2 Speeding Tickets in 1 Hr! :(

swat ss said:
Granted it is different in most states, in NJ, #1, there are no "quotas" as some people call them. Actually, NJ has deemed that it is illegal for departments to have quotas on the amount of tickets issued. #2, everyone keeps talking about revenue. You think police officers get a bonus if they write more tickets!? Most could care less about the money that is paid to the courts for tickets. It's not like that money comes to the police department.

Someone mentioned mailing in a check for an amount over the ticket due. I've heard that before, maybe in your state, that does not work in NJ.

Also, if i write a summons to someone, say for speeding, that is not a court mandatory ticket. if you want to go to court and speak with the prosecutor, you can do that, however, the police officer is not required to be there for every summons. of course, it's different if the case is going to trial, which rarely ever happens for simple traffic offenses, (except DUI)

to the OP, i've never heard of that written declaration thing, may be different where you are. I would say just go to court, speak to the prosecutor or judge or whomever runs the show there, and see how they can help you out. if you havnt had a ticket in a few years, i'm sure they will drop something. Good luck!
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Nicely stated my fellow brother in blue.

People claiming quotas still exist just make me laugh. Quotas are illegal.

To the OP, I hope you don't plan on standing in front of the judge and saying you usually only go 10 over the speed limit or that you weren't doing the speed the officer said you were going, but you were still speeding. That judge will hang you.

In 8 years I've never lost a case where the defendant stated they either didn't know how fast they were going or they didn't think they were going as fast as I said they were. And that 10-15 mph discrepency you're claiming is a bit much.

Most people don't understand what is legally required for a RADAR case. We are required to do 3 things before stopping you for speed. We have to visually estimate your speed, activate the RADAR unit and receive an audio doppler tone consistent with the visual estimate, and receive a readout + or - 5 mph of our visual estimate. So when people say my RADAR is wrong (even though it is tested after each stop), I tell them I visually estimated their speed before I even hit the button. We aren't just riding around with the unit on, see a number, then try to figure out who is doing that speed. We are better trained than that.

Hopefully that helps to shed some light on things.


Colin
 
swat ss said:
to the OP, i've never heard of that written declaration thing, may be different where you are. I would say just go to court, speak to the prosecutor or judge or whomever runs the show there, and see how they can help you out. if you havnt had a ticket in a few years, i'm sure they will drop something. Good luck!
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The purpose of this declaration (I am sure I'm not using the correct name) is to state the facts of offense in more detail to the prospective trial goer.
 
Nice to see some officers chiming in.

Some feel it's revenue driven when suddenly they see a ramped up police presence that appears to be solely focused on writing tickets. They feel their wallets are targeted. Tickets issued for parking with your car facing the wrong way or getting a ticket 1 to 3 mph over the limit. Speed traps set up in neighborhoods early in the morning when people are hurrying off to work, daycare etc. A Sargent or someone else with authority had to make that call for so many officers to be concentrated in one area and to be so stringent. From all that I know that got tickets, know one got a warning. I know the officers don't personally profit from tickets written but someone made the call and it appeared that safety wasn't the primary objective.
 
There's a city near me that just started giving tickets for not paying attention to driving which encompasses talking on a cell phone, applying make up, eating a salad or other food. I have nothing against these since the problem in traffic always seems to be some one on a cell phone.
 
Agreed. In MD/DC area the distracted driver law was passed just a couple of months ago. The problem is that Police here cant pull you over for it. it has to be a second offense. You can talk via bluetooth which is no better IMO.
 
kaboom10 said:
There's a city near me that just started giving tickets for not paying attention to driving which encompasses talking on a cell phone, applying make up, eating a salad or other food. I have nothing against these since the problem in traffic always seems to be some one on a cell phone.
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i always eat while driving, sure it's not the easiest thing to do while driving a 6 speed but my schedule is so packed that it's the only option sometimes.
 
I guess they finally wised up. Secondary offenses weren't orking.
 
I now use a blue tooth because of this law change in MD/DC and have been far more distracted with getting my blue tooth working or arguing with voice dial then i ever was speed dialign and hold an hand set.

Also the small towns on the eastern shore are "ticket factories" doing a lot of what others have complained about in speed trap practices. Are they wrong for doing it... no. Is it a major annoyance... yes.

I moved here from out of state and for 3 months maintained out of state tags here. In the months I was pulled over 9 times for very minor traffic violations. 1 - 10 mph over speed limit, and once for driving past the same cop 3 times in one day... he accused me of running drugs from Delaware into Maryland and wanted to search my car (01 Nissian Frontier 4x4). I was released with a verbal warning each time except which was a written warning.

Now I have not changed my driving practices one bit but after getting my tags changed I did not get stopped for 3 years.

No one will ever convince me out of state drivers are not targeted on the roads.
 
Da Fats said:
...No one will ever convince me out of state drivers are not targeted on the roads.
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I would venture to say it depends on where you're at and who the officer is. Cops are a mixed breed. We come from all different backgrounds with our own opinions on things. Here's a shocker - there are cops who are racists, sexists, addicts, alcoholics, liars, cheaters, criminals, and the list goes on. However, these are not the majority. It would be foolish of me to say no cop on earth targets out of state drivers. However, I feel very comfortable saying that behavior is nowhere remotely close to being the majority of cops.

I've been a state trooper for 8 years. State trooper = write tickets, investigate crashes. Of course that's not the only things we do, but it is our main job. I can assure you I have never targeted out of state drivers. I don't care where you're from or where you're going, don't break the law and you won't have to deal with me. I don't care if I never stop another out of state driver for the rest of my career. It's not going to change the way I do my job or my concern for traffic safety. I will continue to work everyday to make the roads in Colorado the safest in the country. It is this mindset that Colorado State Troopers share that HAVE MADE Colorado's roads the safest in the country.


Colin
 
Rhudeboye said:
Nice to see some officers chiming in.

Some feel it's revenue driven when suddenly they see a ramped up police presence that appears to be solely focused on writing tickets. They feel their wallets are targeted. Tickets issued for parking with your car facing the wrong way or getting a ticket 1 to 3 mph over the limit. Speed traps set up in neighborhoods early in the morning when people are hurrying off to work, daycare etc. A Sargent or someone else with authority had to make that call for so many officers to be concentrated in one area and to be so stringent. From all that I know that got tickets, know one got a warning. I know the officers don't personally profit from tickets written but someone made the call and it appeared that safety wasn't the primary objective.
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Most people who get a ticket feel as though we should be doing more important work, that we should be getting the 'real criminals.' Remember, the serial killer Ted Bundy was eventually caught for good by a traffic cop making a 'routine stop'. The fact is no one wants to take responsibility anymore. No one wants to have the mindset 'hey, I just got caught doing something wrong and now I'm paying the price for it.'

Sergeants don't always make the call on where cops work. That depends on the agency. City cops are more likely to be told where to work and what to do. That being said, cops look for trends in crime. Maybe the ramped up patrol in the neighborhoods came from complaints. People call in all the time complaining people drive too fast down their street. They say kids walk to school and with the people speeding, someone is going to get hurt. This will cause an increase of cops in the neighborhood. As traffic cops, our goal should be to change driving habits. By changing driving habits, we can decrease crashes and make the roads safer. If everyone starts getting tickets, then driving habits in that area will change. It's that simple.

I'm going to repeat it again because it needs to be repeated. We do not personally gain ANYTHING by writing tickets. Traffic cops write tickets because that's what we get paid to do. That's our job. I worked with a trooper in Florida that averaged 5,000 tickets a year. That's averaging 20 tickets per 8 hour shift. Averaging! And that was between investigating crashes! For some civilians it doesn't sound like much. I can assure you that is a major feat. Most cops will never see 5,000 tickets in a single year their whole career. This trooper averaged it year after year. Funny thing was he made the same money as everyone else. He, too, worked for the same highway patrol that hadn't funded a pay raise since 1988. Yep, nearly 20 years at that time. We don't write tickets for personal gain. We do it because it is something we want to do. And despite what all those violator he wrote over the years felt, that trooper saved countless lives by having a passion for his job.


Colin
 
cnfowler said:
Most people who get a ticket feel as though we should be doing more important work, that we should be getting the 'real criminals.' Remember, the serial killer Ted Bundy was eventually caught for good by a traffic cop making a 'routine stop'. The fact is no one wants to take responsibility anymore. No one wants to have the mindset 'hey, I just got caught doing something wrong and now I'm paying the price for it.'

Sergeants don't always make the call on where cops work. That depends on the agency. City cops are more likely to be told where to work and what to do. That being said, cops look for trends in crime. Maybe the ramped up patrol in the neighborhoods came from complaints. People call in all the time complaining people drive too fast down their street. They say kids walk to school and with the people speeding, someone is going to get hurt. This will cause an increase of cops in the neighborhood. As traffic cops, our goal should be to change driving habits. By changing driving habits, we can decrease crashes and make the roads safer. If everyone starts getting tickets, then driving habits in that area will change. It's that simple.

I'm going to repeat it again because it needs to be repeated. We do not personally gain ANYTHING by writing tickets. Traffic cops write tickets because that's what we get paid to do. That's our job. I worked with a trooper in Florida that averaged 5,000 tickets a year. That's averaging 20 tickets per 8 hour shift. Averaging! And that was between investigating crashes! For some civilians it doesn't sound like much. I can assure you that is a major feat. Most cops will never see 5,000 tickets in a single year their whole career. This trooper averaged it year after year. Funny thing was he made the same money as everyone else. He, too, worked for the same highway patrol that hadn't funded a pay raise since 1988. Yep, nearly 20 years at that time. We don't write tickets for personal gain. We do it because it is something we want to do. And despite what all those violator he wrote over the years felt, that trooper saved countless lives by having a passion for his job.


Colin
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Great statement of FACTS. Seems a lot of people ignore facts when it's convenient for them regarding breaking laws.
The minute those same people get a ticket they start whining that everyone owes them because they are special or because it's a revenue thing. Then stop speeding, running red lights, etc and there would be no revenue! It's simple actually, start obeying the law rather than finding ways to justify breaking them.

Why people do not take any responsibility for their own actions is beyond me. I can not imagine these same folks detailing my car. Let's see, they destroy your car but are not responsible for it, after all they are expounding reason after reason why they are not responsible for the car they are driving breaking the laws, so why would they be responsible for destroying your car? Anyone here willing to take their pride and joy to that person? I would seriously doubt it. Yet here we have several individuals arguing they can break the laws just because.

My thanks to all the LEOs out there doing a dangerous and mostly unappreciated job. I do appreciate the work you do. Are their LEOs out there who are not on the up-and-up, of course but for the most part they are a bunch of decent men and women putting their lives on the line every single day to help others.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Wait--that's 115MPH with a warning?? You silver-tongued devil! I'm hoping that you meant you were going the double-nickel+5 (60 MPH) because around here 115 will get you thrown in jail (speeding, reckless driving, reckless endangerment).

If you did talk a 115 MPH ticket down to a warning, it just shows to go you and reminds me of a story I heard about a kid getting pulled over for a headlight out, that he might have just got a warning for but gave the cop the "do you know who my father is etc. etc." so he got the ticket. He pissed the cop off so much about a half hour later he came back the other way and got a second ticket for the same headlight...
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To clarify, it WAS 115 mph. I had just passed a 45 mph van, and thought I'd 'burn the carbon out of it', and wound it up a bit, then slowed back down to 55. The police officer figured out what I was doing and gave me a break, I didn't try to talk him out of it, I was guilty, and knew it. The officer said he had me on radar at 65 when I passed the van, and when he realized that I was "accelerating like Hell", he shot me with the radar again, but I was already out of sight, so he knew I was moving out. I treated the officer with the respect he deserved, I told him the truth, and figured I would be getting a ticket for reckless driving or other expensive offense. When he gave me the ticket for mufflers, and warning for speeding, I said thank you sir, I will get this taken care of as soon as possible, and I will drive slower. This was back in the early 70s, when everybody prettty much knew everybody in the area, and if you caught a break, you didn't screw up again, because you knew better. The road was flat, straight, and smooth, and there was no traffic. That probably factored in with why I got a break. To be honest, I did something stupid, I got a break, and I never forgot it. I won't say I never speed any more, but I do watch my speed much closer.

My step-son is a deputy and part-time police officer. I have friends in the State and local police, and they all pretty much know about my 'wilder' (stupid) days, but they don't hold it against me. They respect me for who I am and what I do these days, and I respect and support them and all law enforcement officers for their service. I also realize that there are some bad apples in all jobs, and that tarnishes the people who aren't.

Like the old bumper sticker says "If you don't like cops, the next time you're in trouble, call a hippie".
 
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cnfowler said:
Most people who get a ticket feel as though we should be doing more important work..
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I wouldn't make such a statement.

cnfowler said:
Maybe the ramped up patrol in the neighborhoods came from complaints. By changing driving habits, we can decrease crashes and make the roads safer. If everyone starts getting tickets, then driving habits in that area will change. It's that simple.
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I do follow and understand that point. I've seen it in action and applauded the results. The case I'm speaking of however was extreme IMO and in the opinion of everyone I spoke with.


cnfowler said:
I'm going to repeat it again because it needs to be repeated. We do not personally gain ANYTHING by writing tickets.
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I said that myself in an earlier post. But help me out here as I dont fully know the answer to this. When the Dept needs more money for say more squad cars. Who does the Chief/Commissioner take the request to?
 
Rhudeboye said:
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I said that myself in an earlier post. But help me out here as I dont fully know the answer to this. When the Dept needs more money for say more squad cars. Who does the Chief/Commissioner take the request to?
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It probably varies from state to state. Where I live there is a formal budget process just like most companies. have The Chief of Police creates an annual budget and submits it to the City Council. The Council has authority to either grant or deny the request.
 
Not that its right or not but, I am always very honest and polite with police officers and I have never gotten a warning. I have gotten tickets for the littlest thing and it just bothers me because I see these a-holes being jerks and fighting there way with the officer and then they get off with a warning. I never understood how that happens:dunno:. I guess its because they see the big wing on my STI and figure that I am trouble. Funny thing is I barely speed anymore but, whatever it is what it is.
 
TLMitchell said:
It's all about revenue. Always has been, always will be. Some small municipalities in OH that have a 1/4 mile of Interstate in their juridiction have a fleet of cruisers sitting their 24/7 and fund the entire township from the proceeds.
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Probably the most infamous of these was New Rome, Ohio. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia which explains just how corrupt this town was.

New Rome speed trap

New Rome police had systematically taken advantage of the village's sudden drop (from 45 mph to 35 mph) in posted speed along the busy thoroughfare of West Broad Street to pull over thousands of motorists, raising nearly $400,000 gross annually from speeding tickets but primarily vehicle citations including trivial offenses such as dusty taillights and improperly tinted windows. Nearly all of this money was funneled back into the police force, which almost exclusively dealt with traffic violations and so essentially existed to fund itself. The 60-resident village had as many as 14 policemen (all part-time), with the Village Council wanting more.[3]

Many local business owners complained that customers were being driven away by the village's reputation, and there were many reports of arbitrary and even abusive conduct at the hands of the New Rome police, who even ventured into surrounding jurisdictions to arrest people over unpaid traffic tickets.

The Ohio Department of Transportation eventually decided that New Rome's lower speed limit was inconsistent with state law guidelines. The New Rome police force itself was suspended by the village in 2003 when its chief resigned, shortly after the village's mayor's court was abolished by the state, and so the speed trap came to an end.
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fancyfootwork said:
As for the two tickets in 1 hour. I must admit, that is pretty reckless. Most people would learn the first time and hold off the speeding for at least a week.

I've had 1 ticket in my life.. I was going 130mph.. down to 100.. then 80.. in a 55. The cop was very nice and wrote me at 74+ instead of giving me a reckless and taking me down to jail.
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I think driving at 130 mph is lot more reckless than, let's say, getting 2 tickets for 70 in a 55
 
fishnugget said:
Hey guys,

I just want to vent but also ask if anyone on here has contested speeding tickets and won? When I was in high school I was hit with several speeding tickets. I plead guilty in court, got the fine reduced, paid them, and also attended traffic school. However, now that I am 30, I feel more educated, wiser, and I am a bit annoyed at having to do this and feel like contesting because these greedy cops are only out to make money! I am amazed that you can actually contest them and win from the little researching I've done.

I read that only 5% of people actually contest them and 50% win the case because the cop was too lazy to show up in court or they got moved to a different area, thereby dismissing the ticket.

Also, read you can do a "Trial by Written Declaration" which means you mail your letter and never need to show up to court. To my amazement this has produced the best results in beating speeding tickets. The reason? Cops get paid overtime to show up in court but when they are hit by a written declaration they have to write a letter defending the case and don't get paid anything for their time.

So anybody have anything to post on this? Any input appreciated. Guess I'm looking for people who have contested speeding tickets and won.
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95% of all statistics are made up on the spot
 
dougaross said:
I think driving at 130 mph is lot more reckless than, let's say, getting 2 tickets for 70 in a 55
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I agree, it was reckless.. but I didn't get my ticket then continue to speed. 2 tickets in 1 hour is pretty careless. Live life I guess?
 
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