Itakethebus
04-17-2012, 02:06 PM
Some background on me, I've received 2 tickets for speeding in high school. I admitted it, I was caught going well over the posted speed limit, paid my tickets, and accepted my punishment. I had to re-do my road test and all that fun! As you can imagine, I quickly learned the hard way that speeding is an expensive driving habit and grew up. So now, I'll give some information on my ticket then ask multiple questions.
I was driving home from my university on a 4 lane highway. There was absolutely nobody infront of me going the same way as me, absolutely nobody behind me either. I was approaching the mall (aprox .8km ahead) and I was stopping by to pick something up at FutureShop. To get there, I have to make a left hand turn accross 2 lanes of traffic so I jump over into the "passing lane". There are 3 cars approaching me and I notice one is a cop. I see a guy passing him and I crack a smile, starting to laugh because he`s passing an unmarket cop car. I see the lights go on so I start laughing out loud. Next thing I know, the cop is nearly taking out one of the cars as he pulls a u-turn to pull me over (Jokes on me right?). I look down at my speed and I`m going under 80km (~75) in an 80 zone. I start wondering if my headlights are out as he walks up to my window. He tells me I was going 106km so I instantly ask to see the radar. He shows me and it does indeed say 106. I ask if there's any chance he got the guy who was passing him and he says no but proceeds to say this, (this is a direct quote I wouldn't be able to make this up) "I don't go by the radar gun, I go by what I see with my eyes. You were in the passing lane and you were flying."
I just sat there looking at him for a couple of seconds and said, "What?". I thought, if I gave him a couple of seconds to think about what he said, he might change his logic but he didn't. He repeated it and I couldn't believe it. I took my ticket, got in my car, and I left. Got home to look over the ticket because I know of some fatal errors that can be made on tickets which make them void. First thing I notice, he didn't put in my full drivers liscence. He simply put in the last 3 numbers (009) which doesn't seem like it's the right procedure (I have another ticket I got out of by cop no-showing to court and he wasn't even that lazy on the ticket... and he didn't show up to court lol). I kept looking on the ticket for anything else, hoping he put me down as a female or messed up my name but there was nothing. I didn't really think to look at much else but then one day I decided to look at it again and he put Month, Date, 2011 for my court date. As far as I'm aware, messing up the court date is one of the fatal errors you cannot make on a ticket. 2011 instantly became my favorite year.
Obviously he has 6 months to reissue the ticket but the court date is within the 6 month period. I'm torn as to what I should do. It's pretty simple for the court house to not even notice that type of mistake and not ask for it to be re-issued. So should I go in and make sure they're requesting a re-issue. Should I show up on the invalid court date (I think if I do, they'll laugh at me if I say the court date is invalid because... well I'm already there, it did it's job). Should I show up for the court date, plead not guitly, then wait until the second court date to mention both errors (if the liscence # is as important as I think it is)
If the ticket is deemed valid or he re-issues it, I would also like to know what I should do during the court date. I still can't believe the cop told me he doesn't go by the radar and yet that is what he is basing my ticket on. So basically he expects me to pay the fine based off his judgement when he couldn't even fill out the ticket properly lol. My plan was to request the readings from the radar & the radar's inspection (A moronic friend of mine said for fines over $100, you can request trial by jury. I don't believe him at all but part of me has hope lol). As far as I know, radar guns have to be inspected every year. I always see radar guns failing at sporting events and those people have way more money then my local police department, just saying it's plausable for it to malfunction. I know, if he did indeed get me with it, it was way off. As I said earlier, when the cop u-turned and I looked down, I was just under 80km/h (~75). Of course, when a cop u-turns, your instant reaction is to slow down. I know there's no way I hit the break hard enough to get from 106 to under 80 (it was snowing, I don't have winter tires, I would've been in the ditch). I'm 100% sure there's something fishy with that radar. If he showed me it and it said 85 or something, I would've probably accepted that. I think anyone who has ever drove has lost track of their speed and went 5-10km over the limit. I probably would've still took it to court because I've never heard of a speeding ticket so minor in my life lol.
Any answers to any of my questions would be greatly appreciated and I thank anyone who took the time to read all of this.
I was driving home from my university on a 4 lane highway. There was absolutely nobody infront of me going the same way as me, absolutely nobody behind me either. I was approaching the mall (aprox .8km ahead) and I was stopping by to pick something up at FutureShop. To get there, I have to make a left hand turn accross 2 lanes of traffic so I jump over into the "passing lane". There are 3 cars approaching me and I notice one is a cop. I see a guy passing him and I crack a smile, starting to laugh because he`s passing an unmarket cop car. I see the lights go on so I start laughing out loud. Next thing I know, the cop is nearly taking out one of the cars as he pulls a u-turn to pull me over (Jokes on me right?). I look down at my speed and I`m going under 80km (~75) in an 80 zone. I start wondering if my headlights are out as he walks up to my window. He tells me I was going 106km so I instantly ask to see the radar. He shows me and it does indeed say 106. I ask if there's any chance he got the guy who was passing him and he says no but proceeds to say this, (this is a direct quote I wouldn't be able to make this up) "I don't go by the radar gun, I go by what I see with my eyes. You were in the passing lane and you were flying."
I just sat there looking at him for a couple of seconds and said, "What?". I thought, if I gave him a couple of seconds to think about what he said, he might change his logic but he didn't. He repeated it and I couldn't believe it. I took my ticket, got in my car, and I left. Got home to look over the ticket because I know of some fatal errors that can be made on tickets which make them void. First thing I notice, he didn't put in my full drivers liscence. He simply put in the last 3 numbers (009) which doesn't seem like it's the right procedure (I have another ticket I got out of by cop no-showing to court and he wasn't even that lazy on the ticket... and he didn't show up to court lol). I kept looking on the ticket for anything else, hoping he put me down as a female or messed up my name but there was nothing. I didn't really think to look at much else but then one day I decided to look at it again and he put Month, Date, 2011 for my court date. As far as I'm aware, messing up the court date is one of the fatal errors you cannot make on a ticket. 2011 instantly became my favorite year.
Obviously he has 6 months to reissue the ticket but the court date is within the 6 month period. I'm torn as to what I should do. It's pretty simple for the court house to not even notice that type of mistake and not ask for it to be re-issued. So should I go in and make sure they're requesting a re-issue. Should I show up on the invalid court date (I think if I do, they'll laugh at me if I say the court date is invalid because... well I'm already there, it did it's job). Should I show up for the court date, plead not guitly, then wait until the second court date to mention both errors (if the liscence # is as important as I think it is)
If the ticket is deemed valid or he re-issues it, I would also like to know what I should do during the court date. I still can't believe the cop told me he doesn't go by the radar and yet that is what he is basing my ticket on. So basically he expects me to pay the fine based off his judgement when he couldn't even fill out the ticket properly lol. My plan was to request the readings from the radar & the radar's inspection (A moronic friend of mine said for fines over $100, you can request trial by jury. I don't believe him at all but part of me has hope lol). As far as I know, radar guns have to be inspected every year. I always see radar guns failing at sporting events and those people have way more money then my local police department, just saying it's plausable for it to malfunction. I know, if he did indeed get me with it, it was way off. As I said earlier, when the cop u-turned and I looked down, I was just under 80km/h (~75). Of course, when a cop u-turns, your instant reaction is to slow down. I know there's no way I hit the break hard enough to get from 106 to under 80 (it was snowing, I don't have winter tires, I would've been in the ditch). I'm 100% sure there's something fishy with that radar. If he showed me it and it said 85 or something, I would've probably accepted that. I think anyone who has ever drove has lost track of their speed and went 5-10km over the limit. I probably would've still took it to court because I've never heard of a speeding ticket so minor in my life lol.
Any answers to any of my questions would be greatly appreciated and I thank anyone who took the time to read all of this.