Had the wife in the car, cruising home from Tampa on the Veteran's Expressway at about 9pm. Cruise control set to 71. I know the speedo is about 2 mph 'fast' so I was actually doing 69.
Lights come bouncing over the median and the blue lights come on. I think he must be after someone else. Highway patrol man says I was doing 84 in a 70 zone. $204 ticket and points. 1st speeding ticket in over 30 years driving.
Does the mini on-board computer track mph history?
How do you fight this, or is it just not worth the effort?

 

Did you explain to him the cruise was set? How were you tagged: radar, laser? Weird situation for sure. Were other cars around? Is veterans a toll road? Can you retrieve your toll times form the sunpass website for time vs speed calcs?

 

Yes, told him cruise was set at 71 and had been for over 30 min.
Using the windshield mounted Sunpass sticker, so I thought that might be logged in the toll system. I'm sure the response will be that I accelerated to pass someone. That's why I wondered if the Mini kept mph history.
Patrol man said I was passing a van. I don't think so... I was in the left lane because its a bit smoother on the run flats. I always drive in the right line if there is other traffic around if I'm going slower than anyone else.
Wouldn't mind if it was called for... OK, I'm stupid give me the ticket. This was an unlit section of highway and I really think he clocked someone else earlier and he decided it was my turn to make a donation.

 

Call the DA in advance asking for advice. You might be surprised at the reaction. The fact that you do not have a speeding ticket in 30 years says a lot. No other traffic violations, etc? Clean record otherwise? Worth a shot. I went to court one time as I knew I was speeding but I was not going as fast as the officer said I was. I told the DA exactly that. They reduced the speed, reduced the fee, I paid and walked out the door. I would definitely inquire, and loudly. This could cost you more than the ticket fee also, depending on how your insurance reacts.

 

Snakehead- what was the posted speed limit?

 

I would definitely protest. As a first offender, you may be able to get it dismissed. You may also get the ticket waived in exchange for just the fine (so no points, and nothing on the driving record).

I did exactly that with my first ticket (44 in a 25), and I ended up just paying a $75 "donation" instead of the $285 ticket. The officer had my speed right, but he had doubled the ticket because he said I was in a school zone when I wasn't. The DA took my word for it that the officer was in error on that piece and offered to drop the ticket in exchange for the reduced fine.

The fact that your wife can corroborate the fact that you had the cruise control set will probably help, at least a little.

This is the kind of thing I'd fight at the courthouse.

 

OP says 70.

 

My bad. I missed it.

If you know you were not speeding, I would fight it.

The courts tend to believe Cops though. For example, my wife was driving to LV on I-15, she gets stopped by a cruiser telling her she wasn't speeding but that he has to write her a ticket as she was "caught" doing 90 by the aircraft "cop" [speed limit= 70]. I drilled her to tell me if there was a chance she was going that fast. She says no, that she was going with the traffic. I asked her to fight it in court. Later on in court- the cop denied ever telling my wife that she wasn't speeding. The judge states that he has known the aircraft pilot and the cop and that both "never" make mistakes. BUT, because he had to dismiss ALL of the other tickets that day because it was a Jewish holiday [I presume the other cops were Jewish and did not show up] he would forgive the speeding ticket but had to go to traffic school.

Good luck!

 

Check out the National Motorists Association site,

http://www.motorists.org/

They have a lot of advice on fighting tickets.

If you are a member and you fight the ticket and lose, they will pay the fine.

I've been a member for twenty years.

Dave

 

I got a ticket for going 93 in a 65 highway zone. Supposedly an officer clocked me with radar while he was going the other direction and called in a BOLO for my car make/car. I was stopped by another officer after I had already left the highway and was on city streets. I had to wait 20 minutes for the first officer to come to where I had been pulled over. I told the officer there was no way I was going 93 and that I had been going about 75 for the last 50 miles (just on my usual drive home from work). I told him I must be the wrong person. I was given a ticket for 93 in a 65.

I went to an arrainment and pleaded not guilty and was given a trial date. I went to court, set for an hour before my case was called. It was my word against the officer. I argued many points (not me, stopped by a different officer, radar cal, radar angle of attack, similar cars on road) but the judge believed the officer. I was allowed to go to traffic school but still had to pay the fine and waste a lot of time.

 

I think there is no way to predict which way this will go; worth the fight, but be prepared that its possible you will still lose.

My biggest fight & loss was for a redlight camera. Got a ticket for making a right without coming to a full top, ticket arrived in the mail with both pictures and a link to the video of me not coming to a full stop at that redlight -- caught dead to rights. And its a route I drive all the time.

About 4 weeks later I was driving though the same intersection with a passenger, and mentioned that I had gotten a ticket at this intersection via the redlight camera. We came to a full stop, then slowly made the right, the camera flashed. My passenger asked about it, and I said maybe they review the footage and see that I stopped? No ticket arrived in the mail. And then I get a notice that I have failed to appear for a ticket and my license is about to be suspended.

I go to nightcourt and explain to the judge I never received a ticket, and he of course does not believe me and says I must have the wrong address listed on my registration, tickets come to the registered address, so he is going to fine me for the failure to appear. Fortunately I had brought the ticket from one month earlier, which somehow they managed to send to the correct address. So grudgingly the judge waived the added failure to appear fine.

Then I explain I want to set a trial date on the ticket, because I did stop and had a witness in the car. The judge pulls up, on the courtroom monitor, a picture of my car at that intersection and it is CROPPED TO ONLY SHOW THE DRIVER. First ticket has pictures showing the whole width of the car, passenger seat include, second one shows ONLY ME. I ask for the full picture so I can prove that my witness was in the car and will testify that I came to a full stop, and the judge tells me this is all they have, and it appears to him that I lose.

$275 fine. Totally sucked. Now I will not turn right through that intersection on a redlight. I sit and wait for the light to turn green.

 

On a side note, was the "Airplane Cop" at the court? I got out of a ticket in Florida on I-4 in the late 90's. The cop said I was doing 84 in a 65 (in a 1972 Beetle with a STOCK motor (so no, I was not)). When I get to court the cop that wrote me the ticket stood up and blah blah blah... Now I am a smart *** and I know a lot of lawyers...

When it was my turn to speak I asked the cop if he was the "Airplane Cop". He said no, he was the citing officer. I turned to the judge and said something to the effect of, "Your honor, I thought I had a right to face my accuser?" The judge said that I did. I asked the officer where the "Airplane Cop" was. He was not there... I asked if the judge would dismiss the case given the accuser failed to show. The judge agreed...

What was great was he then turned to the cop and said, "Let's make this quick, how many other cases from Officer "Airplane Cop" are there on the docket today, maybe we can get out of here early" and started dismissing cases.

Was a great day. Did not even have to show pics of my beatup car and it's 54 bhp motor and explain that unless you dropped it off a cliff, it could not go that fast.

 

^^ Excellent!

 

I got an airplane ticket just over a year ago and just paid it. To me I knew I was doing at least the 89 I got the ticket for in the 70 (I-75 Northbound MM 195-200 or so). I thought about fighting given the fact that 2 cops had to show to court and the tiring, distance, angle stuff but in the end I was still wrong and it was not worth a day off work to sit in court. So in my case I paid the price and took my medicine, to the OP sounds like unfortunately you are not alone.

 

I've never heard of people getting a ticket from a red light camera when making a right turn. I suspect that you are not stopping at the usual stop line and triggering the camera? Lots of red light cameras around me - making me worried now.

 

You should be given a ticket for driving in the left lane, even if no traffic around.

 

Yes- Both of them showed up.

 

I got a "Bear in the air" ticket once, the first thing the judge said, before hearing a case was, "Is the pilot here?" The airplane cop was a no show so the judge dismissed all of the airplane tickets. There were about 15 of us there who got to leave, no fine!

I wonder how many other drivers couldn't be bothered to go to court and just paid the fine!

Dave

 

Misunderstanding. On the second ticket, I clearly did not stop. On the second, I not only stopped, but we sat waiting for a few seconds before I made the right hand turn. No reason for the camera to flash. And if the photo provided had shown my co-worker sitting in the car next to me, I would have had a witness that I came to a full stop at the redlight before turning right.

But they cropped the photo, and then the judge specifically said to me "how can you prove your co-worker was in your car on THIS day rather than on another day?" A scam for sure.

When I went to night court, I had to stand in a very long line (first come first serve to get in) and we all started chatting. 25 of us were there for the same redlight camera.

Now just to be sure, I never turn on a redlight at that intersection. I sit through it and wait for a green.

 

These cameras are absolutely a scam and almost always a cash grab. Especially proven to be true based on your experience.

 

I got pulled over once and the cop never mentioned speeding to start with. I had a black car with black wheels, cruise was set to 70 in a 70, saw the cop and didn't think twice. A couple miles later I got off at the next exit to grab something for lunch on the way home and the cop pulled me over on the off ramp.

He asked me if he knew why he pulled me over and I told him no b.c I was not speeding and the cruise was set. He then told me to get out of the car and asked to search it. I had nothing to hide so I let him- it was super embarrassing sitting on the side of an off ramp getting my car searched. Turns out he thought for some reason I was a drug runner.

When he didn't find any drugs- b.c I have never touched them, he wrote me a ticket for speeding on the basis that I had a radar detector so even if I wasn't speeding then I was guilty of speeding at some point.

I drove 3 hours one way in a snow storm to fight this ticket and all the cop said was " you know why you got a ticket" and the judge agreed with him. It was really shady to be honest. I haven't used a radar detector since though.

 

Yes and No.

But I have received 2 tickets. 1 red light camera, I did stop and then make the right hand turn. The other was by a speed camera. I was in the fast lane and the car in front of me was a grandma in the fast line. I swung to the right lane and passed the slow poke. Problem was the speed limit was only 35. The speed camera nailed me for doing 45.

The speed camera was legit but the red-light camera was not. I did not fight either. In our state if you get caught by cameras it's not a moving violation and does not go on your driving record. It is clearly just a money grab and this certainly is confirmation of that because it doesn't go on your record.

i just paid the fines. The time needed to fiddle fart around with this just was not worth my time. Paying the fines and contributing to our wasteful city governments was easier. Especially since it does not go on my record. I now wait for the green before turning right and I speed where the speed camera cannot see me.

What are they going to do when this source of revenue dries up and it will? Put a measuring tool on your a** to measure your gas dispersions.

 

Well in my case I was not doing the speed, like the original poster. I was in a beater VW, no way I was doing that speed, the car can't go that fast... Did not need to use my "May car is crap storm on wheels" defense.

 

If your ticket is already $205 and you're facing points which is going to make your insurance go up I would get an attorney. I got a ticket for running a red light (I did to avoid an accident), cop pulled the other driver and me and gave us both tickets. I was told this is the 2nd worst offense behind passing a stopped school bus. I paid $350 for a lawyer, didn't have to show up to court and he got it reduced to improper equipment and it was dropped. Just a thought..... Good luck.

 

Last night I got a ticket even though I wasn't speeding... I was actually sleeping when the cop wrote the ticket!! No front license plate. $50. Grrr.