Trying to avoid a dangerous situation?

[regalfriend]

I was driving on a wide, and straight 4 lane road. Speed limit is 30(residential area). My approximate speed was between 42-45mph. A cop was hiding behind the bushes outside his car , clocking people. He jumps out into the road and tells me to pull over. He told me i was doing 52 in a 30. After he gives me the ticket i ask how he clocked me. He told me radar. Then he corrected himself and said Laser. Then asked me to give the ticket back. At this point i thought he would just get rid of the ticket. He crossed out the part that said Radar and wrote Laser. I then asked him if i could see the laser gun to check the speed. It said 52, at a distance of 638 ft. . Since this road is wide open and mostly straight most people do 55+ MPH. If you do 30 MPH most people will tailgate and cut you off. On my way back, on the same road, i tried an experiment. I did 30 MPH the whole way. I had several people come flying up behind me, tailgate me, blow their horn and cut me off in a fit of rage. I even had 2 people give me the finger. All this for doing the speed limit. It had caused a pretty dangerous situation, even though i was doing the speed limit. My point being to do the speed limit can be dangerous, even life threatening. In NY when someone gives you the finger they are pretty pissed off. In the wrong neighborhood you could get shot. Even though i wasnt doing 52 , i was doing approx. 43. If i tell the judge i was doing 43 he could convict me of that instead. My plan is to go on the same road doing 30MPH the whole time and have a passenger film what is happening around me. This will show how dangerous it is to travel at the speed limit.

[fredjacksonsan]

The police are probably running radar/laser on that road because people are speeding so much.

You might be able to talk it down in court, saying that you were only doing 45. But laser is quite accurate especially at short ranges so he'll probably have you there.

IF there was a lot of other traffic at the time you were ticketed, the video with you going 30 and showing other drivers' reactions might work, you'd have to maintain that you thought it unsafe to do the speed limit, and show why. No guarantees, but with the right judge you might make out.

I know a guy that was clocked at 78 in a 55 here in Virginia. His argument in court was that there was a trailer behind a car in front of him that was swaying back and forth, and a car on his bumper that was so close he couldn't even see the grill in his rearview, so he accelerated out of a dangerous situation. The ticket was dismissed.

Good luck with the ticket and post back to let us know how it comes out.

[Igovert500]

Seems like you handled yourself pretty well on the side of hte road. I don't think the cop switching between radar/laser will help much, although that does seem a bit fishy, but perhaps he was just tired or something.

Anyway, the idea of the video is good. We have a family friend who did the exact same thing over the course of a week, and had his ticket dismissed. I would take approach of agreeing with the judge and the officer that you were speeding, you thought you were driving in the 40s, not the 50s, but nonetheless, you were speeding, but the reason was of the nature of traffic on this road. Say you are glad that they are starting to enforce it, because, as your video will show, traffic moves quite fast on that road, and it is difficult/unsafe to do 30mph.

[NINÅ]

Slow motion speed limits is a mental illness that will never be cured.

—If people drove any slower they’d be going backwards—

.

[Igovert500]

Nina, please refrain from posting unless you actually plan on posting something on-topic and worthwhile. thanks.

[bmwgolfguy]

1) if he got you on laser (cops usually have to get out of their vehicle to point the laser gun with any accuracy) and had a visual on your car, that's all he needs.
2)changing the ticket to read laser means nothing.
3)you are possibly a victim of what is known as "selective enforcement" and it's legal. A cop can pick you out of a pack of speeding drivers and it's too bad you were the one.
4) depending on what court room you are in and the judge or magistrate, he/she may or may not let the video into evidence. To make a long story short, you need to "lay" what is called a "foundation" which basically means show the tape is legit. Then you have to get past the hearsay aspect of the tape (an out of court statement {in this case a video} used to prove the facts contained in the statement - look it up on the inet for all the exceptions to the rule). Finally, if you are in a busy courtroom (cattle call), the judge or magistrate will probably not take the time to view the tape.

Good Luck!