when i said "just a little bit of info i found" i should have said someone else wrote it...

sorry for any confusion.

i will try and find that info on the avg. speed though.

hazlo1

camp6ell

hazlo1

camp6ell

might just work work for someone

Why should you trust me? Well, I've been ticketed for over $10 thousand dollars in fines through the later 2 of my 4 years driving. I've paid just under 6grand of that. Not all THAT impressive, I admit, but 4grand is 4grand. On the other hand I was stupid and paid many of these fines before I had a chance to argue them in court. I've never once developed a case, gone in front of a judge to fight a ticket, and lost. My Great Uncle whom I talk to all the time is a retired Sgt. with the St Louis PD. He's worked with Highway Patrol etc. I was a Criminal Justice major before I switched to Computer Science and then Business Administration. And last, 4 years of undefeated victories in Mock Trial and Debate (including State), plus a few little real life court hearings here and there for hell raising as a young kid have all given me a little extra knowledge as to the inner workings of the law.

First off, the most important ticket, speeding. I'll go over that first, as that is what I am most familiar with.

There are several different ways an office can give you a speeding ticket. They will undoubtedly use one of the following methods: Laser or "Lidar", Radar, Pacing, Visual Estimate &/or VASCAR.

We'll start with Radar. How radar works is when the radar device is pointed at your vehicle, it emits a radio waves on a particular frequency (I'll explain how important for you this frequency is later). These radio waves eventually travel to your vehicle, and bounce off, returning to the radar device on a different frequency. In theory, this change in frequency is directly proportional to how fast you are traveling. The radar devide merely calculates this difference, and comes up with an estimated speed. In order for the radar to work properly, it must be pointed DIRECTLY at you. There can be no obstructions in the way ie: other cars, bushes, trees, rocks etc. The device must also be relatively close to you in order to insure that it's reading your speed and not another vehicle's. Radar does not emit an even, narrow, direct beam, but instead is more like a sprinkler or headlight. It is emitted from the device, and spreads out wider and wider over a distance. It's proven that at only one eighth of a mile from the standard unit, a radar beam will be around 4 lanes wide, and sometimes wider. So if your speeding ticket is based on radar, make sure you ask the officer "How far away from me were you when you "clocked" me if you don't mind my asking?" If there was enough space, he could very well have clocked someone in a different lane, or even on the other side of the road.

In addition to all this, radar based speed reading devices have a tendancy to read speeds of bigger objects rather than smaller ones, so if there is some bigger truck near you, he may cause you to get a speeding ticket when you were only traveling the speed limit due to the fact that the radar device read the speed of the truck behind you, but the officer tickets you because you were in front. I've also read in a radar training manual (don't ask how I got it) that sometimes the radar unit can read the speed of blowing dust, branches, rain, leaves etc. So if you were ticketed under these conditions, you might have ample reason to get your ticket dismissed.

Now the how get ammo to fight the pigs. Far too many people think that if they get a radar ticket, thats means: pay, end of story. This couldn't be further from the truth. There are a vast amount of opportunities that will present themselves for you to get out of a radar ticket. First off, there are certain things that are a matter of public record and that you have a right to know and sometimes see. Radar is a VERY sensitive piece of machinery, and as such, it is VERY vulnerable to other variables causing it to be innacurate. If you can raise a reasonable doubt that any of these variables were involved with your ticket, the radar reading becomes inadmisable in court, and your case will have a VERY good chance of being dismissed.

If you get a radar ticket for exceeding a posted speed limit, make sure you find out if there has been a recent traffic and engineering survey taken on that road. Most often, they must be updated every 5 years in order to be valid. What they do is measure the speed of 85% of the traffic, and from this average, is supposed to be the basis of which speed limits are made. Often times, an officer CANNOT use radar for the purpose of ticketing people if there is not an up to date copy of the traffic and engineering survey present with him in court. Remember, the judge and the pig are friends, and they are expecting you not to know your sh!t when you show up in court so often times the judge will not ask the pig for this document, so its up to you to make sure you ask for it if the judge doesn't. In many places, the court will permit you to actually request the data that makes up these surveys, therefore, if your so inclined (like myself) you can often challenge the city's accuracy on the survey itself.

Most of these surveys are conducted using one of those remote radar trailers. I'm sure you've seen them around, they look like little boxes mounted onto a trailer with a little screen that shows you how fast your going. The main pain in the ass is the fact that when most people see these things they slam on their brakes because they think there is a little camera that will take a picture of their liscense plate and ticket them in the mail. This is NOT true. What IS true, is often times a pig will sit a little after one of these and radar people himself. So look around, if there are no cops, GUN IT, as soon as you pass the trailer, or it stops reading you, slam on the brakes and slow back down to the posted speed limit. You'll be doing everyone a favor.

When an officer pulls you over for speeding and he used radar to clock you, you may ask to see the reading on the unit at that time. Usually, it has been my experience that they'll allow me to look at it. If they say no, then I take note of that and will later use it as ammunition against the officer in court.

Many radar based speeding tickets are dismissed every year because the defendant may request any or all the following and does not receive them:
1. The Radar unit's calibration, maintenance, and history records.
2. The officer's certifications for radar training or other things.
3. The tuning fork(s) used to calibrate the radar unit as well as their calibration certificates.
4. The specific radar unit that was used.
5. That agency's FCC license
6. List of models, makes and serial numbers of every radar unit currently in use with that agency.

The things above are a matter of public record, which as most of us know, means that we all have a right to obtain these records to insure that a safe, fair, and truthful trial takes place. You may obtain these records one of a few different ways. The first is you may go to the officer's (who issued you the ticket) specific agency, and ask to speak with someone whom can help you with public records like the Public Records Custodian, or another officer. You give them a detailed list of what exactly it is you want. If they aren't *******s about it, they'll give you pretty much everything you asked for except probably the tuning forks and radar unit itself. They'll probably tell you that the officer will bring these with him to the trial.

If on the other hand, they ARE *******s and refuse you any of this information, you can call the State Attorney General whom is in charge of prosecuting all violations of public records laws. Mark my words, you'll get EXACTLY what you asked for in short order after notifiying the S.A.G. If you really want revenge you can even file a civil lawsuit against that agency for punitive damages.

You can also sobpoena anything reasonable you wish from the court. You may do this by requesting them at the court clerk explaining the things you want. The only catch to this is you need to do it 14days in advance, furthermore you won't get to check out the records until the actual court date, which takes valuable time from the construction of a bulletproof case. Look for any inconsistancies within whatever records you get, these leave the cop very unstable ground to testify upon.

Many times an agency will be sending and reveiving radar units for various reasons constantly. The FCC gives a liscense to the agency for every single radar unit being used, but this isn't automatic. The agency must request these liscenses from the FCC by giving them all the information on the unit, only then can they legally use them. Make sure that the serials and other information on the unit match the FCC liscense list that you look at. Because agencies are getting many new units in from time to time, sometimes they fail to register them with the FCC, which is grounds for immediate dismisal of your ticket, and the agency is in a heap of trouble! =) If it's not liscensed with the FCC, they can't use it against you in court, and when radar can't be used based on a radar ticket, your ticket is history.

In addition to what I've mentioned thusfar, there are a few other things that can be used as ammunition for you in court.

A Radar unit can sometimes read the speed of the patrol car's heater or AC fan.

An inadvertent false reasong can appear on a radar unit if the unit's antenna (which is moveable) is pointed for any period of time at the readout part of the unit.

Neon lights, power transformers, electrical storms, and other sources of harmonic frequencies can all influence radar readings as well.

Radio transmitters and towers are a great source of radar interference. Radar itself is a radio wave, CB radios are notorious for messing with radar speed readings. The fact is, many MANY cars have CB equipped, Police Cruisers included, this means that this error happens quite frequently.

Moving radar which is no different from stationary radar besides the fact that it has to calculate in the speed of the police vehicle into the equation. When an officer accelerates too quickly, this throws off the reading of the radar. Most units are unable to compensate for the sudden increase in ground speed from the officer, and until it does catch up, it will add the increase in the officer's speed to the target...which is usually YOU. When an officer makes this mistake, it is known as "batching". When "batching" occurs, it can cause a very substantial error in the speed reading, and this can in turn lead to an unwarranted citation.

Now onto Laser, or "Lidar"
Lidar stands for LIght Detection And Ranging. It works relatively on the same principal as radar only it uses a laser beam as opposed to a radar beam to detect your speed. A laser beam is however very direct, and will hardly ever give a readout of another vehicle. The narrowness of the beam however can be used to your advantage. For instance, if you drive a black RX-7 or Corvette, you have little to worry about. Since lidar uses light to measure speed, there has to be something to reflect that light in order to give a reading. When you drive a black vehicle with retracting headlights, there is very VERY little targeting area in which the Lidar can be used effectively. The only target now is your front liscense plate (if you even have one), if you do, simply tilt the liscense plate upwards a bit to deflect the straight travel of light, after all, its not illegal to make your vehicle invisible to lidar, as long as the cop can see your plates. If your vehicle deflects or absorbs most or all of the light, then the calculation cannot be completed. So if you drive a dark colored vehicle with retractable headlights and little or no chome etc, you are a VERY hard target. In addition to all this, Lidar involves a number of complex counterparts that mean problems for the officer trying to use it. Because of this, Lidar is not terribly popular with cops. An automotive "bra" is also a good way to help make your car invisible to lidar. Or if you drive a pile of crap and really don't care about areodynamics, you can use carpet...anything that absorbs light. Remember, DEFLECT not REFLECT.

Next is pacing.
I won't spend too long with this because anyone who gets a ticket from being paced, is not paying enough attention to their surroundings. Cops have tried to pace me hundreds of times, never with success. I have studied the headlight, taillight, and turn signal paterns for every known vehicle that my local law enforcement uses, and thus can spot that type of vehicle behind me, in front of me, or to the side of me, even at night. You should at LEAST be familiar with the paterns of Ford headlights, especially those of newer model Crown Victorias. They are pretty easy to spot for a few different reasons. The Amber turn signal area is on the inner part of the headlight pointing towards the grill, they are brighter than any other amber strip I've seen, and they have the scattered LED appearance. It's better to waste a little gas slowing down when you see a pair of lights you think might belong to a cop and then speed back up as soon as he passes you. Better safe than sorry. I slow down quite frequently at night when I'm doing 100-160 in the Supra for false alarms, but I can honestly say I've never once been paced by a Cop and received a ticket. The worst thing that happened was once I was doing like 100, saw a Cop come up quick behind and dropped it down a few gears as not to use my brakes. The cop pulled up along side of me and moved his finger back and forth in a "No-no" motion, and then sped off.

One of only a few attacks you have on pacing is the police cruiser's speedometer calibration records. You might ask the officer "Just out of curiosity, when was the last time your cruiser's speedometer was calibrated?" You will probably want to obtain as much of his vehicle's calibration records as possible. Go about obtaining these the same way I told you earlier with the radar records. You will want to try to establish a history of his speedometer being off by any substantial amount by looking over the service records, etc very very carefully as you would with radar documentation. When you actually do show up to court, never tell the officer you have his records. See if you can catch him contradicting himself or the records, regardless of what your talking about. People seem to think that officers are all angels with halos over their heads that would never in a million years do anything like this. Just like us, cops are people too. Try to use stratedgy and tactics. Often times an officer will not bring these records with him. I've put three different Cops in VERY uncomfortable situations in front of the judge by nagging them about the history of their vehicle's calibration records. Due to the fact that I had not yet "revealed my ace", I was able to force the officers to adlib in a last ditch effort to save credability. After I presented evidence that the officer was in fact mistaken, I had scored even more points with the judge. Remember, although the Judge and officer are on the same side, YOU can impress the judge. First impressions are everything. If you show up to court dressed sharp, with a well developed case and knowledge of the law, you impress the judge. Judges are supposed to be impartial to things like this, but they are just like employers, you impress them, you have a better chance of getting what you want. Its that simple. One last thing about pacing, remember, and officer can just as easily pace you while he is in front of you as he can behind you. Don't think for a second that just because a cop blows by you he is always on call or chasing someone else and its ok to follow.

Next is Visual Estimation
This is just a fancy term cops like to use instead of "guessing". It sounds better, and more technical. If your in court for a speeding ticket and at any point the officer says something along the lines of "I estimated your speed to be ___" you might want to use the following example...you have a chance to make him look REALLY bad in front of the judge yet again. Pick up any object, I usually use a pencil. Take any reference point, your shoulder, top of your head, waist, etc. Ask the officer to watch closely. Drop the pencil and then ask him to estimate the exact speed of the pencil at the moment of impact with the ground. Due to the fact that all object have the same rate of speed while falling, I will include a little chart. All you have to do is measure the distance between your reference point and the ground.

Distance Speed
================================================== ===========
3.5 ft..................................10.2mph
4.0 ft..................................10.9mph
4.5 ft..................................11.6mph
5.0 ft..................................12.2mph
5.5 ft..................................12.8mph
6.0 ft..................................13.4mph
6.5 ft..................................13.9mph

Lets say you dropped your pencil from 5.5ft (which is the height of my shoulder). Lets say the officer estimates the speed to be roughly 15mph. Pretty good guess right? Only about 2mph off! Your screwed now right? WRONG! If you were ticketed for around 60mph, the officer's estimation would have been off by roughly 10MPH! You can adapt the calculations to fit whatever your ticket was. The higher the speed is, the more the officer would have been off by. Just make SURE your math is right, YOU don't want to be the idiot.

The last method of speed estimation is known as VASCAR
VASCAR means Visual Average Speed Computer And Recorder. How it works is an officer will pick a begining and end point on a given road. He measures the distance between those two points, and waits for you to cross his "entry" line. Once you have crossed his entry line, he then waits for you to travel the distance to his "ending" line. After you've gone through the measured distance he quickly calculates your rate of speed based on how long it took for you to travel the given distance. The major problem with this type of estimation is usually the POV or point of view of the officer, due to the fact that he will most likely be trying to stay out of immediate site of commuters, will often have a poor line of site on you. If he mis judges the point where you cross his "entry" line, then the officer starts the time late, or stops it early, then your speed can read far over what you were actually going. Another one of many ways of using VASCAR is a CHiP will fly by you at some extremely high speed, as soon as he flys by you, he begins measuring time and distance. You think he's off on some call for a triple homicide, all the while he is still checking time and distance. A few miles down the highway, he pulls over, and waits for you with his watch still going. You think he's long gone and then WHAM, you cross his line, and he calculates once again, how fast you were going. The problem with this is VASCAR can be VERY innacurate at long distances, and especially because of the problems in the first example I gave you. For these reasons VASCAR has been outlawed in many areas due to the fact that is qualifies as a "speed trap".

Another thing I think is important to talk about is the use of patrol planes or choppers. If you get a ticket based on a reading from a patrol plane my first piece of advice is TAKE IT TO COURT. I don't care if your scared sh!tless of the judge and cops, take it to court. The reason is the patrolman in the air will radio down to an officer with a description of your vehicle, and if the officer on the ground does not get your speed himself, he must rely on the air patrol person. These pilots are very rare. There are not many Cops being certified to fly these planes or choppers and as such they get paid a lot. They rarely show to court. I've only been ticketed based on an aircraft reading once, but due to the fact that both the testimony of the ground cop as well as the air cop are required to hold case aginast you, your chances of having your case dismissed by default double.

Unless the officer on the ground actually obtains his own speed reading on you, all he has to go on is the word of the air patrol man and his discription of your vehicle. Obviously there are a lot of things that can go wrong here. Say you drive a common vehicle like an black pickup, or white Camary, etc they have no way of proving that it was in fact YOU that the air patrol man was targeting. They are unable to read your liscense plate number from those aircraft, so all they have to go on is description. Make sure you point out to the judge the fact that you drive one of the most popular cars in America, if that is in fact the case, popular colors will help as well. It will also help to get the sales figures from your local dealership for every year of your car that uses the same body style. If there are other cars made by different manufacturers on the same chasis or relatively same body style, get them too. From that high up they can rarely tell EXACTLY what model of car your driving, unless its an exotic, and lets face it, none of us drive exotics or we wouldn't give a rat's ass about tickets.

If for whatever reason the hand of God comes down, and both the air patrolman, and the ground officer show up, make sure to politely request to the judge that one leave the court room while the other gives his testimony. This will prevent them from prompting each other and building false facts against you...which happens ALL THE TIME.

Photo Radar...this is one of my FAVORITES.
You want advice now that you've received a photo radar ticket in the mail? Well, step one is...wipe your ass with it, and then throw it away, burn it, flush it, give it to your kid to draw on, whatever. FUK Photo radar. Photo radar is an invasion of our privacy. To make matters even worse, the photo radar units that are setup at intersections aren't even owned by law enforcement...most are owned by PRIVATE companies. They are very complex devices, in very hard to reach places, and they cost a LOT to keep and maintain. Because of this most law enforcement agencies across the country can do nothing more than lease them from private companies.

When you receive a normal ticket from a Cop, there is the little line at the bottom where it says something like "without admiting guilt, I promise to show up to court at the above date, or pay the fine..." When you get a photo radar ticket, you don't sign sh!t. Your not obligated to do sh!t. You didn't sign anything promising a damn thing. Hell, you didn't even know you GOT a ticket. They are not sent out registered mail, that costs too much. They can't prove that you received it either. This type of ticket pisses me off so much. The fact that they use a fuking camera hooked up to a radar unit because the Cops aren't doing their jobs and the county just wants to get it's greedy little hands on more revenue by praying on the idiocy and scare tactics impressed upon it's citizens is an angering thought indeed. The reason you will probably NEVER hear another thing about any of these tickets is there have been MANY law suits against multiple countys across the nation where people have successfully sued them for invasion of privacy, because thats exactly what photo radar is. They know of these law suits and will not press you for fear that you will become angry like the hoards of other people and fight back. Remember, they pray on the naive nature of the few people who are scared into paying the fine.

If for whatever reason you get arrested for one of these tickets, you can easily sue the county or appropriate other for pain and suffering, loss of wages, emotional distress, etc. Being arrested is a very stressful thing. Try to cry, and act deeply wounded that you would ever be arrested (it helps if you have never been arrested before). I don't advocate playing up things just to get money in court, but when a county stoops to the level of using cowardly, privacy invading, and basically WRONG tactics like this, play their own game. Use cheap tactics to fight cheap tactics.

If you so choose to fight your photo radar ticket (and this also works most of the time), make sure to request ANY of the pictures that were taken. They will usuaully not send the pictures along with the citation, they learned better to do that after a man sued the county for invasion of privacy when his spouse and him opened a ticket that had pictures of himself and an unknown female passenger "messing around" in the front seat. The wife split apart from her husband, and the husband sued, and he won, a lot...

Statistics indicate that the vast majority of photo radar pictures are illegible in at least ONE of the following three critical categories.
1. Legible license plate number
2. Make and model of the car identifiable
3. Clearly distinguishable driver.

Number three is usually pretty unclear as most windshields have that dark stripe across the top, people drive with hats on, sun visors down, hands are in the way, head is turned, etc. Even if the driver sort of looks like you (and probably is) you can say "Your honor, I don't know who that is in the driver's seat but I'm 100% sure it isn't me." if you get a reply along the lines of "You mean to tell me thats YOUR car and you don't know who's driving it?" you can reply "exactly...everyone in my family has keys to it, I let my friends use it from time to time, my family members lend it to people on occasion as well for emergencies, or whatnot." I seriously doubt the judge will subpoena everyone in your family, and all your friends, etc. for a speeding ticket.

If you have a truck, leave your tailgate down, you'll get better fuel economy, and it will obstruct your lisence plate. if you live in a state that does not require a front license plate, take it off. I take mine off even though I'm required to have one on for the simple fact that its only a repair violation, and most cops will ignore it anyway. "This is how I got the car officer."

Remember, FUK photo radar. Most of the devices aren't even owned by law enforcement, but are mearly leased from private companies in exchange for a percentage of the cash collected. So, think about it, this is nothing more than a cowardly, somewhat "pu$$yish" means of revenue generation. At no time is public saftey, or to protect anyone for that matter in mind, its ALL about the money. Funny, I seem to remember once seeing on the side of a Cop car "To Protect and to Serve." maybe they should change that "to fuk you over, and invade your privacy...because we need money"

To wrap this all up, I'll just say a few more things. Most Cops will tell you something like "I've heard them all." or something like that. Well let me tell you, I'm a good bullsh!tter, as many of you already know. I can think of stuff spurr of the moment with ease. Let me just give you a brief run down of a few things that have worked for me.

Another time I was in San Luis Obispo on Oconor Way which leads to Cuesta College near Cal Poly. It's a long straight road that goes by farms and ranches and such. There is only one intersecting road, but it's flat land so you can see if there are any cars coming from miles away. Anyway, I was doing a top speed run, so I'm driving up the road, and hit the 145 on an uphill before I have to brake. I slow down, and turn around at the cross street. I head back towards the other way (which is downhill). When I am at around 70mph I see the horrid flashing red and blue some distance behind me. I think quickly...so I turn on my hazzards and start stomping on the brakes and letting off. I keep it floored, pick up speed to about 100, and continue stomping on the brakes. After about twenty seconds I let off the gas and pull over to the side of the road, pop the hood, put on my best "Holly sh!t I almost just died" look on my face, and get out of the car. I walk to the front of the car and pretend to kick it. The Cop finally pulls up behind me, and gets out asking me whats wrong. I explain to him I just put in a new clutch plate and had to move my throttle linkage. I was just doing some 0-60 runs out here where it's safe so I wouldn't put anyone in danger and I wouldn't brake the speed limit. The last time I did it, my throttle linkage got stuck somehow. As soon as I saw you I put on my hazzards to indicate there was a problem. So I started trying to break it loose by stomping on it and the brakes trying "desparately" to slow down. Eventually it unstuck and I slowed down and pulled over immediately. The officer informed me not to kick a car as nice as that, and asked me if I needed help getting a tow truck out there to help tow the car back to my house. I informed him I would be fine, and I would just take surface streets to get back to my house, my huge brakes can easily stop my car as long as I'm only doing 25. I thanked him for his concern, and he waved me off, following close for a little while to make sure I didn't have any further "problems".

Anyway, I'm tired as hell now, and I'm sure no one will even read this far anyway. So tell me how useful you thought it was. Remember, none of this advice is meant to be construed as any sort of legal advice, and I will NOT be held responsible for anything that happens to you as a result of your mis-use of my information. Thats all I am giving you, information.

hazlo1

State/County Municipal Offender Data System

TRAMS_AM

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

I know people who claim to get out of traffic tickets routinely. Things like showing an actual police or firefighter badge probably help.

The last time I was pulled over (while driving) I got out of it...I suspect it was because I pulled over quickly (knew i was speeding) and had all of my paperwork organized. Once he asked for my licence/registration I had it in 10 seconds. I had lost my drivers license at the time, but had a temp. license and pasport to show...I the fact that I went through the trouble to get a temp license helped a lot.

Funny story...I was riding in a friend's car on the NYS throughway in western NY. We passed a cop in the opposite direction going at least 70 in a 55. We saw him brake and pull into a U-turn spot. Since we were driving by an exit and we needed gas we pulled off to fill up (he didn't see us exit).

The rest of the trip we did exactly the speed limit but were pulled over an hour down the road and cited with going 70 in a 55. He claimed to have clocked us?!? Coincidence?!? We were driving a Corrado, so I wonder if it would have been OK had we been driving a civic.

etimmz

More recently, this past Sept 11th, I was leaving my house to go to work. I live way out in BFE Texas, on a little rural country road. It was a narrow gravel road until a short time ago. At the first intersection of another little narrow country road, I pulled up, slightly past the stop sign so I could see the cross traffic, and saw a Texas State Trooper coming on my left. I let him go by, and made my turn. He pulled over, let me pass, and then lit me up. He gave me a written warning for [b]failure to stop at designated location [/b]. WTF? This was out in the middle of nowhere. No lines of any kind on either road, no traffic, at a stop sign that, over the last 24 years, I've been through an estimated 10,000 times with no problems.

I have a feeling that the DPS Trooper wasn't paying full attention to his driving, and the sight of the front of my car (a very short VW Golf), startled him and he did what I wish I could do a dozen times a day.

To top it off, I turned to get in the highway to go the 10 miles into the nearest town, and not only did he tailgate me (at a distance of about 10 feet) the whole way while I did the [i]exact [/i] speed limit, he passed me in a "no passing zone" then droppped back down to the speed limit himself after passing me.

Thanks to the Texas DPS for making me paranoid of every other DPS trooper I see now.

K5ING

SRekauqh

toyotaboy

Sydscraper

Sydscraper

That last one as soon as I saw the car, I just hit my turn signal and pulled over about half a second after he lit me up. Since I was wearing full gear from head to toe, had my motorcycle endorsement, had insurance, and pulled over so quick that he didn't even have to pull his car out, he let me go. His reasoning: "If you pull over that quick, I reckon you're paying due attention and know ya done wrong."

crevans

MagnificentBastard

camp6ell

mytdawg

It's a rumor, but it's been said that he said his "men are there to enforce the law. If you're not writing tickets, your not enforcing the law."

It's probably no surprise we also have Red Light Traffic Camera's at 4 different intersections. I believe Gallatin leads the state of TN with the most. the City of Gallatin population is just over 20,000 people.

The city has collected more than $400,000 in fines.

frank_rizzo

Wow so your the reason I have an underscore in my name..And you're from Nashville too?? Small world.

Anyway.. True story, a friend from Gallatin (small town north of Nashville) got pulled over and was going to be given a ticket for an illegal lane change. Crossing two lanes w/o signaling. Now he knew he only crossed one and that he used his blinker. So when he denied it, the cop huffed and puffed, "I got you on video, you wanna see for yourself?"

He said sure.

They walked over to the cop's car rewound the video. Sure enough my friend was telling the truth, the cop was wrong. He said he turned and smiled at the cop and said have a good day and walked away.

He said he wanted to belt out a "Nelson" Haha, but it was all he could do to keep his mouth quiet for his own good.

frank_rizzo

Trial by declaration has been my friend. It's gotten me out of two citations, and one of them was going to be 2 points (105mph).

TRAMS_AM

Pistonhead75163

kingedwin

Because your not required to have certain college credits now at all. Oh wait...freaking moron.

Sonic84

Sonic84

JayP71

42Fordtrucks

As you discovered, SC's minimum highway speed limit applies even to loaded tractor-trailers in the truck lane. The thinking is that if you can't maintain 40 MPH when everyone else is doing 80, you're not part of traffic, you're an obstacle.

Supergome

I once got a 20 over ticket and a 10 over ticket and a passing a schoolbus ticket (I know, I know but the street was 6 lanes wide and the sun was in my eyes, crest of a hill, blah blah blah, cop didn't want to hear it), all in a 1 year period. First and last 3 tickets I've ever gotten in 20 years of driving. Anyhow, the lawyer got me out of the 10 over and schoolbus and got the 20 over reduced to a lane change without signal. Yes, for $300 I got out of about $1000 in fines and suspension of my license.

This was all in Nassau county, I advise never to drive there. I quit the job I had there after the 3rd ticket, because it was no longer worth the deadly L.I.E. commute!

dolo54

BrianDangerHicks

kungfo

@UDMAN: Indeed, New England is rife with undercover rides. The key to avoiding their wrath is to avoid doing things they consider unsafe. Construction zone speeding is considered unsafe, so avoid that. But if you follow the rules of the road (otherwise), you can zip along unmolested. I was on I-95 a few months ago and cruised past one of those Chargers at 90-95mph, then settled back into the travel lane. Later, traffic was heavier and I slowed to 80, but some dude in an SL55 was weaving through at 85 or so and the Charger zoomed up from behind and pulled him over.

Unmarked rollers are scary as all get-out (I saw a beige Camry with flashing cop lights last week in Boston!) but they don't usually blow their cover unless you are being a potential danger.

Marked cars, on the other hand....ever seen Super Troopers?

R-GTI

I respect cops, they have a dangerous difficult job. Every once in awhile you meet one who really should be doing something else for a living.

JayP71

mikedrawcar

If you have the time (and who does, really?) and want to give the cops something to sweat about, demand that your car be towed to the nearest inspection facility to validate your speedometer and/or inspect the black box inside your vehicle. There's nothing like controlled conditions and empirical data to flesh out the truth. And it's the truth that will - hopefully - set you free.

First, in most jurisdictions, a vehicle's speedo must only be accurate within a certain percentage. Things like tire wear and inflation, wind, tire slippage, etc., all contribute to a speedometer variance. Everyone is allowed a little leeway. How much depends on the state their vehicle is registered in.

Second, even the laser/radar speed guns have some variance to account for, as well. It's not a whole lot, but it's there. Any departure from a perpendicular angle will result in a slower read. Some guns account for this, some don't. Some are better calibrated than others, as well.

Finally, I've only ever been pulled over twice. Once for speeding (I was 19yo and stupidly doing 70 in a 50 in my mother's Tercel - got a verbal warning, probably because it wouldn't go much faster than that, anyway) and once for an equipment violation (front plate was missing - ticketed and repaired). The thing that's kept me out of trouble the most (I suspect) is that I don't drive aggressively. Keep up with the flow of traffic, use signals, and look at everyone as if they want to ram you off the road for the slightest thing.

racermd

deadd0g

Kind of depends on who is watching you, but cops are generally tolerant of a few mph over assuming you're not "suspicious" looking or they're not having a bad day.

I think this depends on the state. I know in Pennsylvania you cannot get a ticket for going 1-4mph over the speed limit (from what I was told by a police friend). I think this is because there are many factors that can make your speedometer +/- 5mph such as wheel/tire size, speedometer sucks, etc.

SRekauqh

mytdawg

mytdawg

NochNicht

lascauxcaveman

TR3-A

DuraAce

I have another friend that's an officer in a SMALL town over my Memphis. During the morning roll-call, he had the chief address him and another new hire and state "You boys are gonna have to start writing more tickets, or I'm gonna have to lay one of your off." But that's more to the "It has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with revenue" argument.

FrankRizzo

Then more than a decade later I get stopped on Thanksgiving holiday. I was only going five over because I had two of my kids in the car. The cop is A PIG! My kids are crying in the back that dad is going to jail. I say I was only going five over the speed limit and he replies you admitted to speeding. The young punk of a cop seemed to get a thrill out of making my kids scared. He gave me a ticket for twelve over. I asked to see the radar because when I saw him I looked down and saw I was only five over. He got very VERY frightening.

Later I told what happened at work and the particle and accelerator physicists I work with told me that since he radared me as he was turning that accounted for the difference. I called him and left a message. He called back a few days later and made it clear that in court he would claim he was not turning from the side street but rather was coming towards me on the same street I was on. I could tell he really wanted to screw me over in court. This guy was simply a corrupt bully. This has bothered me for years now when ever I remember it. I was simply helpless.

mzs

gadgetfanatic

karmavore

Why? I have a Concealed Handgun Permit and here in Texas you have to go thru a background check second only to signing up as a lifer in the CIA. You must always present your CHP along with your drivers license and declare if you have a weapon on you or in the vehicle.

By having a CHP the officer knows you are one of the good guys and that with some basic respect and acknowlegement of my ways have yielded me warnings only.

Adplusone

UDMan

I like the part where the reporter is shown getting into a red Chevy Lumina, and they immediately jump to a shot of a red BMW driving down the street.

Pinkerton

And both times were on Ottawa.

newfmike

FoghornLonghorn

I may be mistaken, but I believe that's how it works.

EMPM, Esq.

In Houston they're severely ramping up on enforcement. It's not at all unusual to see two or three cops in the breakdown lane on the major freeways radar gunning people, whereas two or three months ago, everybody's doing at least 80.
Surface roads are another story though. Most areas are like a no man's land. Anything goes.
And the Metro cops (transit authority cops) all hang out around the dispatch station downtown, that's an excellent place to get a ticket.

workingonyourinvoice

And yeah, GTIs are cop magnets, even on a test drive!!

newfmike

Iron-Balls McGinty

They seem to prefer to be called "officer", not "sir" (specially the chick cops, they hate that).

If you treat them with respect, you are likely to get it back.

If you have a minor infraction and a major infraction, a lot of times they'll give you the ticket for the lesser of the two. That's kept me out of jail once or twice, I'm sure of it.

When they ask "Do you know how fast you were going?" do not respond with "You're the fascist pig, you tell me!"

Don't puke in their back seat, they really hate that.

This advice coming from a guy that once (many, many years ago) got pulled over with no license (suspended), no registration (can't get without license), the wrong plate, intoxicated, with a baggie of goodies in my pocket, and 12 40 ounce bottles of beer in the back seat (still sealed, he checked). And he let me go home. Oh I got tickets and had to do three days in jail eventually. But I went home that night WITH my car and that's got to be some kind of miracle.

mytdawg