Got a totally BS speeding ticket today.

[Rick Lee]

I was about a half mile from leaving my house, on the way to my gym. I had been first in line at a long red light, made a left turn and a was lit up by the time I got into third gear. It was a bike cop on the other side of the road. I saw him and didn't slow down because I didn't think I was speeding (45 zone). My detector didn't make a peep. I pulled over immediately and he brought his radar gun up to the window and it read 62mph. He said he saw me at 63, but locked me at 62. I find this impossible, since I was still accelerating when I saw him and didn't slow down until his lights went on because I wasn't in a hurry and didn't think I was speeding.

I was in the 993, the engine was stone cold when I started it, had been running maybe three minutes and so it was not at operating temp and so I wasn't getting on the throttle. Cop said I could do online traffic school and there'd be no fine or points. Whoa! That sounded generous. If I didn't want to do that, the fine was $201, some more BS admin. fees and a few points. Later on I was at a tire place and asked the guy if he had ever gotten a ticket in AZ. He said yes and that the online traffic school was plenty more expensive than the ticket, but wiped the points away.

So I went online when I got home and sure enough, the online school is $300. AYFSM?!?!?! When I did CA online traffic school about three yrs. ago, it was $19.

And I'm pretty sure my detector was working fine because it picked the three more bike cops running Ka band between where I got stopped and my destination about 15 miles away. Looks like I'm going to court for this one.

[Gogar]

That sucks.

What will you say in court to change anything?
Or you mean you'll go to court because court is cheaper and you don't care about the points?

[Rick Lee]

Obviously, I'll get a continuance or two or three and hope the cop just doesn't show. Barring that, if AZ traffic court is anything like VA's, you get a generous discount in fine and waived points for dressing and speaking English well. If I get the hanging judge, I can still ask for traffic school and am no worse off than before. If it gets to the point of having to argue a defense, I'll tell the story, ask the cop if he'd agree that I pulled over right away and was polite and cooperative, then tell the judge I haven't gotten a ticket (that counted) in a long time and throw myself on the mercy of the court.

[aigel]

Porsche tax. I never get a ticket like that in a truck or SUV ...

G

[Rick Lee]

I told the cop this was the first ticket I'd received in the Porsche in eight years of owning it.

[rdrr]

I had a very similar incident about a couple of years ago. Was in a 50 zone on a road known for plenty of revenue raisers, doing just under 50 - I am completely positive about this, because the area is notorious. I get pulled over and the officer shows me his radar gun at 62. I tell him this is absolutely impossible several times, but he gives me the ticket anyway. I thought long and hard about fighting it, but here in Australia the penalty for losing in court can easily mean a doubling of fine and points, plus court fees. My word against his. No thanks...

Later I read about someone contesting a fine on the same stretch of road. Turned out that the officer ticketed 15 'speeders' in a row at exactly the same speed. Case was thrown out. The police officer was asked to some re-training. So this cop gets busted for fraud, but gets no penalty. Arrgh! Plus, this case was prior to my ticket, so the same crap was obviously still happening. Clearly it's OK because lives are being saved.

[Scuba Steve]

My senior year english teacher got pulled over for doing about 60 in a 45. Trouble is, all she was doing was going across the road. That'd be some pretty incredible acceleration and brakes... Anyway she brought her receipts from the place across from the school she was just at, got ready for court but the cop didn't show up.

Maybe you'll get lucky with this one.

[silverwhaletail]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

My detector didn't make a peep. I pulled over immediately and he brought his radar gun up to the window and it read 62mph.

-with instant-on radar it is fairly common for a radar detector to fail to alert, especially if the target vehicle is "going away" from the radar. Operator sees target vehicle, visually estimates speed, activates the radar from "standby", obtains speed of target vehicle, squeezes trigger and locks speed in display, goes back to "standby". all of this occurs within a second or two.

-odd that motor officer brought radar with him to greet you. either he was very new at running radar and doesn't have alot of confidence in his speed estimation skill or he was very experienced (and poor practice with regard to officer safety, having something in his hands upon initial contact with a violator) with the radar and uses the visual presentation of the radar unit to defeat any protest from the violator.

-62 in a 45 zone is really moving. One of you is wrong. Either you were driving way faster than you thought you were, or he confused which vehicle he saw/stopped. In a 45 zone, the motor will not even use the radar/lidar unless he sees a vehicle at 57 or 58. Sometimes you will look at a vehicle and estimate it at 57 or 58 and when you check the speed with a radar/lidar, you find out that the speed of the vehicle is 60 or maybe even 61. You release the locked speed and try again, only to obtain the same speed on the second "lock." Vehicles are ALWAYS going faster than you originally thought they were when you estimated the speed prior to checking it with the radar/lidar. (an experienced speed estimator's attention will not be drawn to a vehicle unless it is moving faster than his experience says the vehicle should be moving. The speed estimator's brain is not interested in doing the extra work of obtaining a radar/lidar speed reading unless there will be a reward for it. This ain't rocket science...)

[peppy]

I feel your pain Rick. I was just in this situation, I just paid a lawyer to take care of mine. I would have opened my big mouth and made it worse.

[ODDJOB UNO]

heres how continuances work here. and yes, i used to do it ALL the time praying the cop was sick. nowadays, since i'm a good lil boy and no longer a heathen outlaw dirty biker, and WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH the po po's, i just do the limit. well sometimes at least, for the most part. anyway the cop has what we call days off. actually they are days that he doesnt get up and put on the uniform. he goes in casual clothes to court and GETS PAID! and each and every time you come up with a "continuance" excuse, it just goes onto the docket on the days he has court. its all computerized. soooooooooooooo.................by the time the 3rd continuance comes around and he has shown up for them,all the while laughing his azz off while getting paid,if he remembers you for your more than "sterling" behavior. well lets just say he will have an "attitude" and lie thru his teeth, to nail yer azz.


and what i have found when you "question" the radar detectors calibration and how recently it was done. well you will find out suddenly that it was calibrated 3 hrs before he nailed you and da judge drops the gavel on yer law breaking azz and yer back at square one and have either traffic school and no points, or a fine and ya get the points.



now rickster you should know that since they put the new northside "cop shop" north of us.................well thats the main drag 24/7/365 for cops coming and going to work. so the "old daze" of hauling azz doing 75-85 in the 50mph zone ARE OVER! same with carefree highway. all cops for the northside of phx come and go on cave creek and carefree highways to their respective "beats".



ask me how i know????



took the p-car down carefree hwy by yer old house at tramanto, thru the "S" curve at a blistering pace(at least 100mph-a hundert) one early morning at 6am cutting the "S" big time, and coming eastbound were (2) cop blazers staring at me like i was on fire(which i was) "dar-dar" detector blaring! i about poo'd myself thinking i was nailed. well thankfully there is a median dividing the hwy and it took them a while to cut to the turn around. i hooked it to I-17 and GE-SPLITTENED north bound!



dodged that bullet! sheesh.


i feel yer pain man, since that damn cop shop opened up, no more riding dirty bikes on sidewalks, doing wheelies, and other assorted miscreant activities for me. crap i cant even take the quad over to get gas anymore.



people and progress SUCK! i can remember leaving my house on the dirty bikes and going riding all over hells 1/2 acre and riding directly to harolds for a $5 burger and a beer! nowadays................they'd STRING ME UP!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I pulled over immediately and he brought his radar gun up to the window and it read 62mph. He said he saw me at 63, but locked me at 62. I find this impossible...

you should have just reached over and peeled the "62" sticker off his radar gun.

that would have shown him!

[Geronimo '74]

Or point to his mouth and say that he has a piece of donut stuck in his moustache...

When he tries to remove it, yell "psych!!!"

They like that...

[Rick Lee]

Silverwhaletail, I was driving toward the cop when he got me. I saw him turn the lights on before I got to him. I don't think it was physically possible for me to have gotten to 62mph without really stepping on it, as I was just coming from a left turn from rest. And I don't stomp on my throttle when the car is cold. I had just started the car. I had another light coming up and there was no point in speeding up to another red light, even had I been in a hurry. Hey, I'm a lead foot, but this is simply not a place I speed and not because of cops being nearby. It's just a throwaway stretch of road and, when I'm coming from my house, my oil temp needle is pegged at 7 o'clock when I'm there. I drive this road every day and see bike cops there all the time. My detector often picks them up from over a mile away, but I don't slow down because I don't speed there. I speed on the hwys.

[ODDJOB UNO]

by the way where were you exactly when popped so i know for future reference? let me guess? southbound cave creek rd. btwn lone mtn and tatum and they were on the right tucked into the palo verdes?????


or was it southbound cave creek rd. south of tatum on the right below the library?



or was it on top of the dam heading southbound?



or was it just north of joes house on the right tucked back into the side street?




another to watch for is eastbound on deer valley thru the industrial area just after you cross over the CAP canal. they have been there for months now and its a 40mph zona de DOOM-O!

[Geronimo '74]

Or....


62?? Dude, you're hallucinating, did you eat a bad donut? (pretend to be concerned)

[GH85Carrera]

The best reply is:

I bet ya can't put those handcuffs on me ya big sissy!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Silverwhaletail, I was driving toward the cop when he got me. I saw him turn the lights on before I got to him. I don't think it was physically possible for me to have gotten to 62mph without really stepping on it,

it's much more likely that the cop had another cop do 62, he gunned him and locked in the 62, and then started pulling people over no matter their speed and writing tickets with the "evidence."

that's the answer.

There is no WAY you were doing 62. no way.

[ODDJOB UNO]

i am surprised ya didnt walk with showing yer AZCCW! werks fer me damn near everytime i get nailed for some chicken-poo 5-20mph over the limit.




schmoozing them helps generally. for the most part until ya get some "rookie" with a hard-on to stop all crime on the streets and wants lil stars next to his name for the most tickets writtian in an hours time period.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by ODDJOB UNO

by the way where were you exactly when popped so i know for future reference? let me guess? southbound cave creek rd. btwn lone mtn and tatum and they were on the right tucked into the palo verdes?????

No, northbound Tatum, just after Jomax. I was turning left from Jomax. Cops often sit on their bikes at that intersection across from the Circle K. This one was further up Tatum on the west side of the road, I think sitting in a clearing or that gated neighborhood's driveway. I've been passed on that stretch like I'm standing still and can't believe he got my actual speed. Just impossible.


View Larger Map

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by ODDJOB UNO

i am surprised ya didnt walk with showing yer AZCCW! werks fer me damn near everytime i get nailed for some chicken-poo 5-20mph over the limit.




schmoozing them helps generally. for the most part until ya get some "rookie" with a hard-on to stop all crime on the streets and wants lil stars next to his name for the most tickets writtian in an hours time period.

I did. I told him my gun was in the door pocket and I had to open the glove box to get my papers. He didn't care, just handed it back to me.