Damn cops! (first ticket!)

[MarkEmark]

Okay, so I've had my license for a full 5 months now, no accidents, speeding tickets, moving violations, neve been pulled over, etc...a true model driver. Well I'm taking my car out this afternoon because it's a beatiful day and it's supposed to rain tomorrow, and I just got my B&M short shifter installed. You know, just cruisin around for some "enthusiast driving." Well, I'm from CT, but I go over into the Mass line (Monson mass, to be exact,) I'm stopped at an intersection and turn right. I wasn't on the road for more than like 400yards and I get pulled over! I was only in 4th gear, and the cop said I was doing 58 in a 40!! I'm almost POSITIVE i wasn't going that fast, becase there were like 3 people in front of me, and god knows they weren't going that fast. So the douche-bag pulls me over, I give him everything, he asks where I was going and why I was going so fast, he said "did you even see me?" and I just said I was taking my car out for a ride for no particular reason. I'm sure he looked down at my exhast, rims, etc and immediately stereotyped me as a dangerous/wreckless "boy-racer." Well the guy comes back and I'm COMPLETELY expecting just a warning, because a) I was out of state (for some reason I thought they couldn't give you tickets to out of state people?) and b) its my first offense, EVER. I look down at the ticket, and get this, its $155 FU.CKING DOLLARS! Good lord! I can say GOOD BYE to my anti-sway bars! Not to mention, this won't be a good thing to convince my parents that even with all these modifications I've done, I'm still a responsible driver. The cop seemed nice and all, but just really harsh. I don't see why he couldn't give me a break, i mean, I'm 16, its the first time i've ever gotten involved with the law, and I was by myself and very polite to him etc...So anyway...I know i wasn't going 58, because first of all, my speedometer is abot 6mph fast (I've clocked myself where they have those 'speed limit is 30mph, your speed" radar things, and mine has always read 6mph faster than what the radar read...so we'll say it reads 5 mph faster just for sake of argument. That means my speedometer would have registered 63 mph when he "clocked" me, and I was in 4th gear, and hadn't even finished accelerating, which means I wold have been at about 4000 rpm, in fact, when the guy pulled out and started to chase me, I had just gotten into 4th. I guess he heard my loud exhast note/burly intake sound (i revved it up to 5k in 2nd) and pulled me over for that. So I'm looking at the citation right now, and I see that under one of the boxes, it says 58mph in a 40mph, and then it there's three boxes, one is "clocked" one is "radar" and one is "estimated." The guy checked "radar" and "estimated" but told me that he "clocked me doin 58." Do you thinK i should bring it to a hearing? Does that cost any more money? I'm just incredibly pissed off, because this damn ticket tainted my flawless record, I'm otherwise a responsible driver, I don't tailgate, run stop signs, cut people off, etc... 2 more, and I have to go to traffic school, per order of CT state law! What a PERFECT beginning to a long weekend!What do ya'all think I should do? (BTW, I haven't told my mom yet, I'm not really on "good" terms with her as of now!)

[PalmerWMD]

Always plead not guilty.

The cop might not show up.And even if he does if you manage to coem across as a resposible young adult rather than a racer you might get a break.

Fred...

[MarkEmark]

I was assuming i'd please not guilty, but thanks for the heads-up! If I come across as a responsible adult driver, how much of a break are we talking? Persuading people with large amounts of sensationalism, and evoking sympathy from others/ bull-shi.tting is where I SHINE....

[specialkonrd]

dude, ive taken a ticket for window tinting in for dispute and you cant have ANY tint on side windows in this provincetheres no way ill win unless cop doesn't show up

dispute every ticket you ever gettheres no money in chasing real criminal, thats why you get tickets...make the law work for the money you owe them

[Exar-Kun]

heres a nice tip: ask for a hardship resechedule of your court date.

90% of the time(no seriously, thats been proven it was in mens health...) the cop wont be able to show up on the new court date, BANG. no ticket.

[red240ne]

cops are lazy here in nebraska, and they don't do jack to anyone. you have to be really dumb to get pulled over here. cops especially don't do anything about domestic related cases here either. lots of parents get away with beating their kids. even if the kid goes to the cops, the parent will be off the next day. so cops are dumb.

[Former_240_s14]

Markemark, do yourself a big favor and listen to this advice. Start making friends with the cops, cause when you get a ticket by a different cop they will go talk to that cop and try to help. Thats what I did and its gotten me out of a couple of violations here and there, lol.

[PalmerWMD]

Ah, misinformation, isn't it delightful?

The cop does not need to show up for the hearing in Massachusetts, and in a fair number of other states. The information on the ticket is his testimony, as sure as if he was sitting in the courtroom.

All states I have ever gotten a ticket in (quite a few actually) you could ask for dismissal, if the only witness the state has is not present.Judges tend to grant thoe requests.

I even got out of a drag racing ticket (automatic loss of license in my current state of residence) this way (had teh docket rescheduled the maximum permissble times (twice :ticket was 5 months old, by the time the court date rolled around)

Fred...

[APEXi240]

Sucks to live in Mass. Jersey, if cop doesn't show, it gets thrown, whether its your first time in, or if you rescheduled...

Lost is right however. Tickets usually don't transfer from state to state, and even if it does, the points won't, it'll just show up as a fine (happened to a friend who got a ticket in PA.) My next door neighbot got 2 DUIs in NY and they didn't transfer to Jersey...

Oh man, I remember my first ticket....what fun. Enjoy.

[nametakennow]

What's good:Your speedo was off, and he lied about clocking you.What's bad:Your speedo was off (dammit man, get ir recalibrated!), you're 16, and your mom's already mad at you and now this.The verdict:You can probably get out of the ticket, or at least get the fine reduced, but your mom is going to kill you anyway.

[silviamirage]

I doubt that your speedometer was off.

Why, you ask?

Because those machines at the side of the road show speeds lower than everyone's speedometers, they're just there to scare you. In fact, I've gone past them at 80 mph and been clocked at 60, and 100 and been clocked at 80, etc...

Check it out. Get a friend to drive past one and check the speedometer; then check the machine. If it says less then the speedometer, give me 20usd. If it doesn't, give me 20usd anyway.

Oh yeah, and I'm sure that my speedometer isn't 20mph off, it would be kinda obvious. I'd bet that he was right on when he said that you were going 58mph.

[MarkEmark]

I doubt that your speedometer was off.

Why, you ask?

Because those machines at the side of the road show speeds lower than everyone's speedometers, they're just there to scare you. In fact, I've gone past them at 80 mph and been clocked at 60, and 100 and been clocked at 80, etc...

Check it out. Get a friend to drive past one and check the speedometer; then check the machine. If it says less then the speedometer, give me 20usd. If it doesn't, give me 20usd anyway.

Oh yeah, and I'm sure that my speedometer isn't 20mph off, it would be kinda obvious. I'd bet that he was right on when he said that you were going 58mph.

I'm almost positive its off. I've gone through those radar things that tell how fast your going in plenty of other cars, and all their speedometers were within 1-2mph of what the radar registered...What state do you live in that has radar traps like that? So I should schedule a hearing, and then reschedule to another date? But the cop only has to show up if I argue the citation, don't get it dismissed, and then i ask for an appeal? But, he doesn't have to show up at all if I ask for a hearing/reschedule one?Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should say in court as to why I was going fast...(other than, I wanted to see how fast my new short-shifter could shift and how much RPM's dropped between each gear Like I said, I still vehemently believe that in reality, when I passed him, I wasn't going past 50mph...The cars in front of me were going SLOW, not fast; therefore, I wasn't going that fast. Damn Massachusetts, I go like 20 over (65 on a 45) every day since june 15 to/from work, and there's never been a cop on the stretch of that 8 mile-long road. (we won't let the authorites know that, though...)Thanks for the replies, keep 'em comin!

[silviamirage]

That was in kentucky and tennessee. Could be different in mass., haven't been there in a couple years. Anyway, I sped 20 mph + for two years before getting two tickets in three months, soo....

[y3llows14]

Heres a story for ya. My friends and me were heading up to Atlanta for HIN. On the way we saw this "tricked out" Mustang. I wanted to run it, so I sped up. As soon as I step on the gas, I saw some popos sitting under the bridge. My first reaction was step on the brakes. Smokes came flying out of my tires (just installed cross drill slotted rotors). He pulled me over and I gave him this story that I was from Cali and I was traveling with my sister but just lost site of her car after I pumped some gas, so I sped up to catch up to her. He said he clocked me doing 88 in 55 after I step on my brake. But he liked my story and wrote down me doing 70. I had to pay only 80 something bucks. Lucky for me cause I heard in GA that doing over 20 could get your license suspended.

[240 or die]

Heres a tip: dont blow. As gay as it sounds remember this phrase forever.

[SpeeDDrifT]

i don't know about pleading not guilty, here in NV if you go to court pleading not guilty and they find you guilty you get no breaks at all. it's either all or none. However if you plead No Contest the judge will give you a chance to explain yourself, after which he will reduce the charges and sometimes even drop them.

I would plead no contest...say you were driving with the flow of the traffic, tell him you speedo read that you were doing speed limit. tell him because of the ticket you went to a shop to get your speedo recalibrated and now it's correct (or it was all along)(shop receipt is good to have) and it will not happen again. and throw in that bit about you wanted to prove to be a responsible driver to your parents.....he'll like that.

as for Lost's 1st post....my thoughts exactly.

[MarkEmark]

Heres a tip: dont blow. As gay as it sounds remember this phrase forever.

240 or die...what exactly does that mean? Enlighten me!So I'll plead no contest, and I know exactly what I'm going to say...That I'm a straight A student (seriously), and that my entire week is filled up with homework, and my weekends are filled with working in order to pay for gas and insurance, and driving my car is one of the only things that brings me joy in life. I'll then go on to say I only make about $75 a week (which is more or less true), so I barely have enough money to spend on gas and insurance payments, so a $155 payment would set me back a good amount.Then I'll say that I've never gotten involved with the law before, and that the ticket really made me depressed for a good two days while I thought about how stupid I was to be going too fast for the speedlimit (even though I'll state that I thought I was only going 50, which is true). I'll say that I never want something like that to happen again, because otherwise I've had a clean driving record, and that's something I pride myself with...etc, etc...

[kilipo4]

Damn....if you want to get by with that, you better hope you have a damn sappy judge.

Congrats on the 5 months clean driving record, but that's really not that long. Hopefully you've got alot more driving ahead of you.

155 bucks for a speeding ticket? If you're gonna speed, expect to pay mucho $$$. Tickets are expensive and believe it or not, speeding tickets can be the cheap ones.

Now onto the hopefully helpful part of this message:Does Mass not allow a driver to take defensive driving or deferred adjudication to ditch a ticket? They sure as hell do in Texas. Its alot cheaper and the ticket never shows up anywhere.

Good luck,Cliff

[240sxrunner]

if the kid takes it to court dont you have to pay court fees. Cause i have to go to court soon cause i got 3 tickets now does that mean i will be paying a court fee along with the ticket fee. (ticket fee is 67 in a 40 in a construction zone)

[PabloHoney]

Originally posted by MarkEmark "]I was only in 4th gear, and the cop said I was doing 58 in a 40!! I'm almost POSITIVE i wasn't going that fast...So anyway...I know i wasn't going 58, because first of all, my speedometer is abot 6mph fast...so we'll say it reads 5 mph faster just for sake of argument. That means my speedometer would have registered 63 mph when he "clocked" me, and I was in 4th gear, and hadn't even finished accelerating, which means I wold have been at about 4000 rpm in fact, when the guy pulled out and started to chase me, I had just gotten into 4th. I guess he heard my loud exhast note/burly intake sound (i revved it up to 5k in 2nd)

Ok, so you were in 4th gear at 4000rpm. So assuming that you have the stock gearing with the LSD, and stock transmission, and that on your 17x7" rims you have 215/40 tires (I am being a little generous by making the tires skinny on 40 series), at 4000 rpm in 4th gear, you would be going 69 mph. Now you also said that you were revving to 5K in second, which would put you at at least 46 all ready, and you stated that you were not done accelerating by then. Doesn't make much sense to me. What size tires do you have?

[MarkEmark]

I knew someone would figure out the gearing of my car and the size of my tires to discern how fast I was going...In actuality, I wasn't going 69mph, obviously, and 5000 in second for me is DEFINITELY NOT 46mph! I don't think I've ever gone over 35 or 40 in second, ever. So clearly I stated some mis-information about the RPM's I was at. I didn't even look down at the tach, I just estimated from the roar of my intake... So I take it back and say that I revved it up to 4000 in second, and 3750 in third, and then shifted into 4th as I was passing the cop, and backed off...

[PabloHoney]

I knew someone would figure out the gearing of my car and the size of my tires to discern how fast I was going...In actuality, I wasn't going 69mph, obviously, and 5000 in second for me is DEFINITELY NOT 46mph! I don't think I've ever gone over 35 or 40 in second, ever. So clearly I stated some mis-information about the RPM's I was at. I didn't even look down at the tach, I just estimated from the roar of my intake... So I take it back and say that I revved it up to 4000 in second, and 3750 in third, and then shifted into 4th as I was passing the cop, and backed off...

So why is 5000 is second not 46 mph for you? What size tires do you have? Ok, to only go to 35-40 in second you would have to only br reving around 4000 rpm.

If you are revving 3750 in third, you are still going 52 mph, which is still over the speed limit by a fair bit. And that is assuming that you aren't just saying that you were at 3750 =)

[sil80drifter]

OK....So if you plead not guilty in NY state, ist either all or nothing? I didn't even have a "no contest" option on my ticket. I made an almost full stop at a stop sign, there were no cars around (except for the popo, parked on the right, with his lights off, and when I saw him I was already slowly rolling thru the intersection, it was a narrow stret and u can't see him until ur in the middle of the intersection, but it was night, so anything that moves could be seen very clearly). My ticket had eithe guilty ro not guilty options, and there were cars tailagtign me so I didn't wanna have them rear end me, and there wa a car in font of me that just riolled through the stop, so I didnt even see it was a stop til i saw him and...well...I have a 2 year clean drivign record, I am from CT, and that;s my first ticket, hearing is on the 2nd of dec. Does the cop have to show up in NY?

sil80drifter

[C-Kwik]

Originally posted by palmerwmd "]All states I have ever gotten a ticket in (quite a few actually) you could ask for dismissal, if the only witness the state has is not present. Judges tend to grant thoe requests.

Good for you. That won't work in Massachusetts. State law says that the ticket is prima facie evidence of guilt, and the officer does not need to appear. You will not get the ticket dismissed because the officer fails to appear at the initial hearing.

In fact, according to state law, the officer doesn't need to show up for the appeal hearing, either. However, there is precedent stating that the officer does need to show up for the appeal. If you get to the second hearing, and there's no officer, the case you want to cite is Boston Police Department vs. Alfred M. Moughalian (2001 MA App. Div 61).

I'm very surprised that this hasn't been challenged. It sounds quite unconstitutional to me. It's like saying that if a police report says your guilty of commiting murder, then you are automatically guilty unless you appeal. However, I would probably use this to my advantage. I see reasonable doubt written all over this. Not to mention that fact that Appellate courts are where case law is made. Only one person will need to prove that an officer needs to show in the first trial and that would stand as new case law.

[APEXi240]

if the kid takes it to court dont you have to pay court fees. Cause i have to go to court soon cause i got 3 tickets now does that mean i will be paying a court fee along with the ticket fee. (ticket fee is 67 in a 40 in a construction zone)

Why the hell were you doing 27 over in a construction zone...you are soooo beat when you get to court.

You will have to pay court fees. Whether you "take it to court" or not...you end up in court. I don't really know what you mean by this, but when you get a ticket, you have to go to court, hence court fees. I don't know if you get charged court fees for each ticket, or just once for going (I've never gotten more than one ticket at a time).

27 over in a construction zone....why don't you just run over handicapped people while your at it.

[APEXi240]

I'm very surprised that this hasn't been challenged. It sounds quite unconstitutional to me. It's like saying that if a police report says your guilty of commiting murder, then you are automatically guilty unless you appeal. However, I would probably use this to my advantage. I see reasonable doubt written all over this. Not to mention that fact that Appellate courts are where case law is made. Only one person will need to prove that an officer needs to show in the first trial and that would stand as new case law.

Yeah, I didn't get how it hasn't been challenged either...Maybe in the first hearing they could get away with it, but you have a right to confront, and cross-examine your accuser. If they aren't there then you can't cross-examine them, which makes the case get dismissed. This is why anyone that contests traffic tickets in which cameras take the picture, and then send the ticket, get off. These cameras are technically unconstitutional.

[1BadAzz240]

yea you might wanna try to reschedule your court date....i had one of my tickets thrown out for a cop not showing up...

[240 or die]

Most of the helpful info. other users have given u is great but mine is for the future. You are young and hopefully it never happens but if intoxicated and pulled over(from experience), and the pig asks you to do a breathalizer or tries to make you, refuse it. You will definitely get your liscence revoked for a few months, but a least you wont get convicted of a dwi and have to get sr22 insurance because of 1 bad night. So from one bad driver to another, dont blow.

[sil80drifter]

anyone feel like answering my post?anyone?

sil80

[240sxrunner]

OK stop your damn *****ing about my tickets, I was on the interstate going 70 witch is the speed limit then there was a construction zone for 200 freaken feet and i did not see any signs and went back to look and there WAS NO signs for the speed. And i will win in Court cause i took a video of showing that their are not any signs.