ok i guess my passport 8500 is crap

i was heading from san antonio to austin this morning going a steady 75-80 mph. medium traffic and i swear the cars in front of me and behind me were going just as fast. motorcycle cop pulls me over and cites me for 70 in a 60 and my radar dectector did not make a noise!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so i called up a local traffic attorney and he told me i had two options pay 115 and take a drving safety class (30-40 bucks) but i cant get a ticket for 6 months. but i will be in austin for only another 2 months.

or

have him take care of it for 150 BUT he told me about 10% of all traffic cases gets prosecuted and i COULD be one of them and that if i am prosecuted and found guilty then i have to pay like 250 dollars and the shit is on my record.

so what should i do

pay the fine get on probation and take the class

or pay the lawyer and see what happens- either the court dismiss or takes it to a jury court.

I would just take defensive driving but i took it 10 months ago

i would rather be speeding over 150mph then get this bullshit ticket!!!!

sidemarker

 

pay the 115 and go to traffic school, it's basically a get out of jail free card. Only time I recommend fighting it is if you have a real strong case or you don't have your get out of jail free card available

 

also, did the cop say he got you on radar? Or did he just pace you? That could be why your detector didn't go off. Also, always ask to see the radar the cop got your speed w/. Legally he has to show it, and if it's different then what he told you or he says he already erased it, fight that shit

 

I had my share of tickets from all types. The worst one was going 140 in a 65. I was given reckless driving. Now this is what your lawyer is telling you as he isn't giving you the whole story. You will be using a program called AR accelerated rehabilitation as it is just like a youthful offender plea for us over 18. Pretty much it is as they described to me as a get out of jail free card. It pretty much gets any motor vehicle or misdemeanor thrown out after 6 months. If he is a good layer you will just have to pay a court fee of about $113 and there should and no classes. Most people agree that they wouldn’t use it for a simple motor vehicle violation as it isn't even a DWI or reckless driving or, endangerment.

Personal i would plea not guilty and when you get into court the magistrate will look at your record and give you a deal as you will have to pay the ticket at a cheaper price, or even get it thrown out. I highly don’t think they will prosecute for something like that wasting court time. You will just get a ticket to pay and go to some classes, and it will be on your record but after 5 years it will be off. AR is great thing to have and not to waist it on something so simple as this. O and about insurance it is really nothing for an increse, since it isn’t any serious offence as reckless driving or DWI. Now that is something you don’t want to mess with as involves jail time.

Hope this helps and good luck

 

Just pay the ticket, & don't bother with any school. 10 over? what's that 2, or 3 points? If the detector didn't go off I don't think he used radar at all. Paced you, or you were hit from the air.

 

Why would you give him bad advice like this? Have you ever done this or are you just repeating a rumor?

First option plus traffic school is your best bet. Avoid the points if you can. You don't want anything on your record. Avoid the lawyer fees.

Don't plea not guilty unless you really believe you are not guilty.

IMHO.

 

V1 Rules Do traffic school, no biggie.

 

This is ALWAYS the best choice on a traffic ticket.

 

whoops, I mean the defensive driving course thing.

 

Motorcycle cop around here almost guarantees it was LASER... it will be hard to beat that. I've even seen them using LASER from behind. Talk about shitty.

Was this a Austin cop or DPS or what?

If it was an Austin cop, I would definitely take the defensive driving and deferred adjudication. Since you won't be in Austin in two months, then it won't be difficult to keep from getting a ticket in Austin for 6 months!


If you do decide to do that... don't pay the lawyer. You should be able to call the courthouse and arrange that yourself.

 

yup it was a motorcycle cop but the thing is ive seen them in central and north austin but they never give me any hassle and im going about 75 mph open road!

when i was coming in town it was almost impossible to go over 90-100 because of the cars around me. we were all driving about the same speed (70-75). then bam i see lights behind me.

funny thing is that as soon as i pulled over i saw TWO more motorcyle cops pulling people over!

and i guess the best thing about the whole experience is that it only took maybe 2 minutes. Its like the THESE cops are trying to handout as many tickets as they can

i think im leaning towards the probation and driving school.

sidemarker

 

Yip... those motorcycle cop laser parties serve no other purpose. And it had to be laser to pick you out of the traffic like that.

Where exactly were you?

 

bad advice? It got me out of ticket when I was 17. I got pulled over for a cop saying he radar'd me at over 60. Asked to see the radar and he said he had already cleared it. Used that in court, won my case.

 

and I have a baseball coach in HS who was a cop who I have to give thanks to for advising me on this :p

 

why couldnt the motorcycle cop have paced him? sure seems like he could have if he came up behind you.. and of course your detector wouldnt save you from that....

 

yea, i was thinking the cop paced him too

 

Had to have been paced. Around DC bike cops run radar and I ALWAYS pick them up. And I'm running an Escort Passport 8500 too.

That sux about the ticket!!! OUCH! I hate cops!!!

 

OKAY so if i ask the cop to see the radar and he can't then you can get off the ticket?? -- mkay, i'll remember that

 

not always, but it's a plus in your favor

 

I won't even get into it...I'm going to be nice today.

Dude, you gotta watch that San Antonio to Austin to Dallas corridor on I-35. Lots of cities, lots of counties, DPS all the way up and down. I used to live in SA. Up in Live Oak, Selma, Shertz, and Universal City...cops running radar everywhere. Just getting to New Braunfels ticketless is an achievement.

 

feel free to bring what ever you want. It won't get you off everytime, luckily I had a judge who was a little suspicious of the situation. Every little bit helps man.

 

No such thing as the cop is required to lock in your speed. In fact, the proper radar training for a police officer is NOT to lock the speed in so that a good tracking history is achieved. No judge dismissed a ticket because the officer failed to lock in the speed. I wouldn't even know how to lock in the speed when you pull the trigger on the radar gun and it shows 95 and then you release it and the display goes blank. By the way, almost all the time I see someone getting pulled over for a ticket, they are sitting in their own seat, not the front seat of the police car looking over the equipment.

To your point, everything helps...but most judges have been on the bench for some years and way back in the 80s the myth was "the officer must show you the radar else you can get it dismissed." Certainly they've caught on to this by now....

This is what I've heard and I'm reading it here: http://members.cox.net/reconokc/radar.html

Other examples:

http://www.cityofudall.com/pd/why8.htm
http://www.northpolepolice.org/coptalk.htm

And this website has an even better example, plus a lot of other helpful facts: http://police.hatfield.ma.us/stopped.html

It won't get you off at all. The judge believing you might not have been speeding might get you off....

 

good read ken, guess I got lucky as all hell