Virginia is such a great state and the police are so wonderful that I don't mind at all having my constitutional rights so sweetly taken away. Golly, I hope to one day spend some time in one of your fine jails on my next spirited motoring roadtrip, enjoying that famous southern hospitality!
:smile:

 

Make it Romulans - NOBODY likes Romulans!! (Except a ****!) LOL!!!

 

Must be the uniforms, or the shoes. Got to be the shoes.

 

whooa, looks like I stirred up the pot a little.

sorry.

I meant it towards the VA authorities and
that crazy law, not at the people that live there.

(I still won't be making any plans anytime soon though...
hehehehe... )

 

Check out my new post https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=45597



We went to court last week in VA. Judge wanted time to be served asap.
Our lawyer convinced the judge to let him serve on the weekends.
No one else was involved; however, since the car went into the reservoir the judge felt an additional 10 days in jail was appropriate. He got about 90% of what he deserved.

I think my son's problem is a lot more serious that speeding.
I am not trying to make light of the court, but it was better than TV and harder to understand.
What we did see in other cases and the end decision was something like this:
Where the infraction occured. School Zones are a big NO NO !!!
What was the attitude of the driver. Always be respectful-only you can lose.
What happened in the case before you. (How mad was the judge.)
What other factors were involved? Did you sink the car. Running from the police is not good either.
How many times have you been in court. More than one will not help.
Is there any recent event in the news that makes them want to make a point. No one wants to appear to be soft on crime.
I was shocked at how serious a careless and reckless infraction can be.

We have all decided to slow down to no more than 10 mph than the speed limit.

Get a lawyer. Don't get a lawyer with a letter solicitation. If he is still doing this he must be new.

Best bet for a good outcome. Pick a lawyer that married the judge's ugly daughter.

Sure fire good result!
Make sure your lawyer tells the judge that you are studying for the bar.
This did work while I was in court. They spoke in somewhat hushed tones and the judge looked very understanding.

 

How is a speeding ticket a violation of your constitutional rights?

 

I hope you're kidding - he's just making a point.

 

Constitutional rights are something I don't play around with. A lot of people believe they possess a bunch of entitlements, and that laws somehow rob them of those entitlements.

If he was kidding, I apologize, but I didn't read a bit of jest in that statement -- just sarcasm.

No person is entitled to drive. Driving is not a right, it is a privilege.

Begin flames now...

 

i agree with you on that one ahamos, driving is a priviledge that i think way too many bad drivers possess, there are many drivers that do not belong on the road i.e. people convicted of driving drunk more than once.

On the note of drunk driving i hope the son that went to jail for a short stint recovers from his injuries and wish him luck with everything, everyone deserves a second chance.

P.S. I think its great that you air your dirty laundry as a way of educating the public, even though it may not put you in a positive light, thanks for the reminder that bad things can happen to anyone anytime, and that no person is invincable!,
Ben

 

1. Going to JAIL for driving 20 miles over the limit, is a huge violation of my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
2. Taxation without representation.

Truly reckless driving deserves harsh penalties; the majority of "over 20" tickets are really revenue generating schemes.

By the way, the right to drive may once have been a privilege, but in modern society it is essentially a fundamental right. If I lost my license for driving 21 miles over the limit in Virginia, I would lose my job, then my house, then my sanity . . .

Don't Tread On Me,

Mike

 

To the best of my knowledge, the use of radar detectors is legal in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

 

The problem here is the system, and the scumbag lawyers and politicians that run it.

 

Mike ,

Driving is a priviledge and by going 20 over you have abused your driving priviledges. We have to remember at all times can I accept the penalties if I do this.


Art

 

The problem with these types of laws are that they are ARBITRARY and the punishment may not fit the offense. 41 in a school zone with children may merit jail time. 86 on a 65 interstate at the flow of light traffic in a MINI doesn't even qualify as "spirited" driving. Yet, in Virginia, if a state trooper sees I'm out of state, I then need to hire a lawyer, who may or may not get me out of jail depending on how good a day the judge has had. I guess the fundamental problem lies in Virginia legislating that 20 over is ipso facto reckless. That is a presumption that I hope reasonable folks, and especially MINI drivers, would not make.

Again, I would argue driving is no longer a privilege, but even if it is a right, it could and should be taken away for true reckless driving. Just because you have a constitutional right doesn't mean you can't forfeit it. All the felons in jail (and I guess a few unlucky out of state drivers in Virginia) no doubt had their Miranda warning read to them if they were arrested.

Thus, I'll exercise my constitutional right to travel and my driving privilege to NOT drive in the Romulan state of Virginie. Heck, I might even rent a Minivan and drive the state legislated minimum speed limit - holding up traffic all the way to the capitol - as a form of nonviolent protest.

On Walden Pond,

Mike

 

Even worse, to clarify VA's law, you don't have to be 20 over to be reckless, anything over 80 is reckless, even if you're in a 65 mph zone.

 

and realized that the law in Virginie is anything over 80 is reckless, so if you are in a 65, it is only 15 over that gets you in the pokey. Are there any 70 zones? Are the jails full of MINI drivers?

General Lee's horse (Traveller?) could get 15 over without working up a lather.

Mike

 

Ok... I went to school in Varginny and had a friend who received a pretty steep (though not reckless) ticket. He had no other tickets on his record in the last year and he went to court. He convinced the judge (and was told by Old Dominion friends to use this tack) to give him 1 yr probation with elimination of the ticket, points and fine so long as he received no speeding tickets for the next year.

He received no tickets and everything was dropped. Had he been stopped again, he would have had to pay the fees/fine for both tickets.

Just a thought.

But if you're facing jailtime (and my common sense, which I know should never be used when dealing with government issues, is telling me that you aren't going to get jail time as an out of state first-time offender) I would say try this tactic with a lawyer present. Just to be on the safe side.

Virginia traffic laws are one of the reasons I'll never return to the stinkin' state. There are a plethora of other reasons, most of which involve it's situation relative to the Mason-Dixon line, upon which I will not elaborate right now. But traffic laws are up there.

 

This is from the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.

WTF? A speeding fine is not a tax. It's a fine. A punishment for intentionally violating a plainly stated law.

Perhaps, but who, then, becomes the arbiter of "truly reckless driving"? If you're doing 80+ on the highway, and come over a hill, will you have the reaction time to swerve out of the way of the guy whose luggage fell of the back of his car? Some highways have high-speed intersections, and last year I watched a girl nearly get killed because she started across one. The guy that hit her was moving really fast. I'm sure he felt safe at speed, but she couldn't see him coming.

There are others on the road.

And if you shoplift, you'll go through the same. Laws are laws. You break them, you go to jail. Or, better stated: you break them, you accept the risk that you might be caught, and thus must accept any consequence. Nobody made you drive over 80.

I hate speeding fines, too. I think they're retarded. But I'm not about to go around telling people that if I break the law, I think the cops should give me a gold medal and a hand-shake.

 

Count me as one of the few people that just shuts up and goes the speed limit, or as close as possible to it. And i didn't need a ticket to convince me to do so.

As Adrian said, you may think it's fine to go 80, and dumb to get a hefty ticket for it... but coming from a place i have to sit and look at tickets all day long, and see how many of our client's accidents are caused by people speeding... it's just not worth it. They posted the limit because they thought it was safe. It should give you enough reaction time... and what i find important about the speeds in the country, is that it gives the people pulling out of driveways enough time to get out of your way and onto the road. Half the time they can't even do that because these stupid mini's like to go 40 in a 15 mph turn so they risk their lives just to get on the road :P

I agree it seems cops like to single out a certain type of car in traffic to pull over, regardless what other cars are flying by them. But i haven't been pulled in my mini! What's your excuse :P

 

Damn VA Police..
I could tell that they are so **** like when I just took a 1 sec look at em.

By the way,
what speed over speed limit is considered 'Reckless Driving' in MD? and is it considered as a crime or all the traffic tickets are considered as crimes

 

I got a ticket in Maryland, 82 or 83, don't remember which. The fine wasn't that bad, I just paid it. I am fortunate to have a PA license which doesn't take points from other states.

 

Since I started this whole debate, hopefully I can help diffuse some of the less tactful remarks that have been made. First, I NEVER intended to imply that there is anything wrong with the state of Virginia. While I seriously disagree with the extent of punishment handed out for reckless driving as well as some of the SEEMINGLY arbitrary limits, I cannot, for lack of any education on the reasoning behind the laws, fault those who made them. That state may have very good reason to consider 80mph reckless based on actual events that have occured. The fact is, for driving at 83mph, which btw is the accepted norm in Michigan despite the 70mph speedlimit and thus is what I am accustomed to (more on this in a moment) I have brought upon myself the potential for a punishment which is exactly equal to what a person who drives drunk can recieve. Traffic laws aside, I find VA to be a wonderful state. The roads are well maintained, the people are very friendly, unlike MI there are trees every now and then, etc., etc., etc. I had actually been idly considering the possibility of moving there when I graduate. Knowing now how strict the laws are I will likely reconsider but that does not mean i dislike the state. Referring to my earlier comment, while being accustomed to a certain speed does not in any way excuse me for speeding, it must be understood that if I am not strictly watching my speed I will naturally end up around 80-85 because that is what is done every day over here. Its a habit that without a concentrated effort, will not change for a long time. So for those who want to immediately berate someone for speeding, realize please that not everyone is going fast because they disagree with the law or because they just want to go fast. It may very well be a programmed response. I also would like to say to those who seem to be upset about people fighting speeding tickets I have only this to say. I willingly and knowingly broke the law. I admit freely to that. Had I known about the whole reckless driving thing I wouldnt have been going nearly so fast but I still wouldnt have been doing 65. That said I know I must pay the penalty and am completely willing to do so without argument. I am fighting this only because I think the penalty called for by VA law is unreasonable for the offense. I do not wish to get off without some sort of fine/probation nor will I ask for it but I am not willing to accept that by driving 83mph on an empty highway I am endangering the public as much as driving drunk. Therefore I am not willing to accept the same penalty as someone who did.


All that being said if everyone here wishes to continue bashing VA, the laws, the cops, etc., etc., be my guest. Just try and do it with a little more tact and sensitivity to those who may not share your opinions.

Ian

 

Soofle, I have no issue with you fighting this, and I wish you the best of luck. You will probably not have much trouble getting it bumped down to 79 in a 65, and with a good lawyer, they might even make it 10 over.

Good luck to you, sir!

I, too, find my speeds creeping up over 80 all the time, but I've learned how to be extra watchful for Johnny Law.

I'm a bad man. And I've only been caught once, in my wife's automatic Beetle.

 

Soofle:

Read 1984. You are succumbing to Big Brother. At most, you should be extorted for a $100-200 dollar fine (donation to the general county fund). Instead you are facing monster fines and bigger legal bills. Jail time is probably not gonna happen, but some old fart who had a bad day on the bench could give you a couple of days in the slammer. Apparently this is all ok with some of our brethren.

Didn't we declare our independence from this type of oppression back in the 1770's?

 

A few years ago I served a month in jail for a TRAFFIC offence. I got caught speeding and had paid a ticket late prior, and had an unknown bench warrant+suspended license for it. They took me right from court without notice, the judge didn't want to hear any excuse. Believe me you do NOT want to serve time for a traffic offence! The crimes in NO WAY fits the punishment!