Got a Ticket. What Should I Do?

[cmodem]

Hi All,

So i was driving down deerfoot trail approximately 8:50am on a motorcycle. The police in a white looking suv pulls me over. So first he was following me for a little while so he says. I didn't notice his lights (if he even had them on) or siren (never turned them on).

So i pull over when i notice he's on my tail and we go through all the jazz that is required for him to give me the ticket. He asks me how fast i was going i said i don't know probably 115-120 (as i was in the left hand most lane of deerfoot trail and not really surpassing traffic).

He says yes i was following you the last 3 kms and you were going 120. I was like ok. And he says that i had one of my hands off the handlebar for a little while too which when operating a motorcycle i should always have both hands on the bars. So i said "ok sorry sir".

Well he comes back with a ticket for going 100 in an 80 zone and a violation of exceeding posted highway speed limit. Now on deerfoot there was no construciton nothing so i know it is all 100.

Anyways i realize he's letting me off easy... and if the RO deals still went throught i'd have no problem paying the ticket but i hate insurance companies and don't want the points. Do i have a case or will fighting it probably just cause them to raise it to speeding 120 in 100. Can they even do that? Does the ticket become invalid because there are no posted 80's in deerfoot.

And before ppl say oh you deserve it... please ppl go 120+ on deerfoot left hand lane all the time and I wasn't even catching up to traffic nor pulling away... i was in a zone between groups (which i like to be when riding).

Thanks for long rant... let me know what you guys think.

[steverules]

go downtown and speek to the "justice of the peace" and tell them what happend, and that you want your points removed.

They even reduce tickets too!

[arian_ma]

If you want the demerits taken off go to Rocky mountain plaza and talk to a crown and plead guilty, they'll let you off easy, tke the demerits off and/or reduce the ticket depending on their mood.
Search a little there's a lot of info on this topic.

[cmodem]

Hey thanks for the quick reply. Ya i always go and get RO deals... but they no longer do that. I was just worried if i go down there and they read the notes of the officer where i was told to have been goign 120 if the crown can go ok now i am giving you a ticket for 120 in 100 not 100 in 80. Can they do that?

I would think that the ticket is binding and since deerfoot has no 80 zone it could be defendable.

Oops sorry... the location was just before the offramp to Memorial Drive... so about 500 meters before the memorial offramp going southbound. So there is definately no construction there.

[Crymson]

I think you have to go to court now to get demerits reduced. they've stopped eliminated points in july unless you go to trial, i think. Perhaps i read that article wrong.

[thinmyster]

last time I got to choose between a reduced fine or reduced demerits. You may have a case to fight it. but just be aware that they do record notes on tickets. when i went to fight a failure to produce insurance ticket. They (jp) knew i had originally been pulled over for failure to stop at a stop sign, and been let off easy with just one ticket. They had even quoted me on what i had said at the time of being pulled over. Weird hey. so go there and just be truthful they are more than understanding.

That being said :closed: this topic has been brought up plenty of times your not special

[steverules]

Originally posted by cmodem
Hey thanks for the quick reply. Ya i always go and get RO deals... but they no longer do that. I was just worried if i go down there and they read the notes of the officer where i was told to have been goign 120 if the crown can go ok now i am giving you a ticket for 120 in 100 not 100 in 80. Can they do that?

I would think that the ticket is binding and since deerfoot has no 80 zone it could be defendable.

Oops sorry... the location was just before the offramp to Memorial Drive... so about 500 meters before the memorial offramp going southbound. So there is definately no construction there.

no! you know if the cop screws up teh ticket, ur not liable, there are so many little details, go and plead not guilty to going 100 in an 80 zone! u will have no find and no pts

[cmodem]

LOL thanks ya i know i'm not special. But sometimes when it's your problem it's good to get some directed feedback ;)

Crud so i told the cop i thought i was going 115-120 he probably recorded that then hey?? hmmm i'm just worried they'll be like well your ticket is wrong but we will give you this instead.

Did they use the failure to stop at stop sign as leverage against you?

[thinmyster]

let us know how it goes.

[steverules]

Originally posted by cmodem
LOL thanks ya i know i'm not special. But sometimes when it's your problem it's good to get some directed feedback ;)

Crud so i told the cop i thought i was going 115-120 he probably recorded that then hey?? hmmm i'm just worried they'll be like well your ticket is wrong but we will give you this instead.

Did they use the failure to stop at stop sign as leverage against you?
nah! they can't just change the ticket completly, when I got my red light ticket
they changed it to a yellow light, they can't gibe u a bigger fine then you already have!

[adam c]

didnt they recently change it so that the demerits stay on no matter what now? and only the fine gets reduced

[FivE.SeveN]

20 over is 20 over. But the trick is deerfoot ISNT an 80 zone. Bad ticket IMO, you can't get fined for something that doesnt exist.... right?

PS the only reason deerfoot is EVER 80 is because of slowass bitches who cruise in the left lane. :thumbsdow

[adam c]

actually in the deep south, deerfoot is 80 with all the construction

[arian_ma]

k wait so do you have to go to court to fight the demerits now?
S.O.B.!

[cmodem]

They changed it so you can still get it reduced what not... but never can you get all demerits off.

So you can get less fine/less demerits any combination of the two but no longer completely remove demerits. If you go to court... your only gonna be guilty/not-guilty no deals in court.

Yeah definately i think the cop was letting me off; like 120 on deerfoot... you can catch so many ppl doing that speed on a car let alone on a bike.

If it were me i'd be alright paying the fine because i did do it... i just hate insurance companies another way for them to raise my already expensive premiums.

[topmade]

Hey, think about this.

If he wrote down 100 in a 80 zone and he wrote down the proper location on deerfoot, that to me would almost look like a mistake. And mistakes are usually thrown out as Deerfoot is 100/km and if you were driving 100/km, you wouldn't be speeding??

I don't know, just throwing a suggestion out there, anyone have any other comments about this?

[cmodem]

LOL awesome replies all thanks.

Ya that's my initial logic... esp where i was and he can't lie and say i was in the deep south. I was 500m north going southbound on deerfoot before the memorial drive offramp.

And that definately is not an 80 zone.

[thinmyster]

nope cause i was pretty honest and didnt get overly "excited" at the jp about the ticket. They cut the failure to produce ticket in half and we called it a day

[Toms-SC]

Got a Ticket. What Should I Do?

Pay it!


K thxs bye

[arian_ma]

Originally posted by Toms-SC
Got a Ticket. What Should I Do?

Pay it!


K thxs bye

GOOD ONE! Funny man right here.
Let's all follow his example and continuously make worthless contributions to an otherwise amazing community!

[AzN'SKillZ]

try talkin to traffic cop

im sure he will hav more insight on this than any of us

[sputnik]

Originally posted by Toms-SC
Got a Ticket. What Should I Do?

Pay it!

K thxs bye

:werd:

2 measly speeding demerits isnt going to kill your insurance rates (probably wont do anything at all). Instead you will waste half a day waiting and losing pay just to get some demerits knocked off that will be gone after a year of clean driving.

[l8braker]

OK..... this might sound like an old wives tale (probably is), but what are everyones thoughts on this.....

A co-worker at my work here who has a husband with CPS traffic said that there is a surefire way to avoid all demerit points. When you pay the ticket, pay a few dollars MORE than the ticket and they will send you back a refund cheque with the amount you overpaid. Rip it up and throw it out and they cannot issue demerit points because of that issue.

I laughed, but you never know... ?

[Rockski]

where on deerfoot were you speeding, its already been pointed out that deerfoot does have an 80 zone, and everybody dissregarded it

[cmodem]

Originally posted by cmodem

Oops sorry... the location was just before the offramp to Memorial Drive... so about 500 meters before the memorial offramp going southbound. So there is definately no construction there.

[AzN'SKillZ]

Originally posted by Rockski
where on deerfoot were you speeding, its already been pointed out that deerfoot does have an 80 zone, and everybody dissregarded it

he already said where he was

[cmodem]

Originally posted by sputnik


:werd:

2 measly speeding demerits isnt going to kill your insurance rates (probably wont do anything at all). Instead you will waste half a day waiting and losing pay just to get some demerits knocked off that will be gone after a year of clean driving.

True but i won't be losing pay for fighting it so it doesn't cost me anything. Also just an fyi demerits are on for 2 years and ticket is on your drivers abstract for 3 years.

Insurance looks at your abstract meaning any tickets you have received over 3 years. So the cost is now 3 years not 1 year.

[ProjectR]

just fought 2 tickets at rocky moutain plaza on tuesday...they usually won't take more than 1 demerit away if you talk to the "justice of the peace".

i had a total of 5 demerits in the beginning, but the guy took away one ticket with the 2 demerits but left the other 3 plus the fine. i asked if there were any other way to reduce the demerits, the guy told me that i could book a court date but i would have to go against 2 police officers.

i said screw it cuz i would have come back there again (its an annoying process...trust me!).

the point of the story is to go talk to the justice of the peace...they usually give you a pretty good offer, its just hard to give them a counter offer. take it or leave it, or go to court.

steps involved:

1. talk to justice of peace (come between 7:30am and 12pm, thats the only time that the crown is there)
2. wait in line (if your lucky it'll be less than an hour), have a friend drop you off to save money on parking
3. talk to some guy/girl about your ticket and demerits, once you've decided on what you want to do...
4. wait in line again to speak with the crown prosecutor about your final decision on the ticket
5. go pay your fine at the cashier

hope this helps! :thumbsup:

[gongSHOW]

Originally posted by l8braker
OK..... this might sound like an old wives tale (probably is), but what are everyones thoughts on this.....

A co-worker at my work here who has a husband with CPS traffic said that there is a surefire way to avoid all demerit points. When you pay the ticket, pay a few dollars MORE than the ticket and they will send you back a refund cheque with the amount you overpaid. Rip it up and throw it out and they cannot issue demerit points because of that issue.

I laughed, but you never know... ?

I heard that too. My friend's dad works for CPS and said that as well. Supposedly its because the checks never cashed the case always remains open or something like that.

Also, ya the crown doesn't deal on demerits anymore. It makes you wonder how things like Points are going to stay in business if they cannot guarentee to get off your demerits.

[nonsane]

RE: Demerit dodging:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ticket.asp