Fighting an Excessive Speeding Ticket

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by Feruk

I get some of the hate from Beyonders, but are any of you actually gonna say the speed limit right outside Banff should be 90?

I tend to push it with the limit being 90. (100-105). But really, its because of the wildlife. If it was 110, then people would be doing 130 like they do the minute you pass Canmore.

We were touring through there on a bus one time and the driver made a good point.
The difference between going 90 through the park and doing 110 is about 8 minutes total. If you can't enjoy an extra 8 minutes through a park as beautiful as Banff, then there's something wrong with you.

If some guy blew by me doing 160 I'd be doing the happy dance if I saw him get pulled over.
Idiot.

[CanmoreOrLess]

You deserve all the pain you get when speeding an excessive amount, triple it if you are idiotic enough to do so in a National Park.

[FraserB]

I don't think the OP understands that 50+ is automatic court appearance. And from what I hear about the judges in Canmore, he'd better buy some Vaseline.

[CompletelyNumb]

Damn man, of all the places you can speed, you pick a provincial park?

Lawyer up and hope for the best.

[riander5]

Dumb move, but man you'd think this is a fucking mothers parenting forum not a car forum with all the responses in here

[schocker]

^^^ There is a difference between speeding and excessive speeding.
105 is what I do through Banff, 160 seems pretty unreasonable.

Originally posted by FraserB
I don't think the OP understands that 50+ is automatic court appearance. And from what I hear about the judges in Canmore, he'd better buy some Vaseline.

Yeah, not sure if pointts or someone works out in Canmore also as they can get things reduced so you at least avoid a suspension. I think that is around $1k though for their services plus fine iirc.

Doing that fast in the money zone though...

[mr2mike]

I'd almost weight the cost of getting a lawyer vs. represent yourself and plead for a lesser offense with the park being 90 vs. the standard 100-110 for roads of similar integrity.

Unless you're on the verge of losing your license, I'd represent myself. You were caught, radar approaching the vehicle. Pretty tough unless you know you weren't going 150.

[bjstare]

Originally posted by riander5
Dumb move, but man you'd think this is a fucking mothers parenting forum not a car forum with all the responses in here

I don’t think anyone is here advocating that speeding is bad altogether. I think the point here is that there’s a time and a place for it, and OP is a fucking dumbass for picking this place. Which I wholeheartedly agree with.

[Inzane]

The hypocrisy on this forum is laughable at times.

I'm sure none of the people here berating the OP have ever excessively sped on a public road in their lives.

yeah...

[Canmorite]

Having lived in Banff/Canmore and driven that highway constantly for years, I feel the 90 limit is absolute bullshit. The constant sell on "Oh wildlife, oh it's a park, bla bla" is annoying and deceiving.

The entire national park highway is fenced, and the limit is 90. Where there is no fence in Canmore and eastwards, the limit is 110. Around Lake Louise (where it's still fenced) they've dropped the limit to 70

It's a total Golden Goose scenario for RCMP as mentioned. Drop the limits to an unacceptable level so that no one really follows it, and then patrol the hell out of the highway. But ya...going 150 creates quite a differential in speed between a tourist doing 110.

/Rant over

[Feruk]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
I tend to push it with the limit being 90. (100-105). But really, its because of the wildlife. If it was 110, then people would be doing 130 like they do the minute you pass Canmore.
Idiot.

No, it used to be because of the wildlife. Now it's pretty much all fenced off all the way to Lake Louise. But the speed limit hasn't increased. It's got nothing to do with safety. Also, if the average driver were to be doing 130 through there if it was 110, then perhaps 110 is too slow?

[mazdavirgin]

I'm happy with the limit at 90 in the winter time. Feels less stupid than the stretch of road prior where the sled necks are going 130+ on iced over roads in their lifted trucks with MT tires. You've got to recall too that wild life does get past the fences at times and frankly the roads in the park at times can be rather bad in winter. The roads are typically a lot worse than the roads from Calgary to Canmore.

[ExtraSlow]

Feruk, I don't even know who you are arguing with. This is a thread about going 150 and getting a ticket, not a thread about the appropriateness of the current speed limit.

[Brent.ff]

Originally posted by Inzane
The hypocrisy on this forum is laughable at times.

I'm sure none of the people here berating the OP have ever excessively sped on a public road in their lives.

yeah...

How many would post on Beyond about it and not expect to be berated...?

[CanmoreOrLess]

Originally posted by riander5
Dumb move, but man you'd think this is a fucking mothers parenting forum not a car forum with all the responses in here

Start a pedo thread if you feel the need. Everyone makes mistakes?

[Masked Bandit]

"There's a time and a place for everything" - My Father

So true in this situation. I wouldn't ever try to tell anyone that I have not exceeded the speed limit by this same margin. I can't even say that I haven't done that in the last two weeks. However, life experience will educate you on when it's less risky and less likely to be caught. Going through the park like that is just asking to be picked off. OP has now been educated, and it's going to cost him some money.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
"There's a time and a place for everything" - My Father

So true in this situation. I wouldn't ever try to tell anyone that I have not exceeded the speed limit by this same margin. I can't even say that I haven't done that in the last two weeks. However, life experience will educate you on when it's less risky and less likely to be caught. Going through the park like that is just asking to be picked off. OP has now been educated, and it's going to cost him some money.

Exactly.

Some lessons in life are free, some are going to cost you. And this one is going to cost you.

[gwill]

I got caught doing 55 over a couple months back. I went and fought the ticket myself successfully. The crown offered me a $1000 fine and noted my radar detector as being illegal.

I did the defensive driving course through AMA before my court case. At my court case I told the crown to get lost as I wasn't going to pay a $1000 fine because she thought my radar detector was illegal. I tried to haggle with her for a $600 ticket but she told me no. She tried to tell me if I saw the judge that the fine would be significantly more. When I got in front of the judge I told him the same thing I told the prosecutor. That a driver in front of me was driving unsafe and erratically and that I thought he might cause an accident. I told them I made the decision to pass them and right after I did I got clocked. I made sure to point out that I made a bad judgement call but when I thought an accident was imminent and I was in danger that it was the decision I made.

My prosecutor was a total bag. She didn't want to see my dash cam video of the driver I thought would cause an accident. I was on a 1 lane highway so a bit different then your scenario but perhaps a defense?

I got slapped with a $264 fine from the judge. Much better then the $1000 the crown wanted.

What I found was the court in a small town goes much quicker. They had a full disclosure package for me on my first visit. In the city it takes months. Also noticed the RCMP provide way more info then city police in the disclosure. It blew me away how detailed the RCMP disclosure is vs the city police.

[gwill]

I should note that the traffic guys aren't worth while to pay. I used one before on a crazy high photo radar ticket... He didn't save me any money. It's also not a lawyer who comes to help... It's an assistant that goes down to talk to the JP to discuss lowering the fine... you can do this all yourself unless you lose way too much money by missing work. Fortunately my schedule was never an issue for this.

Also don't try to defend by saying the police officers radar was not correct. I got hit by a police car going the opposite direction. When I checked the officers dash cam to the speed on my dash cam they aligned 100%. There wasn't even a 1 km difference with the officer travelling an opposite direction from me which surprised me.

[max_boost]

Yea Banff is a bad place to be going fast lol been there done that.

You can self represent or hire POINTTS or any other agency. Cost should be around $700 if you hire someone.

You'll most likely end up with a $600 fine and 4 demerit ticket. Take the AMA defensive drivers course online ($100) and it'll give you a 3 demerit credit.

I am assuming you don't have any other shit (speed tickets etc.) on file? If so then prepare to pay even more and possible suspension.

Good luck. Keep in mind if you call an agency, they will scare you by saying it's self destruction if you self represent. I have had friends who went in and got yelled at and still came out with the same deal as POINTTs.

Good luck.