Speeding ticket on VFR

90 in a 55-ouch! With the state of California these days, I bet that fine hurt.

 

Many judges used to be lawyers and IMO there's a fair amount of quid pro quo. So you hire a lawyer, he doesn't contest that you didn't do it,
he just knows the correct hoops to jump through to get you off. I used to date a lawyer and the whole legal manipulations between lawyers
and judges is disgusting. The system sucks down to the lowest level, which is pretty damn low.

In Missouri a lawyer can get your speeding ticket reduced to a non-moving violation. You can't do that yourself, you have to have a lawyer. What a corrupt system.

 

Sorry about the speeding ticket.

I got pulled over by a CHP on California Hwy 58 right next to Carizzo Plains (wide open, empty, straightaway). I came out of a corner facing a very long straight road and my radar detector began to beep. Since the corner was a 30 mph corner I was moving around 45 when I exited, then accelerated only up to 55 due to the alarm. I stayed at 55 until the radar alarm was full on. Behind me was my friend who was doing 75+ (he told me later) on that straightaway. He was about 1/4 behind me and he had no idea a CHP was at the end of that long stretch. I arrived first to the CHP's position and that guy pulled out of his shady spot and blocked the road in front of me!!! I had to slam on my brakes! What a douchebag move! He then accused me of doing 75 mph! What this guy didn't realize was I had a friend way back there and he was the one doing 75 because I was doing 55 indicated on my VFR (so about 52 true speed!). When my friend finally arrived to our position the CHP officer ran out in the middle of the road to signal my friend to pull over as well. He chewed us out but let us go anyway, so no harm no foul. However, that was definitely a classic case of officer error in the use of his radar device. CHP Ka-band radar cannot distinguish which vehicle is speeding, only that someone is speeding in a group of more than one vehicle. It's then up to the officer to determine who is the fastest in the group registering the highest speed. LIDAR is the only device capable of picking out its target because it's manually aimed by the operator. However, LIDAR relies on a laser type pointer and the operator must be standing still to aim it (can't drive and aim a "gun" at the same time). This is why the CHP only uses LIDAR sparingly. It's too tedious of a tool when one is dealing with many vehicles (freeways and large highways). I wouldn't want to use LIDAR either...aiming something gets old and tiring after a while! LOL!

Your best chance is to fight it in court using the Trial by Mail option. You still have to pay the fine up front. I think you have a solid defense if you were in a group. However, if the ticketing officer responds with a written declaration to the court within 30 days, you WILL be found guilty. His word against yours and the cop's word almost always wins in Traffic Court. If the officer does NOT turn in a written response to the court, then your case will be dismissed and you get your money back. It's a 30% chance of "winning".

 

We hired a lawyer to take care of it for us, the trial isn't until January 2019. I will try to remember to update the post at that time.

 

Best of luck to you.

 

Good luck. Post up what happens.

 

I will follow up for sure. Unfortunately the dash cam video re wrote over the actual footage that would at least show the traffic and how she was driving at the time and also of the attitude of the officer involved. I'd like to have one that shows the actual vehicle speed too but I feel that it might not be a good option for me at times.......

 

Losing that video is most unfortunate. I hope you don't rue that insofar as your ability to be able to refute the officers evidence, they're almost at the finish line the moment the citation is placed in your hand.

 

This is what I am planning, thank you

 

I don't think someone else in the car counts as an independent witness.

 

Yeah, kind of what I was thinking. Judge will pay little to no attention to that "witness".

 

I tend to agree as well. I suspect though if the cop had another cop in his car, that witness would be deemed credible.

 

I didn't mean to imply that our friend was to be a witness just that being in the car as well, she didn't know why they were being pulled over as they weren't speeding. They were just going with the traffic flow, there were cars in front and behind her at the time she was pulled over.

 

The friend in the car is not onsidered an independent witness, even if they are an off duty police officer .