When in high traffic areas I manually shift for more control. Because of this I may be going fast enough to sound like I am hauling ***, even though I am in 1st gear. Getting on my base I have been told to slow down because of this, even though I was going slower then the fraffic in front and behind me.

Point is, if you decided not to shift until you were out of the situation, then you could have had enough RPM's to sound like you were going fast. But then, he could come after you at some other time with a fix it ticket for a noise violation.

Or, you could admit you were speeding, accept the consequences and not drive like that in the future.

 

I have three tickets on probation right now. All you have to do to get the points knocked off is admit responsibility with explanation. The judge will explain to you the charges and ask if you understand them. Say yes, and he will ask if you have anything to say. Give a very brief but accurate reason why you may not deserve any points. The judge almost always will hand out a 6 month probation and waive all points unless you get a ticket in that time frame. I have gotten probation on a ticket while one of them was already still on probation. Of course this is the state of michigan and we may have different laws, but for me its only taken 3 fifteen minutes trips to a court date, and five minutes in court. Judges go through crap like this about 50 to 100 times a day if you think about it, as long as your cool and help him get his work done and the day over usually they let you off.

If that doesn't work, just find the officers desk phone number and call him and ask if he can help you in anyway, beleive it or not i've seen other people get very lucky with that as well

 

Daniel -

In my opinion, you would always want to go to court for a traffic violation. Nothing worse can come from at least trying. The worst that can possibly happen is that you will have to pay court costs ($15 in MD I think) in addition to the original fine.

I have had nothing but positive experiences with going to court for tickets. If you think you were wrong or not, at least you can ask for lieniency from the judge. Even if you just get the fine and court costs, odds are he will drop the points.

If you decide to go to court, always dress nice; it shows respect for the court system and the judge. My next suggestion would to be perfectly honest with the judge, and explain your side of what happened. Don't throw in any BS, or else you will **** off the judge.

Its worked for me quite a few times... and I have never once taken a lawyer with me...

 

Court fees around me in NJ tend to be $50-$80.

The only other problem is speed... We don't have 15-minute court sessions here. When I fought my speeding ticket, it took 4.5hours...while I only spent 3 minutes in front of the judge, I had to sit there and wait the whole time.

Moving violations are big money around here, so they make it as inconvient as possible to do anything about them so you'd prefer to pay then deal with the hassles.

Daniel

 

BTW -- "careless driving" is pretty nondescript as far as violations go for NJ:

N.J.S. 39:4-97. Careless driving.
A person who drives a vehicle carelessly, or without due caution and circumspection, in a manner so as to endanger, or be likely to endanger, a person or property, shall be guilty of careless driving.

 

Dear Mr. Smurfslayer,

I realize you are new to this site, and probably don't know any better, but believe it or not, some of us can afford a Lightning, but choose to spend our money on something more practical. I love the Lightning. I think it's the best Chevy killer ever built. But right now, it's not the vehicle for me. So please keep your negative comments about the rest of the people on this site to yourself. We have some great people here who enjoy helping each other. You and your truck are welcome also.

P.S. The Pawn,

Fight the ticket. Mr. Smrufslayer and everyone else gave some good advise.

Specific questions to ask the Officer after his testimony:

Did you see the double parked vehicle's that I went around?

What was my speed through the intersection?

What speed measuring device did you use? (A trained officer's estimation of speed is allowed in some courts.)

If a radar was used, do you have the calibration information?

When did you first see my vehicle? (stopped or moving)

Ask about any other vehicles in front or back of you.

Important: Do not lie to the judge. Unless you are very good, most experienced judges can smell a lie a mile away. It's perfectly ok to challenge the Officer, but do it respectfully. If you call him a lier, and the judge has had this Officer in his court many times and has no reason to believe the Officer is lieing, your cooked! So stick to points of law and the technical side.

Sorry for the long post, but it just upsets me to read statements like that made by Mr. Smurfslayer.

Good luck.

 

Dan, Dan, Dan....between you and CA....You young'uns give us law abiding (cough***cough) Lightning owners a bad name.....It's nice to be an old fart, cops, I mean police officers, know we drive careful

 

Are you with the department?
this one?? No
Who are you with?
If your going to give me a ticket, it's ok, just let me call my superior officer.
What kind of truck is this?
it's a very special truck, they're new
i clocked you at 128 in a 65
it was my turn to get the lunch, and i'm late
where you going for take out?
the China Doll, the captain is gonna be pissed
then you better get going!
you're right , i'd better, thanks bud

 

Yeah,,, Mr.BBQman sent to jail for impersonating a police officer
great idea though,, a good laugh this late at night

 

Lame one..take it to court.

 

Ya gotta give it gas to get thru the dang light. I think yours will get thrown outta court, cause that is one stupid a** ticket. The judge should get a good laught out of it though. What a stupid jerk of a cop. He probably would have given me another ticket, cause I would have been laughing so hard at him I don't think I could have driven anywhere.
That cop gives others a bad name. Fight it, cause if you don't, your insurance will go up, probably alot more than the ticket fight will cost ya................................................ ...Phatford