Author Topic: excuses you tried to get you out of tickets (Read 2396 times)

Halo · « **Reply #30 on:** February 18, 2007, 09:59:09 AM »

Never got a speeding ticket. Never go more than 5 mph indicated over the speed limit. Speed limits are there for a reason.

What, me boring?

Hmmm, well, come to think of it ... as a kid there were moments. Our 1950 100-horsepower six-cylinder three-speed manual Plymouth never would reach 100. Topped out about 95 and it was getting pretty antsy then.

But it was a jack rabbit. Nothing beat it to 30. Not even a friend's lowered pink and black V8 Mercury. Never timed quarter-mile speed, but always started early so the sun wouldn't set before we got there.

That was in rural Indiana on a country stretch of beautiful wide concrete highway that probably was a WWII emergency landing strip. Perfect drag site. We were all very careful, had plenty of visibility over the flat farm land in a rural area that had practically zero traffic.

Never heard of any accidents there, though there were plenty on the prevailing narrow two-lane asphalt roads with only a center line marking.

On the East Coast now, way too much population and traffic to do anything but be a good boy in a vehicle.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #31 on:** February 18, 2007, 10:23:38 AM »

I beat a speeding ticket in court once. I was only 18 and was speeding on the Homer spit (a 5-mile bar of land that juts out into Kachemak Bay in Homer, Alaska). I lived in Anchorage and had to drive 220 miles to attend court. The judge was a well known hanging judge, no tolerance for anything. The officer was there and he had a prosecuting attorney. I was a bit surprised, that the prosecuting attorney was there because this was just a stupid speeding ticket. The officer gave his testimony. He basically said that he radared a Honda Civic doing 50 in a 35 zone, pulled the car over and gave the driver a ticket (he said a more than that, but this was 23 years ago and my memory is fading). When he completed his testimony my heart jumped, because I realized that he never said my name. I wasn’t sure at what point he could no longer add new evidence or statements; I also wasn’t sure what would have happened if I said nothing. When it was my turn to talk I decided the safest thing to do would be to steer everything away from our incident, where he might mention my name. So, I stated that I didn’t think police radars were accurate or reliable; many states didn’t use them for such reasons. The ploy worked, the prosecuting attorney testified that they are accurate and accepted in Alaska, the officer tunes them everyday, bla, bla, bla. Then it was my chance for my rebuttal. I still wasn’t sure if the officer could add new evidence or statements, so I asked the judge, “Can the officer add any new evidence at this point?” The judge answered, “No”. I said, “Well, the officer stated that he gave the ticket to the driver of the Honda Civic, but he never said my name. The officer never identified me as the driver of the vehicle”. At this point the judge scowled and stared at me; the courtroom was silent. Then, I swear to God, he began slouching/leaning back in his chair until I could only see his eyes above the bench. His angry stare scared me and the silence seemed to last forever. I couldn’t handle the silence any longer, so I finally said, “That means I win, right?” The judge sat up and stated, “Not guilty due to the fact that the officer never identified the driver of the vehicle.” The prosecuting attorney went nuts and started rambling on about something; I was so elated I didn’t listen. I counted my lucky stars, drove the speed limit through Homer and then sped the remaining 210 miles home.

SteveBailey · « **Reply #32 on:** February 18, 2007, 10:37:18 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2
Honda Civic

I stopped reading when you admitted you owned a honda civic.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #33 on:** February 18, 2007, 10:44:16 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by SteveBailey
I stopped reading when you admitted you owned a honda civic.

It was my sister’s, and it was a wagon. Not only that, it was the ugliest Honda made until that new thing just came out.

84 Honda wagon:

dmf · « **Reply #34 on:** February 18, 2007, 11:48:04 AM »

The last time I got pulled over I used the old unbutton the top 2 buttons trick. Say I have an unfair advantage if you want to but hey it worked.

rabbidrabbit · « **Reply #35 on:** February 18, 2007, 12:07:51 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by dmf
The last time I got pulled over I used the old unbutton the top 2 buttons trick. Say I have an unfair advantage if you want to but hey it worked.

I'll have to try that next time!

Maverick · « **Reply #36 on:** February 18, 2007, 12:48:51 PM »

It's been tried many times. Problem with letting someone like that go is the complaint and sexual harrassment lawsuit that gets filed afterwards.

You are already on record (radio transmissions are recorded) as having stopped that vehicle so you can't deny it. There is no official paperwork on the stop (ticket). The allegation is that you solicited a sexual favor, committed a sexual act or assault on the "victim". It's your word against hers and the "judge and jury" are biased in internal affairs. Once the complaint is determined to be "founded", the law suit will be filed and that finding will end up being in evidence. You lose as there is a lesser requirment of proof in a suit than criminal law.

It's far better to simply hand out the ticket and void the show than to void your career, home, marraige, family over seeing a set of boobs or more.

That's one of the reasons I carried a tape recorder and recorded my stops. It proved to be usefull in more than a couple situations.

culero · « **Reply #37 on:** February 18, 2007, 12:54:08 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by dmf
The last time I got pulled over I used the old unbutton the top 2 buttons trick. Say I have an unfair advantage if you want to but hey it worked.

Ignore Maverick, post a picture and we'll let you go without a ticket

Vulcan · « **Reply #38 on:** February 18, 2007, 02:22:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Maverick
Vulcan,

I assume you are implying you didn't do what you were cited for.

I had more than a few folks try that kind of situation on me. The only response they got was to be told to contest the ticket if they wished, We would not have a trial at the street. Period.

I've had tickets before an accepted them because I know what I did. This guy pinged with a lazer @ more than 500m, with trucks crossing his path as he did so. At the same time a vehicle was coming up behind me. What I assume happened was he pinged me from so far our that he got that vehicles speed.

If you want to question whether he knew he was lying or not - he looked me in the face and said "there were no other vehicles on the road sir". This was at 8.30am on a state highway, one of our busiest ones.

Mav they changed things over here a few years back, cops HAVE to issue a ticket. They're not allowed the warning stuff anymore, plus the tolerance in some zones is down to +5km. They also have a quota system, its unofficial but everyone knows its there.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #39 on:** February 18, 2007, 02:25:05 PM »

Vulcan,

Where's "here"?

Masherbrum · « **Reply #40 on:** February 18, 2007, 02:27:07 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by eskimo2
Vulcan,

Where's "here"?

New Zealand

Maverick · « **Reply #41 on:** February 18, 2007, 03:26:06 PM »

Vulcan,

If you are going to state he was lying, go file a complaint through IA. I am assuming there is an IA in the LEO organization in NZ. If you have someone who does not deserve to wear the badge you are better off doing something to remove them from the service.

The same question still stands. Are you saying you were not speeding?

As far as making a claim about the Officers not having any discression that's kind of bogus to use that as a claim that an infraction was made up just to write you a ticket. There simply are too many real infractions to have to go stop someone and write a ficitious ticket. The problem with setting some kind of quota or setting an excessively low speed over limit for a mandatory ticket is that the things are public record. All it takes is an investigation into the situation by the press to confirm or deny there are folks being cited for some minimal speed.

We have a jurisdiction outside of Tucson that had a reputation just like that. It was spread as "common knowledge" that you would be cited for 2 to 3 MPH over the limit. It got to the point where the Chief of Police there gave an interview to the press and stated that if anyone could show they were cited for that kind of violation he personally would pay the ticket. The press was never able to find any violations like that in the court records either.

I don't understand why someone would figure a cop is going to risk their entire career just to give some person a ticket. Trust me, citing you is not worth the loss of the job and endangering their family's well being just to write you that ticket. I had one defendant actually ask me about making up a speed on the stand on a petty speeding ticket. It was very pleasurable to explain to him that no ticket much less his was worth perjuring myself.

If you really have some kind of beef with the "system" why don't you try to get the press interested in doing some kind of expose investigation. They'd love to show some kind of conspiracy to write tickets. They might even have their own radar / laser to clock and see what speeds the average public is driving in that area. I've seen that done before.

Heater · « **Reply #42 on:** February 18, 2007, 03:59:51 PM »

Have 2 that have worked in the past:

1.) Here in the Netherlands all the roadways are paid for via Tax dollars (Euros) etc.... a few years back they started enforcing this thing for local traffic only.... When I was stopped on the bike I Was given a ticket for not being Local traffic... let it go to court and asked very simply if if the Road was paid for with tax dollars... and the judge state yes that it was, I stated that if I pay taxes for it also then I should have the right to use it also.... He agreed and thru it out!.

2.) I travel a lot to and from San Diego Ca for my job, a few years back I was not really thinking that much about it and driving in the left hand lane @ 95, southbound on I15.. the CHIP that stopped me asked for my license etc... so I thought I would give it a shot and play the dumb tourist... i.e. Dutch license, Dutch Passport and acted like I spoke very little English...

It worked he said the paperwork involved was just too much trouble....and told me to slow down as we have speed limits in Calf. and some people to pay attention to them.!

dmf · « **Reply #43 on:** February 18, 2007, 04:56:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by culero
Ignore Maverick, post a picture and we'll let you go without a ticket

Yea sure......................... ............................. ........(not)

dmf · « **Reply #44 on:** February 18, 2007, 05:08:53 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Maverick
It's been tried many times. Problem with letting someone like that go is the complaint and sexual harrassment lawsuit that gets filed afterwards.

You are already on record (radio transmissions are recorded) as having stopped that vehicle so you can't deny it. There is no official paperwork on the stop (ticket). The allegation is that you solicited a sexual favor, committed a sexual act or assault on the "victim". It's your word against hers and the "judge and jury" are biased in internal affairs. Once the complaint is determined to be "founded", the law suit will be filed and that finding will end up being in evidence. You lose as there is a lesser requirment of proof in a suit than criminal law.

It's far better to simply hand out the ticket and void the show than to void your career, home, marraige, family over seeing a set of boobs or more.

That's one of the reasons I carried a tape recorder and recorded my stops. It proved to be usefull in more than a couple situations.

Now why would I file a lawsuit on the cop that let me go? If I was gonna file a lawsuit, for anything, I'd file it on the cop for being stupid, I asked why he pulled me over, he said I was going 3 1/2 miles over the speed limit, so I asked him why he didn't pull over the people that passed me, he said because I was the one that pulled over when he turned on his lights. Basically he pulled me over cause I look better than the woman in hi Sears catalog so he wanted a show, so I gave him a little show. No charges, no tickets, no lawsuit, no foul.

Cheers to the honest cops, Boo's to teh ones here.