. Take these to court along with the pics you posted and try to show that there were too many other cars on the road for the officer to be able to pick you out of the pack. The idea is to introduce reasonable doubt into the judge's mind.

Radar's effective range is around 1500 feet and laser's range is about 4000 feet (don't quote me on that), so try and show that all these factors combined makes you believe that the officer's evidence is not accurate. Oh, and be adamant about the fact that you were not speeding ("I never drive over the speed limit, sir" or "I learned from my last ticket xx months ago and don't speed anymore, etc.).

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

B96v6

todaCspec

MTF, you fugged!
NYC cops/judges don't go for B.S.
anything you can think of,has already been done there in NYC.
the judge will ask you if you were speeding,what's your defense.then he'll question the officer.it'll be his word against yours.who do you think the judge is going to believe?better go take one of those defensive driving courses.it'll bring down the points.

brasilracing

I understand your arguement as far as the officer tagging another vehicle. I would question the officer on the amount of traffic on the road, where he was positioned etc... Of course, he is going to say there was no traffic and when you came around the corner he had a clear shot at you.

You may also want the radar gun's calibration documents. Before the officer can testify to what he allegedly clocked you at, the officer will have to lay the proper predicate. The proper predicate would be that the radar gun is working properly, if he doesn't then make then respectfully argue before the court that he can't testify to the speed without either pacing the vehicle and/or introducing proper calibration documents.

Just be sure to have an outline of what you want to ask the officer. If you look like you are in order and you know what you are doing, the court will give some deference. Good luck.

PhatboyNYC

Thanks for being one of the only helpful people to respond. Now to respond to the others, first of all, I got a ticket for doing 50mph in a 30. I wasn't racing or driving like a maniac. When I said that I didn't really know how fast I was going, I meant I was going with the flow of traffic and wasn't driving recklessly in any way. I would estimate my speed to be 40 something but I can't say what my exact speed was. Do you guys drive around staring at your speedometer all day to see how fast you're going???

I never questioned the accuracy of the radar gun or the posted speed limit. I just felt that from where I was in location to the cop, there was good reason and possibility that he pulled over the wrong car. Before I went to the hearing, I double checked the ticket and saw that the location where he says he clocked me was actually two intersections further away than I had originally thought. This pic was taken from the next intersection away from what my perspective would be as I'm approaching where the cop was. Now imagine if I went further away to the next intersection. With the bend of the road and all the obstacles (cars, trees, signs) between myself and the cop, it would be highly doubtful that the cop could say without a reasonable doubt that I was the car that he clocked.

Update: Well I just got back from the hearing and guess what? I won! Based on the pictures I showed and my arguments, the judge agreed that it was possible that the cop DID pull over the wrong car. I never called the cop a liar and didn't question the accuracy of the radar gun or anything. So for the people who actually tried to help me out, thanks again. And for the rest of you who seem to have a pole up your ***..

PSU

iTrader: (2)

good job

keep the pedal off the metal

buzlink

Hey sorry I caught this late.
I was going to tell you to take in all those pics and arguing the density of traffic.

Well thats good that you won!


It's cool that you thought all this out too!

Mrfirefox

congrates