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well i had my own experience it started as i pulled up on the jug handle on 206 going on to 68. i saw two cars and a semi trailer in the right lane of the jug handle, my instinct was pull in the left and pass them when the light turns green but of course that didnt happen. about half mile down the road i see a cop pull behind me, and turn his lights on so i slow down and pull slightly to the left so all cars could pass with ease, and when i finally got to the right i gave him my info and he asked why i pulled to the left and slowed down when he turned his lights on. well obviously i couldnt pull to the right due to the cars and semi. he said no excuse were you trying to get killed today. he looked at my info and saw i gave him my military ID because i have an out of state license. so he asked what i do in the military so i told him im a vehicle operator which i drive vehicles all the way up to wreckers from semi's. then he said and i quote "well thats no excuse for your driving and apparently you need to be retrained in the military." then he wrote me a ticket for failing to keep right so i'm like how am i failing to keep right i could get in the right lane and was going the speed limit trying to pass the other cars. i dont know about you but i think this is a bogus ticket and i have never been so disrecpected in my life then that day, the military didnt pay thousands of dollars to train me for nothing, i drive convoys in iraq for godsake. i wanna see him do that. so i thought the cops where here to protect america from on the state side not try to f@# people over and especially ones like me who protect the country from foriegn enemies. please reply on what u think
As far as the ticket goes, sorry to hear. I guess it comes down to your word against the officer. My advice is that if you feel that strongly about your case, then take time to go to court and fight it. Bring a posterboard with a diagram of what happened and use it to illustrate your point to the Judge.
Let me be honnest with you - municipal courts in NJ are kangaroo courts. Your word against a PO's will mean NADA. The only chance you will have is to go to the court and ask to speak to the prosecuter. Chances are they will give you a "non-point" charge that will cost you more than the original ticket.
Welcome to civilian life in NJ! Sorry (and yes, thanks for serving us!
EEEP is right. You won't get any real justice. I never got a ticket in my life till this year. Let's just say that I've been driving for a long time. Someone who was seriously exceeding the speed limit hit me. It was determined that they had the right of way. Right. Like you could tell after the cars spun around and slid sideways. I went to traffic court and waited to see the prosecutor. While in line the woman ahead of me turned to me and asked, "You know why we're here, don't you? 'Cause we got a ticket? Oh no, there's a reduction in funding to municipalities. There's national debt, there's state debt, the police departments have to make some cash some way.
Not long after that, I was in a local bar and some of the old guys were complaining about the local police. It seems that in the good old days, if you mad a generous contribution to the FOP or PBA that you might, if you weren't a total train wreck, be given a little consideration. Some of the local cops stopped playing ball. The neighboring townships were at each other and if you tried to offer an out of area membership card, were were in even deeper trouble.
So, yes, go to traffic kangaroo court with documentation an try to argue down your license points. Your insurance company will make note of this foul up and be waiting for the other shoe to drop so that they can up your rates.
My husband got his first ticket in NJ. He deserved the speeding ticket. He was doing some sort of outrageous speed. His mother, a terminal cancer patient, had gone into cardiac arrest and he was on his way to the hospital. Oh yeah, he got the ticket, no slack. He was a retired Green Beret. He'd completed the FBI Defensive Driving Program. So?
You can't win. It doesn't matter that you're a good, careful, experienced or safe driver. It's coming out of your pocket.
My new best friend is Smokey Bear. I can't wait till someone ties to sell me a ticket to the police fundraiser for the next town over, the place where the officer had me stand out, shivering in a 43 degree drizzle for an hour and a half till the wrecker showed up on a Sunday.
When DH and I were dating a zillion years ago, he was having problems w/ his car and I went to follow him home from work, just in case. He was managing a restaurant downtown JC and lived in N. Bergen on the Cliffside border...so it was a hike and we wanted to be sure he was safe. So I'm following his disabled car at a slow pace at 2:00 AM on Kennedy Blvd. A police officer pulls him over... why, he said he cut me off. I was like "He didn't cut me off, I'm following him home." But the summons was already written, we were young and stupid. So we went to court and told our part...and the PO said "Yeah, he cut her off." That was it. I was FURIOUS.
I also sat in a car 2 yrs ago on Rt 17 North in Paramus. The driver was driving, at 10:00 on Sat night, at 105 MPH. Yes, 105 MPH. I started SCREAMING at the driver to knock it off. He said "Who is going to stop me?" He's a "friend" of my DH who is a pretty high ranking PO and very connected in the unions. I was so angry when I got out of the car I cursed him out and told him he'll kill someone driving like that one day and then it will be covered up so people will think he was being a hero. I never spoke to him since. There was no need for it - but that is one fo the down sides of our state - and I assume many others......
I just recently got pulled over for having my license plate frame slightly cover the words GARDEN STATE, mind you that the dealer had that bracket/frame on the car. Totally bogus, now not a moving violation but certainly a real law and a way for the towns to make money!! 54 dollar ticket! JOKE!!!! It was a nasty woman cop in Boonton Township.
It's not secret that traffic summons are just another source of revenue for towns. I've always maintained that a PO has no more credibility than a defendant simply because he's a PO. After all he's a human being first (well, some of them are) and we know that humans make mistakes. I've never seen a PO go into court and reverse his position or admit that he/she was wrong, yet the courts treat them as if their words were God like. This is not to say that PO are underpaid or over worked or everything else they might do in a community, but the days when you knew your local beat cop are over, most PO live in other towns, not their own.
It's been noticed and mentioned here as well in the "outside" world that the local POs are handing out more tickets these days. It's strictly an issue of money.
You got some and they need more.
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Sorry (and yes, thanks for serving us! 
