Ok, well, this sucks, got my first speeding ticket today, 55 in a 35........BEFORE I REACHED THE 35 MPH ZONE what is up with that. I'm 18, never had a ticket before, never even had a problem with the police, and here we go, i'm doing 55 in a 55 and i get a ticket for 55 in a 35 from a rookie cop, still had the ride along with him, and the ride along checking over everything he did. He was trembling when he handed me the ticket and quickly walked away. He was obviously scared to death to write me a ticket, why I don't know, I mean, he's a cop, why is he scared of a routine traffic stop??? Well, i guess you do have your weirdos out there but still. If you are going to write someone a ticket for 55 in a 35, please, at least wait until the reach the 35 mph zone before you pull them.....thats just messed up, has me frustrated, even though my parents are telling me to not worry about it. I shoulda said something when I got pulled, but I didn't wanna get into any trouble with the law, bc there is no way this is going to hold, if it does, then what is our justice system coming to????

 

Make sure and take lots of pictures. Did you have anyone else with you? You might want to check out www.jesbeard.com/29ab.htm, there is quite a bit of advice there about how to fight a speeding ticket.

 

thanks bargod, you are the best....this looks like it may help out a lot, thanks

 

It's a rather informative site. I was ready to use the info in my last ticket, but decided to verify the court date one day too late. It was the day after court. I just wrote a check and hoped that there wasn't a warrent with my name on it.

 

It appears that you're a resident of North Carolina. I would do everything in my power to fight that ticket including hiring a lawyer if necessary. If you don't, your insurance premiums will skyrocket with a 20 mph. over the limit on your record in combination with your age. At this stage of the game, you have nothing to loose by going to court and fighting the ticket.

Listen to the advice that everyone else has given you and show up in court fully prepared. A lawyer may be able to get the charges reduced to "equiptment malfunction"(a.k.a. speedometer error) and you won't end up with points on your license. If you got the ticket in Charlotte, there's a good chance the cop won't show up for court. If you got the ticket in a smaller town, you still may luck out and have the cop pull a no-show.

North Carolina is a great state to live in, but they'll really put the screws to you over a speeding ticket. I hope everything works out in your favor.

 

There is a speed trap here like that. it goes from 50mph to 35 with no change in rod conditions. The cops always hide right at the 35mph area

 

plead not guilty and offer to take a defensive driving course. they will probably lower the charge to running a stop sign or failure to yield which is a lot less points on the license and insurance wont find out about it. the 60 or so bucks it costs for the course and sittin in a room bored one saturday is worth it.

 

yeah, this happened in the little town of ramseur, it drops from 55 to 35, he was coming the opposite direction, and hit me before i reached the 35 zone, so technically i wasn't speeding until i was to hit the 35 zone, which is where i stopped, right after the 35mph sign is where i stopped, so I wasn't speeding yet. He's a young cop so I assume he is more than likely going to show, but who knows, he may not know how things are run by then and I could luck out, we have to go to Asheboro for it so I dunno. I appreciate all the advice given here, thanks a lot

 

They have a trap like that in Indian Head, Md. Going north on 210, its 50, you come over the crest of a hill, and on the down side it switches to 40. If are doing 51 or more mph the will give you a ticket for speeding in the 40 mph zone!

 

This is automotive discussion and has been moved to the general automotive forum

 

sorry mustang, thanks for the move

 

I grew up in a small town in Illinois. I can relate to you dilemma. Where I grew up , there was a lot of controversy as to whether the speed zone started at the sign or upon visual recognition of the sign. No two officers or judges could come up with a straight story, but the law always won. The other favorite tactic was to sit just inside the line from a speed transition (say 35 to 55) and get the drivers who began to accelerate in anticipation of the new zone. I remember several people I knew of all ages getting tickets for 36 or 37 in a 35. Sad but true.

Good Luck

 

I am sure that you will get out of the ticket but you will have to pay court cost because I got out of a ticket doing 124 in a 55 and I am 16 and I still have my license but the cop marked it down to a 70 in a 55.

 

I would be careful, I would try to plead so it didnt go on your record, but you need to let them get some sort of recognition, if it is in a small town. This may not be the case in your town, but it is mine. Some will argue, others wont. I beat a ticket once, a BS ticket and it made the entire police force look like a group of poorly trained monkeys, after that I was harrassed so bad, I was pulled over for anything, I had a cop tell me I had a tail light out(I always check at night) so we got out to look, and he beat it out with a mag-lite. I was road-side sobriety tested over 30 times in a year(even though I never drank underage) I never drove over the speed limit because I had a police escort from my house, to school, from school to lunch, lunch to school, and school to home. While out cruising, ect. Don't make them look like clowns, especially with a new guy. Mine was bad, and it was a BS ticket, and made them look even worse. Just travel with caution, and think you desicions out very well.

 

i don't live in that town, i was on my way back from thanksgiving break, i'm off at college right now, drove 2 hrs to be with my family for the holidays and drove back, i wasn't it direct view of the 35 mph sign, i did see the reduce speed ahead sign and then boom, i'm tagged, and pulled. as often as i drive through that town, i don't care how i make that police force look, the have tailed me all through town once, i was going 35 in the 35 and getting passed, but he rode my bumper for half a mile, then pulled out from behind me doing like 55-60, didn't pull anyone, he was gone though. This town hits hard, so i always slow down coming in there, i know they are tough on speeders. I know when the cop asked me if i had any questions, I asked why he pulled me in a drop from 55 to 35, and he got quiet and walked back to his car, he didn't even tell me to have a nice day or anything, just walked off, didn't answer my question, tell me if thats not screwed up or what. My parents know a lot of people in the legal system and my stepmom is a paralegal, so I think i'm set, they are saying i'm going to get out of this no problem, and that I need to get up $90 for court costs, and i'll get out of it, so i'm not worried about it anymore, thanks for all of your help, i'm off to court on january 14th, wish me luck