megabytehl

I understand this is a pretty touchy topic but I felt I'd post anyway, due to the relative expertise of the community in the speeding ticket area.

I was driving to Texas A&M (College Station) a couple weekends ago, I'm in the right lane in my glorious '05 Black/Black TSX doing about 75mph and there's guy in a early 90's blue SUV with a falling off front license plate in the left lane doing about 85mph. We come over a hill and there's a police officer about 350 meters ahead of us on the right side of the road with his lights on. As soon as I see this I slow down to 65mph and get into the left lane. The guy in the explorer is about 100 feet infront of me at the time and he sees the cop shortly after I do, but oddly enough he doesn't get down below the speed limit. Whatever, his loss if he gets nailed. Shortly after us coming over the hill, the officer puts his cruiser into reverse and angles his rear radar sight in my direction. I think nothing of it because I'm travelling below the speed limit and stay in the left lane. As I pass the officer he starts coming out onto the road, I pull over into the right lane because I was traveling in the right lane before I saw him, effectively giving him a safety buffer. But the officer follows me into the right lane, I start to consider if he's really pulling me over, or what, cause it just doesn't make any sense, I make a move (very slight, gentle drift) like I might go back into the left lane and he mimics me comletely. I imeadately pull over he gets out asks the average police questions like, "Is there a reason for your speed?", I reply, "No...Did you clock me going over the speed limit?", "Yes, you were traveling 80mph in a 70mph zone". I comply, give him papers and whatnot, everything checks out. Note that I have NEVER been pulled over before in my life, I have no criminal record of any kind. He comes back to my car says he's issuing me a citation, asks me to sign the form (not an admission of guilt obviously), I comply but am still compeltely puzzled how he clocked over. I ask, "It was you who clocked me?", "Yes", "Are you using radar or laser?", "Radar", "Ok, thank you officer".

I pull away and I'm thinking...what in the hell, there's no way he clocked me going over, its not possible. In a normal circumstance I would bend over and take it, do defensive driving and get it over with and off my record. However, my drivers license is for Oklahoma, meaning I don't qualify for defensive driving in Texas. So my ticket will not be taken off my record any other way than fighting it in court.

Ticket was issued in a small down off Highway 6 called Marlin, TX. The violation listed on the ticket says:
"Speeding SR/RA"

So how do I go about expunging this from my record, I have till March 3rd to either pay the fine or show up in court. Should I get an attorney or self-represent? For the record, I CANNOT risk letting this affect my insurance, this must be dismissed. The increase in premiums would destroy me.

I appreciate any help you guys can give, this is really my first time dealing with any of this so my experience/knowledge with this is extremely limited, but as we speak I'm doing research.

balwinderismyuncle

Moron. Should of told him it was the blue truck. You took it like a bitch.

megabytehl

I fail to see how insulting his intelligence would've gotten me anywhere, nor how you're helping the current situation in the slightest.

balwinderismyuncle

You should of said you were going under the speed limit. Asked to see the radar, and told him about the guy speeding.

joerockt

And I fail to see what this has to do with the TSX. Take it to off topic...

megabytehl

Done.

joerockt

Woohoo! Playing moderator is fun!

Too bad I cant lock

lilballa

hahaha^^...I would of still argued on why the truck didnt get pulled over...and you did. If he was going faster and you were the one who got pulled over, you should have asked for a reason. Try going to court..you might get out of it since you have a clean record. Try the infront of the judge haha...

CCColtsicehockey

I wouldnt be to happy with that you may get for attempting to act as a moderator.

ChasC

You don't say what "type" of cop it was.

If it was a State trooper or the equivalent, you may have to take the hit.

If it was some local cop, county sheriff, etc., you may be able to get the speeding charge changed to something else.

Best to call the court and ask if you can speak with the county (city, town, village) prosecuting attorney. Pitch your case and ask if you could have the violation changed to something else. Often, it is in the jurisdiction's financial interest to do so.

Good luck.

Buy a radar detector.

playdoh

Fight the ticket. In many cases they will let you plead to a lesser charge, something like "No Seatbelt" which has 0 points. They just want their money in most cases. Note that you may wind up paying more by fighting it (they impose whatever fee they want PLUS a court fee).

Then again a couple of points and not having to waste an entire day may be worth just paying the ticket.

kenzo

The speed limit was 75?

6SpeedTA95

You're in oklahoma too

A ticket in texas will not affect your record in Oklahoma. A buddy of mine got pulled over for doing 95 on the way to Elpaso from Midland, nothing ever showed up on his record here. I think youll be fine and if its 10 over it doesn't go on your record anyways.

megabytehl

I'm still in a funky limbo period since I've moved up here, so my insurance is technically in texas. But thankfully it seems I will be able to do defensive driving after all, I'm going to call the court in the morning to find out if I can or not, we'll see!

Good to see another acura kid round the city, i'm about fed up with the mustangs/giantasstrucks around here.

megabytehl

Sounds interesting, I'll definately work that angle if I can, but I have to make sure the violation its changed to doesn't get reported to my insurance, otherwise I will bite the bullet and take DD.

I don't speed enough to warrant a radar detector, plus not like I could use it in my defense..."Officer my radar detector never went off but you're saying you clocked me over...".

HoRRo

From what I remember, I remember 2 cops on here saying that they usually pull over the slower of 2+ speeding/racing cars. Furthermore, did you pull over without him using his lights/sirens?

6SpeedTA95

I dont actually live in okc anymore, I graduated in may and took a job north of Tulsa. So thats where I am now, but I still consider OKC home and I miss it a lot, its such a nice city

Beoshingus

Okay, that's it. I think we need a thread for all of us Okie TSXers.