Got bagged yesterday in southwest Kingston NY (Rte 32) at a speed trap. Would appreciate info on court system, etc from anyone with local knowledge. I plan to contest this one. The speed limit sign was totally obscured bya fully blossomed tree. No doubt the cops knew about it.

 

Get a photo of the tree right away for evidence. Also the D.A. will ask you in court if this is a road you travel frequently, he/she will try to make it look like you knew the speed limit with or without the tree.

I beat a WI State Patrol ticket in court once. VERY long story. I had to drive an hour to court but it was well worth it. The judge threw out the ticket.

Good luck!

 

Good luck! I'm in the same boat.

I have to go to court to fight a ticket in mid-July. I was going 80 in a 65, which really isnt that fast imo...I was just moving with the flow of traffic. Redneck cop in the middle of nowhere...sees kid in a new red Saab, pulls me out of the line of traffic, end of story.

Anyway, I've heard that on your first they usually throw it out if you take it to court. Not sure if that helps you any.

Glad you started this thread though, I'm interested in the responses.

 

If this is your first ticket, some counties/municipalities have a program where you can go to "Traffic School." After completion they rescind the ticket. Or sometimes you can plea the ticket down, out of court on the phone with the D.A., usually a point and/or the next tier of fine level down. But this is usually done just prior to going to trial. And usually the D.A. will "deal" so they don't have to pay the officer to appear in court.

 

All good advice. Thanks Two unfortunate facts One, I live about 400 miles from Kingston. Two, I could not get a pix of the tree and the sign

If anyone in the Kingston area could help a fellow Miniholic with a photo, I'll take you to lunch/dinner when I show up for the trial

 

One tip from me. Bring ALL the evidence you CAN!

 

Let me defend the Redneck cop. 15 over the limit is plenty fast enough for a ticket. The guy was just doing his job. As far as why he stopped you, it's hard to stop everybody and you were the lucky one. Perhaps, if enough people feel cops should not enforce speed limits, they can get the limits removed. Until then, the choice is to drive slower or risk having to pay up.

 

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A good resourse before this gets locked with "I got my ticket doing... stories"

Has info on laws where the traps are and how to fight the ticket, I validated the location of at least one o last night.


I am NOT a lawyer, and this has no legal backing but just an idea if someone with a legal background could comment on this course of action.
Also if you can have someone get a photo, then write a dated letter to the city asking them to cut the branches; might be able to play the I'm not trying to speed and if the sign wasn't blocked I'd have been doing the limit card.

 

Great attitude, I hope you get to meet a lot of these "stupid cops" close up and personal.

Could it be that these same stupid cops are a big reason you live in an area with practically no crime?

Those who call themselves "speed freaks" have more than stupid cops to watch out for, the cell phone can be useful in helping some folks assist the "stupid cops" in doing their job.

 

Might as well fail to stop also when they try to pull you over. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to work for "their ticket" and probably will also be happy to "assist" you in exiting your vehicle.

GROW UP !

 

You are a moron....before you make youre 20th post you should read the forum rules around here.....As much as speed limits are annoying they are LIMITS not recomendations....if you are going 1mph over then you are speeding....most every LEO is a reasonable guy just doing a job, If you dont act like a A-hole and respect him you wont get a ticket if you are doing less than 10 over.....For every time I have been caught I have gotten away with it 10 times so don't act like an angel when you get a ticket!...redneck or not , just get the ticket reduced to inattentive driving (a non moving violation) and pay up! it doesn't go on your insurance and you were GUILTY as charged to begin with.....IN BEFORE THE LOCK..

 

(1) Slow down

(2) I'm not an attorney either, but the next time you lie in court (perjury), don't confess to your crime on a public internet forum.

 

This is why I'm afraid when I drive through CT. Seriously though. I don't get a big thrill out of driving over the limit. Granted I don't go at the limit but not fast enough to get pulled over. I can't go anywhere on the highway around my area without running into a cop. Saw about 10 cruisers just hanging around by the toll on I-93 near Concord. It' just not worth it to me. I drive a MINI anyway so it's boring driving fast in a staight line.

 

Gosh, the acrimony on this thread is twin charged. First, I did not and do not intend to call the cop a redneck or to criticize him personally. Yes, he was only doing his job. As for me, I The fact of the matter is that a speed limit sign is only one of several pieces of information a driver has as to what is a safe, prudent and required speed. I personally like to go fast, but in a way I consider responsible. I do NOT speed through school zones, places with children, or populated areas such as cities and villages. The speed limit through Kingston was 30 mph and I went through two radar traps in the village doing no more than that speed.
That being said, the city has some responsibility to be reasonable. New York state law states that speed limit signs must be clearly posted every 1100 feet in a manner visible to asnd readable by a reasonable person. There is a reason for this, which ultimately protects pedestrians, residents and other drivers from harm by giving notice of what is apprpropriate. Here, the sign was completely obscured on a road that exited the village. It looked like many other state highways in the area which have a sped limit of 55mph by state law. I was doing 50 in what I judged should have been a 45 mph zone figuring I missed the new posted speed sign. The radar car was positioned just behind the next 30 mph sign on the road and shhoting down field of it, so that you are bagged even if you slowed down for the upcoming sign. Just after the chase cars, the limit in fact turned to 45.
Without involving persdonalities, the law cuts both ways. Fair is fair. All I want to do is tell my story and see if a judge is in a reasonable mood that day. (PS - the penalty in New york for going over 10 mph over the limit can involve jail time )

 

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These seems to be a mis-conception with some people here that they trancend the laws. Whatever happened to fessing up and taking the concequences for being unlawful?:impatient

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(ib4tl)

 

That defense will not work in any state in America. It is law that it is the drivers responsibilty to research all local speed limit laws before driving on the roads in any state/county/city. Even if there is an obscured sign or no sign at all, you are required to drive under that city/county maximum limit. This is just an interesting tid-bit I picked up at traffic school recently.

You'll just be wasting your time and/or get laughed at if you try to complain about an obscured sign.

 

Yeah, the tree excuse probably won't fly. I got a ticket back in '98 for going through a stop sign at a 4-way stop (going maybe 20 mph, and no one else at the intersection), even though there was a huge moving truck completely blocking the sign - there was literally no way that I could have seen it. The DA's response: "I don't have to prove that you meant to run the stop sign." Thanks a lot, dillhole. So glad I took off work.

I've never had a speeding ticket, but I've had 3 or 4 of these kind of BS tickets.

Good luck!

 

Make that 49 states. NY has a statute (NY Consolidated Laws, Chapt. 71, Article 24, Sec. 1110, Vehicle and Traffic Code) which states "No provision of this title for which signs are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator if at the time and place of the alleged violation an officcial sign is not in proper position and sufficiently legible to be seen by an an ordinarily observant person." Another statute requires speed limit signs every 1100 feet in the zone where this occurred. There is a NY State appellate court decision which let a driver slide under this statute because a stop sign was hidden by a tree.

Looks to me like the Town of Kingston is the scofflaw

 

You're still going to need a photo... Hope someone can help you out with that!

 

You should get your money back.
At least in CA they have to give you a chance to know what the limit is before they can ding you for not complying with it. Same reason they have 'Speed Checked by Radar' signs. No (visible) sign, no radar ticket. So the judge says.

As for Astro, I'm surprised your friend didn't get a nice pair of bracelets and a free photo op!

p.s. IB4TL

 

IBTL

Doesn't anybody read the guidelines anymore?????

 

Danbury CT isn't exactly a remote area, either, I don't care what time it was. I hope that, instead of the thread being locked, this loser's post and those responding to it (like this one) can be deleted. The original poster could use some help from a local if possible; it would be a shame to shut down the thread.

 

Of course deleting the original post doesn't help when people have quoted it already...

Hey Chris, did they have STOP painted on the road as well, or just the sign? Sounds like the DA was enjoying their job...