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| A Recall AND a Fundraiser? I'm toast. |
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| Let's get this over with FAST. Please contribute! |
He was on his way out of town and apparently started his acceleration to the highway speed before he completely cleared town. Was clocked at 49 in a 35.
Pertinent facts:
1) Driving a rental car.
2) Rental car with Illinois plates.
3)Unfamiliar with the area, he was on his way home from calling on a customer in Green Lake.
His court date is this Thursday. I want him to try to get it changed to a non moving violation of some kind or at least get the miles over speed limit reduced, he just wants to pay it and be done with it. He's very embarrassed. Been driving 25+ years with no traffic violations.
To top it all off, our insurance premiums are already sky-high because we have 2 teeneged drivers!!
Hmmm .. so the police are the lions culling out members of the 'herd' ?
Disgusting.
However, the judge would invariably find one person not guilty for no apparent reason at all. I had proved all the elements of the violation, so I guess he just did it for fun.
The one time I did get a ticket, I fought it and showed up in court with a shirt and tie and yes-sired and no-sired everybody. During my testimony, I made sure to point out that the police officer who stopped me was very professional and polite but mentioned that perhaps in an honest mistake, he overestimated my speed.
Others showed up in sneakers and jeans and had sort of a slovenly and sloppy appearance. I got my ticket dismissed. Don't know about the others but I don't think they fared as well as they had sour expressions as they shuffled out of the hearing room.
A cheerful positive attitude is key in this whole process. Cop an attitude and you'll be stuck with an expensive ticket - no doubt about it.
BS in my experience. If you are a nice looking lady a LEO, you will get a break.
Cop no-shows. If you show up on your assigned date, defense attorneys say that in 20% to 25% of cases the ticket-writing officer won't. If the officer is required to show up (jurisdictions have different rules), no appearance usually means the ticket is thrown out. No-shows by police happen even more in summer, when even they take vacations.If I'm not mistaken, the ticketing writing officer always has to be present, or the ticket can't be prosecuted. I know it's that way in Cleveland.
Another thing to keep in mind is questionable tickets. I got one for "shortcutting an intersection" when I turned around in a parking lot to get on a freeway instead of going 20 blocks in the wrong direction to get on at the "official" exit (only one side of our street has a ramp and the median blocks a left turn). A common practice at our company.
-I looked up the text of the city ordinance....it referred to an intersection.
-I looked up the definition of an "intersection" in the Ohio Revised Code. It didn't cover turning around and going back onto the same street.
I was ready to not only challenge the ticket but when I won, ask the judge to forbid further tickets from being written at that location for that offense.
The officer didn't show.
I figure they write these questionable tickets and don't show up. That way they can continue to collect quota points from the people who waiver the tickets, and don't get told to cut it out.
-Eric
Get a GOOD radar detector, such as an Escort or Passport.
I haven't been pulled over for speeding in years...ever since I got my Passport.
When I finally got my date in court, there were about five people ahead of me - all of whose cases consisted of their word against the (same) officer's. An assistant DA was there to prosecute the tickets and in every case established the officer's experience, familiarity with the area, notetaking, etc. All lost.
On my turn, I proceded to establish his location, which was on a cross street just south of the clearly-marked beginning of the SZ. I was travelling north-bound in a 35 mph zone when he clocked me. He actually pulled out from the cross street, travelled across the southbound lanes, and stopped his motorcycle in front of me. We were both at a complete stop and the beginning of the SZ was still ahead of us. Therefore, it was impossible for him to have recorded my speed inside the zone. I also presented photographs showing the relative loactions of the cross streets, school zone, and traffic signs. I felt good.
Then the assistant DA got up and tried to get me to concede that my recollection could be faulty, that the officer may be more familiar with the area in question, and that it was possible that he could have been on a different cross street inside the school zone. I politely held firm and maintained my version of events.
Then he put the officer on the stand. After establishing his bona fides, he asked for the officer's version of events. Sure enough, the officer stated under oath that he was on a different cross street that was well inside the SZ. And that, of course, he clocked me inside the SZ. My heart sank into my stomach. If he had shut up then it would have been solely my word against his. and I had already witnessed whom the court believes in those situations.
But he didn't shut up. He went on to embellish, "I could not have been on the street that the defendant alleges, because there is a solid median there. I would have had to jump the median with my motorcycle to get to the northbound lane." Or words to that effect. Suddenly, I felt like Perry Mason.
When I got to cross-examine the officer, I reminded him of the pictures I had submitted to the court. I actually walked up to him and asked him to identify which intersection had a solid median and which did not. He had to concede that his recollection was not correct and that perhaps he was mistaken about his initial location. I promptly sat down and shut up.
The judge then made a statement about how I probably did commit the infraction, but there was enough doubt in the officer's testimony that he had to dismiss the ticket. I was a little irked that the judge still thought I did it, but had enough sense to keep that to myself. The officer actually had a mini-outburst (he said Damn! or Man! or something like that loud enough for me to hear across the courtroom - and also pounded the table once with his fist). Needless to say, he was not pleased. That was delicious.
All in all, the end result was extremely satisfying - even though it was only a lousy 8 MPH over ticket. It was also a little scary, seeing that I would have easily lost if the officer had just kept his lies straight.
She entered an intersection - still in the neighborhood - where she had the right of way. A lady ran a stop sign and did $1500.00 worth of damage to our vehicle. My daughter was cited for driving without an operators license.
We are using the experience to learn about the law. Last week she plead "not guilty" before a judge. On Tuesday, 7/22 she goes to an omnibus hearing. We studied the state code under which she was cited, and it does not govern the road upon which she was driving. Furthermore, the individual at fault for the accident was not cited precisely for this reason.
Nevertheless, I was fit to be tied when I heard about the wreck and how she was allowed to drive with neither license nor permit. The spouse and I had a talk about that one.
Well, we'll see what happens.