Oh, forgot to mention, when I first got that '77 Triumph TR7 ... passed a local bagel/donut shot (not a joke!) on a twisty back road.

I was sure I stopped at the one stop sign in the middle of the area, and then off I went with that little 4 cyl winding out. I go really tooling through this one set of twisties...

As I come out of it into a straight-away, all of a sudden I see, not one, but TWO police cars behind me, really coming up on me... I was doing about 65 in a 30 exitting that last turn and really pushing the car. The two Ford LTD's easily caught up to me after the road straightened out. This was about two miles away from the bagel shop.

Cops told me they couldn't get close enough to me until the road straightened out

This is the 2nd day with the car! And about the second week with my license (about 4 years of "practice" ...). All of a sudden, cop walks SLOWLY back to the car, gives me my paperwork and says "It's your lucky day, we just got a call, you're free to go" ...

I was watching them, never saw them raise the mic to their mouth so I know they never got a "call"...

Turned they were two "bosses" ...

 

I've had five or six tickets, and never gotten off with a warning. Just once I'd like that.

 

Any takers??

 

Maybe your policy does not demand that, but I'd do it since somebody thought you should.
Take the bite! Be more careful. Eventually you just wont see the need to drive beyond the rules and by then your insurance rates will come down to normal.
I took the "55 and alive" course from AARP, and it took the ticket off my record, but nothing ever really comes off your record.
Any cop looking you up in NCIC will see all your tickets back as far as the dawn of Electronic Record keeping. Same with the Insurance company.
So send the certificate in to the insurance Co. and let them know you've been educated and are now a certified safe driver.

 

Good point Thudpucker!

I once got a printout of my driver's record from an insurance company. It went back to the first ticket I ever got, 6 years earlier. They were making it out like they couldn't take me because of that record.

When I pointed out NONE of it happened within the last 3 years, they HAD to back off and cover me because 3 years is the law. At least, here in NY. However, they did want me to take the defensive driving course which I did (and it opened my eyes to lots of things).

NDrum2005, the "insurers" copy is probably the one you send in to get the discount. It has nothing to do with removing the points from your license. And, I don't think the ticket will be "dismissed", it'll still be on your record, but the total "points" on your license will be reduced by whatever, so next time you get a ticket you won't be over the max points and get your license suspended/revoked.

 

Here's how it usually works....sad....but true. The bottom line here is money and how you want to spend it. You can simply pay the fine and take the bad points and be done with it quickly or you can spend more money on a good lawyer and probably get off with a lesser charge, lesser fine, and fewer points. If you have your speedometer calibrated at a certified shop and it is off, a good lawyer may be able to get you off with just defective equipment. But if you decide to fight it in any way at all, don't go into the courtroom without a good attorney that normally handles cases in that particular local court system or you will probably be just wasting your time. Just the way the system works.


All above, just my humble opinion based on my experience.

Good luck

JD

 

Well, I went and saw the lawyer my boss knows. The guy said that since I had a spotless record and paid for my own insurance(still on parents plan) he could def get it reduced to a minor moving voilation, but there is a near def chance to something like a seatbelt or parking thing. Paid him $200 and he said he would keep me informed. Said "Any freind of Johns(farm boss) is a friend of mine." Hope he can get it reduced, that would make my life alot better!! I will prob take a def driving course, parents want ot take it as well. O yea, now I'm using the cruise ctrl on all the roads!!

 

I seem to go in spurts. The last two times I was pulled over was twice over the course of a week, both times in a Toyota Prius, and both stops were highly suspicious. The speedometer in a Prius is a digital one mounted at the base of the windshield centered on the dashboard. It's very easy to see the speedometer in your peripheral vision. Don't laugh, but I keep a Valentine One radar detector moving around between all of my vehicles. The first time, I was on my way to work, and lifted off of the accelerator pedal at the "reduced speed ahead" warning sign. I could clearly see the officer on the side of the highway, finishing up with another one of his customers as I was slowing for the reduced speed limit. Shortly before I passed the 50 mph sign, the stopped motorist pulled away, and the cop followed immediately afterwards. I look over at the officer who just pulled onto the road, and he stared back at me. Immediately my V1 went off full blast. My speedometer read 51. I look annoyed back at the officer, who is still staring in my direction. He then turned on his lights, and made a quick "U" turn. Yep, he's stopping me in my little economy hybrid car. Once stopped, he sauntered up and had me roll down the window, to which he asked me if I knew why he stopped me. I answered no, in which he said he clocked me doing 60 in a 50. To that I told him point blank that this was absoutely not likely as I knew for a fact that I was doing 51 when he turned on his radar gun. The cop actually gave me this 30 second blank stunned stare at my answer. Afterwards, he "regained" his composure and asked me how did I know when he turned on his radar. I pointed to my V1 in the windshield, and to the speedometer at the bottom of it, and also pointed out my Garmin 2610 GPS which was mounted to the steering column. Again he found himself searching for words, and then finally stammered out that he wouldn't have stopped me for 51, and my stuff wasn't accurate - HIS was. I bit my tongue to keep from mouthing off what I thought was the real reason for the stop. After his comment, he stomped off and let me go.

A week later, in the exact same place, it was another cop who seemed to take exception to being looked at as he went in the opposite direction. Only this time, there was no "braap" from the V1 before being pulled over. This cop decided that my "window tint" was illegally dark. It didn't matter that you were hard pressed to tell that there was any tint to the glass at all. He stuck his tint meter on the glass, only to find that my "tint" was WAY under the legal limit (it was a minimal tint UV blocking film the stealership put on), he took off as fast as he could stammering that the "back window" threw him off. Yeah, right.

The V1 was purchased after another officer pulled me over stating that I was doing 71 in a 55 zone, in VERY heavy traffic that was moving at barely the speed limit. Somehow, he managed to fire a radar gun around a massive box truck. That ticket was dismissed by the D.A. without me even having to show up for court.

 

I get pulled over a lot actually, last time was 2wks ago but not for speeding (he clocked me at 66 in a 65) but rather just DOT doing a random inspection, makes 3 times last year, not including pulling through the scales, actually come to think about it I get pulled over on the side of hte road more often than I get pulled into the scales.
I have gotten 6 warnings in the past 4 yrs though worst was for doing 49 in a 30, and since Ihad a clean record he just gave me a warning and told me to slow down. Better go knock on wood though cause I have been lucky <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm824BXUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15/15_10_2.gif' alt='Knock On Wood' border=0></a>but that has to do with a class A cdl and not exactly bieng young anymore.

 

Yes, you have a chance find a lawyer that deals with traffic it will probably cost you $100. and you can get it reduced to failure to obey a traffic device or something along those lines. You won't even have to step into court if it's reduced; you'll just pay the fine.

 

Marc150, when I was opening this thread I was expecting a cop bashing thread. I found it refreshing that you admitted that you were in the wrong. To many times I see people blaming the police for simply enforcing the law. Props to you for admitting your mistakes and I hope you get your ticket reduced!

 

Well thanks, I do have respect for the police, considering I know almost half of the local PD! I really just wanted to get it over with, it was cold and rainy and I felt kinda bad for him standin there in the rain. Local Pd would pull me over just to bust on me when I had my truck, kinda like super troopers!