I was railroaded...
 

Jan 2nd, I'm driving home from work. I turn left onto a 4 lane divided highway, speed limit 60. I quickly get up to speed and set my cruise control at 67-68. I drive over an hour each way to and from work so I use my cruise control constantly.

I see a State Trooper coming the other direction and tap the brakes out of habit. Trooper U-turns and pulls me over. I'm baffled as to why he would pull me over going 7 over.

Trooper - "What's your hurry?"
Bigs - "Just going home from work"
Trooper - "I got you the first time about a half mile away going over 80, the second time I got you at 74"
Bigs - "No....I had my cruise control on 67-68, there is no way I was going that fast"
Trooper - "You were. Look how far ahead of those other vehicles you were"
Bigs - "What does that have to do with anything?"
Trooper - "You were going that fast, I got turned around and pulled you over before the first car caught up"
Bigs - *Extremely pissed, decides not to argue further* For the record the vehicle next to me as we turned left was a motor home pulling a jeep with several bicycles on the back and had Alabama tags. The vehicle behind me was a lawn care truck full of palm fronds. Both vehicles were slow off the line and served as blockers for the rest of the traffic.
Trooper - "How old is your truck?"
Bigs - "2004"
Trooper - "How many miles on it?"
Bigs - "104,000"
Trooper - "Your speedometer must be off. Get it calibrated."
Bigs - "There is nothing wrong with my speedometer, I would be able to tell if it was 15mph off."
Trooper - *laughs* "Go get your speedometer calibrated"

Trooper goes back to his car, writes me a ticket for 74mph in a 60mph zone....$163.00.

Trooper - "Did you put oversized tires on this truck, that could make your speedometer inaccurate."
Bigs - "No, the tires are the same as they have always been"
Trooper - "Go get your speedometer calibrated, it is off" *smiles real big* "Drive safe"

I drive away thinking I have been violated in some sense. I plan on taking this to court. I have zero experience in traffic court and know that I will lose. My word vs. a Trooper's word, it doesn't take a rocket scientist.... I just feel that I need to stand up for myself, state my case and get it off my chest.

Anybody out there have any advice for me? Am I wasting my time? It was 4:44 in the afternoon and I was driving east so he was facing west into the setting sun, could this affect his radar in any way?

Bigs, I drive a couple hundred miles each day in the Jacksonville area, I have great empathy for your situation. I have no advice to give about fighting this, hopefully others will. I can only say, that it will probably cost you more than $163 to have your day in court (attorney, court fees, time off from work, etc...). That's the way the system is designed. You can hire an attorney who specializes in traffic tickets. I did that once, paid the fine, but got no points on my license.
Good luck

I don't have any advice for actually fighting this in court. But by at least pleading 'not guilty,' you force the trooper who wrote the ticket to show up in court. If he/she doesn't appear the day you contest the ticket, you win. If you plan on making your case in court, get your spedometer checked. you have no case if you can't prove your spedometer is accurate. Good luck. I sympathize with your case, very frustrating-- especially when you feel you can't win.

i've never fought a ticket, but i have never heard that there are extra charges for doing so--i think court costs are included in the cost of the ticket.
as for hiring an attorney, i have never heard of anyone doing so to fight a speeding ticket.

go to court if possible. take along whatever is necessary to show that you had your speedometer checked, and that it was accurate-since it sounds as tho the trooper believes you had your speed set, but that your truck was inaccurate--at least that way you can at least show that IF you were speeding, it was certainly unintentional if in fact your speedometer was off.
he would have to show in court, or the case is thrown out. if he does show up, ask him to prove that his radar was calibrated, as that has to be done every day. my husband went to court to fight a ticket (he won) and a trooper did not have his daily calibration sheet for his gun, all the tix he wrote that day were thrown out.

good luck!

my hubby got a ticket for rolling thru a stop sign. he's going to fight it, as it's his word vs the trooper.
and the price on that is 240--i'd rather he had gotten a speeding ticket.

Was the trooper going the other way? If so did he follow you for a couple of miles before pulling you over or did he do it right away? I have never heard of a trooper going in one direction and clocking people going the other way. Is your record clean? Get your odometer checked and try to fight it. Try explaining to the judge that you do the same routine every night for x amout of years and never have had a problem and you get pulled over by a trooper going in the other direction (if that is the case). If you know any local police officers/troopers ask them about clocking people going in the other direction, it just doesn't sound right. Good Luck.

It's a little too late for this advice but here's the best that I've received. After he told you that you were going 80 you shouldve asked him if his radar was calibrated (they're supposed to do that every single day) and if he says yes, then ask him if he "locked it in" (i.e clocked in how fast you were speeding on his radar), then if he says yes again ask to see it. You gotta be nice about it b/c i guess a lot of cops dont take too kindly to being put on the spot. Its my understanding (havent had the chance to apply it yet!) that if the gun wasnt calibrated or the speed wasnt locked in you can get out of it......you still might be able to apply this in court, but maybe on the calibration b/c the trooper is supposed to do it every morning and keep a log of it.

Show up in court. If he no shows you get out of it and even if he shows chances are if your record is clean he'll be willing to talk and reduce it to parking on pavement or something that just carries a fine.

If you really want to fight this ticket, I would do two things. Have your speedometer checked for accuracy and have the technition give you a written result. If this is in your favor, bring it to court. Try to find some data on how accurate radar guns are from a moving automobile going in the opposite direction. I don't believe he will have an accurate clocking. Lastly depending on the results of these 2 queries, be polite and ask for no points and a reduction of the fine because travel is a major part of your enployment and you don't want to be reprimanded at work.

Next time my advise to you would be to ask for a warning. I have quite a few friends that are PA State Police who tell be if you are less than 20 miles over the speed limit, polite, and ask for a warning you will get one the majority of time.

You need to write everything down about that night before you forget. Dark,raining,foggy all of the weather conditions. Write down what you were wearing, type of road straight or curves. What the Tropper was wearing what he said what you said to him. Lots of times the judge will want to know these things because it shows an attention to detail by you.

Bigs, YOU BETTER go to f'n court and fight that pig. it is BULLSHIT. The one thing is that all this will matter what JUDGE you get. You did admit to 'speeding'. There are multiple things that can go right for you, now keep in mind this is Illinois rules but my guess is that are somewhat the same. You should have asked to see the radar gun as they HAVE to lock it in when they catch you, they also have to show you that it has been recently calibrated.

1) The oinker doesn't show up and you get out, some hate going to court, some love it

2) You plead guity but you will get a fine, and it not go on your record

3) The judge ****s you and you have to pay the $163 plus like $25 for court fees.

4) You can't plead not guilty because you admited it, but I think you can plead no contest. I would ask the people you work with and ask them if they went to traffic court and see what they say

It is worth it to go to court, plus you will be able to state your case

1) You drive the same route every single day using your cruise control at 67 MPH
2) Your clean record (if you don't have one I wouldn't mention this)
3) Going an opposite direction and had the wherewithall to 'radar' me while OTHER cars are around me
4) His assumption that your speedometer needs calibrating or your tires were off, why could he assume that, and if that is the case, doesn't that warrant a warning? How many people KNOW their speedometer is off
5) This is $163 in chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream for your two young daughters

Your ****ing speedometer is fine, the guy was just being a dick

Also, you can probably request the court date without giving a plea.

And for the record
 

I got blazed up by the Illinois state troopers when I was driving home from Carbondale (straight up 57N) like 7 years ago. Trooper was going South and I was coasting north but I was going like 87MPH. he could have ****ed me with reckless driving but he just gave me 73 in a 65. It was pretty hilarious because I saw him take the median (grass) and I knew he was a COMIN.....

could he have pulled you over by mistake?

These TWO YOUTS

Fight the damn thing! If he doesn't show then you win! Just for kicks,though,I'd get the speedometer checked ....if it's correct then it's more ammo for the judge! And the troopers arguement that he could correctly estimate your speed while traveling toward you is ridiculous! Good Luck on this one!

Thanks for all of the advice.

I am getting the speedometer calibrated on Friday. I will let you know how that turns out, although I know it is fine because I went through one of those construction zones yesterday in Georgia and the radar had me within 1mph.

I am heeding the advice here and plan on investigating the type of radar (stalker dual radar No. 90701) that got me and how it performs in both vehicles moving vs cop sitting still etc...

As I told Scavs in a PM, it is not about the money or the points on my license, I am doing it to stand up for myself as the cop (or his equipment) were in the wrong and it's just not fair to me or anyone else he gets in that manner.

No lawyer, I will do it myself. Time away from work is not a problem. Even if I lose, I will aggrivate the **** out of the Trooper that started this.

To be continued....

Power to the BIGS

BIGS for Mayor....

I am available on a console basis

Bigs, a friend of mine who is a former Jacksonville Sherrif's officer told me the radar is only accurate when used in a straight line (either directly in front or behind), which is questionable in this case since he was going in the opposite direction. They are not accurate when used at an angle.

He also said all law enforcement officers have halos around them, so you obviously must be a liar (lest anyone misinterpret, this is a JOKE).

Good luck with whatever you do, but just understand the system is stacked against you, and this is no accident!

I know it is stacked against me, but I couldn't live with myself if I just wrote a check and moved on.

The straight line deal is something I will investigate (measure the median width) he was across a fairly wide median moving towards me.

Like I said earlier, I know I will probably lose, but I am going to aggrivate the cop (at the least, by making him show up) and let the court know that I (and probably a ton of other people) got a raw deal.

Biggs

Here is Maryland "The Home of The Speeding Ticket" quota system a number of double speak terms are used among them is the "calibrated speedometer" which is another way of saying...

"I have you for reckless driving (20 MPH over the speed limit) but I'll just write you for a speedometer malfunction which is a far lesser charge....this line is very very common.

Here in the home of STQS a number of traps are seen on I95 N out of Baltimore where they just line'em up from the trap into and out of the Harbor Tunnel where the speed limit on a highway suddenly is listed as 50MPH when 50 miles of 65 was the norm. It's hysterical that all of the traffic slows to 50 while the out of state plate goes 65-70 only to have Jethro ticket tham for an inoperable speedometer.

If you can get the guy to say in court he got you going the other way your out of this one Biggs but if dude embellishes things abot your screwed...

More speeding tickets are written in January than any other month of the year for some reason....

Just don't get all Scav on the judge, I doubt he will like that.

oh, and don't do like the 'lady' the other day who received a parole revocation order, and signed it 'kiss my ass' and mailed it back. she got contempt added to her punishment...

I'm a former California Highway Patrol Officer and was a court liaison for another law enforcement agency in the past. Obviously, courts vary from state to state so I can't tell you exactly what to do to get off but here are a few things you can do to help your case:

1. Have a written record of the chain of events and all other details about the incident with you (a polite and professional version of your first post in this thread would work ;) ). This will help you to remember all of the details that you want to tell the judge (you will forget key things when you start talking, court can make most people nervous and forgetful). When the Judge asks for your side of the incident, ask him if you can read from your notes and tell him that you would like to submit your notes after you speak as one of your exhibits (i.e.: evidence). In the notes, make sure you document it in the following order:
Describe the day, time, location of the incident and where you were on the roadway.
Note the weather/visibility.
Make mention of other vehicles in front/next to/behind you.
State when you first saw the officer and what you did.
Let the judge know what you did when you were pulled over, where the stop was made at and your behavior when the officer contacted you.
Don't go into a word for word replay of the conversation you had with the officer but note the key points that he told you.

2. Take photos of the area in question showing what the area looked like from your view and also from the officers view. Take these photos during the same time of day as you received your ticket. Take prints that are at least 8"x10" and be prepared to leave them with the Judge. Also, take a photo of your vehicle so the Judge can see that you haven't made any modifications to it.

3. Take the original calibration paperwork you receive from your mechanic and also take copies of any recent maintenance work you have done (this shows that you properly maintain your vehicle).

4. Ask for the Judge to ask the officer for the calibration records for his radar, as well as the officers training and certification for that type of radar. If this is not current, you're golden!

5. If it appears that you're going to lose, politely ask the judge if you can attend traffic school - tell him that would be more beneficial and educational to you than just paying a fine.

6. Always remember to be polite, refer to the judge as "your honor" or "Sir", the cop is "the Deputy (or officer"). Never interrupt and don't speak unless the judge directs you to.

I'm sure there are a few other things that would help you but I can't think of them right now. Good luck - just by appearing in court, being polite, being prepared and organized - you have dramatically increased your chances of not having to pay $163!

Talk about VALUE on this board. I'll be sure to pick your brain DC if I have a run in with your fellas

The best of the advice you've gotten....anymore like this and we'll have to take play on you and establish a line for this event.

Court Date??

Wear professional clothes to court shirt/jacket/tie conservative in taste.
If your record of priors is spotless make sure that is known in your defense..

Thanks DC. I was working on most of that except the photos. That is a nice addition and I can easily pull over and take those photos any day on my way home. I've also been researching the radar he used. Some interesting Law Enforcement message boards out there....

Thanks a bunch.

No court date yet. I tried to call the courthouse yesterday, but the woman couldn't hear me. I am going down there in person on Monday to enter my request for a court date.

You obviously don't get it. I would write the check in a heartbeat if he had actually clocked me accurately.

I will gladly pay the fine for how fast I was actually going. That's all I am hoping for, I don't expect to get it thrown out or walk away scott free.

Why are you tiffing with Sharon? She is drunk 68% of the time.

MUDBUG SUCKS SHARON :)

i think you got dyslexic with that number....;)

If it makes you feel any better, my purse was stolen and now someone is trying to steal my identity. Hurray. :(

Sorry to hear about you getting a ticket, Bigs. No way I'd just pay the ticket. (This is coming from someone who has already been to traffic school 3 times, lol.)

In this state if the officer thought he might be wrong it would be a no show. So I predict a no show.

Good luck.

If you can fake cry...

Ahhh ask for a warning next time
and then have a mental breakdown
if he gives you the ticket anyway.

Consult magma for the procedure
reguarding severe head trauma simulations.

wrong guy. he's the one who commutes the sentences of all the crooks.