kiki2
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:20:06 PM new
Need some moral support here guys! I got my first speeding ticket. I guess I have been pretty lucky as I am 32 years old and have been driving ticket-free since I was 18. I was going 42mph in a 25mph zone. The officer told me that he *would* have let me off had it not been so high over the limit. He told me I can file "not guilty" before a magistrate to have the points removed from my license and the fine reduced (its $140) and he would say that I was polite and cooperative to help.
Anyone care to confess how many tickets they have had over the years and how you managed to get out of it? Besides flirting which I just couldnt seem to do (and probably would have backfired considering the day I have been having today---found out my daughter needs glasses AND braces). Not to mention high utility bills.... Depressing.
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Kaffro
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:26:56 PM new
I only ever got one speeding ticket(when I was about 19 - I am 31 now) and the worst part was, that my MOTHER passed me while I was being stopped by the officer! Talk about mortifying! I paid the fine, got 2 points on my license and took the lead out of my right shoe LOL! Haven't had one since!
Hope your day gets better...
Kaffro 
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helnjoe
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:31:25 PM new
Never got a ticket and I've been driving a looong time. Been stop a few times. I just look stricken - because I am - and apologize.
I did have one small accident. It was my fault and didn't even get a ticket then. My insurance company boggled at that.
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bunnicula
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:34:48 PM new
I've gotten one speeding ticket(on the freeway) in 27 years of driving. Came close to getting another (also on freeway), but te officer got a call & had to leave <whew!>
I can't see how you can plead "not guilty" on this one (or did you mean to say "guilty" . BUT--ask the judge if your town has one of those traffic school options where you attend traffic school & then the ticket is wiped from your record.
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cariad
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:39:11 PM new
my first and only ticket I have ever had was at age 21 for passing on the right-car in left was turning left-today this is legal. The officer handed me the ticket, looked me in the eye and said "my name is officer xxx and here is where you can reach me if you want to do something about this." I guess the Christmas card I sent to the magistrate with ticket and check, wasn't exactly what he meant for me to do. 
Definitely plead not guilty, I don't know anyone who hasn't had points and fines reduced by doing so. According to a police officer I know, that is generally why they give the max fine....to leave room for reducing it. not saying I think much of this policy, but he sez it's so.
cariad
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VeryModern
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:40:41 PM new
I have had at least 15 or 20 in my lifetime, and I just **barely** learned my lesson this year!
1 ticket?
Worry not!
You are a great person - look at me!
Do the traffic school like bunnicula says if you can so the points are taken off and your insurance does not go up.
And don't get another.
3 in a year gets you in major trouble as I well know.
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RainyBear
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posted on February 1, 2001 12:53:48 PM new
Speeding tickets? One (knock on wood). It was my last year of high school and I was two blocks from home. The fine was $17. I didn't have my driver's license with me but the officer was very nice about it.
Tickets for accidents, however, would be another story. It seems I was rather accident-prone in my younger days.
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saabsister
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posted on February 1, 2001 01:05:07 PM new
I've been lucky. In over thirty years of driving I haven't gotten a ticket although I've deserved a few. Two of my sisters have been stopped for speeding. The youngest cried - she was in her thirties when this happened and the rest of us couldn't believe it! Anyway, the officer let her off with a warning. The other sister was stopped twice. Once when she was younger, she was clocked doing 62mph in a 25 mph zone. She went to court and claimed she didn't know how her VW bug could reach that speed in two blocks. She had to pay a fine. The second time she was stopped was last year (20 years later). She told the officer that she had a Stones tape on and had lost track of her speed. He let her off with a warning.
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triplesnack
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posted on February 1, 2001 01:21:13 PM new
My recollection about this is a little fuzzy -- excuse me -- but it seems to me that I've been told that the radar equipment the police use is supposed to be inspected once a year (or at some regular interval) to be sure it's accurate. The police are supposed to keep a certificate that verifies the radar gun has been inspected, and if requested, they are supposed to be able to present it in court. Seems to me I've been told that some jurisdictions are sloppy about keeping these up to date, and some folks have gotten out of tickets because the police for whatever reason are unable to supply the court with the certificate.
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Meya
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posted on February 1, 2001 02:27:00 PM new
I've been driving 20-21 years. No tickets, no accidents. I have thought a couple of times I was had, but never got pulled over.
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bitsandbobs
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posted on February 1, 2001 02:59:55 PM new
A friend of mine in the police force was talking of some of the excuses he's been given when handing out speeding tickets.
One that stuck in my mind was the lady claiming she was speeding because she was almost out of petrol and wanted to get to the garage before her fuel ran out.
Another was an elderly gent racing home just on dusk. We had power restrictions at the time and had to keep lights switched off to conserve energy. He wanted to get home before dark so as he wouldn't have to switch the lights of his car on!!!
DUH.
Bob, Downunder but never down.
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victoria
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posted on February 1, 2001 03:11:47 PM new
I didn't even get a license until I was 23, and during the years I lived in NY, I did not drive (not enough nerve to duke it out with all the demolition derby drivers who live there). So, I've only been driving maybe 11 years all together.
I've never gotten a ticket. I am Mrs. Speed Limit. I set my cruise control for the speed limit and get into the right lane. Maybe I'll get there 5 minute later than the jackrabbits doing 65 in a 50, but I won't ever get a ticket for speeding.
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VeryModern
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posted on February 1, 2001 03:18:51 PM new
I claimed "speed averaging" once.
I told 'em "I came up that hill slow, and so only came down it fast."
I got the ticket anyway - I was well known in the rural area but I did get a chuckle outa him.
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thedewey
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posted on February 1, 2001 04:28:32 PM new
I've never gotten a speeding ticket, but I did get a parking ticket once.
Been in 2 wrecks -- one was a fender bender when a lady ran a stop sign and hit me ( she didn't get a ticket because the cop said "most of the damage was done to her car" ), and one I was lucky to walk away from. 55 mph head-on on the freeway. A lady lost control of her l'il Honda Accord, starting going all over the place, and somehow managed to do a 180 and start coming straight towards me! It happened so fast that there was no time to swerve out of her way. Neither of us was hurt, but I was very bruised up from the seat belt -- I'm sure she was bruised up too, considering she hit my rock-solid "boat" of a car!
I was driving my 90% restored '71 Monte Carlo, that my husband and I had spent the last year working on. Totalled both cars. Hubby and I were both sick about that, although I did comment later on about how the lady's car was turned into a "Honda Accordian".
(stray smiley)
[ edited by thedewey on Feb 1, 2001 04:29 PM ]
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gravid
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posted on February 1, 2001 04:56:08 PM new
Most embarrassing one was in rural Ohio. I was driving the two lane state route instead of the Turnpike and saw the lines painted on the highway the airplanes use to check your speed during the day. They paint 3 a quarter mile apart. I thought it is out in the middle of nowhere late at night - I will stop on the middle line and run the quarter mile to see how the old buggy is running. Thought it would be fun. Well the middle line came up too quick in the dark and rather than back up I just floored it from a 20 mile an hour rolling start. When I got to the next line the State Patrol was sitting there. Turns out that is where the local boys were coming out to drag race. As soon as I saw the cruiser I let off the gas and let it coast down. About another quarter mile the Statie went past me like a bullet. He must have had to back up a half mile. When he came back I said "Where you going? I'm not gonna try to run from you."
He said "Well son I saw you stop down at the center line and when you crossed the one where I was parked you were doing 145 and still accelerating pretty good and I thought you just might go for it."
He did not realize I had a rolling start.
It was a $125.00 ticket.
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barrybarris
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posted on February 1, 2001 06:16:57 PM new
Tickets, you want to talk tickets.
I have a folder in my filing cabinet with a bunch of the ones I was able to save. Everything from speeding to double parking. All of them, except one, were either fixed, dismissed, or went to trial and found not guilty. Most of the time the Officer would not bother to write the ticket, just give me a warning.
Here is one example of how crazy it got sometimes.
One night, about midnight, a am driving down the "Main Street" of the city were I live (about 7000 residents). I slowed down for the Red Light, no one in sight, so I went through it. City Police saw me, stopped me and going to issue a ticket. I didn't have my drivers license with me. They use their two way radio and get all the information they need for the ticket, gave it to me and I left.
Now about 10 minutes later (about 4 miles from the Red Light ticket) The State Police stop me for speeding. Remember, I don't have my drivers license with me. The State Police pick up the microphone for the two way radio and are about call to get what they need for the ticket. Before he can speak, I pull out the ticket from 10 minutes ago and ask if he can use the information from that ticket to issue me the new ticket. He laughed for about 5 minutes, couldn't believe it.
Both tickets were "dismissed" (fancy word for fixed) by both Judges...
Barry (Mr. Vroom Vroom) Barris
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ExecutiveGirl
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posted on February 1, 2001 06:56:34 PM new
Hmm... let's see here...
In the past few years alone I've gotten pulled over for going 46 in a 30, 76 in a 55, 50 in a 30, for not stopping at a stop sign (I honestly didn't see it!).
I'm 27 and I've never ONCE gotten a ticket!
Guess it helps to date police officers, huh? 
[ edited by ExecutiveGirl on Feb 1, 2001 06:57 PM ]
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pharlap
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posted on February 2, 2001 02:43:19 AM new
Funny this topic should come up.
I just got my second speeding ticket in the mail two days ago.
All up three tickets - one for running a red light and two for speeding.
I always get that horrible sinking feeling when I open a registered letter and am faced with a lovely picture of my car staring me in the face...
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hammerchick
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posted on February 2, 2001 06:01:28 PM new
What happens is if you agree to pay an "enhanced" fine, your violation gets changed to an offense which doesn't carry points, such as "defective equipment". Sometimes the amount will depend on what your driving record looks like.
I got one ticket for "driving too fast for conditions", it was raining and I hit a pothole and lost control of the car and hit another car. No one was injured.
The only other ticket I got was for doing 65 in a 55 zone. Actually it was in a 45 zone but the guy said he would give me a break. (I was running late for work). He was sneaky, he was hiding behind a row of chemical tanks in one of those "speed trap" towns which has about 10 people and you are supposed to slow down by 10 m.p.h. for them.
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texas1958
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posted on February 2, 2001 07:01:35 PM new
Knock On Wood * Haven't Fallen Off The Wagon in 20 Years. * Reformed Speeder Myself*
but have heard some great stories as I was a Police Dispatcher and now teach Defensive Driving.
My fav was for a Handicap Parking Ticket which carries a really heft fine. Lady comes in to the Police Station just ranting and raving because she had gotten this ticket which she says she does not deserve.
Seems someone moved her car while she was in Walmart! (Hint: Don't try this one it won't work)
Go for the Traffic School, I personally teach a comic one and it is really a lot of fun. Plus check where you are but in TX, you get 10% off insurance for 3 years even if you took it for insurance.
Tex
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