Anyone ever beat a ticket on their own?

Just move out of the house and on my own, don't even have a tv yet, and I get stuck with a 55 in a 40 on the /very/ curvy part of Legacy, right in front of the theatre, by the 75. (Made me miss Borat) That and I have a crystal clean lisence!

So I was hearing talks of ya'll hiring traffic lawyers and all that, but I'm pretty much interested in the shot-in-the-dark bingo to not pay anything or very little at least.

So I've done a little reading up on all the procedures and whatnot and it seems that I have come up with this. Myself, being a miata in heavy traffic, in front of the theater on a weekend of the opening night of the highest grossing movie this season, in a sweeping curve of the road, whilst the officer was using moving radar from the opposite direction, with trees located in the medium seperating the lanes, might have contributed to some sort of radar error. Plus after I casually came to a stop inside the theatre parking lot, he locked his brakes and came to a skidding halt behind me. All kinds of gung-ho.

I have to go in to plead sometime tommorow, but I already have the supoena forms filled out for the public records request for the calibration of the radar and citation copies and all that good stuff.

I've only gotten one ticket before, but for running a stop sign that had fallen over, so it was dismissed out in the country Gun Barrel, Tx, haha. So I'm sure Plano might be a bit different.

But I think it'd just be an interesting experience to try to defend myself, plus not much worse can come out of it than pleading guilty. I might rethink if they just let me pay court costs and deferred or defensive driving.

So basically, what do ya'll think? I wanna remain the only person I know who's never gotten a speeding ticket in their life!
Plus, if I win the heeeellloooo Hankooks!

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Originally Posted by TheChadVIII

So I've done a little reading up on all the procedures and whatnot and it seems that I have come up with this. Myself, being a miata in heavy traffic, in front of the theater on a weekend of the opening night of the highest grossing movie this season, in a sweeping curve of the road, whilst the officer was using moving radar from the opposite direction, with trees located in the medium separating the lanes, might have contributed to some sort of radar error. Plus after I casually came to a stop inside the theater parking lot, he locked his brakes and came to a skidding halt behind me. All kinds of gung-ho.

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Then the Judge will ask the officer if that the case and the officer will say no and then you'll be ::BaHump:: .

See if they offer Defered Adjudication in Plano, worked for me many times over in H.E.B. sadly it's not free.

Were you speeding? If so, accept responsibility for breaking the law.
The only time I ever tried to plea my case, I could have easily been paying for contempt charges the judge should have filed :rolleyes:

You can take Defensive Driving to get an insurance discount.

I'm with these fellas... ultimately, is it worth the time and effort to scrounge up all the details knowing that you were actually speeding?

All it takes is a simple yes or no to the right question and you can get the case dismissed without proceeding further....

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Originally Posted by Adam Payrot

All it takes is a simple yes or no to the right question and you can get the case dismissed without proceeding further....

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What is the question and proper answer???

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Originally Posted by Adam Payrot

All it takes is a simple yes or no to the right question...

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I want to know!! What's the magic question??

That's the hard part to figure out. Sometimes, it can be as simple as, "Was the vehicle running when you were operating the radar gun?" Lots of research (manuals and literature on the equipment used) will help in figuring out what questions to ask. Maybe it's one question, maybe it's a series of them, it is entirely circumstantial. TheChadVIII is starting in all the right places; now he just has to figure out what question(s) to ask that will get his case dismissed.

I will also add that he needs to find out how far away the officer was when he was clocked, and read up on the radar gun's effective range/sweep angle (I think that's the term) at distances. That's another one that can be used. Again, it all depends on the circumstances; just offering another angle.

I'm asking for opinions on how to approach a judge about a ticket.

I don't need a lesson on honesty here, I'm an honest person and am not trying to cheat my way out of saying that I broke the law.
I wonder how many times you've broken the "law" made a right hand turn where your rear wheel isn't within the required 6-24 inches from the curb, or any other obscure "law" that they could stick you with.

For a speeding ticket, I don't have to disprove that I was speeding.

I have to prove that there is a reasonable doubt as to whether I was going exactly 55mph in a 40mph zone due to operator error, extenuating circumstances, or other factors.
Actually I shouldn't have to prove anything, the prosecution has to prove that there is no reasonable doubt that I was infact speeding. So I just gotta find that doubt.

I don't believe I was going that fast, I was travelling with traffic in a safe manner one intersection away from my house.

Plus I think it'd be interesting to try and do something in court, seeing as I have never stepped past the district clerk's office. Plus I'm only 19 so theres a good chance I'll just walk in there like a lame duck and walk out with the same fine I had before. But I'll know a little bit more about the process.

I've done Defensive Driving for the insurance discount when I started driving, so its been long enough that I'd be able to take it again as a record-saver. Not too interested in deferred unless DD isn't an option and I can't get the ticket dismissed or reduced.

You have the right mindset that you need in court ;)

FWIW, Fort Worth is now making it MANDATORY to take defensive driving WITH a DA plea. Apparently this only applies to those under 25. I don't know how many North Texas cities are adopting this idea, but it's something to consider for those of us young guys.

He got me with a moving radar, which usually has a spread of 280ft±50ft at 500ft.
I'm not actually sure if it was a speed trap and he was the chase car or if he was driving while taking the reading. I know the Plano police don't carry the Speedgun8 which is the only type of radar that can distinguish traffic direction (moving away or towards the radar) so he had to have been coming from the opposite direction. Moving radar is the least concrete of all the ways to measure another vehicles speed. So thats what gives me a little bit of confidence.
So if there was another officer that tagged the vehicle than the one that wrote the citation then they'd both have to appear in court. If either don't show then I'm free. But I doubt thats the case.

I'm also gonna try to get him to recall very specific details about it. Was my top down? Did he infact come to a skidding halt behind my car. Things like that can prove that he doesn't recall enough about the case to be a competent witness. I also know that I can object to the use of notes written on the back of the ticket due to the requirement for independent recollection.

This is kinda interesting!

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Originally Posted by TheChadVIII

I'm asking for opinions on how to approach a judge about a ticket.

I don't need a lesson on honesty here, I'm an honest person and am not trying to cheat my way out of saying that I broke the law.

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No one is calling you dishonest... I think the rest of us have been up that road before and have seen the results first hand. If you care to pursue it, then good luck to you.

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Originally Posted by TheChadVIII

I wonder how many times you've broken the "law" made a right hand turn where your rear wheel isn't within the required 6-24 inches from the curb, or any other obscure "law" that they could stick you with.

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Too many times to know that when I do get caught, I just get out with the least amount of harm and count my lucky stars that I didn't get nailed all the other times. There's no need to get uptight about it...

Yea I know Bean haha. I'm just basically looking to try out the system. I heard a statistic that if less than 20% of the people who got tickets fought them, the citation system would not be profitable due to judge's wages and court fees. So if it costs the punks more money for me to fight it, even if I end up paying the same, then so be it! Yee-haw.


Plus Adam, thats such bs about having regulations on people under 25.
I think its a bad thing that I get more nervous around a police officer than I do around a large group of shady people downtown at night, even though I have no reason to be.

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Originally Posted by TheChadVIII

Not too interested in deferred unless DD isn't an option and I can't get the ticket dismissed or reduced.

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Deferred is nice since all you do is pay a fine and your done, well and stay out of trouble for the required term. Once the term is up nothing shows on your record. ;)

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

Deferred is nice since all you do is pay a fine and your done, well and stay out of trouble for the required term. Once the term is up nothing shows on your record. ;)

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Yup... I have to be a good boy until April 20, 2007. Damn probation...

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Originally Posted by TheChadVIII

::Blah::

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Save us the self-righteous crap. You made the choice to speed, and you got caught. Face the consequences. That’s called taking responsibility for your own actions. You can choose to fight it – that’s your right as a citizen – but don’t get high and mighty with us if we point out the obvious.

Personally, my time is worth more to me than the trouble of fighting a ticket, especially when I know it’s a ticket I deserved. I look at it as a voluntary tax, much like the ones on alcohol or tobacco products. If you don’t want to pay the tax, just don’t indulge.

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Deferred is nice since all you do is pay a fine

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But I h8 fines.

Here's the short answer: I beat a ticket earlier this year (in Celina).

The long answer: I fought the ticket SOLELY because I thought it was a bogus ticket and was willing to take it all the way to judge and jury. I felt I had enough circumstancial evidence to weaken the officer's case. I mentally "prepared" my case and had solid leading questions ready to go. Ultimately, the case was dismissed because the court forgot to invite a jury, but I'm certain my presence in court swayed the judge and DA to drop the case instead of insisting on a new court date.

Dude altain, I was just asking on what to do when I go into court.

I wasn't asking on whether to fight it or not.

And for what I make at my job is MUCH less than $200/3-4hrs.

Sorry if I came off as self-righteous man, didn't mean to.