Not Exactly Auto Bliss...

Okay so tonight I was in town cruising around with my girlfriend, everyone in my town just cruises around when its a nice evening. So i pull up to a stoplight and the nissan 240SX that had been following me for the last mile pulls up next to me, my car has a large loud exhaust (not a gay whiney annoying rice burner one, a nice deep sexy rumbling one) and thus doesnt have alot of backpressure until around 1500 RPM, I launch off the line, not racing at all, but he slams down the gas and takes off, doing about 60 in a 35, i hit 35 and stop, but look up and see a state trooper, he pulls the other guy over, and as i go by he flashes his spotlight at me and indicates that i should pull over F**K! of course I do, and long story short, i end up with a 400 dollar ticket. Now the question I have is, has anyone gone through this before? is there something i can do? I plan to plead not guilty because i was basically caught in the crossfire for no real reason. but what course should i take? ... On a positive not the trooper DID tell me i was driving the nicest supra he's seen since they were new in 1987.:help:

 

TheJag..... congrats for keeping yourself and your car undercontrol! Your in luck there is at least one police officer on this forum, he might be able to give you some insite. I am confused, what was your ticket for? You stopped at 35, so that rules out speeding Best of luck to you!

 

im going to guess the ticket was for either racing or stunting. I know a few people that have had both, neither are nice on he insurance bill

anyway, sounds like a good night turned into a bad one, perhaps fighting the ticket in court my help?

I hope things wrk themselves out for you

 

Sounds like a day in court.

Were there any other witnesses that could verify you werent screwin around? Do you know who the other car was? Having him could be your best bet........

 

Of course I wasn't there, but I'm gonna share my opinion from hearing both your side of the story and putting myself in the officer's shoes. 1) You drive a supra that sounds like it's going fast even when it's not. 2) The jackass besides you takes off like a bat outta hell in a another performance car. 3) You "LAUNCH OFF THE LINE". Even though you were not intending on racing this idiot, it probably appeared that way to the officer, given the velocity with which you both left the line. That in and of itself may consitute an offence; I don't know because I enforce Ontario Highway Traffic Act laws, and am not familiar with U.S. laws. You didn't say what the charge section of the ticket was, just that it was $400. If it was for racing or something similiar, I would read over the wording of the law and see what the elements of the offence are that need to be proven. Your saving grace is that you leveled your speed at 35. If he wrote you for speeding, that should be easy enough to prove otherwise, even with (and it'll help) the officer's testimony. Either way, I think you'll need to take it to court to get the charge dropped. I hope that has helped. PM me if you need anything else and I'll try to keep an eye on htis post.
BTW, thank DG501, she PM'd me to alert me of this post and to ask my opinion..now that's teamwork!!

 

TheJag, up here in Washington the law's on racing, wreckless driving are brutal and I know from my short time in Portland that Oregon isn't any better. I dont want to try and be lawyer or give you legal advice I know nothing about but I have seen a similar situation where the charge was dropped in court because the offender did not break the tires loose on take off and did not exceed the speed limit.

I have a few RX-7's and I swear I can't go anywhere without someone trying to race me. Unfortunatly you and I are target's because of the car's we drive and the reputation that goes with them. Last summer our RX-7 club did a cruise/BBQ and were followed by the local police all the way across the city. There was 18 of us so I guess they kind of expected one of us to pull a bonehead move.

 

Way to go guys. Great team work...:worship2:

 

well the charge was "Speed Racing" and yea my girlfriend was there, and the thing is, I didnt exceed the speed limit at all, and the officer can even verify that, the other guy was a half mile ahead of me when we got pulled over. It really made me mad because he was the one that took off, and granted i may have launched a little harder than usual but there was not tire chirp, burnout, tail kick, or anything. I'm definitely going to talk to a lawyer, some of my friends mentioned some thing called Traffic School around here that cleans your record and only costs like 100 bucks so maybe i can take that instead for paying some stupid 427 dollar fine for something i really didnt do. Infuriating!

 

thats not how it works. traffic school only keeps the offense off your license so your insurance wont go up.

You still have to pay the fine.

 

Thanks for the props Richy and TheJag :thumb: I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss the post Richy!
Good luck TheJag!

 

Also cautious about a real lawyer. And by real lawyer i mean one whose gona charge you for their time. The lawyer bill may come out more than the ticket in the long run.

 

Yes... however TheJag seems like a young male driver. I am sure the effects on his car insurance will not be minor. Sorry TheJag I am sure you are frustrated enough without thinking about the long term effect. Just hang in there!:itsok:

 

In Ontario, we have what's called Paralegals who are people who are licenced to put on trials in Provincial (speeding or other HTA offences) court. Their fees are lower than that of full fledged lawyers and they know the law inside and out. Check into whether there is a similiar thing where you're from...then fight it in court. The paralegal will know what the elements of the offence are that NEED to be proven in court. If ANY lack= not guilty. No fine, no conviction, no record, no insurance increase. Fight it.

 

I was given a ticket for a chickensh** offense. Specifically not coming to two complete stops when exiting driveway that crosses a sidewalk. One for the sidwalk and one for the road. I was in a Supra (stock) and this loser just had a thing for my kind of car. I'm 40 so it wasn't a demographic thing.

I took it to court and lost.

Things I learned...

1) Anything testamony-based, the court will side with the officer over you.

The cop can say "his car sprouted a long and dangerous phallic item that threatened the safety of the public, sodomized a juggler on the sidewalk and then it disappeared back into his fender." And you say, "Uhhh, no your Honor, that couldn't have happened." The judge will tell you and the record "The officer is to be belived."

2) Do NOT show up in an Armani suit.

3) Big city cops are better than small town (or worse, "county") cops as they have real crime to deal with and don't care what you do as long as there isn't a body at the end of the day.

4) Budget shortfalls. Expect a lot of this. Traffic patrol more often than not is a euphamism for "revenue generation".

5) I will get a lawyer next time.

If you try to defend yourself, you have ONE option: Mercy. If you attempt to make your case, you're not an officer of the court. You've violated an unwritten rule. You will pay.

A convincing argument is arrogance that cannot be tolerated. You MUST pay.

Am I bitter? Of course not. I just learned the rules.

I drive like an old lady and was doing so the day I got popped. Visit supraforums.com or some other cop-bait-car sites and ask. You'll get my advice: "Get a lawyer." from a lot of people. Do a cost-benefit analysis and ask for recommendations on LOCAL lawyers. Lawyers usually specialize and make it semi-economical. Some car guys have this down to a science and go through the cycle of ticket-lawyer-dismissed multiple times a year just like feeding a gumball machine. I don't 'cause remember, I drive like an old lady and my incident was 4 years ago. Haven't had to think about it in a while. But if it does happen again, I'll definately get a lawyer.

Sold the Supra.

 

I went in to the courthouse today and asked the judge what my options were, he handed me a sheet about traffic school. In Grants Pass the Traffic School is like 29.99 for a 5 hour course and it clears the offense from your liscence AND you DONT have to pay the fine. I signed up for that and now im all set! just figured I'd let you guys know that things worked out okay!

 

Thats great news. I'm happy that things went your way...Thanks for keeping us up to date...:thumb:

 

Glad to hear they didn't come down on you, Christmas spirit maybe?

 

Wow lucky :thumb:

 

Glad to see that its all working out for you. I think we all have to remember one thing. There are so many cars on the road these days that any jackass move could easily cause an accident and the police are tired of cleaning up bodies all over the road. Where we live hardly a day goes by that some young adult in a high horsepower car has hit another car, lamp post building etc at double or triple the legal limit and left fatalities. I empathize with thejag as he was just out enjoying a nice evening in a nice car and got screwed. Unfortunately, thats the price you pay for being a young male and driving a nice car these days. And don't get me wrong, I've had my share of citations. Between the time I was 16 and 19 I collected enough infractions to take up an entire 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper... just over 100 points. Please remember, that cop just wants to see you get home, thats all.

 

Well said, Ken, well said. TheJag (or any young male for that matter) should see a few of my "accident" scenes if he wants to criticize the police...