Speeding ticket

[roundhouse]

Love the cop bashing threads. My ignore list continues to grow. Most law enforcement agencies are hiring. Until you suit up everyday and spend holidays, birthdays, and weekends away from your families to serve the public no matter if they hate you or support you then you really have no room to talk. Everyone hates us until they need us.
To the OP, most of the citations that are written for speed are negotiated by the solicitor or ADA and usually are reduced if your driving record is clean within the last 7 years. I have never had an issue helping someone out in court over 22 years of doing the job.

So we don’t want to hear anyone complaining about or criticizing politicians unless you run for office and get elected ??

99% of traffic enforcement is strictly for revenue collection
Why else do departments have officers camped out 24/7 with radar guns ? When they could be investigating and solving actual crime ?

 

[joel2000]

Ok...similar situation-
I’m headed into Winder from the 85 interslab on 53
Speed limit 55 I’m running 63,4,5
Get lit up by Barrow counties finest
Cop: Sir, I stopped you for speeding 63 in a 45mph school zone
Me: Officer, that school has been close for years and I honestly didn’t see a 45mph posting. (It was there, covered by growth)
Citation issued.
Court date!!
Judge: what do you have to say for yourself?
Me: Your Honor, I was running 63 but that school zone shouldn’t exist because the school has been closed for years.
Judge: Were you informed by the officer that it is posted at 45mph and is a school zone?
Me: Yes sir.
Judge: 185.00$ fine - 63 in a 45
FACTS: It was posted- I WAS speeding. It was marked as a school zone even though the school had been closed.
I consider that a speed trap even though I was in the wrong based on the posting and my speed.

 

[roundhouse]

To the OP:
Don’t just pay the ticket

Odds are that You will have to pay ,
You’re out the money , your main goal now is to keep the points off your license

Wait a couple of weeks and call the prosecutor / solicitor and ask if they will plead it for no points on your record

If they won’t , then show up on the court date and plead not guilty.

They won’t Try your case on that day , they will make a announcement that you can plead guilty or nolo today but if you wish to plead not guilty , you will have to come back another day in a few weeks
They do this to encourage you to pay up
Don’t pay unless they will promise , in writing , no points on your DL
, come back again ,on the new court date .

Call the solicitor again and ask for a plea agreement , usually a suspended sentence , or something .


If the cop shows up on the new court date , ask for the case to be reset or ask for it to be transferred to state court .

You will not, and can not, get a fair hearing in a court where the cop, and prosecutor, and the judge all work for the city that’s greedily anticipating your money

The cop can’t predict the court date of state court . And there’s much higher odds that he won’t show up and your case will be dismissed .
If the cop does show up and you get found guilty by the judge , at least the greedy city won’t get the money , the state gets it .

 

[roundhouse]

Almost threw up on on him.

Ha
That would be funny

 

[Ken Ford]

Ok...similar situation-
I’m headed into Winder from the 85 interslab on 53
Speed limit 55 I’m running 63,4,5
Get lit up by Barrow counties finest
Cop: Sir, I stopped you for speeding 63 in a 45mph school zone
Me: Officer, that school has been close for years and I honestly didn’t see a 45mph posting. (It was there, covered by growth)
Citation issued.
Court date!!
Judge: what do you have to say for yourself?
Me: Your Honor, I was running 63 but that school zone shouldn’t exist because the school has been closed for years.
Judge: Were you informed by the officer that it is posted at 45mph and is a school zone?
Me: Yes sir.
Judge: 185.00$ fine - 63 in a 45
FACTS: It was posted- I WAS speeding. It was marked as a school zone even though the school had been closed.
I consider that a speed trap even though I was in the wrong based on the posting and my speed.

How long ago was this?

 

[roundhouse]

You need to ask ahead of time ,before the court date , in writing , for the cops dash cam and body cam , to see if there were any construction workers present .

Cops love hanging out in empty construction zones and writing tickets because they get to collect a lot more money in a construction zone

 

[joel2000]

How long ago was this?

2 maybe 3 years

 

[Ken Ford]

To the OP:
Don’t just pay the ticket

Odds are that You will have to pay ,
You’re out the money , your main goal now is to keep the points off your license

Wait a couple of weeks and call the prosecutor / solicitor and ask if they will plead it for no points on your record

If they won’t , then show up on the court date and plead not guilty.

They won’t Try your case one that day , they will make a announcement that you can plead guilty or nolo today but if you wish to plead not guilty , you will have to come back another day in a few weeks
They do this to encourage you to pay up
Don’t pay unless they will promise , in writing , no points on your DL
, come back again ,on the new court date .

Call the solicitor again and ask for a plea agreement , usually a suspended sentence , or something .


If the cop shows up on the new court date , ask for the case to be reset or ask for it to be transferred to state court .

You will not, and can not, get a fair hearing in a court where the cop, and prosecutor, and the judge all work for the city that’s greedily anticipating your money

The cop can’t predict the court date of state court . And there’s much higher odds that he won’t show up and your case will be dismissed .
If the cop does show up and you get found guilty by the judge , at least the greedy city won’t get the money , the state gets it .

This is poor advise, good way to cost you extra in the long runs and in all the delays and such a good chance you will miss a date and a warrant will be issued and that will be much worse.
I have went before the judge and beat SP, County Officers, and City Police, both before and after my time as LEO. In courts in several states. Now that I think of it, it was one of each...

As a young truck driver I had a heavy foot and would get pulled over even if I was just keeping up with traffic. Truck drivers are easy prey because most cops don’t figure we will show up (most don’t bother). I always plead guilty if I was wrong, although I would ask that the charge could be changed to something that didn’t give me points on my license.
Recently I had a motorist hit me because he was on his phone in a construction zone and didn’t see the lane shift left and he went straight into the side of my trailer. Which he admitted to me. By the time the officer showed up he decided that he would say he was just driving along and I changed lanes and struck him. I got the ticket, however I went into court prepared and walked out with the charge dismissed.
Judges do not always take the side of the officer..

 

[Ken Ford]

2 maybe 3 years

2 maybe 3 years

If you have the mind and willingness to to do so you can have this disputed.
If it’s posted as 45 whether it’s a school zone or not you can be charged, but any added penalty for the school zone is not legal. There is case law president on this and the obstructed sign. Although you would have had to have current photos for this so that point is mute.

 

[Ken Ford]

You were unprepared, should have immediately taken photos of the growth-covered 45mph sign along with county documentation that the school was currently an unoccupied building, therefore technically not a school.. and presented that info to the judge.

Exactly, don’t bother going to court if you are not prepared.