skillful

Well I was just leaving my nieghborhood. Wasnt geting on it or anything like that, just driving. Wasnt paying attention on the speed. BTW its night time. Then I see a cop car and @*^$. Cop does a u-turn and turns the lights on. Stopped and cop says he got me 70 in a 40. Not really sure if I was going THAT fast. Cop tells me 2 good things to help me out about the ticket. Like theres any good thing about getting a ticket!! That I can attend school if I havent done so in the past year to remove the points and hes going to drop one mph so that will save me a hundred dollars. So he gives me a ticket for 69 in a 40. Anyone have any advice and fighting tickets or what I can do? Any input would be appreciated!! Thanks

cekim

1. if you don't know how fast you were going:
a. how are planning on fighting it?
b. I have heard it at least one time hear and many other times elsewhere that cops don't like "I don't know" when they ask "do you know how fast you were going" - it tells them you weren't paying attention which is precisely what they are most worried about.

2. Take the class - boring as hell (especially the 3rd time), I hope it won't tell you anything you don't already know (but ignore), but hey if you do learn something all the better...

More importantly, points on your license are very expensive things over time... avoid them... It is well worth it to be bored to tears for an afternoon to save the dollars in insurance... they pile up over time!

3. I think everyone has heard anecdotes about getting a no-contest win on tickets when the officer fails to apear (entirely officer/department dependant and/or random), so if you aren't going to take the class - no harm in appearing to see if you get lucky

- that assumes your area allows you to do that and still take the class - I have no idea, it has been more than 15 years since my direct experience...

4. You really shouldn't be able to go anywhere near 70 in a 40 without noticing it... I am not saying I don't do it, but I know when I am doing it...

I am sure others can tell you more about how to "fight" (How did he measure your speed?), but in your place, I took the mea culpa and the class

sa3geabx

In most cases, when you plead not guilty to a ticket for the first time and show up at court, you're given the choice to plead the case or just pay the cost of the ticket and have the points removed. I was hit for doing an 83 in a 45 and chose the latter. Trust me, it's worth paying the ticket and not having your insurance raised rather than risk losing. Good luck, I hope they give you the option to just pay.

skillful

He got me with radar according to the ticket.

sa3geabx

My next advice? Buy a radar detector.

BlkonBlk

You can also try taking it to one of those places that dedicated themselves to fighting tickets. I got a ticket for doing 82 in a 65 and it was 3 counties up from my home town. The ticket was $183. I paid the ticket lawyer $130 and he has someone attend court on your behalf and gurantees that you will not get any points. This was a gooo deal for me because I would have wasted a whle day driving about 1 1/2 hours to appear in court. My main concern was having the points removed which would kill my insurance rates.

cekim

You are now getting into specifics of your area, but generally speaking:
a. if fails to appear, you can plead no contest (he _should_ appear - that is part of his job)
b. if he does appear, you can, in most cases/places, ask for certification of radar calibration (he _should_ have it, it is part of his job)

Make sure you can still take the class if you appear - there used to be places that made you pick one route or the other early on in the process.

Also check on freebies as the prior poster mentioned - if this is your first you might get a "pass" - check it out - know ahead of time.

As for radar detectors:
a. if it is laser you are up a creek
b. I have talked to more than a couple of officers owing to having a few in various parts of the family and the concensous is that before they turn on the radar, they already know with a MPH or 2 how fast you are going by experience... the radar is just there for better evidence...

So, a radar detector just ensures that they get amusement from the nose dive your car does when they pull the trigger...

micx7

I've heard from several lawyers that the best response you can give to a cop is when asked how fast you were going is to give a range, IE: I believe somewhere between 40 and 45 mph. If you give an exact speed your basically giving yourself up. Giving a range gives you some leeway without sounding like you werent paying attention.

2GKT5

Au contraire. Watch "How To Avoid Being Arrested" on google video. It states (and I've heard elsewhere) that you should NOT tell the police your speed. Telling a cop your speed not only admits guilt, but can possibly admit guilt to a speed faster than that the police clocked you at.

Remember... "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt"

DragonPL

Well im most cases to answer:
"do you know how fast you were going?"
say "I was paying attention to the road not the spedometer"

I just went to court and right when the judge sat down he told everyone that he has no juristicion over points so he said those who wanted to get them reduced were just waisting their time. Thats the first I ever heard of this, everytime the judge reduced points in those speed ticket cases; so either it's somethin new or the judge didin't know what he was doing. My insurence didint' go up as of yet (it actually went down for good driving just the other day) so I don't know what happened to my points on that ticket, or how long does it take.......maybe its a Probation before a Judge Type of thing...alot of the time the tickets are just given so the cops will meet their monthy quata, the amount of accidents will remain the same evem more because when everyone sees a cop on the road they immediately hit their breaks and sometimes the person behind them slams them in the rear........