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Fighting speeding ticket?

L

leapingfrog0

Senior member
Hi Guys,

I want to hear your opinions on whether or not you would fight this speeding ticket, given you were in my situation.

Ok, early June I was planning on taking my car into a local car show. The town I was driving to is about 4,500 in size, and they were having a local festival, so it was fairly busy on the roads. For various reasons, I didn't end up entering the show and went home.

So, when I left to go home later that day, I was leaving town on a detour road (the main road into town was under construction, so this road had some traffic). This road has a 30mph speed limit, which switches to 55mph once you get outside the residential area. I wasn't consciously thinking of the speed limit when I left town, but, naturally I sped up because my surroundings were becoming more rural and I'm starting to feel like I'm out of town. All the sudden I see this police car flick on her lights, and pull me over. She clocked me for doing "53 in a 30". I could have sworn the area was 55, so after she stops me, I take a closer look at my surroundings and see that I was stopped RIGHT AFTER the 55mph sign!

Here is my interpretation of what happened:
http://arc.ireed.net/ticket_diag.jpg

As you can see, the incoming traffic has just been told to travel at 30mph, and me, I can (if I would have looked) clearly see the 55mph sign ahead.

Is this ticket worth fighting? It just angers me talking about it, but what are the chances I would actually win in court?

I drive a nice Grand Am GT, chrome rims, etc. (typical cop magnet).... I'm 19... a clean driving record, and from Minnesota, for a little better idea of what I'm up against.

The ticket is $150 some, and a minimum ticket is $110 or so in Minnesota, so it seems only worth fighting if I would get off completely....

Opinions?
 
Your word vs. Police Officers=you lose.

Your word + witness + pictures + you get a decent lawyer=you might win.

Officer misses court and you present a strong case=you win.

Just get your case together and all the info you can. Go to court and present the facts, chances are you can get off for it. HOWEVER, she might just argue she clocked you at 53 in the zone previous, which she may have.
 
I'd go to court, because if you show they usually will reduce the violation to no points, with the same or higher fine (will save money on insurance if you don't get points).

Contrary to what a lot of people will say, the officer that pulled you over does not need to be there.

I would say go for it, but you probably won't leave with the case dismissed, only a reduction in the ticket to a no point infraction like parking on pavement or something.
 
Yeah, she probably did clock me in the 30mph zone, but it was so extremely close the 55mph zone... I'm pretty sure she did clock me in the previous zone, but being so close the proximity of 55mph, is that any sort of excuse? and it feels so rural in the area I was in, given there was some residential area to my left, but to my right, there was a field. I was watching my grandpa drive in the same area the other day, and he did the exact same thing I did! and there are no 30mph speed limit signs to be seen except several blocks back in the more residential area.
 
Originally posted by: leapingfrog0
Yeah, she probably did clock me in the 30mph zone, but it was so extremely close the 55mph zone... I'm pretty sure she did clock me in the previous zone, but being so close the proximity of 55mph, is that any sort of excuse? and it feels so rural in the area I was in, given there was some residential area to my left, but to my right, there was a field. I was watching my grandpa drive in the same area the other day, and he did the exact same thing I did! and there are no 30mph speed limit signs to be seen except several blocks back in the more residential area.
Click to expand...

If she painted your car inside the 30mph zone while you were doing 53 you get a ticket. /thread
 
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: leapingfrog0
Yeah, she probably did clock me in the 30mph zone, but it was so extremely close the 55mph zone... I'm pretty sure she did clock me in the previous zone, but being so close the proximity of 55mph, is that any sort of excuse? and it feels so rural in the area I was in, given there was some residential area to my left, but to my right, there was a field. I was watching my grandpa drive in the same area the other day, and he did the exact same thing I did! and there are no 30mph speed limit signs to be seen except several blocks back in the more residential area.
Click to expand...

If she painted your car inside the 30mph zone while you were doing 53 you get a ticket. /thread
Click to expand...

And just because you can see teh 55MPH speed limit sign does not mean you can do 55MPH. In most places, the sign and speedlimit posted on it apply only after you pass it. So if you're in a 30MPH zone, and you see a 55MPH sign 100 yards ahead, if you do 55MPH and get clocked you will get a ticket.
 
Originally posted by: slick230
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: leapingfrog0
Yeah, she probably did clock me in the 30mph zone, but it was so extremely close the 55mph zone... I'm pretty sure she did clock me in the previous zone, but being so close the proximity of 55mph, is that any sort of excuse? and it feels so rural in the area I was in, given there was some residential area to my left, but to my right, there was a field. I was watching my grandpa drive in the same area the other day, and he did the exact same thing I did! and there are no 30mph speed limit signs to be seen except several blocks back in the more residential area.
Click to expand...

If she painted your car inside the 30mph zone while you were doing 53 you get a ticket. /thread
Click to expand...

And just because you can see teh 55MPH speed limit sign does not mean you can do 55MPH. In most places, the sign and speedlimit posted on it apply only after you pass it. So if you're in a 30MPH zone, and you see a 55MPH sign 100 yards ahead, if you do 55MPH and get clocked you will get a ticket.
Click to expand...

Ya this happened to me to, but I was going 65mph in a 55mph, even though I saw the 65mph sign, I had not passed it yet, so I was speeding.
 
Speed limit changes where the sign is, not one foot earlier.

You were clocked breaking the limit considerably well before the sign.

Best bet is to explain the situation (rural area) and hope for some leinancy. Pleading ignorance of the speed limit and/or stating that you were below the posted limit that you could see will not fly.
 
Try and take it to court, you may not get points on your license and thus your insurance won't go up, or the ticket might just get dropped, win/win situation. Heck, the cop might not even show.
 
I fought tougher cases and won.

You would be a fool not to fight it. Just takes a couple hours of legwork.
 
Originally posted by: Icanoutsmokeany1
Your word vs. Police Officers=you lose.

Your word + witness + pictures + you get a decent lawyer=you might win.

Officer misses court and you present a strong case=you win.

Just get your case together and all the info you can. Go to court and present the facts, chances are you can get off for it. HOWEVER, she might just argue she clocked you at 53 in the zone previous, which she may have.
Click to expand...

you really don't have any experience do you?
 
Chances of you escaping this if you don't fight it: zero.

Chances of you escaping this if you do fight it: unknown, but quite assuredly greater than zero.
 
Ok, fight.

But you gotta fight the right way.

Do a written contest. When you do a written contest, you have to do a report and the cop does a report. Most cops are stupid. Who knows.

The cop gets PAID to go to court with you, which means Officer Joe keeps raking in a paycheck while he waits in line to pwn ur ass in court. However, he doesn't get jack for writing a report. He has to do that on HIS OWN TIME. Guess what? They would gladly show up to court, but whether they write the report or not depends on whether they're lazy or not.

No report? You win. Report is your chance to draw pictures, to make it VERY CLEAR about your situation. You actually have a point here, but when its word against word.... very hard. Use pictures, clear explanations. I think you have a good chance at this one.
 
Fight it. There is a chance the cop will not make it or show up in court. Maybe he has to work all night the night before, or its his day off. Anyway, if he doesnt show, you win!
 
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