Speeding Ticket Question

[Tron_fdc]

And no, I don't believe she's embellishing to get off. It's what she told me, I have no reason to doubt her.

I get tickets all the time, I don't complain and neither does she. We pay them. So you self righteous people can get bent as far as I'm concerned, because in my mind she has a legit concern.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Ridiculous scenario and you're all falling for it. Sped up to keep from being hit? Are you serious?

They obviously weren't trying to get by as they stopped to give her a ticket. I'm guessing it's an embellished story at best to try to assuage some blame for the offense itself.

Where did I say sped up from being hit? She sped up because she was being tailgated by a cop.

If you people questioning this want to know more about happened ask me.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Yeah that's kind of what I was thinking. If it's a word against word thing she might be screwed.

I would think she can at least get off on the demerits though.

I don't see it that way; it's one of two situations; he either says he was tailgating her or says he wasn't. If he says he wasn't, then it becomes a question of how he clocked her speed; and the speeding ticket comes into question. (Any ticket I've ever fought started with the Crown entering evidence about when the last time the radar gun was certified.) On the flip side, if he was tailgating then she has a defence.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

And no, I don't believe she's embellishing to get off. It's what she told me, I have no reason to doubt her.

I get tickets all the time, I don't complain and neither does she. We pay them. So you self righteous people can get bent as far as I'm concerned, because in my mind she has a legit concern.

Nothing personal, everyone does it, and everyone ticks me off when they do.

The law is very simple. Speeding is illegal. I don't like the incessant asterisks we attach to that. If the limit is 100, don't put yourself in a situation where you could exceed it. (read: not 99 and staring at your odometer, not 99 at the top of a hill).

Full disclosure: yes, I speed.
When I get pulled over by a cop and he asks why I'm speeding I say "I'm impatient."

[4X4]

I'd say that if all she got was a 15 over and a 4x4 style "move out of the left lane for faster traffic" lecture, then I don't know why she'd fight it. I suppose the tailgating thing is something that could be the point of contention, but she wouldn't have been tailgated if she'd moved over...

[The Yen Man]

It really is a case of "she said he said" in that the cop can also claim that he wasn't tailgating her, and then what? I would think the judge would side with the cop, since he can argue that your gf thought she was being tailgated, but in fact the cop was actually trying to wave her over. So realistically there's no way to prove the cop was actually tailgating her. He can also argue that in her state of panic, she wasn't able to judge his distance from her car.

The only thing that can be proven is that your gf was speeding. So I honestly don't see how you can win if you took it to court, other than the cop not showing up.

[Dan02]

Can a argument not be made that both the cop and her are right though. One persons tailgating is anothers normal following distance.

If she impresses upon the judge the fact that her speed was influenced by the following distance of the cop behind her and theres no reason for the cop to refute it(ie she was already going 130) then i think it would be reasonable to have the ticket reduced to the speed she was originally going over the limit and if it wasn't significant(more then 10) the ticket should be thrown out.

[krazycanuck]

Well I got a speeding ticket today, that coupled with the Stamps loss and a sunburn, I have had a trifecta of crap happen to me.

I got pulled over, going northbound on Macleod trail, right by Stampede park...where for some reason the road goes down to a 50 zone. I haven't lived in Calgary for almost a year and when I lived here I was very conscious of driving the limit in that area because of how often I would see speed traps there. Unfortunately, I didn't look down at my speed, and I was going 66, which is certainly a VERY reasonable speed given the conditions of that road. Now, i have a 100 dollar ticket, but lets be honest it's not the ticket at all...it's the conviction and the insurance hike that goes with it.

I need to fight this, because well I cannot afford another added expense and I don't believe that going 66 in a zone that could very well support 70km/h traffic is a bad thing.

Does anyone know how they set the speed limits?

[Rathji]

Speed limits are the result of a few factors. Is the road straight or not? is there a residential/commerical area along the road? Is there a boulevard? How wide is the road? Any construction or concrete barriers that are not normally there? Pedistrian crossing?

If I am understanding you correctly, you got your ticket beside the Ctrain station at stampede park. At that location the road curves, might even go down a lane shorlty before or after, you have traffic turning off to go to the Casino and you have construction happening within a block of there which could have trucks turning. There is also commerical right along the road, without parking lot or even a boulevard in front if it.

I know that in this area it is very common to have speed traps, so I never speed there anymore, especially since I got my ticket there about 10 years ago!

That said, despite claims on this board that you can no longer eliminate demerits, my sister in law went in a while back and got all her demerits removed(I actually posted this earlier in this thread, if you want a rough date that it happened) .

[To_be_Quite_Honest]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Keep in mind you run the risk of facing a further fine if you happen to catch a judge who is tired of dealing with people who he might consider to be wasting his time.

Yeah, about ten years ago I totally thought I had this red light ticket beat, I was approached like ten blocks away from the supposed infraction. The officer approached me with no lights on, i was parking and he told me I went through a red light ten blocks ago, i was positive i didn't and asked him to give me the location of the light, and where he was to see this. He told me he was on Prince Street, and wrote me the ticket.

Doing some research, it turned out there was no physical way possible he could of seen me at the light in question from prince street (princess street was connecting to the light) the cop was new in town and got confused.

Basically I made a map, took it to the court date, pleaded my case and the judge sided with the cop... he did reduce the fine though...

I can't see many judges throwing away money based on minor errors made by dumb cops.

[sicsun]

Me and my brother, both asian was driving down 17 ave SE and was pulled over by a cop for no apparent reason. The car that i was driving belong to my eldest brother. when the officer ask me for the insurance slip, i handed him the whole booklet. In about 2 mins later they had more units came by. The officer then told me and my bro to step out of the car so they can search it. I ask him was he allowed to do that? He said, its not your car, that he has every right to do so. when they finish searching, i thought i was free to go, but no. He came back and gave me a ticket for failure to dispose expire insurance card that my bro had mixed in with his new ones. The ticket cost me 172. I got pulled over for no reason, standing on the street looking like criminals as cars drive by and got a ticket for no apparent reason.

[fredr123]

Courts have held that police can pull drivers over to check the driver's license and insurance, to check the sobriety of the driver and to assess the mechanical fitness of the vehicle. These decisions were usually found in the context of checkstop or R.I.D.E. programs but have similar random spot check stops have been upheld in other circumstances.

But that expired insurance card violation is pretty lame in my opinion. I'm not sure what justification there is to mandate expired cards be destroyed. Odd.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by fredr123

I'm not sure what justification there is to mandate expired cards be destroyed. Odd.

I was with my friend when she got pulled over (for speeding) and got that ticket as well. Apparently you can get a ticket for each piece of expired insurance even if you have your current insurance in the car with you.

[ericschand]

Originally Posted by sicsun

The officer then told me and my bro to step out of the car so they can search it. I ask him was he allowed to do that? He said, its not your car, that he has every right to do so.

That does not sound right. Even though it is not your car, you are
responsible for it and anything found in it. You should be able
to refuse the search. Do you really think if your big brother had some
drugs in there, they would let you off the hook?

Can anyone clarify in context?

ers

[Mayer]

Originally Posted by krazycanuck

Well I got a speeding ticket today, that coupled with the Stamps loss and a sunburn, I have had a trifecta of crap happen to me.

I got pulled over, going northbound on Macleod trail, right by Stampede park...where for some reason the road goes down to a 50 zone. I haven't lived in Calgary for almost a year and when I lived here I was very conscious of driving the limit in that area because of how often I would see speed traps there. Unfortunately, I didn't look down at my speed, and I was going 66, which is certainly a VERY reasonable speed given the conditions of that road. Now, i have a 100 dollar ticket, but lets be honest it's not the ticket at all...it's the conviction and the insurance hike that goes with it.

I need to fight this, because well I cannot afford another added expense and I don't believe that going 66 in a zone that could very well support 70km/h traffic is a bad thing.

Does anyone know how they set the speed limits?

I don't know why people assume that getting demerits causes your insurance to go up. I've got at least one ticket (usually 2) a year for the the last 3 or 4 years, and my insurance goes down every year. Perhaps if the demerits were the result of an accident, that may be a different story, but in my experience, speeding tickets have zero effect on insurance rates.

[Boblobla]

With my insurance company 4 tickets in 3 years is the magic number for rates to go up.

[Dion]

You could take responsibiity for your actions and just pay the ticket.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by fredr123

But that expired insurance card violation is pretty lame in my opinion. I'm not sure what justification there is to mandate expired cards be destroyed. Odd.

Ah, but then there is a (post-facto) justification for pulling them over - he'd look pretty dumb calling in backup for nothing whatsoever. Sure, sure, he let them get away with the "DWA" violation, but at least something stuck!

Now, with that "expired insurance card" ticket to his credit, when he gets back to the district office he'll be able to say, "Sarge - I just made the streets a little bit safer today. Damn I love making a difference!"

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Dion

You could take responsibiity for your actions and just pay the ticket.

I'm sure that I have said this exact same thing before; possibly earlier in this very thread, but to me this is a case of when you should fight it. I'll have to double check my insurance cards when I get to my car, but I doubt it says anywhere on there to throw out the old one when you get a new one. And why would it be against the law to have expired cards as well as your current one?

In fact, what I do is when I get my new cards; usually 1 month before my new insurance takes effect; I put the new card into the little envelope in my car right away so I don't forget.

I really don't think it's the police's job to tell me how to keep my paperwork.

[sicsun]

I didnt mind them pulling me over if i was driiving bad, but i wasnt. They were most likely looking for certain vehicle that look like mine, thats why i got pulled over. But why did they still need to give me a ticket for it. I told him its my brother car,that i did not know he had the expire cards mixed with the new ones. It happen around 6pm in the summer back then. Was quite embaressing when they made us stood there until they finished searching.