I am looking to get any tips or advice on fighting speeding tickets. Heres how it happened:

I was driving on Noble Ave in Crystal (between Golden Valley Road and 36th ave) doing well over the speed limit which was 30. I was not over the speed limit for very long I probably did get up to 50. But as I said I hadn't done it for more than 10 seconds. I noticed a car in my rear view mirror that was gaining on me at an incredible rate since the last time I looked in my mirror, so I decided I should definatly slow it down to the speed limit so I went 30 the rest of the way. He was about a half mile behind me on a road with many hills on it (the stretch is about 1.8 miles long.) So I went to turn left off of Noble in to the store parking lot and he thinks different and pulls me over instead. He asked if I knew how fast I was going and I told him I wasn't exactly sure. He told me that he was doing 50mph behind me and he wasn't gaining on me at all so I had to have been doing at least 50 according to him. Not only was it a very hilly road, it was night, and he was a half a mile behind me! No radar or anything, but he gives me a citation anyways.

Thanks.
Dylan

im pretty sure that to give a ticket, they need something that tells them how fast you were going... either radar or laser or something... I personally would just pay the fine tho since you were going the pseed he said you were. Just my opinion

definetely fight that one, those cops on 36th street are dicks.. one time they gave me 3 warnings and a ticket at one stop... after he was riding my ass with high beams on and i speaded up to let him pass by!

I never admitted I was speeding, nor will I plead guilty by sending $130 to the courthouse and watch my insurance go up.

My record is clean, and I want it to stay that way!

goto a hearing officer, tell him you werent speeding. But if you got a clean record, he'll put you on a Year probation w/o puttin it on your record. If you get another ticket w/in a year, both will show up on your record and you will have to pay for them both. The probation deal is like a $100 option. So either way, you're screwed unless you really think you have a case in court.

yep thats right thats what i did when i got 3 tickets 1 for speeding another for suspended object from windshield and loud exhaust 390$ all together but he knocked it down to 80$ and it woulda been 0 and no ticket for speeding but i had a couple tickets before.

what he is talking about is CFD continuance for dismissal. greatest thing ever. it wont go on record or effect insurance if you dont get pulled overfor speeding again with in 1 year they will explain it all to you. if you go, go early in the morning otherwise you will have to sit in a room like i did it was about 15 by 15 and there was about 25 people in there with 8 seats (im not racist) but lets say i was the only one that wasn't greated as brother when i walked in the door.
honest to goodness everyone in there knew eachother for something or had been in there with eachother before.

If you go to court and the officer does not show up, it will be dismissed for lack of witness for the prosecution. Or you can plead no contest. Basically you are saying you are guilty without saying it. Or you could plead guilty with a traffic school plea.

I am in the same predicament right now. I am going to fight mine because I wasn't going any faster than the other 6 cars around me.

If he doesn't have an actual speed indicated on your ticket, or if he didn't clock you, he can still give you a general speeding ticket. If there were any other vehicles on the road and you were driving faster than them, he can cite you for it. Then you can go and fight it because it would be your word against his.

Edit---Just remember, if you go to court and fight it, you won't have to pay more than what you originally would have paid for pleading guilty. So it can only get better if you go in to fight it.

Agreed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You know you were in the wrong by going 20 over the speed limit, whether it was for 10 seconds or 10 minutes, it was wrong and you happened to get caught. Deal with it. I'm so fucking tired of people trying to get out of tickets they deserve.

If you can't pay the fine, don't do the crime. :rant:

I am 100% for fighting it if there is any chance of you getting out of it. There are strong odds in your favor simply because many, many times the officer does not even show up for the hearing.

your not being racist, that's what we like to call "racial profiling".


but uh, i would go to court, if the cop doesn't show up, your off the hook, and if you tell them what you said in your first post, that's good enough right there. the cop was too far behind to make a proper judgement on your speed, and in fact, was so far behind that he had to speed to catch up.

City cops always show, they get payed for it. Pretty much the only time that works is if you get lucky and get court on a day they have off or on vacation.

Rural cops generally dont get paid to go, so you get a better shot at it.

Thanks for the advice from everyone.

I'd go fight it if I were you. I got my first ticket last year for going 85 in a 70 on 35E. I went to court and plead guilty with explanation: public nuisance. The offer let me not get the speeding on my record but put the public nuisance ticket on my record instead and lowered the ticket a little. I now have a public nuisance ticket on my record but my insurance didn't go up so I'm cool with it. Go to court.

advice? don't speed on 36th, you KNOW THIS, MAAAAAAN. lol this is blake from down the street, and being on 36th is about like being down at midway; to quote a freind "you're never out of a cops sight here." its true. and i went to the same hearing officer you will be going to, hes a nice guy, and he will give you three options, probably before you get a chance to tell him your story.
1. pay $200, stay clean for a year and get the ticket expunged.
2. pay $80 and be done with it (for first timers only usually).
3. go to court and challenge it.

i chose option 2, because option 1 is a waste. you're not going to go a year without getting a ticket, and even if you think you could pull it off, youre still taking a big gamble because you could end up paying the full amount of the ticket plus 200, plus the new ticket, and your record gets both. the record also gets a note that says you tried to go a year without a ticket and failed, which doesn't always look very good. one last thing to consider is that you might be driving extra cautious right now because you just got the ticket, but that gets old real fast. you will be back to your old driving habits before the end of the month, guaranteed.

my $.02, good luck. btw, those wheels looked fugly on my car but they are actually pretty hot on yours.

When I got a moving violation for unsafe u-turn they gave me three options

1. pay $100 and go on probation for a year
2. pay $75 and it goes on your record
3. get a court date

I chose option 1 because all I cared is that it doesn't go on my insurance. I live in Hopkins anyhow. Not a great amount of cops patrolling the streets. In 3 years of driving, I have never been pulled over in Hopkins-Minnetonka area.

I would go to a hearing officer if I were you. It can only help. Hell, my brother has even gotten them to dismiss some tickets (illegal tail lights, no proof of insurance, and no front plate). I wouldn't fight it all the way to court though... Ends up being a PITA. The judge will always believe the cops word over anyone contesting the ticket.

cops can give you a ticket when they are behind you and judging by theyre speedometer..... theyres are more acuratly calibrated and are labled that on the face of the speedometer.

Ohh well, good luck!

I am considering the options. I want to go with whichever doesn't affect my insurance. #2 I am guessing your insurance gets jacked up but you pay less for the ticket?

Btw I would never speed on 36th, I was on Noble when he was following me from way behind, and I got pulled over by 36th, but was still on noble.

And about the wheels. I've been almost threatened 3 times by 3 different people that they were going to "jack my rims." I told them to go ahead and do it so I can kill them. I do agree though they look pretty sweet. I'm getting jealous real quick of your 20g when I get to hear it everytime ya drive by :(.

the probation isn't for the city, its for the county.
I should know, im on probation in ramsey AND hennepin county.
Everyones point on this is valid, i'd try a plea bargain/offer to attend a traffic school to keep it off your record.

My advice is to show up at the courthouse at whatever time your ticket says. Depending on how that courthouse does things, you'll either talk to a city/county attorney or a court officer. If you have a clean record, they should offer you some kind of deal where it won't go on your record. Just take that deal. It may mean you spend a little more money, but its worth it. The government knows you don't want these moving violations on your record, so this way they can extort a little more money out of ya. Isn't America wonderful. :smoker:

Some attornies will offer the one year clean and it don't go on your record deal. Sometimes its a six month deal. Sometimes its traffic school. If you dress super nice and present yourself well, they may give you a sweeter deal. Last year I got an illegal U-turn ticket in Wisconsin. Went to the courthouse and struck a deal and paid a similar fine for an equipment violation which is not a moving violation, which means no insurance reporting. Woo-hoo!

later,
Curt
http://www.mn3s.org