Fighting a Ticket Advice

[Thordic]

A)B) I certainly hope your not still in high school. But did you finish?

WTF? I graduated from one of the best college prep schools on the east coast, and got accepted to some of the top engineering schools in the country. I hope you were kiddin.

[Ole Unka Phil]

WTF? I graduated from one of the best college prep schools on the east coast, and got accepted to some of the top engineering schools in the country. I hope you were kiddin.

Well... I thought the stick out tounge smilie with the Grin smillie might hint that I was...

...but then of course after that pompus concieted response I kinda wish I wasn't!

Dig your panties out of your wad and lighten up Thordic. Your over sensitivity is not very flattering.

[teufelhunden]

Well... I thought the stick out tounge smilie with the Grin smillie might hint that I was...

...but then of course after that pompus concieted response I kinda wish I wasn't!

Dig your panties out of your wad and lighten up Thordic. Your over sensitivity is not very flattering.

I like Thordic better.

[Ole Unka Phil]

I like Thordic better.

LOL... now thats the most immature thing I think I ever heard.... well... today anyway. Thanks for the laugh.

[RobAGD]

Hey Thor, just a note here in Va spinning of wheels for just about any reason can get your a wreckless driving. It was listed as intentional loss of traction. You might want to dig a bit into the code for that offence.

While the inital loss wasnt intentional your keeping your foot into it made it intentional thus the differance.

Good luck

-R

[alooney11]

I have been reading this and if you already have 4 points, plus you got out of 2 out of state tickets i think its time you lost your license your are obvioulsy not mature enough to drive, have fun riding your bike.

[teufelhunden]

I have been reading this and if you already have 4 points, plus you got out of 2 out of state tickets i think its time you lost your license your are obvioulsy not mature enough to drive, have fun riding your bike.

You can get four points for doing 2 mph over the speed limit on two different occassions..

[RobAGD]

I have been reading this and if you already have 4 points, plus you got out of 2 out of state tickets i think its time you lost your license your are obvioulsy not mature enough to drive, have fun riding your bike.

In Va 1 speeding ticket is 4 pts There isnt a speeding in Va thats not at least 4 points and a wreckless driving is 6 points and its on your visiable record for 10 years, funny thing is a Wreckless and a DUI/DWI are the same as far as points and record go except that the DUI/DWI has that fun factor of public "Ewww he is a drunk"


and Alooney - you best be very carefull what stones you cast. Karma is a great thing.

-R

[Thordic]

Not four points PLUS two out of state tickets, the four points ARE the two out of state tickets (if they were reported).

All out-of-state moving violations are two points in NJ. I received tickets in PA and VT, one of which I deserved totally and the other was a "Doh!" situation where I didn't see a speed reduction (Ever drive on country roads? The speed can change fast and you don't always notice it).

It takes 10-12+ pts in NJ for your license to be suspended, and even then its not guaranteed. Four points is one in-state speeding ticket, if you were only going a little over the limit.

Next time you want to make comments, learn what the hell you are talking about please.

And Phil, with the way you are acting lately, I never know if you are joking or not. From just about anyone else I would take it as a joke, but from you lately I just don't know.

[bofh]

A) I consider 25 to be fairly young
B) I certainly hope your not still in high school. But did you finish?
C) whether or not your a jackass is up for some debate!

and of course, (D) Have you moved out of your parents house yet.

/I keed

[ccaleb]

Hmmm...

I understand that working with the police in South Carolina differs from any other state, however, one must understand a little bit of the "thin blue line" culture to understand the situation you are going to face. I have testified in court against people many times for traffic violations which myself, or the officer I was with, issued a citation. First off, the fact that you're college age, kills you even more than being a teenager. Sometimes cops feel bad for teenagers, but you are at the perfect age where you should know better, but your not old enough for the cop to worry about it.

Also, I think we may be missing something to the story. I would be interested to hear the cops testimony and see the back of his ticket (where cops keep notes about every situation they encounter, hence, why cops remember and can testify against you). I am not calling you a liar, I am simply thinking you held the gas down longer than you realize. I know that I would not have stopped someone for that unless they spun for a full two seconds. Except, in South Carolina, we have a citation called Improper Start which I would've popped you for. Careless Driving here is 180 dollars and four points... or maybe more, depending on the judge.

When you show up in court (at least in SC), you will have three pleas you can enter. Guilty, not guilty, or no contest. The first two are easy, but no contest is where you pay the fine, but it doesn't show up on your record as a guilty plea (good for drunk in public violations and things like that). You can also request a jury trial for any offense, so keep that in mind, however, you probably won't win. Sometimes judges have tension between their officers, but most of the times, the judge will side with the officer of the law.

Also, I noticed someone said that if you had a few drinks, that would be why you would be lucky. And that he was improperly doing his job. This is not the case. If you are not fully intoxicated, to the standardized level of DUI, then the cop cannot charge you with Driving Under the Influence. He can still pop you for the careless driving and spinning your tires though. Not saying that was the case, just bringing up a point. Anyways, good luck, just be polite to the officer and realize he was doing his job to the best of the ability. I however, don't think you will probably win, but I have been caught off guard in court a few times myself, so you never know.

Another thing is that you people should really consider paying more respect to police officers and then there would be less tension between the thin blue line and the public. I went to a downed officers funeral this past week and for the first time I saw people paying respects to a law enforcement officer. My biggest question is why didn't these people pay respect to him while he was alive? I know some cops are pricks, but a lot aren't and they lay their life on the line every day to ensure that you are safe.

Anyways, sorry for that little soap box. :) God bless you all.

[Muzikman]

Actually at 25, you are past college age unless you are a grad / PhD student. In PA at 25 is when the insurance companies consider you a "responsible driver" and lower your insurance. Also, for those of us that live in snow covered hilly areas (although NJ is anything but hilly) the spinning of tire (even in a front wheel drive car) is something that can be expected. I am sure that if Thor was driving a 1981 Ford Fairmont and did the same thing the cop would not have bothered. The fact that he was in a Mustang I think is what made the difference. Although the thing has a wimpy v6, could it even spin tire on a dry surface?:)

[Thordic]

25 is "responsible" driver age in NJ too.

And no, Muz, I can't burn out. Thats what makes this so ironic. If it was LS Differential, maybe, but the v6 mustang is open differential, so nope. When I first got the car I tried, and you just manage to squeal a little. You can't get enough torque to the tires to break traction before you'll start moving. I gave up on trying last year.

And Caleb, I understand where you are coming from, but just because he's a cop and I'm a civilian doesn't mean I have to bend over and take it just because he percieved an infraction. Police officers make mistakes just like everyone else. And I plan on defending myself against it. I don't need to be anything but polite to him or anyone else, all I have to do is state my case. I have the weather reports indicating bad conditions, and the fact its on a quite noticeable incline backing me up, not to mention its a RWD vehicle.

[SlartyBartFast]

Also, for those of us that live in snow covered hilly areas (although NJ is anything but hilly) the spinning of tire (even in a front wheel drive car) is something that can be expected.

Actually, rear wheel drive is less likely to spin on hills than front wheel drive. The weight transfer to the rear gives you more traction.

Here's a question for all of you winter driver types:

Say driver Bob owns a front wheel drive car and is too cheap/poor to buy four winter tires and only wants to buy two.

What should he do?

1- Buy two good winter tires and put them in front.
2- Buy two good winter tires and put them in back.
3- Buy four cheaper winter tires.
4- Four season tires are good enough.

Answered here: http://www.automags.org/forums/showt...51#post1836551

[ccaleb]

Sorry

I didn't mean to imply at all that you should not fight it. If you truly did what you say, then you should definitely go to court. I believe firmly in the Criminal Justice system we have in America. It has its flaws, many of which lie with the officials themselves, but it is the best in the world. And you shouldn't bend over backwards, per say, you should simply pay dignity and respect. It is good that you understand politeness and things of that nature, which should be paid to all people. I think the real problem is that people are becoming less and less dignified as a society and that is what generally leads to issues of disrespect on all fronts.

A police officer, SHOULD be an example and a friend to the community, but enforce the law with strictness and compassion. Unfortunately, the role of being a police officer is way underpaid and thankless, which leads to frustration, which in turn, turns a good cop into a jerk. Fortunately though, I know that there are lots of good police officers out there. I think that law enforcement is one of the toughest jobs out there because they are the garabage men and women of society. When the community has a problem it doesn't want to deal with or can't deal with, they call the police. The law enforcement officers of today have been given stewardship over us, and as such, we must respect them.

The unfortunate thing is that people forget that stewardship is a two way street. The police officers are responsible for us, but we are also responsible for them. Our Constitution, wether one wants to admit it or not, is based apon Christian principles and within Christian principles comes this idea of loving stewardship. However, the more temporal the world becomes, the less we pay attention to the needs of everyone.

Anyways, that was a little off topic, but I just wanted to let you know that I see both sides. I have a bias for the police officers because it truly is a brotherhood, you might say. Anyways, good luck and remember, ask for the officers in-car camera to be admitted into court. You can prove a lot of the weather conditions and grade issues by using that, even though the camera didn't turn on until his lights got switched on. If he's a good cop, he would've turned them on quickly, so you should be able to get footage of the intersection, if not, at least you will have evidence of the actual weather conditions, not just weather read outs (however those are good too).

Good luck again.

Oh... and by responsible driver, police officers don't care what your insurance company thinks. They believe that 18-28 is the perfect age range to write a ticket in. Anyone over 60-65, unless they do something serious, will most likely walk away without a ticket.