Well said sir !
Todays tech with police radar, they will record the violator's speed before his radar start beeping/ringing....
By the time the driver hits the brakes, its already toooo late !

Salute
Phil

 

radar Detectors are indeed illegal in VA and the fine is heinous...I've also heard anectdotal stories where the officer makes the owner back up over the detector (assuming its one that is mounted in the interior) right at the spot of the violation.

 

I drive like an old man (which I am) so it's unlikely I will ever get a speeding ticket.

I always tell 'em: If you don't like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk!

 

Gotta love responses like this from a person - Sounds like he MIGHT be in Law Enforcment, either a LEO or someone "In the know" in the Court System. But we will never know UNITL YOU FILL OUT YOUR DARN PROFILE, will we?

 

Being a french canadian and being bilingual, sometimes my writing skills are hard to understand what I'm trying to say... Please be patient.

If you want to confirm my identity as a police officer you can.
Contact the Ontario Provincial Police(O.P.P) or check the web site and ask to confirm my identity by giving them my badge number. 7755 !
They will confirm with you and will tell you that I've been on the force for 18yrs +

I'm trying to assist anyone seeking assistance when it comes to driving violations and any other scenarios that may pop up.
Keep in mind, I will try to be proffessional as much as I can.

Salute

Phil

 

I tried looking at my PROFILE and m'not sure how to add the missing details you would like to see !

Can you help me ?

Phil

 

Heh...well WE do not get tickets out here..nope not us..uh uh....but we do get "visits"..

 

at least you could have gotten a ticket with class

 

That thing apply to me as well.

 

back in the day when I was the popo, they used to try and put me in the radar car, I felt like such a hypocrite (I drove my IROC to work everyday) writing tickets. Got to where if the guy was driving an old muscle car I would look the other way sometimes unless they were just being stupid. (then I wanted to look under the hood, told them I didnt care about what was in the trunk, just open the hood). Met a lot of good mechanics that way....

 

I'll throw my .02 in. (been a cop for 8 years- all of which in Wisconsin)

As far as the location error, all the officer has to do is give judicial notice that there was an error on the citation on court date- that is . . .make a statement correcting the problem.

As far as hiring an attorney, not a bad idea if you have been wrongfully accused. To be honest though, you'll probably give the officer great satisfaction if you go this route. The reason I say this, is because speed violations are the simplest violation that we have to prove.

This is going to sound crazy, but Officers enjoy court with a decent traffic attorney because it offers a little challenge (someone that actually has a good line of questioning rather than the average citizen- that just starts rattling dumb questions off that they think are important.) All too often, when we go into court, the defendant is by themselves and they start asking questions like they have seen on T.V. (We call these people TV Attorneys)

The reason the officer gets satisfaction is because he has accomplished more than he ever could have wanted- the speeding ticket just turned from a couple of hundred bucks, to a thousand dollars or so. The idea is not to get our kicks from this ticket causing a grand in Attorney fee's but rather a hastle that the defendant will never want to go through again in his life- therefore he wont ever speed again. So, even if the citation were dropped, the officer walks away knowing he solved the problem of the defendant speeding.

Now, as for radar detectors- they will work for lazy cops; because lazy cops keep the radar on all the time as they drive- thus sending out a beam of radar all the time. A good cop turns the radar off until he notices a vehicle approaching rapidly- he/she then turns it on (sends the beam). By doing it this way, it doesn't give the poor sucker a chance to react to his radar detector before he's already been clocked. Whats even better, is when I get to write in my report that the front of the target vehicle nose dived as the vehicle slowed to the speed limit. The problem is, if you have a radar detector in the car when you're stopped for a speed violation, you gonna get a ticket 100% of the time.

I always get a chuckle out of people that have them going crazy when I walk up to the car- they pretend like its not even there, they dont silence it or anything. Once in a while I'll tell them it's OK to shut your radar detector off. Then I tell them its ok to throw it out the window and run it over, just not in front of me.

Keep in mind, police officers are not offended by taking a citation to court. Remember, a citation is a summons to appear in court. The fine amount just makes it easier for the people that were in the wrong and do not want to appear in court.

One thing never to say to a cop, "I'll see you in court." Everytime I walk in court, I get three hours of time and a half. If I'm there ten minutes, its three hours of overtime. Who in their right mind would not want over a hundred bucks for 10-30 minutes of work. Also remember, court is not scary to cops, (we're there all the time) so its a much bigger deal to the guy that got the ticket than it is us. Its amazing how many people promise to take our tickets to court, then never follow through.

Anyway, I just thought I'd shed some light on it from another cops point of view. (flame suit on)

 

Sorry to hear that. I was stopped in my vette doing about 90, cop was great, gave me ticket for 60 (only 5 over) and said " If I had this, I'de be doing 90 too !"

 

I have had my share of tickets , Most of the time the officer let me go or just gave me the ticket for just over the limit. . Above all ,The advice I have been reading is Mostly Positive. Both from the officers point of view and the drivers.. I want to add a few things Been driving for over 45yrs and clocked probably over a million miles.Some of it being a AH. behind the wheel of a realy fast car. I found out that the Key is Honesty,Politeness,(respect)(go's for the Judge too) and Know when to keep your mouth shut.. If you do go to court chances are the cop may not even remember you. especialy if you postpone it several times. Unless you give him something to remember.. Think about it.. Good luck with your court battle.

 

Phil, I believe you and I live in Ottawa... I am bringing out my 69 SILVER convertible this year... See you at Orleans on a Wed. night..
and not on the side of the road...

 

SALUTE 79L82owner !

You are sooooo right about EVERYTHING you have mentioned !

You will see with the years that when taken to court, you won't give a "hoot" of the case's outcome !
You will be HAPPY with the extra OVERTIME HOURS on your next paycheque !!!

To any violators outthere that you think you are intimidating an officer by saying " I'll see ya in court ! ", you have just contributed to his bank account some money for him to buy the next gadget for his corvette !!!

SALUTE
Phil

 

I was going to add the part about getting a ticket 100% of the time if you have a detector but for some reason I chose to leave it out. You are so right on that point. You have a detector, you played the game and you lost. You don't get the warnign that someone who might accidentally have been speeding might get.

What most people don't understand is that radar is not "the proof" that you were speeding. It is merely one of the tools that we use to verify it. Technically, I could write a ticket for speeding with no radar in the car based on my experience of observation that is documented.

 

Good stuff Milo !

In our radar requalifying course, there is a test we need to go thru.
That test is visualize the oncoming vehicle and guess its speed.

After 18yrs of working with radar equipment, any officers can/will be able to guess the speed of an oncoming vehicle and will be within 5mph give or take....
VISUAL evidence in traffic court proceedings is very crucial and can be FATAL for the defendant !

Salute
Phil

 

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did you see the sheriffs in cal.?

 

Something i don't like. It seems that some seems to be real lucky to have chances and some get a ticket the first time they get pull over(my case). The street i live in the speed is only 50 kph and 500 feet pass my house there's no more houses and it goes up to 80 kph, so everybody do accelarate just before they get to my driveway and when comming from the 80 zone are still doing way over 80. We did some complain about the speeding in our part of the street but what i have notice is the one's who are always speeding are not the ones that get cought. The one who get cought are the one that for a reason or another will just pass the limit and by the time they are pull over, the real fast one ( mostly always the sames cars) get away.

 

This is my latest law breaker I just recently bought I speed nightly w/it when traffic is thin, and I have as much respect for speed laws as the Govt. does for us.
When you got your ticket, I wonder how many illegal aliens were hanging out intown waiting for work, the ones this cop probably drives by daily and IGNORES in Virginia. They get to break the law because the rich need their lawns mowed, but you, well your a different story, they can rob you for big $$$$.

If thats true that this ticket may cost you near or over $1,000.oo that is clearly revenue generating, and has NOTHING to do w/ punishment, your being ROBBED!!!!
How these polititions get away with passing these insane laws is beyond me. Remember in the 70s how the Govt. pushed "55 mph saves lives", well now its back up to 65, don't they care about our safety anymore, guess not.

Fight the ticket.
My current speed demon, catch me if you can