Trying to beat a speeding ticket in Nevada County (insurance, school)

[harlequin224]

I got a 22350 speeding ticket for doing 70 mph in a 55 mph zone on a highway (not a freeway) in Nevada County in California. I decided to fight the ticket, so I went to the court clerk and asked to see the speed zone survey for that area. The survey was done in April of 2001, making it almost 8 years old. The 85th percentile speed on the survey was around 62 (it did not give a clear answer on that, only a graph), so the posted speed is definitely lower than the survey suggests, AND the survey is too old to even count anymore... right? How recent does a speed zone survey in California have to be? Also, I just read somewhere that you can only use the speed zone survey as a defense if the cop used a radar device and NOT if he paced you, which is what he did to me. So those are my two questions, how recent must the survey be to be valid, and can I use the survey in court even if he paced my speed?

[ferretkona]

It is really hard to beat a ticket in a small county.
I had one where the ticket had me going east instead of west, sunshine when it was raining, no other traffic where there was, all points of the ticket was wrong, even listing a passenger where I had none.
As I corrected the officer he admitted fault to all points, then the judge said "well, cops are always right so you are guilty". I looked across the folding table and asked the judge if he had been listening??

Take traffic school!

[Jaybee]

IMO if you were speeding, why waste your time and that of the court system? Take responsibility. You did the crime, admit it; pay the fine, take the remedial traffic school and get on with your life.

[MIKEETC]

The speed limit is established by the local jurisdiction. The study you're citing is used to establish a benchmark that a local jurisdiction could use, if they wanted, to set the speed limit. If the local jurisdiction chooses to, they can ignore the benchmark and use a lower (or higher) speed limit. This benchmark represents what you could call the de facto speed limit that those doing the survey observed as opposed to the legal speed limit.

Your argument is that because 85 percent of drivers were over the posted limit, you should be allowed to do so as well. However, according to you, the study says that 85% of drivers were driving around 62 mph. Since you were doing 70 mph (and not somewhere between 55 and 62 mph) by your own admission, how does this data help you? You then follow by saying that the study is 8 years old. So? If the road's conditions (width, pavement, traffic, etc.) and surrounding environment (increased development, population, etc.) stayed the same between then and now, the data is still valid. If you believe/know otherwise, that the local government does not have more recent data, and you think they should not use it at all because it is no longer valid, arguably you should not use it either, i.e. the data cannot be used to support the prosecution or the defense (yes?) and so the fallback positions are the posted speed limit and the officer's professional expertise. Another way to solve this problem would be for either you or the local jurisdiction to conduct a new study. But, in addition to the cost, that does not change the posted legal limit at the time you committed the violation so that would only help future 'violators'.

That's my opinon, though, and I am not passing judgment as I have had numerous tickets myself...!

[harlequin224]

Beat it!

[tfam4]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

IMO if you were speeding, why waste your time and that of the court system? Take responsibility. You did the crime, admit it; pay the fine, take the remedial traffic school and get on with your life.

I agree with Jaybee go sit in a class room for 8 hours

[Lovehound]

If you get a ticket for 22350 that says that you were traveling at an unsafe speed. You can get a 22350 ticket in a 55 zone even if you're traveling 40. Let's say the it was raining and the streets are slick, reduced visibility, zone 55 and you're doing 40 but it's the officer's opinion that 40 was too fast for the conditions and you should have been traveling 25.

22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.

My advice is that you should request traffic school, then do your traffic school on the Internet at one of the DMV approved sites. It will take you about an hour to complete the on-line class, and the ticket will be taken off your record. There are still some fines but not anything like the cost to pay the fine otherwise.

I doubt you will be able to beat the ticket with the facts you presented in the OP, although who knows? Maybe you can find a soft hearted judge, or maybe the officer won't show up in court and possibly the ticket will be thrown out.

Take the traffic school or the ticket will go on your record, and when you have 2 or more tickets your insurance rate goes up horribly, like a 33% increase. I discovered this the hard way.

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

If you get a ticket for 22350 that says that you were traveling at an unsafe speed. You can get a 22350 ticket in a 55 zone even if you're traveling 40. Let's say the it was raining and the streets are slick, reduced visibility, zone 55 and you're doing 40 but it's the officer's opinion that 40 was too fast for the conditions and you should have been traveling 25.

22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.

My advice is that you should request traffic school, then do your traffic school on the Internet at one of the DMV approved sites. It will take you about an hour to complete the on-line class, and the ticket will be taken off your record. There are still some fines but not anything like the cost to pay the fine otherwise.

I doubt you will be able to beat the ticket with the facts you presented in the OP, although who knows? Maybe you can find a soft hearted judge, or maybe the officer won't show up in court and possibly the ticket will be thrown out.

Take the traffic school or the ticket will go on your record, and when you have 2 or more tickets your insurance rate goes up horribly, like a 33% increase. I discovered this the hard way.

WRONG!!! The online course is an 8 hour course broken into sections with a final at the end - I just completed one 3 days ago!

[Lovehound]

Well Twinkie, I finished my class in about an hour. All I can say is that we evidently used different websites, or it has changed in the 2 years since I took the online class, or both. (Please note that there are many online sites that have been approved by DMV, and they are not necessarily all identical, and in fact probably differ. Online DMV class sites are private businesses that have been approved by DMV.)

Even if it took 8 hours it would be worth it.

[Adriatica]

I did the online traffic school option and it took me a little less than an hour. Simple and easy. Maybe it depends on which site you use? I did this just a few months ago and used trafficschool.com