I got a speeding ticket!

[biggie24420]

Whoa, WHOA... WHOA!! Biggie is security, Biggie don't do no math...

I don't know how to, I went to public school hahahahaha. 1+1=potatoe lol

 

[Stomper]

I don't know how to, I went to public school hahahahaha. 1+1=potatoe lol

Dang it, I thought the answer was "jell-o"!

 

[JuglansRegia]

I have never contested a ticket, last one I got was in 1998. Anyways, back when I was attending college, I had an AJ instructor that was a former assistant DA, he said a couple times a year he would sit in for a traffic court judge, and if someone contesting a ticket had any shred of evidence that supported their case, he was more than happy to lean in their direction but it rarely happened, like he would be happy if he could dismiss one or two in a day. So basically do your homework and show up in court with something that supports your case, worst case they reduce your fine, best case the cop is a no show or it just gets dismissed.

 

[slimmer13]

I'd call the courthouse, see if they will reduce it over the phone, pay it and move on. That's probably what the end result will be anyway after all the hours spent trying to fight it.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I wanted to post my experience and I am interested in hearing any advice you may have.

So on April 2020 I was driving to work (hospital employee). I was on 26 East bound at approximately 9:40PM going to downtown Portland from Beaverton. I was on the far right lane and going about 55 MPH (that is the posted speed limit). As I am passing the zoo exit, I see a dark SUV on the West side on ramp. Immediately I figured it was an unmarked unit.

I use waze GPS and a Valentine 1 radar/laser detector. I drive safe and within the speed limit, the detector is just to let me know if any speed traps are near me. Do I go two or three miles over the limit sometimes? yes, but I do not drive crazy. When I am on the back roads, sometimes I do drive a bit spiritedly.... come on now, I drive a manual Mustang lol, but I digress. Oh btw I haven't had a ticket in like eleven years....

So I see what appeared to be an unmarked unit around the zoo exit, I was not concerned much as I was driving within the speed limit. And I should mention that I did not receive any laser warnings, and I will get to that in a bit.

So after the zoo exit, speed limit falls to 50 MPH. As I approach the 50 MPH zone, I take my foot off the gas and just coast (while in gear) and my speed drops down from 55. I was probably not going 50, maybe 52 or 53. Of course I still had to slow down a bit here and there before the tunnel because while in gear and coasting, I could gain speed. So, I go through the tunnel, stay to the left as if I was gonna get on I-5. I then take my first exit to the right to get back into downtown.

I get off the highway and once I cleared the off ramp, I see one head light behind me. I had a feeling it was a police bike, but I had nothing to worry about so I was like.... meh. Next thing I know, bright strobe lights go off and I am getting pulled over.

I pull over and discover that it was a Portland Police bike.... great! ugh.... So the officer came up to my window and asked for my license and nothing else. I told him I was carrying legally, he asked where the gun was and I told him and he was fine with the whole thing.

It took him a few minutes and I knew he was gonna give me a ticket. So he came back and told me I was doing 75 in a 50 and gave me a $270 ticket. I was shocked! I asked him a few questions and discovered I was lasered. He said he lasered me but I think the dark SUV facing West on 26 on ramp was the one that tagged me, but I did not get a laser warning from my Valentine 1 when I passed the dark SUV.

There is no way I was going 75. If I was going 75, I would have been hauling butt and traffic was very light. Was my speed between 50 and 55? yes, probably, but I swear on my grandmother and uncle's graves that I was not going 75 MPH.

So the court is extending everything out 90 days, when my plea date comes up, I will plea not guilty! and they will set a trial date for me.

I plan on filing motion for discovery so I can obtain as much information as to what happened. I feel like something dishonest has taken place. I feel like the odds are against me however. My word against a sworn peace officer with speed detecting equipment. Also a second officer was involved so two vs. one.

If they do not provide me with requested information, I think I may be able to file for dismissal but I am not sure. If the officer does not show up, I know the ticket will get dropped.

Anyone with good advice?
Any retired or active LEOs that can comment on what I can do?

I stated that I was running waze GPS earlier, so I downloaded my location files, I did not see a log of my speed, just places I have been etc. I thought about going to the dealership to extract information out of my car's "black box" but I was not in an accident and I don't know what information was stored for how long etc.

Thanks folks.

I am not an attorney, but I did attend law school. Two things jump out at me here:

1. It is federal law (and I think Oregon also) that speed zones must comply with the latest state traffic engineer's survey and recommendation for that piece of road. If not, all citations issued on the basis of electronic surveillance in that area are null and void.

2. Investigate whether it is legal for the citation to be issued by an officer OTHER than the observing officer. It sounds very much like the SUV cop was doing the observing, and the MC cop was doing the issuing of citations.

3. [Bonus] Talk to an attorney. It may cost $150 for a consultation, but it might be worth it. If you run into what I did last time you might want that attorney with you in court. The way it was explained to me for Multnomah county is that the arresting officer acts as the DA at trial, and is assisted by the judge (?!!!!) with legal questions. This means that the judge is on the prosecution's team. You'd better have a legal expert on your side in that situation.

Also, there's the option of traffic school. You can sometimes get shuffled off to traffic school for a day and keep any convictions off your record. Incredibly, in Multnomah County the arresting officer decides whether you can go to traffic school (?!!!). When I consulted with an attorney about this he said it was clearly violating due process/equal justice under the law, but did I have $10K with which to fight that battle?

 

[teflon6string]

My name is Teflon and I am a bit of a scofflaw. Actually lost my license for a short time last century when I thought of myself as a real hotdog. The national limit was 55 (not a great time to own a BMW 530i).

Got rid of that 4-wheeled enabler, and now I seem to draw a ticket every 8-10 years. I watch overpasses for radar/laser snipers, I scan my mirrors religiously and I watch for other signs/patterns. But all it takes is a moment of complacency to get nicked and pay the consequences.

With that said, I've noticed a LOT more traffic stops on Hwy 26 since the onset of the plague, and so I've had to back off the gas a bit. It's tempting to move right along, but with fewer vehicles on the road, my normal 70-75 no longer "blends in" with the flow.

Traffic "school" is done online these days. On the laptop, I found no way to zip through the pages even though the questions and answers were butt-simple. A little digital timer on each webpage tells you how long you have to wait before you can proceed again.

I believe traffic school can be used every three years. Opting for traffic school is basically a guilty plea and carries the full fine... PLUS a fee for using it. Somebody please correct me if my info is out of date. It's been a few years.

The ADVANTAGE is that traffic school keeps the conviction off your driving record as long as you don't get another conviction for a year. If you do, then both stick. And I THINK fines go up for frequent flyers. Anyone here know about that?

 

[ZoidMeister]

It showed time and place but not every single step.

I have reenacted my driving from that night, it indicated that I was between the speeds of 52-55. If I didn't intervene by tapping ony brakes and kept cruising, I was getting close to 60 mph before the tunnel. So without me using the gas, I have no idea how I was going 75 mph that night, assuming the cop was being honest and had properly functioning equipment.

If you can establish available average speed during your driving that evening, you should be able to make a case that raises "reasonable doubt." That is the metric for a "not guilty" determination. All you need to show is that you spent the evening averaging 56 miles per hour. It wouldn't be reasonable to think that your speed approached what the equipment and officer cited you for.

Both machines and officers are fallable.

 

[Grumpa]

In case nobody has make this recommendation, Byt a high quality dash cam that also track your vehicle speed, so that way, if this was to occer again you have video of what your actual speed was.

This is an excellent idea!

 

[Mikej]

That's a RAW deal. Cops don't even come to our neighborhood anymore. When the store needs the cops and call 911 because of a fight or bums threatening the employees, some times they don't even come.

I hope you can fight this to the end. I got a ticket in the mail for no front license plate. Turned out the ticket was given to a guys who had stole my front licences plate for his truck. I did what I'm supposed to do, provide positive proof that my plate had been stolen and that it wasn't my truck they hung the ticket on. Those bastids at potland city hall STILL KEPT $40.00 of the $80.00 I sent in.

Don't trust 'em. Take 'em to the Supreme Court if you have to!

 

[Unicykle]

From a long term motorcyclist your f'd. Only chance you got is the officer doesnt show up at the court date which is rare cause its easy overtime for them. In court it will be your word againt theirs and the judge takes theirs every time, been there done that twice. Apparently the cops are bored stiff right now and ive seen the same fat round milwaukie cop with a grey beard road pirate at least 3 people in the last few weeks. Cameras can be your friend in situations like these.

 

[Joe13]

Portland PD... enough said

I put 600 miles on my car going north in WA 2 times this last week and drove exactly 10 over the posted limit on cruise control and in the fast lane.

Past numerous sheriffs and State Police on the side of the road looking to tag someone And driving past more then a few going the same on the freeway.

Didn't even give me a second look.

My brother has had good luck asking for an extended court date a few times and not had the officer show up.

In my own experience, it's your word against theirs unless you have some kind of proof or a lawyer.

Best of luck.

 

[strick]

This is the dash cam that I use, I tried some of the cheap units and were never happy about them, This one is nice, as you use your smartphone to interface with it and it uses gps to track your trips.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NC68QQ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Ramjet12]

Does your car have Nav or was the car sync'd to andriod auto? If yes then there is a record of where your car was and how fast you were going. New cars track you unless you disable it.

 

[Stomper]

I am not an attorney, but I did attend law school. Two things jump out at me here:

1. It is federal law (and I think Oregon also) that speed zones must comply with the latest state traffic engineer's survey and recommendation for that piece of road. If not, all citations issued on the basis of electronic surveillance in that area are null and void.

2. Investigate whether it is legal for the citation to be issued by an officer OTHER than the observing officer. It sounds very much like the SUV cop was doing the observing, and the MC cop was doing the issuing of citations.

3. [Bonus] Talk to an attorney. It may cost $150 for a consultation, but it might be worth it. If you run into what I did last time you might want that attorney with you in court. The way it was explained to me for Multnomah county is that the arresting officer acts as the DA at trial, and is assisted by the judge (?!!!!) with legal questions. This means that the judge is on the prosecution's team. You'd better have a legal expert on your side in that situation.

Also, there's the option of traffic school. You can sometimes get shuffled off to traffic school for a day and keep any convictions off your record. Incredibly, in Multnomah County the arresting officer decides whether you can go to traffic school (?!!!). When I consulted with an attorney about this he said it was clearly violating due process/equal justice under the law, but did I have $10K with which to fight that battle?

It's a legal practice if the citation is pre-signed with the observing officer's signature, and then has the "serving" officer fill in the violation the observing office directs them to write in.

That's how they're able to legally enforce the speed via aircraft, the observing officer in the aircraft pre-signs the citations, then directs the officers on the ground to fill in the details and serve the citation.

 

[Koda]

If you have an android phone and you have location services turned on you can log onto your gmail account and download your gps tack data for that day. I dont know the precision of the data but with enough its possible to average your speed over that stretch of road.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Is your radar detector visible? There are cops that completely freak when they pull you over and see a laser/radar detector.

 

[oremike]

I just pay the ticket, I've got one of those 4 page driving records so get no breaks ever. I call them a speed tax, if you speed long enough you've got to pay the tax. I do ask the clerk "if I plead guilty and pay the fine now can you reduce the fine a bit so we don't need to bother the judge?" Generally I've got a bit of a break but not always. Lots of hot rod cars and motorcycles in my past, but then I got a CDL and didn't want to lose my livelihood so slowed down a bit. Now I'm old and retired so not in a hurry to get anywhere.

 

[Stomper]

Of course you're not in a hurry anymore, you've already arrived there!

 

[CJWinOR]

I'm a former LE who very rarely wrote traffic citations. My focus at night was DUI, so I may use any legal PC to make the stop, but if you were not drinking you would more than likely drive off ticket free assuming you had a decent attitude. However, radar detectors would likely cause me to write you a real ticket rather than a warning ticket. And of course, there are those guys that can talk their way from a warning ticket over a burnt out bulb into trip to jail.

In my opinion, motors are where old lazy cops go to pad their retirement while avoiding serious police work.

 

[DivCurlGrad72]

I've said it before: German highways are smaller and more congested than ours, yet 70% of their highway has NO speed limit. There's no reason why we can't do the same. Freie Fahrt für Freie Bürger!