I’m racking my brain as to how I got my first ever speeding ticket. I was cruising in the right (slow) lane due to traffic moving faster than I was going in the left three lanes. And by cruising, I mean cruise control set to 72. Admittedly, this was still speeding as the speed limit was 65.
I got pulled over and told that I was doing 84. I don’t think I’ve ever done 84 in my life, and with the cruise control at 72 that seems unlikely; I get that the speed varies a bit on cruise control with hills and such, but not that much!
Is there any chance he hit one of the faster moving vehicles with the radar gun? I have no way to prove anything, and I’m just going to pay the ticket, but I want to know for my own personal outrage!
Do you have custom or otherwise non-standard wheels on your car? If so, did you recalibrate your speedometer and tachometer?
Apart from that, if the radar gun was indeed a radar gun at the roadside and not a laser or in the police car following you, they might have caught a reflection from a high-sided vehicle you were passing (possibly on the other side). Ask for the photograph.
Nothing non standard, and I should say, car is brand new. 500 miles on it, still with dealer plates.
I guess I said “radar” gun in the generic, but I have no idea what the equipment was. It was definitely from a roadside, as I passed two police cars less parked on the side of the highway less than a mile prior.
Some speed detection systems take a pic at the moment the reading is taken. The idea is to prove which vehicle it was looking at. Other systems don’t do that.
In general, radar systems alert on the fastest vehicle in the field of view. And that field of view can be pretty wide. It’s up to the officer operating the machine to decide which vehicle is the fast one. Occasionally mistakes are made as in all areas where people are involved.
In this case, I’m quite certain a mistake was made. With the cruise control set, and everyone around me going much faster.
But, I have absolutely no way to prove it. So, there seems no sense in fighting it. I had the Waze app running at the time, and I was hoping that would have some record of my speed, but no luck.
Depending on the jurisdiction like California, the officers are actually held to the burden of proof that the law requires. In my jurisdiction of Colorado, the attitude is the fact the officer gave you the ticket is guilt beyond a reasonable doubt so YMMV.
If it was radar, and not laser, then there is a pretty strong chance it measured another vehicle’s speed. Radar sends out a pretty broad signal, way wider than the width of a car. Frankly, it is not reliable on a multi lane highway with moderate to heavy traffic.
I think you should fight the ticket. How aggressively depends on how your insurance company treats speeding tickets. You mention several times that you can’t prove you weren’t driving over 80. Technically, the prosecution has to prove you were, not the other way around. You need only create reasonable doubt. That’s not easy to do in a speeding case, but can be done. I’ve gotten out of a speeding ticket when one of the officers didn’t show up in court (one was running the radar and another wrote the ticket, and both had to be there to testify ). I would fight your ticket if I were you.
It was 100 miles from home, so not a small hassle to fight it. I would fight it if I thought I had a decent shot, but ultimately it will be he said/she said, and I will lose that to an officer.
Plus, I can’t argue that I wasn’t speeding because I was. I just wasn’t speeding by nearly as much as they say I was.
You were speeding and ,if anything like me, you’ve probably sped before. Consider it the semi-annual (I hope not!) “Go Fast” tax and pay it.
It would only make economic sense to fight the ticket if it was going to cost enough points to put your license in jeopardy or jack up your insurance rates.
BTW: I bet the cop put down 84 MPH on purpose. Many jurisdictions raise the ticket price quite a bit for speeds 20 MPH or more above the limit.
This is sort of where I’m landing, so thanks for making me feel better about it.
It’s my first speeding ticket, and my first ticket of any kind in 20 years (no claims at all other than a broken window once years ago), so I’m hoping the insurance company is forgiving.
They might not even find out about it if you don’t change companies. My insurance agent says most companies only do random records searches for existing customers, and it’s fairly common for many customers to go years without a search. Now, if you change insurance companies, they will always do a records search on prospective customers.
Since it’s 100 miles away, yeah, that’s a bit of a burden. You could try calling up the writing officer and explain that you had your cruise control set at 72 - in a brand new car on new stock tires - so you couldn’t have been doing more than about 74, and were more likely doing about 70 (most speedos read high, not low). It’s worth a phone call to see if he’ll agree to lower the ticket to 72. He probably won’t, and he might not even speak with you, but it’s worth a shot. If he’s reasonable, and understands the technology, he might believe you.
If you can afford the time off from work, I’d fight it-a plea bargain at least might make it worth it. If you do, make sure you do your homework by doing a lot of Googling on how traffic ticket court works in your state and how the online pundits recommend that you fight it-you can easily be hoisted by saying the wrong thing-and if you get a hanging judge, nothing you say may avail you at all.
DON’T call the cop-major bad move. Stick to official protocol and procedure-and if he is a no-show at the trial you probably get off scot-free. You want to hope that his memory of the ticket is foggy-and by calling him you just reminded him of everything.
I agree with this advice if you want to fight it. If you fight it, let it all fade in his memory. If there were two cops involved - one operating radar and the other writing tickets - that doubles your chance that one of them won’t show up at court. Since you are 100 miles away, you would be spending all day going to court to fight it. If you work, that means an entire day off work. If you’re retired, why not spend a day learning about the legal system?
My advice to call was based on a decision to not fight it, as a last-ditch effort to have the speed reduced or have him decide to give you a warning instead. So, how you proceed depends on whether you intend to fight it or not.
I once got pulled over for speeding when my speedometer said I was going 58* (in a 55 zone) and the office told me I was going 65. He wrote 65 on the ticket. I’m convinced he was flat-out LYING. I went to court and told the judge “There’s no way I was going 65. I was watching my speedometer and it said 58.” The judge said “You just admitted you were speeding. I find you guilty.”
Keep in mind that, in many jurisdictions, the police are instructed to only pull someone over if they are exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph or more. So if they pull you over and write on the ticket that you were going 72 in a 65 they’ll get chewed out by their supervisor. But if they write down that you were going 84 in a 65 their supervisor will be happy and if it goes to court and you say you were doing 72 the judge will still find you guilty, so it’s a win-win for everyone except you.
FWIW, I later checked my speedometer and found out that when it said 58 my actual speed was 56. So the truth is that he pulled me over going 56 in a 55 zone. This was in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. Looks like I can spend a lot of time and energy to fight it and almost certainly still pay it, or I can just pay it.
I’m guessing the system is set up that way on purpose.
I was really surprised that I couldn’t extract the data from the Waze app. I thought for sure when I arrived at my destination, there would be some record of the trip, including speeds along the way. That’s why I didn’t bother arguing with the officer; I was convinced I had the data to fight it, so there was no point in discussing it with him.
I was on an interstate in a construction project and passed a state trooper that was WELL BEYOND THE SHOULDER in the dirt with no one around and his lights on. He immediately pulls out and gives me a ticket requiring a court appearance 150 miles from home. When I showed up with no recent violations the judge agreed to only charge me for court costs of ~$180. When I asked for an appeal with the officer present he pointed out that doing so would double my court costs even if I won. He seemed quite pleased with the arrangement. I (and my family with me) are convinced this was a setup.
My insurance has not changed so maybe this was not reported.
The “fast driving tax” is how I’ve looked at it for years. Every so often it’s my turn to get assessed. Oh well.
To be sure there are abusive speed traps and abusive police departments & courts running a scam here and there across our vast country. And folks who live in or near one of those have a different problem. But that’s not what you or I or (probably) the OP are talking about.
Here’s a report which says that, even though the police officers the interviewed deny that it’s official policy, 99.7% of the speeding tickets in Virginia were for going at least 10 mph over the speed limit. Analysis: 10 mph ‘cushion’ for speeding is not a myth
