Speeding ticket....Irvine Ca - Just Venting -

[nhbilly]

Just my luck got pulled over by the 5-O today.
He estimated my speed to be 60mph in 45mph I wasn't even tagged by the laser gun, but he wrote me up for 55mph. The thing is he had to run several light to catch up to and plus go over an over-pass and make a right at a light to even catch up to me. How the heck can you estimate about a mile + away from me? Made my day
:-)
Happy holiday guys!


nhb

[renovation]

He can time you just by counting the time it takes you to make it pass from one street light to the next! No joke they have a mathematical way of figuring your speed! :(

[bachviet]

Irvine PD doesn't have anything better to do especially at the end of the month to fill "quota". Sorry to hear about your ticket man.

[brainsmile]

yeah Irvine 50 tagged me once too.

[Houdini]

He can time you just by counting the time it takes you to make it pass from one street light to the next! No joke they have a mathematical way of figuring your speed! :(

Used to be called "VASCAR" or something, I think. Basically there are certain subtle or electronic landmarks/checkpoints of known distances. Divide that by the time it takes you to pass them and bingo. Mainly used by police air speed enforcement, though.

[JaQnAbOx]

http://www.ticketassassin.com/ my friend said this site has helped him. it used to be free and he would just ask for donations, but now he charges. boo!

[elmalloc]

I got pulled for 105 in a 65, on 80/90 east a few weeks ago - first speeding ticket.

THe officer said do you know how fast you were going, "Yes". Any reason to be going that fast, "No".

I was actually going 120 for about 10 minutes before that, and almost set cruise control at that speed. BMW feels like it's going 90 at that speed.

Dumb.

ELmO

[Prngr44]

Get it reduced to a bogus offense, pay the fine, go on about your routine without the points against your license.

[nhbilly]

Get it reduced to a bogus offense, pay the fine, go on about your routine without the points against your license.


How would you suggest I go about doing this?
If I recall I can't take traffic school not 18 months yet. Go to court plea not guilty and delay/delay/delay and risk a point and hope the cop never shows up or pay fine and higher insurance premium for 3 years and no point.

thanks guys

[Prngr44]

How would you suggest I go about doing this?
If I recall I can't take traffic school not 18 months yet. Go to court plea not guilty and delay/delay/delay and risk a point and hope the cop never shows up or pay fine and higher insurance premium for 3 years and no point.

thanks guys

Do you have those law offices that basically do nothing but driving offenses there? Out here, For a $75 speeding ticket, you basically pay the law office $50 to get it reduced... usually loud muffler, or some other non-moving violation. It costs YOU $125, but you'll save that and more by not having it on your insurance.

[nhbilly]

Do you have those law offices that basically do nothing but driving offenses there? Out here, For a $75 speeding ticket, you basically pay the law office $50 to get it reduced... usually loud muffler, or some other non-moving violation. It costs YOU $125, but you'll save that and more by not having it on your insurance.


I wish it was that easy here...I would ask for a reduce in a beat.

[Napoleon54]

I dunno about CA, but in upstate NY it's a matter of routine to get a ticket reduced. Just show up to court, wait 1-2 hours until your name is called, sit down across the table from the DA and get offered a reduction without saying a word. Lawyer is just a waste of $$$ in these cases, except usually they'll move people with lawyers to the front of the line and save you some waiting.

[starkiis]

Irvine police are stricted. I would just pay it and get it over with. There is no way of fighting them. The idiot probally just needed his quota. Sorry you got popped

[Prngr44]

Irvine police are stricted. I would just pay it and get it over with. There is no way of fighting them. The idiot probally just needed his quota. Sorry you got popped

Quota or not, quotas are in place to generate money. Whether it's a speeding ticket or a loud muffler the department gets its money. What's important to the driver is that it isn't something that goes on your record.

Looks like this place does it... (I just googled your location for some info)

http://www.earlcarterlaw.com/PracticeAreas/DMV-Points.asp

I'm sure there's tons more like it.

[YellowCoffee]

There is no such thing as a "quota". I have friends who are cops in SD, LA, and parts of OC. They all say the same thing about this myth. I'm not positive about the highway patrol though.

[InfiniteNothing]

There might be no quota perse but if a cop doesn't ticket a significant number of people it sorta looks like he's getting paid to eat donuts. The "quota" today is a much subtler presure.

[Houdini]

Not to threadjack, which I'm guilty as charged of doing for a while, but I have my own story.

Short version: I'm on an exit ramp, before it actually ramped, in bumper-to-bumper slow-moving traffic. Some asshat in a full-size truck somes speeding up behind me. Guy in front is pulling a boat/trailor with a Saturn Vue. He accelereates QUICKLY. I let off my brake to give the asshat behind me room. Then the guy in front slams on his brakes and stops. Brake lights ~7 feet off the ground, questionable function anyway. Outboard motor in "down" position. I hit his motor at about 3 mph, crushing the front of my car/hood/knocking out my kidney grills and binding my electric fan. His car is fine, his motor is now off to the side. Guy comes out of car, approaches me yelling at the top of his lungs about what an idiot I am, etc. I calmly ask if everyone is ok. He just keeps screaming and approaching me, so I get back in my car for protection. Police come, tell us to move our cars to a Shell station.

Turns out the ~65 y/o driver was driving a car dealership's car. No registration. No license plate, and best of all NO DRIVERS' LICENSE - expired about 5 years ago. Bad attitude as well. I explained to the officer that I knew that hitting someone from behind is automatically my fault, but there were some mitigating circumstances, such as the asshat behind me (and I know to this day he hit me from behind, though didn't make much damage and the cop doubted me, though I DID feel it right before I hit the motor.) I explained that his trailor lights were WAY above any car's line of site, especially in bumper-bumper traffic, and that I was following at what I thought was a safe distance until I thought I would be crushed b/w a full-size pickup and a boat. The guy kept ranting and raving about how I was an ignorant young driver with a fancy, expensive car someone must have given me (I do look young, but it is my car, and I'm a professional.) I also informed the officer of the guy's bizarre behavior and that I really thought he was going to hit me, and when he went back to his car I was scared of a weapon, etc.

The cop said I should have noticed b/c it was still during the day, etc. He gave me a ticket for careless use of a motor vehicle. Didn't cite the unlicensed driver for ANYTHING. I called and missed the court date secondary to having to see a patient in the ER. The court people advised me to plead INNOCENT and to describe the guy's attitude, his vague threats, the bump from behind, the lack of visible brake lights, my pristine driving record, my efforts to render medical care to random people on the street after MVAs after Katrina, and most important, the fact that the guy was UNLICENSED. Might as well have been a 5-year-old driving. Best I can hope for is a broken taillight or other non-moving violation and pay a ticket and court costs while NOT getting a hiked insurance rate.

Anyway, another ramble. Must be b/c I post at night and am tired.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I know there are several lawyer types around here. Yes, I did hit his car, and I had to pay for my own damages. But all things considered, including the officer's preferential treatment for the old UNLICENSED guy w/o registration, etc. -I kinda got the vibe that the cop, a state policeman, also thought I was some sort of rich brat driving his daddy's BMW - , I'm kind of unsure how to pursue it. I felt kind of guilty pleading innocent, but was told by the court liason at the courthouse it was the best thing to do.

H

[Dave_7]

Just my luck got pulled over by the 5-O today.
He estimated my speed to be 60mph in 45mph I wasn't even tagged by the laser gun, but he wrote me up for 55mph. The thing is he had to run several light to catch up to and plus go over an over-pass and make a right at a light to even catch up to me. How the heck can you estimate about a mile + away from me? Made my day
:-)
Happy holiday guys!


nhb

That'll learn ya... keep out of Irvine ;) Were you driving a car older than 1996? Irvine PD seems to love to pull over people for not driving a nice enough car through their district. And it takes no fewer that two officers for any incident. Sorry to hear the story.

Dave.

[Prngr44]

Houdini - I'd guess that unless the court looks on all those things you mentioned you're probably out of luck. If you got into a smaller accident to avoid an obviously larger one, especially in which it was clearly your fault, there's not much you can do. I do feel for you though because it sounds like a lot of crap.

<rant>
What I don't understand is if it's illegal to drive an unregistered, uninsured, unlicensed vehicle why don't the cops give those jerkoffs a damn ticket?? They're the reason our insurance rates are so high in the first place.
</rant>

[bachviet]

There might be no quota perse but if a cop doesn't ticket a significant number of people it sorta looks like he's getting paid to eat donuts. The "quota" today is a much subtler presure.
Yeap that's true since even cops teaching traffic school said so.

[Grafalgar]

Sorry I just saw this now, but you may be able to fight that ticket if it was "safe" to drive at 55. California I believe has a "presumed" speed limit .. which means that you can go XX mph if that's the -speed limit-. Freeways and such have "Maximum Speeds" which you violate if you go above it all.

But yeah - if you can prove that it was safe to drive at 55pmh in a 45mph *speed limit* zone then you may be able to fight it, all legal and stuff :)

Google "California presumed speed limit" and you'll get a number of hits =)

[eSDee]

That sucks Houdini I'm sorry :(