woogie, I assume all states are different, but they can do that in NC, I'm 99.9% sure

And, well at least here. Never....NEVER, just take a speeding ticket. Always show up and at least beg for mercy if you can't afford a lawyer. I repeat, you'd be AMAZED at what a good lawyer can do for you!

 

i don't know about your area, but here in cali cops can do exactly that. he can follow you closely from behind and give you a ticket, that's called pacing. it's very legal

but again he can't do that like from 2 miles away, that's not pacing, that's guessing

 

i think the law is if you get 4 points in a yr, or 6 points in 2, or 8 points in 3, then your licence is suspended, so you know where you are at

but the most important thing here is, did you admit to him what you did, that's crucial

 

excellent point pete! i don't think there is any way you can re-calibrate your speedo. if that's the case, when you see 80, you are going 85 already....

 

yes, imho, if it's your first time, go to traffic school

but if it's second, fight the hell out of it, you have nothing to lose. basically if everyone decides to fight the ticket, the whole court system would collapse, and we all don't get tickets coz' they can't process it fast enough and we win by whatever ammendment it is (7th?)

 

Understandable - pacing may be legal in some states, but that still doesn't justify the cop being able to pace GSing from quite a bit away. impossible.

Definately contest. You've got nothing to lose.

 

I would fight it since you have a lot of points and he cited you for going only 5 mph over the limit. Who knows, the cop might not show up (but that's unlikely with ChP) or the judge might be lenient and dismiss it because driving only 5 mph over the limit is reasonable for the conditions. Sometimes, if you're nice and the judge is in a good mood, he has the discretion to give you traffic school even if you don't qualify for it. I know that this has happened to a few people who didn't qualify for traffic school; what the judge did was add on an additional four hours of traffic school.

What Vehicle Code section did he cite you for? One time a cop cited a vehicle code section and added an "a" when the "a" subsection didn't exist. I successfully fought it by arguing that I could not put up a suitable defense because I could not know what I was being charged with.

Good luck.

 

yup, that's exactly what i am trying to say

 

I'm still shocked he actually wrote a ticket for only 5 over. I've NEVER heard of that before. It has to be at least 9 over for a point in NC. 15 over gets you 3 points. Those are insurance points, I'm not sure about license points. But heck you could come up with a million good reasons/excuses that you sped up 5mph for a sec.

 

You should fight this ticket. You got nothing to lose and everything to gain. (1) You have 3 points already especially if its in the last 12 months. (2) you were only 5mi over the limit.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/vioptct.htm

I am not an expert, but here is my past experience to challenging tickets in CA. Don't know about other states.

Look up the code that IT wrote you down for in the vehicle section. See if it applies to you. If it doesn't you are off the hook.

If it does, your possible defenses are:
1. Is his speedo calibrated (only his speedo counts)? Was he present when it was calibrated (most likely not since he would share the car with others). Documentation can be falsified.
2. Make note of the weather, conditions, and traffic. Point out that you had just past a slower car for your safety. Explain to the judge that 5 mi over was reasonable and prudent given the conditions and you were not a danger to yourself or others per 38305.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

Good Luck.
Let me know if you have any Qs.

 

My mistake. Late nights without sleep. Should be 22351(b) instead of 38305 - Basic Speed Law. Also leave out the part about passing other cars.

 

Get an attorney asap.

 

I have a lawyer that has my speeding tickets amended to faulty equipment. He has some kind of hook-up in the courthouse. What he does is changes it from speeding to a broken speedometer, and then produces some kind of receipt saying I had it fixed and all is OK. I gotta pay him 2 bills, but it's worth it. We may have more graft in Kentucky than you do in your region though. You should ask around and see if this can be done in your area.

 

in that case could i contest that my speedometer were off due to the tires size?

 

when he asked me if i knew how fast i was going, i replied that i didn't know/pay attention to how fast i was going. i stated that he was pacing me for awhile at 90+ but when he came back, that told me that he only indicated 70mph since he didn't won't me to get my license suspended. i take that he assumes i was going 90+ but don't have factual proof. the only problem w/ goin to court is inconvenient. i've been working graveyard shift and don't get off til 8:30am and it's 1 and 1/2 hour away.