Got my first ticket...??

[M3FordBoy]

So I have this '68 Galaxie that has about 350hp that I drove around for two years. Then I also buy this '89 Accord to save on gas money I've had it for about 3 weeks. My buddy has an equally slow '90something Sentra...they are both sticks so naturaly we need to race them. lol It's about 11 at night and stupid me looks in the rear view (just a glance) sees crown vic lights and thinks nothing of it. We take off and I have him from first gear on out...I throw it into third at about 60mph and I have probably a car or two on him. I then look in the rear view mirror again and notice those vic's head lights are still farily close. Realizing my stupidity I put on the breaks and at the same time the cop turns on her lights. I pull over yat yat she gives me a ticket for 65 in a 50, and lets me go. (just thought you might want the story that goes with this)

Anyway I'm looking at the ticket and my age is wrong it says 18 I'm 19 no biggy, but for model it says Maxima 4D....I have a Accord 2D...I don't know if this is worth anything or not. I'm just kinda confused...The tickets comes out to be $72 dollars with a possible $12 thrown on top of that IDK. Good thing is I've got a couple of good friends who both offered up $20 each, because they are the ones that wanted to race in the first place.

Advice?...It's not big deal to pay it; all I'm worried about is my parents and insurance..I'm the first kid to get a ticket lucky me. On the brighter side I won the race haha.

[Igovert500]

I just wrote out a massive response, and then windows explorer crashed and I lost it all. The jist was, I'm guessing that the cop used a pacing method to track your speed. He therefore has to follow your car at the same speed, over a distance, maintaining a constant speed and a constant exact distance between his car adn yours. In the night time this is doubly hard due tot he fact htat he can't see your car...just your tail lights, and this makes accurate depth perception pretty much impossible.

Also if he claims you were racing, he would have had to go faster to catch up, giving him a higher speed reading. I'd attack all of these in his testimony. He can't upgrade you to a charge of street racing or a higher speeding ticket now. And he also doesn't have the discretion to lower the ticket to 65 on the spot..if you were doing 80.

So if he says he saw you doing anything other than 65, I'd move for a dismissal because now it's a different speed, plus the fact that you don't own a 4 door nissan, you have a 2 door honda...really raises a reasonable doubt as to whether you did the charges brought against you. Judge should dismiss, if not, I'd tear apart the testimony.

He had to catch up (you can say you saw him catch up quite quickly in your rearview) which would indicate he was going much faster than you. Get him to agree that it's harder to maintain a constant distance at night. Especially when he's so far back and not right on your bumper. If you were racing, it would be impossible to maintain a constant speed. If he was doing 90 to catch up, he doesnt' know if you were going 55, 65, 70, 75, etc.

If there were hills,etc, the terrain could make it even harder to maintain constant speed and distance between the 2 cars. Hell, you could even go after his tire pressure and bring into doubt if his speedometer was reading accurately.

That should be enough to put together a solid defense and bring up a reasonable doubt. If not, go buy 'Beat Your Ticket: Go to Court & Win' by David Brown. He basically lays out your entire defense..you can get it on amazon. Good investment if you are a habitual speeder.

Remeber to dress well, and be respectful to officer and judge.

[M3FordBoy]

Ok, So basically what you're saying is that because I left so quickly from a stop light constantly accelerated, and then quickly put on my breaks (when I noticed a car come up on me quickly) That the cop couldn't have acurately paced me. And on top of that the car is a manual so even the acceleration isn't constant at all; so it would be hard to match. On the ticket he got the make Honda right but not the model or style...I'm not sure if it's worth my time to fight the court date isn't until June 4th, 2007, but I gonna weigh out my options and then decide what to do. I'm currently looking into paying the ticket and paying to have it reduced on my record. I also have a friend at school who's father is a judge and I know that he has made a few kids tickets...umm disapear.

[Gargon]

If you have the time go ahead and try to fight it. If you dont its only $72 dollars and you can go to traffic school and get the point on your driving record abolished from your record and your insurance wont go up.

[M3FordBoy]

I called my insurance and it won't go up anyways sence it was my first ticket...I already payed it and am done with it.

[danielsatur]

The police + courts made there money!
Go early morng on the court date and talk to the DA, he will be glad to reduce it, or give you a prayer for judgement.

[speediva]

Originally Posted by danielsatur

The police + courts made there money!
Go early morng on the court date and talk to the DA, he will be glad to reduce it, or give you a prayer for judgement.

His court date was in June 4 years ago. Please check the dates of threads before offering advice/suggestions.