I was dribing home after my first day skiing (awesome experience soured by this one event) and the place is about 180 miles away my house(Chicago). The speed limit is 55 on this stretch of one lane highway which suddenly changes into a town street with a speed limit of 30 mph. I started slowing down at that point and slowed to less than 45 even before passing the first sign. Into town, I'm going about 33 mph (i kept looking at the speedometer) just a couple of miles over the speed limit. The town only lasted about 5 blocks and just as I was about to leave town I see this headlighte speeding at me so I firgured I better hurry up as I was already passed by 2 cars speeding like crazy earlier. I already see the 55mph sign (though I'm not there yet) but at that point I'm still only at about 45 and speeding up when the car behind me pulls on their sirens.
The cop claimed I was going 53 in the 30mph zone. I responded by saying I only started speeding up when I saw highlights behind me gaining on me and that the town had just ended already. He takes my information and heads back to his car. He comes back after like 5 minutes and says "I'm not taking your license right now and you don't have to pay anything right now, I'm just going to give you a citation and you'll only have to send in the $95." I was nodding alone thinking he was going to let me slide as the only time I could have been considered speeding where under reasonable circumstances but that last statement caught me by suprise so I was like ok.
In any case, at that point I tried explaining again that I had only speeded up when I saw headlights gaining quite fast on me and that I had already left town where I could already see the new speed limit again. He responds by saying he clocked me in the middle of town going 53mph. I didn't know what to say at that point as he just handed me my ticket and told me to sign. He then says again "just mail this in along with a check or soemthing for $95. You don't have to go to court and you can attend traffic school to get it off your record". Anyways, it was until he left my car that I could clear everything up in my head. I know for a fact I never topped 45mph since I kept a constant lookoout on my speedometer. And since the speeding ticket was for 53 in a 30 zone (more than 20mph over the limit) the ticket was $95 instead of $75 I think.
What sucks is I can't take it to court as I'd have to travel 180 miles to and another 180 miles back!! On top of that I can't attend raffic school either because of that same reason!! I had another passenger who I was with who knew exactly how fast I was traveling because when I first saw the 30mph sign I asked what it was and started slowing down! I seriously think that cop didn't really care about anything but giving a ticket. What can I do to fight this as I really can't afford the $95 ticket and having this on my record. I'm 20 and insurance is going to be a killer plus school is starting so I can't go on the appointed court date a month away. Is there anyway to fight this and in the very least not get this on my record without traveling almost 400 miles round trip by car???
This totally soured a great day!! $95 for a college student is killer.
The cop claimed I was going 53 in the 30mph zone. I responded by saying I only started speeding up when I saw highlights behind me gaining on me and that the town had just ended already. He takes my information and heads back to his car. He comes back after like 5 minutes and says "I'm not taking your license right now and you don't have to pay anything right now, I'm just going to give you a citation and you'll only have to send in the $95." I was nodding alone thinking he was going to let me slide as the only time I could have been considered speeding where under reasonable circumstances but that last statement caught me by suprise so I was like ok.
In any case, at that point I tried explaining again that I had only speeded up when I saw headlights gaining quite fast on me and that I had already left town where I could already see the new speed limit again. He responds by saying he clocked me in the middle of town going 53mph. I didn't know what to say at that point as he just handed me my ticket and told me to sign. He then says again "just mail this in along with a check or soemthing for $95. You don't have to go to court and you can attend traffic school to get it off your record". Anyways, it was until he left my car that I could clear everything up in my head. I know for a fact I never topped 45mph since I kept a constant lookoout on my speedometer. And since the speeding ticket was for 53 in a 30 zone (more than 20mph over the limit) the ticket was $95 instead of $75 I think.
What sucks is I can't take it to court as I'd have to travel 180 miles to and another 180 miles back!! On top of that I can't attend raffic school either because of that same reason!! I had another passenger who I was with who knew exactly how fast I was traveling because when I first saw the 30mph sign I asked what it was and started slowing down! I seriously think that cop didn't really care about anything but giving a ticket. What can I do to fight this as I really can't afford the $95 ticket and having this on my record. I'm 20 and insurance is going to be a killer plus school is starting so I can't go on the appointed court date a month away. Is there anyway to fight this and in the very least not get this on my record without traveling almost 400 miles round trip by car???
This totally soured a great day!! $95 for a college student is killer.
(I'd post the pic if I knew the url but I'll let M4H handle that one)
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