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Just got a speeding ticket in SoCal. Need advice.

H

Heifetz

Golden Member
I was coming home from my GF's place around 10:30pm. Going down on 57 S coming up towards 57 and 60 junction. I was making lane changes to get on the rightmost lane to stay on the 57. Another car was coming up behind me really fast as I was making the lane change. I was keeping my eye on the rear, and as soon as my car changed into the rightmost lane, I noticed that the car slowed down considerably, and I was wondering why. The next thing I knew, I saw a motorcycle change into my lane, right behind my car, and then the flashes went on. I pulled over, and the CHP asked for my license, and I was trying to talk to him, but he just took it and went back, immediately writing up a speeding ticket. When he came back, I asked him why I was given a ticket, and tried to talk out of a ticket, but to no avail, I was given a speeding ticket for 80mph, in a 65mph CONSTRUCTION zone!

I was so pissed, first of all to get a ticket for going 80mph, and second, to get a ticket at 10:30pm when there were no cars on the freeway, and everyone was going above 65. And it was plain obvious that the CHP was determined to give a ticket, since he didn't even let me say anything before writing up the ticket.

Anyways, I have no points on record, but I'm a college student and I'm going back to school next week to NYC. My insurance is under my parents, and they just add me whenever I come back and need to drive. Anyone have experience in these things and can advise me on what to do, and how to take care of this whole situation?

How much will the ticket be? Going 15mph above the speed limit, and plus the construction zone.

The court date is set in Febuary, of course I'll be at school, and can't come back to attend it.

God, I'm so pissed right now. CHP officers should just shoot themselves in the a$$.

Heifetz
 
So you endanger the lives of other people, and your OWN life, and you blame the CHP for that??

That is not cool dude.

I used to be like you -- I had my share of tickets, and never thought I deserved them. But now that I grew a brain, I realized that I endangered my life as well as others just to save a few minutes off my commute time. Not worth it.

The CHP is only doing his job.

Now that I got that off my chest...........

If this is your first ticket, you can just plead No Contest. You'll pay the fine and court charges. But then u can take traffic school and it won't be on your insurance record. You can take traffic school every 18 months.

I don't really know how much the ticket will be, but since it's in a construction zone, your fine will probably be doubled.

You can postpone the date of your court appearance. If you are in school at NYC, then contact the court about that fact, and they'll give u a new court date.

Me, I've never fought a ticket -- I just accept responsibility for my own stupid actions.

However, a lot of people say to fight it.

It's really up to you.

Good luck, and drive safely from now on -- the few minutes you save driving isn't worth your life.
 
Ummm...well welcome to S. Cal and its odd CHP. First off... your fine is doubled... and since you're not over 20mph the speed limit you should be fine. ive gotten a ticket on the 60 before...86 on a 65... it came out to $130... so im guessing yours should be around $250+. just pay the ticket and go to traffic school... then its off your record. 🙂
 
atleast your werent doing what my brother did. he got a 121 in a 60 on I5 in washington state...plus he was changing lanes so they were trying to get him for reckless something or other.
this undercover cop in a volvo is what clocked him. he passed it, and was speedin down the road...saw some cop cars a few miles up ahead so he slowed down to 60 but when he passed them they still pulled him over... a few minutes later the undercover volvo finally pulled up.
His was dropped from reckless to negligent driving. Had to spend $50 on a drivers safety course and he got a $200 fine.
 


<< atleast your werent doing what my brother did. he got a 121 in a 60 on I5 in washington state...plus he was changing lanes so they were trying to get him for reckless something or other.
this undercover cop in a volvo is what clocked him. he passed it, and was speedin down the road...saw some cop cars a few miles up ahead so he slowed down to 60 but when he passed them they still pulled him over... a few minutes later the undercover volvo finally pulled up.
His was dropped from reckless to negligent driving. Had to spend $50 on a drivers safety course and he got a $200 fine. >>



wow...he would've been arrested down here.
 
Sorry to hear that... I've had plenty of run-ins with the CHP. They're instructed to write ticket first, answer questions second for "safety purposes" Then after they write the ticket and come back to your car, you can forget about explaining your way out of it because it is illegal for them to start to write a ticket and then discard it. I've faced this situation many times and now, I just play along with their cowardly routine

So then you go to court and the judge will take the side of the chp no matter what you say. The validity and reasonability of your argument (and the mere fact that you showed up to court) may reduce the fine up from $30 to $100. If you really wish to get out of paying that expensive ticket (my guess is it will be at least $270), you can ask the judge if you can do community service in lieu of paying. I recommend this... I'd rather give back to the community than pay money out of my own pocket to unscrupulous CHP officers 🙂

So... the judge will assign you anywhere from 8 to 16 hours of community service and you go down the hall from the court room to the community service liason center where you have to pay "application fees" and "certificate fees" totalling anywhere from $20 to $40 and they will assign you some community service. Yes, they still charge you to do community service! BTW, unless they're jerks, you can think of your own community service project and they will approve it (ex I helped out at my Church's volunteer projects)

Of course there's traffic school which can only be taken once every 18 months.
 
There are more lawyers per-capita in California than anywhere in the US. You'll be able to find plenty there who specialize in traffic infractions, look for one who once worked on the other side - prosecuting people for traffic infractions. Considering the added expense in insurance costs that being convicted of speeding would incur, I suggest you contact one.

You may end up paying the lawyer $300, but if he gets you off on a technicality or can keep points off your license by bargaining with the judge, it'll be worth it in the long run.
 
Not so sure about a lawyer... in my vast experience with traffic court 🙂 I've seen people bring in lawyers and they didn't do any better than I did. If you broke the law, the judge will fine you. Its really a matter of how much you can get your fine reduced. I don't think I've ever seen anyone win and get away with paying nothing. (unless the cop doesn't show up)

 


<< Not so sure about a lawyer... in my vast experience with traffic court 🙂 I've seen people bring in lawyers and they didn't do any better than I did. If you broke the law, the judge will fine you. Its really a matter of how much you can get your fine reduced. I don't think I've ever seen anyone win and get away with paying nothing. (unless the cop doesn't show up) >>



Do the cops always show up?

-biglaw11
 
Thanks for all the information guys. Does anyone know if the ticketassassin trial by mail is legitimate? That seems the best choice right now for me, since I won't be able to go to the trial. Otherwise, I have to delay the court date.
 


<< I was so pissed, first of all to get a ticket for going 80mph, and second, to get a ticket at 10:30pm when there were no cars on the freeway, and everyone was going above 65. >>



If you're not aware that going 80 in a 65 zone no matter what time it is or how many cars on the road is speeding, you shouldn't even be driving a car.

 


<<

<< Not so sure about a lawyer... in my vast experience with traffic court 🙂 I've seen people bring in lawyers and they didn't do any better than I did. If you broke the law, the judge will fine you. Its really a matter of how much you can get your fine reduced. I don't think I've ever seen anyone win and get away with paying nothing. (unless the cop doesn't show up) >>



Do the cops always show up?

-biglaw11 >>



Depends on the county. I think some counties make it mandatory for their cops... others don't. So in a particular county, either all the cops show up or only half of them do. This is what I noticed at least
 
i got an 80 in 65 on the grapevine a few months ago. fine was $77. traffic school permission was $29. i haven't registered for traffic school yet so don't know how much.

i'll agree that I was speeding, but I know I wasn't doing 80. My speedo is spot on and the cruise was set to 75. I was on one of the flat portions on top, so hill velocity increase didn't apply. the real burner was that it was friday night and tons of traffic was headed into the city, 4 lane road. i'm in the 2nd slow lane, getting passed by everything but the trucks. idiot chp pulls me over and I'm like - dude is my taillight burnt out? i couldn't believe it! i think at night they just pick a car they can reidentify - i had a white convertible with the top down - sticks out like a sore thumb. i woulda gone to court, but it isn't worth the hassle to drive 5 hrs each way for $100. the super burner is that not 30 seconds before passing the cop, two cars pass me in the fast lane doing at least 90.

oh well, enough of that.

bummer. too bad about the construction zone.
 
One night i was going home with my friend and he was going like 40 over the limit , he didnt have his liscense and his car wasnt insured yet as he bought it used a few days before. The cop just let him off and told him to get where ever hes going soon and to never let this happen again. I was amazed at this but releaved at the same time for my friend. I used to think all cops were aholes but i guess some arent all that bad.......
 
i hate you mama's boys that think 80mph is fast and endangering ppl's live..pfft.. face it... writing speeding tickets is how the county makes money.. why do you think they have speed traps around construction zone? because it's DOUBLE. easy money.. screw them.. keep delaying your court date. they will make you pay the bail first though. after that, you can delay it another 3 times for 30 days each for the arraignment. by now it's been about 4 months and you should try to set a court date for your spring break. then plead guilty (you will get ass rammed regardless, so try to lessen the fine).. tell the judge that you are a college student and can't really afford the fine and you are sorry and kiss everyone's ass. hopefully he will lower the fine because you are looking at about $400. then ask for traffic school to erase the violation from your record. THEN GET A RADAR DETECTOR. i'm not gona tell you to slow down because you wont, but take the necessary steps to cover your ass. those damn bike cops are sneaky though
 
Ok lets talk tickets. Here is the deal on yours. Since you were doing 80 in a 65 you were givena ticket for exceeding the maximum speed limit which is not the same as unsafe speed. The thing about unsafe speed is they are easier to get out of because you can leagally speed if you can prove the speed was not unsafe at the time you were doing it. The way you prove it was safe is the officer has to prove that you were endagering the life of pedestrians at the time you were doing that speed. If he cant prove that you win. But you were on the freeway exceeding the maximum speed so you have a harder time proving your in the right. Now thats not to say you cant win but there are more things you need to prove, like how the cop determined your speed and wether or not its accurate. You can try to fight the ticket but from past expierience its not easy. What you can try to do is this call the CHP office where the cop works and call everyday and see when he is on or off duty, once you have done this then try and schedule the court date on his OFF day. You might get lucky and he might not show up for the court date and you win by default, cause accoring to the law you have the right to cross examine your accuser. If you are willing to go through the troubles of this you can win that way. But your best bet is to go to traffic school and learn from your mistakes. You might even look into the option of tarffic school over the net, some jurisdictions allow this.



Here is a link for some ticket advice also



ticket advice
 
if u go to court...

WEAR A SUIT.

when i had to do community service at the courthouse (for one of my tickets!), these stupid asses showed up in tank tops, tshirts, crappy ass clothes. of course, they got the full penalties. people who wear the suits showed the judge that they had respect for the system, and they got lesser charges....

so wear a suit!
 
I can't understand why you hate this cop for giving you a ticket when you broke the law and admit to it. Furthermore just because others were breaking it doesn't matter.

<< why do you think they have speed traps around construction zone? because it's DOUBLE. >>

Listen to yourself. Why do you think it is double? The zones around here say double specifically as you enter "SPEEDING FINES DOUBLE".
 
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