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This right here says it all and is probably the most accurate post that is going to be made on this thread.
Bull**** on both of you ...
I have successfully fought tickets where I was able to prove in a courtroom that an officer lied about the speed that he clocked me at when I was, in fact, not exceeding the speed limit.
In fact, in one of those cases in Littleton, CO, the cop ultimately admitted that he had an over the speed limit reading from a cross-street location on South Santa Fe Drive, but did not know which vehicle was doing that speed. He'd just pointed the radar gun at the oncoming traffic which he could not clearly see and got a high speed reading, but he wasn't concerned about which car may have been the speeder. It simply turned out that I was driving the car in the right hand lane closest to him that was most convenient to pull over to cite for speeding. The cars to the left lanes of me were the ones going fast, trying to time the lights in the 45 mph zone, where I'd been stopped and had to accelerate up to the flow of traffic when the light turned green ... with several cars ahead of me, driving a 1971 MB 220D, it simply wasn't possible for me to be doing 57 mph in a 45 mph zone in the short distance from where I'd been stopped.
As well, a girlfriend was driving through Englewood, CO, on Hampden Ave and was cited for running a red light and speeding. The officer admitted in court that she had entered the intersection just as the light changed from green to yellow, but didn't clear the intersection until after the light had turned red. We went back to the intersection and timed (and video'ed) the light sequence. If she'd been going the speed limit, which is what she said she'd been doing, the car would have cleared the intersection safely upon entering just as the light turned yellow. If she'd been going faster than the speed limit, it would have been very easy to have tmely cleared the intersection. The judge heard the officer's testimony and agreed with us that either my girlfriend was speeding or ran the red light, but couldn't have done both based upon the evidence and the cop's testimony. Since the citation had so many conflicts, the judge dismissed them both.
As well, I once got a ticket in the Colorado mounntains where an officer claimed that he'd timed me on a mountain road, where he saw me at one point going through a small town and later entering another. He'd gone between the towns on a shorter route that had fewer turns in it, so was able to arrive at the next town ahead of me. He calculated that I'd have to have been riding far in excess of the posted speed limit ... 50 mph ... in order to have arrived when I did. He never actually clocked me, but wrote me up for 15 over the limit. The fallacy of his thinking was comparing his normal time to make the drive between the towns on the road I took, where he routinely slowed down for every bend and turn in the road and then accelerated ... leisurely ... back up to 50 mph. What he didn't account for was that I could ride at 50 mph continuously on that road, staying within my own lane and being a very cautious, prudent rider, could far better his time between the two points. Again, cop's testimony in traffic court and his case was thrown out by the judge.
I got into this topic with my neighbor who'd had the job of teaching proper radar enforcement techniques when I got a radar ticket from a brand new deputy not far from my ranch on a hilly country road. He'd set up shop by the side of the road, and was getting readings on vehicles before he could ever see them. There was, in fact, another vehicle in front of me that turned off into a driveway off the road, but the deputy could not see that vehicle or mine at the time he obtained the reading 2 miles down the road from his location. By the time I'd come over the last hill, he'd relocated his car into my lane and was determined to cite the first car that came down the road. But he never saw nor knew what generated his excess speed reading. In this case, the judge decided that "OK, maybe we didn't get you this time. But you know darn well that you come down that road most days at 45-50 mph and the limit is 30 mph. So this ticket just makes up for all those times when you didn't get caught." I asked the judge if I could ask the deputy one last question ... knowing that the deputy lived another mile down that road from the location of the ticket. I asked him "what speed do you travel that road when you go home?", and he admitted that he normally drove 50 mph there. This is wide open country with few roads or driveways to turn into, and 50 mph is a reasonable, prudent speed in most weather conditions. The judge acknowledged that Wyoming has a "prudent speed" provision, and threw the ticket out. But my friend still made the case that the deputy was writing tickets affirming he'd caught somebody speeding when, in fact, he hadn't done so.
1. 5% speedometer error is permitted by current USA regulations. I know, as my Camry lies 4 miles per hr on speedo, thus reducing warranty mileage, and I had that raised woth Toyota Corp. At 70mph, it makes almost 4 mph difference , and in zero tolerance areas can bring you into trouble. Mine shows speed higher than it is.
2. Cops are sworn government officials. One cop word in court will outweigh ten of yours. Unless you have one of them car recorders, that will prove otherwise.
DO NOT SPEED. That's your best bet. 5 above, that's it. Cruise control.
1.
DO NOT SPEED. That's your best bet. 5 above, that's it. Cruise control.
But what you're actually advocating is to speed up to 5 mph over the speed limit.
There are some areas of the USA where there is zero tolerance for over the limit driving. Even if your explanation is that your speedometer has a legal accepted error, you have no defense for being over the limit.
Yes, I have seen speeding tickets written for 1 mph over the limit on a freeway, even on a clear day when there were no complicating factors where such excessive speed might have been less then prudent. It was speeding, pure and simple.
But what you're actually advocating is to speed up to 5 mph over the speed limit.
There are some areas of the USA where there is zero tolerance for over the limit driving. Even if your explanation is that your speedometer has a legal accepted error, you have no defense for being over the limit.
Yes, I have seen speeding tickets written for 1 mph over the limit on a freeway, even on a clear day when there were no complicating factors where such excessive speed might have been less then prudent. It was speeding, pure and simple.
I think the most aggravating thing to me is not the speeding but that people will come up with all sorts of excuses for why, if they got a ticket for speeding, EVEN IF THEY WERE SPEEDING, it's not their fault. It's ANYBODY else's fault than theirs. Worst comes to worst, they disagree with what the speed limit is so that somehow, in their mind, justifies them ignoring it and there shouldn't be a penalty if they get caught breaking the law, because, after all, they don't agree with that law so they should be absolved from any consequences for choosing to break it.
This always comes irresistibly to mind when confronted with those kinds of folks:
Worst comes to worst, they disagree with what the speed limit is so that somehow, in their mind, justifies them ignoring it and there shouldn't be a penalty if they get caught breaking the law, because, after all, they don't agree with that law so they should be absolved from any consequences for choosing to break it.
Two problems with your outlook ...
1) You're going after intent rather than performance. Absolute speed limits properly set are enforceable; I don't care what the rationalization is to ignore it, the speed limit is posted and other than the tolerance of it by local law enforcement, it's not important what the excuse is for the performance. What aggravates me is having been in traffic courtrooms where a very attractive young woman came up with her excuses (all weak) for speeding and she's gotten off with a minimal penalty or a plea bargain effectively reducing the penalty to almost nothing ... while, at the same court session, an old guy makes the same excuses but is unable to get equal treatment, getting the maximum penalties under the law. I've personally seen this in action, but at those times where I've been in social situations with court employees ... I've been regaled with their stories of how this stuff happens all the time. They seem to get a laugh of how some old judge consistently lets off attractive young blonde blue-eyed women who can bat their eyelashes or play a sob story on the judge ....
But:
2) There are areas of the USA where a posted speed limit isn't absolute, and "prudent" driving laws prevail; ie, you can drive faster than the posted limit as long as you don't exceed the "prudent" performance as defined by the statute. Of course, if you're busted, you've got the burden of proof that the prudent scenario prevails over the posted limit. We've got county roads out our way that are posted for some pretty nominal speed limits yet the sight range, road conditions, etc ... all are well within the boundaries for "prudent" driving at 10-20-30 mph over those posted limits.
With a lazier they can exactly tell which vehicle they are tracking.
Solviet to calibrate a radar unit all you have to do is use the tuning forks each unit comes with.
You tap the tuning fork and hole it in front of the unit.
If your using a 55mph fork 55mph will be shown on the unit if it is in calibration.
The fact is they are hard to knock out of calibration.
As well, I once got a ticket in the Colorado mounntains where an officer claimed that he'd timed me on a mountain road
What year was this? Is such a thing even legal in any states today? I have never looked into the reasons why; but states with toll roads have the option of RFID transponders for convenient billing rather than paying in cash, I have always wondered what has kept them from issuing "calculated speeding" tickets based on when a vehicle enters and exits the tolled portions.
Plain and simple, it's all about the money. Tickets are nothing more than fruadulant ways to gain revenue to local coffers. Anyone who thinks it's anything else is fooling themself. Proof? Catch the cop lieing on the stand and it so clear to even the judge he is lieing, but still be found guilty or the judge looks at the ag and says make a deal. It's all about the money and making it hard on you and nothing else.
Plain and simple, it's all about the money. Tickets are nothing more than fruadulant ways to gain revenue to local coffers. Anyone who thinks it's anything else is fooling themself. Proof? Catch the cop lieing on the stand and it so clear to even the judge he is lieing, but still be found guilty or the judge looks at the ag and says make a deal. It's all about the money and making it hard on you and nothing else.
In other words, I got a speeding ticket and it's everyone else's fault and it's all about the money, it's got to be, because I couldn't possibly be responsible for the consequences of my own actions. (That's the "making it hard on you" part, because in the grown up world the universe doesn't revolve around you and making life easier for you - and you ARE responsible for the consequences of your own actions.)
Any time someone starts whining about it being all about revenue generation, it's pretty obvious what they really mean. Even if they don't realize it themselves because it's necessary for them not to in order to continue spouting that nonsense.
That whole fooling yourself thing? Go look in a mirror.
Texas horse lady, I'm not about to argue a legit ticket.
But are you honestly standing there telling us to suck it up and pay because we must have been doing something wrong when we are outright wrongly ticketed? These cops are human too, and corruption is rampant.
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