JAvenger007

iTrader: (9)

Well, I'm not a street racer and consistently get grilled by friends/family for driving too slow in my "hot rod". I guess theres some sort of cruel irony in all of this. I won't bore anyone with the long details but I'd like to know if anyone is familiar with the charges for a ticket like that (what is the cost) in Georgia?

Heres some points of interest though:
-I was datalogging and recorded this entire event. The car only went a few miles over the limit as seen by the data. How can I present this data in court as evidence? I am not in the position to hire a lawyer over something like this because of the tremendous costs.

-One of the three tickets given were a "too fast for conditions" ticket. I asked the officer to give me more details as to what constituted this ticket. He laughed sarcastically and responded, "Are you serious? Do you want an actual number?" He was unable to give me any actual details to "too fast".

-They said I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. He saw me remove it when I turned the car off (which he requested). Absolutely ridiculous.

-They stated they had been following me for awhile. I responded, "So why didn't you pull over the mustang at the first light when he clearly was recklessly driving and racing while I retained responsible driving. He was speachless. This sold me. He handed the license back to me and said have a good night and signaled to his other officer and promptly walked back into his car. That, to me, is clear evidence that these officers didn't have their story straight.

I could go on and on with the loop holes in their story, but I had to share the issue on here to get some more info. Initially I assumed the officers would write a ticket for driving 5 or 10 over and possibly engaging in aggressive driving for when I gave it some gas to pass the mustang, letting him hear the turbo spool. When I saw these charges, I was astounded. I never "launched at the light, I didn't follow the mustang's racing, and I only went a few miles over the limit within reason.

It is difficult for me to continue being supportive of our officers when these kind of events take place. I have personally seen far too many instances of police taking advantage of drivers, this event is not an exception. They were unable to justify any of their tickets, which shouldn't be an issue considering they have the equipment and authority in their court. They should be the one's holding all of the evidence to explain why I did not follow the law. Otherwise, why am I getting pulled over in the first place?

ls1muscle

iTrader: (16)

I don't know how different it is in Georgia, I'm from NC. It's basically the cops word vs. yours, they will win.

Option 1) Hire a lawyer, they should be able to drop it to Improper Equipment. If they don't have a nice judge, they will continue the court date to another date until they succeed.

Option 2) Go to court yourself, tell the DA that you want to go to driving school. It's a 4 hour classroom that teaches you about safe driving.

Prices will vary, both options will have no effect on your license or insurance.

quicksilverado

iTrader: (8)

Get a lawyer. It will cost a few hundred bucks, but will save you more than that in the long run. They can usually plead it down for you. Most cops are a$$holes when it comes to speeding.

tpduke112

iTrader: (5)

define "a few miles over the limit within reason"

JAvenger007

iTrader: (9)

datalogging showed about 46 mph at the first light and under 60mph at the second light. I have to pull it up again and drive back to check if the speed limit was 45 or 55 because it was close to the highway and that section might have been 55. None of their story matched. They stated that I "beat the mustang by so many car lengths he could never catch up". I never even passed the mustang. Any one of the dozens of other cars could see the mustang was CLEARLY racing on his own. That is why I was BEHIND the mustang at one point by nearly 10 car lengths and soon after is when the officers pulled me over. I even changed into the left lane assuming the cops needed to get by and pull the mustang over.

I believe they heard two muscle cars and assumed a race, so they pulled over the first car they could get to. The data proves my car never went WOT or significantly accelerated. I assumed I would be guilty for a few miles over the limit. It also explains why they could not support their own tickets and couldn't get their story straight. They gave a few vague tickets that could appear to support their cause but in reality only state that they had no hard evidence of my breaking the law.

I'm mainly concerned how to go about presenting the evidence from the laptop. I took pictures and have all information dated from the event. IMO the laptop clearly proves innocence but given the court system, who knows how much its worth. The second officer can also agree to the laptop's presence when he came over to the car for a search and asked about any illegal objects.

"Until they succeed", your saying regardless of the lawyer having a good case, they will reschedule the court date and again try to prove I'm guilty? Maybe I read that wrong.
Also, what do you mean by "neither will have an effect on my license"? Positively or negatively?

Thanks guys for the information and help. A friend of mine is coming to town next weekend who was previously a traffic officer before working for the government. I'm going to ask him for some help as well.

EnfuegoZ28

Your best bet is to show up on the court date and talk to the DA. If the DA gives you a decent deal then you can take it. Otherwise they will set up another court date and you can hire a lawyer to plead your case.

PopaPork

iTrader: (4)

Well all I can say is, ouch. But he has you and your not going to get out of it, your only hope is the DA drops it down, to something less.
Face it, Cops are cops are cops, it's their word vs yours. Some are dicks and some are fair, but when it comes down to it, he's word is law.
I doubt that they will care what your datalog will say. The cop will say, He was speeding and if you were 1 mile hour of the limit, you were speeding plain and simple. The driving to fast for conditions or what ever it is, is a BS ticket but they way I've been told before (at my driving school for a ticket) If the speed limit is set at 55, the DOT/Highway patrol/local,county, and state officals think that 55 is the fastest and safest you can go. So if you're over it and the cop wants to give you the ticket he can. As for not gettin the mustang...maybe they didn't hear it, or since maybe you pulled over and he kept going you got it all.

What ever the case may be, talk to the DA, dont bother brining all this crap in about datalogging or anything, say you're sorry, promise not to do it again and get the hell out of there.

MUSTANGBRKR02

iTrader: (91)

Hire a lawyer! Spend the money! They will be able to plea it down. Also keep it off the license.

99Transamls1

iTrader: (14)

Bring all the evidence you have. It is possible to get out of the ticket. My fiance's father got a ticket saying he was going 15mph over the speed limit going down hill. When he knew he wasn't. When the cop was on the top of the hill hidden between to dump trucks. The cop said he was clocked him speeding going down the hill. Thats the key to this.When he got pulled over the cop had no speed on his gun to prove it. He then called radargun companies asking for information about distance and angles and at what angles they are not projecting correct readings.So he went to court with a diagram showing there was no possible way that the cop could of clocked him speeding down the hill at the angle he was from the dump truck. The cop was speechless when he was called to the stand to testify being interviewed by my fiance's father. He got out of the ticket. The moral of the story is just because they have the law on their side doesn't mean all cops are intelligent. If you have the pics with date you might have a case. Make the cop testify what happened and see if his story comes out what your data says maybe you can catch him lying. Like my fiance's father did.

TheOrangeGuy

first things first...did this take place at the end of the month? if so...that would explain a lot of this...

if you would have been racing i can guarantee that they would have arrested you on the spot...so that would be a VERY interesting thing to look into...

if you had all of this stuff logged then i would try to print it out and/or bring your laptop with the information on it to court and show it to the judge...make sure it has the date/time etc on it...the cop had to write the date and time the ticket was given and if your program data and the ticket data match up then that should get you out of this. 9 times out of 10 the cop wont show up in court anyway, so all the judge will really hear is your side of the story i've represented myself in court more times than i'd like to say so if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Tram

iTrader: (14)

Yeh, I'd say represent yourself...

If you have all the info datalogged, I'd bring your laptop and show hiim..

You could probably get in touch with the DA prior to the court date and find out some options...

JAvenger007

iTrader: (9)

Thanks guys for all the help. Like I said, I'll be meeting with a good friend of mine in a few days about my options. I know lawyers are very expensive and if they cost more than the ticket itself then there is no point to their involvement in this issue.

I have overwhelming support from officers back home mainly due to personally knowing many of the gentlemen locally, which is why this event is hard to agree with. I am the last to have a bad attitude about the law, but this is the second time I can honestly say I was cheated and wrongly accused, surprisingly away from home again.
My pictures and data ALL match the tickets. I also wrote everything the officer said when I questioned him. If they were indeed following me, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to not see the mustang was racing by himself. It was easy to distinguish his car going WOT, chirping tires, and driving aggressively considering his significant distance from the rest of traffic after just seconds of the light changing.

Now, depending on the speed limit in the area, there is a possibility I was speeding because datalog officially shows 59mph at the second light when they pulled me over (either 45 or 55 Zone). It does show that my car never went WOT. I will certainly admit to speeding if that were the case, but I believe if I was in a minivan that I would not have been pulled over for "racing". My separation from the other car should have been a dead give away. Looking at the data, situation, and their statement/story it is rather evident that simply because a Ford Mustang was next to me, and my car being a TransAm, I was profiled for Street Racing. That is wrong, especially when they spent the first few minutes after pulling me over saying how suprised they were that they saw me driving so responsibly earlier in the day, given the modifications on my car.

I also have a perfect driving record which I believe will play into my favor, hopefully.

Bklynstanger

This is kind of off the topic but I got a ticket a month ago for a barking dog. The fine is $100.00. I DON'T EVEN OWN A DOG. I appealed and I still lost. Guess what, I'm a corporate lawyer. I argued a very logical case. I was in my Trailblazer with the windows up at a light. There was some party or whatever going on and a lot of people were on the street. A buddy was in the car with me. He rolled the windows down to check out some chick. The moron cop rode up to us on a bikecycle and told me to pull over. The bastard came back with a citation for a barking dog. I literally laughed in his face. I didn't take it seriously till I lost the appeal.

slowbrakiller

iTrader: (10)

does your data logging show the time on it anywhere?

93Polo

iTrader: (5)

If it is street racing hire a lawyer. Street Racing is a 12 month loss of license with no work permit or early reinstatement. I will never walk into a courtroom again hoping to get a ticket reduced without a lawyer.

we_todd_did

iTrader: (97)

I've had more tickets then anyone on this board trust me not proud but It is what it is.

First thing first, too fast for conditions is moot its gonna cost about 150 bucks but you get no points. 2nd the seat belt ticket 25 bucks and no points. 3rd, if they gave you street racing your screwed, if your over 21 plead no lo you wont lose your licence, dont waste your money on a lawyer, cause that will only be another 1k out the door. Street racing is defined as racing against an oponet, time or to a set point, so if you say you was "data logging" thats "racing" against the "clock" to them. Explain that you goosed it once or twice but never "raced" anyone, and plead no-lo it will cost you about 250 and your out of there.

Now if they gave you aggressive driving thats acutally worse then reckless driving I believe its 7 points about 600-800 dollars and you cant really get out of it.

we_todd_did

iTrader: (97)

BTW speeding isnt anything to worry about untill your 14 mph over, then its 2 points but they really dont care about it untill 15-19 over.

68LS1WANNABE

I see no reason to hire a lawyer. Most judge's will really stick it to you in traffic court if you hire a lawyer. If you do go to court the best thing you can hope for is the cop not to show. judge will have to let you walk. Sucks being in a big town and getting caught. In my small one horse country town I can go talk to the sheriff cause he's kin to me some how. I think everybody in small town's can claim something like that. good luck with the case.

3pnt4maro

iTrader: (2)

As a police officer I can offer you a few words of advice..you have a very good case..and you could possibly win...that datalogging evidence with a time stamp is very very good evidence of your driving habits....ask to see the video from his vehicle in court..if he is a prepared officer he will have it..but more than likely he wont, that looks better on you and the judge will take that into consideration..and I dont know where the misconception comes from that most cops wont show up in court, yes he will, its a requirment by departmental standard operating procedure for every department in georgia....another thing- unless it was Georgia State Patrol he would have had to clocked you at 11 mph over the speed limit..municipalities are not allowed to cite a driver unless it is 11mph over unless its in a historic district, strict enforcement area, or school zone..we can stop you but it must be a warning if its less than 11mph...GSP can cite you anywhere for 1 mph over...too fast for conditions is at the officers discretion...if there was traffic around and you were going faster than the traffic flow then thats too fast for conditions...that charge is very subjective..if you were reckless he would have taken you into custody trust me...and about the seatbelt his camera will show that or not...if there system is like ours it records 30 seconds before you turn the lights on so it would have likely caught the violations on camera..thats a good thing...this municipality may not have those capabilities though..and likely he will agree to a lesser charge if he doesnt really remember the event or doesnt wanna testify...you cant forget that we stop tons of people and unless something really sticks out I dont remember a ton of the stops unless i make an arrest and there is an incident report to refresh my memory...go to court plead your case and bring all the evidence from the datalogging and ask the judge for the video evidence of the stop..or speak with the solicitor about it and then the cop will know your very serious about defending your case..trust me you have alot better case then you think..I have lost cases to defendants before..dont always think that the judge automatically believes us..if you get up there and blatently lie and say the officer stopped me for no reason and all thsi then your gonna look stupid...articulate what you did and the reasons for them and pose legitimate questions to the judge...i bet you will be surprised at what you find the judge does if what you say is true