Hello legal people. I was hoping I could ask a question here. Yesterday, I jumped onto the freeway about 10:00 p.m.. Now I WAS gaining speed, but before I even got to the next exit, a cop who entered the freeway right behind me pulled me over!
There were actually two squad cars driving around in tandem pulling me over. When I got to talk to him, he was busting me for SPEED. I have NEVER experienced this in LA! He claims I had to be going over 80 and the speed was 65 mph. JESUS! I was still being PASSED by the rest of the cars on the road! EVERYONE was doing 80! It's LA!
Do I have ANY hope of fighting this? Before I even got going on the freeway again, the tandem squad cars had pulled over someone else. My guess is the citation writing cop was a rookie either being punished and was told to go out & gather revenue, or he was training.
This was such a waste of everyone's time short of the revenue he gathered. What are my best options?
DP
Was it radar he used to clock you? If so, you have to check the calibration of the radar gun/device. If not, he has to clcock you for a certain distance. What's the distance from the on ramp to where the sirens went on?
Go to court and fight the ticket. You stand a good chance of him not showing up and you getting off without any questions asked.
Prepare yourself when you by reading up on all the "fight you ticket" websites.
You should not take it lightly, especially in LA.
Doesn't matter what everyone else on the road was doing. If you were speeding, he can cite you.
My advice is, fight the ticket, even if you're guilty as hell. See this link:
http://www.ticketassassin.com/fight.html
I am NOT affiliated with this site in any way... but after I won two tickets in a row, I sent them the shareware $$$ they ask for. You can fight your ticket and not even go to court!!
FIGHT IT!
It depends on how much effort you want to put into this.
I too, live in LA, and fines for speeding for LAPD at least are in my mind obscene.
In my opinion, if time is at a premium, and you dont have the time or inclination to fight this, do what I did.
Go to traffic School. The only problem is that you still end up paying the fine along with the fee for traffic school (you can even register,, and complete and file proof of completion via the internet.)That way at least the incident wont show up on your DMV, and your insurance company wont have a field day
Good Luck
Time at a premium?? If you can't spend two hours fighting it, how can you justify the hours required by traffic school?
Check out the site... has form letters you can send em... you can fight a ticket entirely by mail! Never have to go to court!
I fought and won a $291 ticket and a $442 ticket. I saved $733 for the cost of two stamps, total of two hours, and $15 to the site (it's a voluntary payment thing).
So: $733.00 minus $15.74 (fee plus two stamps)= $717.26. Divided by two hours, this is $358.63 per hour. I know I don't make that much, so I considered it working for more money. AND, if I lost, I'm only out the additional $15.74 and at least I had a chance! I called the North Orange County Traffic Court: in no way does fighting your ticket make you ineligible for traffic school.
Truth is, I never knew how easy it is to contest a traffic citation before I found this site. It makes it worth it just knowing you won't have to appear in court.
-- Modified on 3/17/2003 6:49:35 AM
If you choose to go to Traffic School, I strongly suggest you take a course through the internet. There are a number of sites that offer a course for only $24.95. You should be able to complete the course in only ninety minutes or so versus eight hours in a Traffic School class.
As for fighting the ticket, if you remember what the officer who cited you looks like, I suggest you appear in court and see if he shows up. If he does not, the ticket will be dismissed. If the officer is present, and you have not attended Traffic School during the past 18 months, you should at that point request it. Do not wait until your case is called because if you do, the judge may not give you the Traffic School option.
As for fighting the ticket on the merits, you can do so, but it will cost you much more than the potential fine and if you lose, you will probably have to pay additional costs for taking up the court's time.
Absulutely wrong. It's unbelieveable how many people are misinformed on this topic.
THe best option is not to appear in court, but to fight the ticket by written declaration. Even if you lose that, you can still appear in a trial de novo.
Losing a contested ticket does NOT cost you more nor does it make you ineligible for traffic school.
I am DEFINITELY going to fight it. I'll keep you informed. By the way, for how long DOES a cop have to follow you for his visual assessment of your speed to be acceptable?
To everyone who responded, or is going to yet respond,
Thanx. Truly.
DP
A cop is trained to be able to tell instantly almost whether or not you were exceeding the posted speed limits. They will not quibble about the actual speed unless it was close to 100.
If he does admit to trailing you, then he opens up himself to all the possible questions about unmistakenly accusing you by your cars color, etc.
He could also have had radar or lidar, in which case a whole lot of different questions could be asked.
It is difficult if you end up not being able to show that there is question about his judgement. Remember it is not about you being guilty, it is about him being able to swear that you committed the infraction. Make sure you take photos and have diagrams prepared just like he will.
Good luck.
Ditch Pig, do me.