British Expatriate Network

See! Statey isn't always nicey.

Good luck with contesting it Debs.

Good luck from me too. Can you question the device's calibration over here? That used to be a good way of getting off in the UK - if they hadn't calibrated the thing that morning, they couldn't get you with it!

I think most of them calibrate daily now as that trick has become too well-known.

On an interstate or busy road, you could possibly still contest that how do they know it was you they targeted. The older radar sets are very inaccurate in pinning down exactly which car was speeding if pointed towards a cluster.

He was sat in his little tank, er car, camouflaged by surrounding foliage on my side of the road when I went past him. Don't know if he had a speed-recording device as he didn't divulge. Do I assume that they all have one in their vehicle?

Also, on the ticket he put that I was doing 60 in a 35, then at the bottom he's put 70/35. Now, I wasn't going anywhere near 70...probably closer to 50 and I think it was a 40mph as I said before. What does it all mean????

Confused of Connecticut.

Debs x ???

neutral sorry for the way you were treated. Was not right and as someone said they do not have a right just to pull you over, but as we all know there is a way's and means for everything. If you have been pulled over alot I would stick in a complaint. I would say don't argue with him, be nice and then document everything and send it in to his commander.

Good luck

Tell the cop to mind his own business and if it wasn't for tax payers like you, stupid ignorant phuck wits like him wouldn't have his cushy job.

Think about if it's worth it.

I was following my friend and she went through an amber (yellow for you yanks) light. I could have just made it too, but decided not to risk it as I could safely stop and we were in a "seatbelt enforcement zone" which meant cops with cameras everywhere.

When the light turned green, I drove past her -she'd been pulled over. I assumed for a sealbelt issue, but when she caught up with me it turned out he'd booked her for going through a red light! So she asked me to go to court and be a witness for her as she contested it. She definitely didn't go through a red, so a few months later, along we went.

Two cases before hers (about 5 minutes), the cop pulls her out of the room -wouldn't let me accompany her- and "has a chat".

Cop "Have you brought your friend to testify that you did not go through a red?"
Her "Yes"
Cop "Well you did -it's a funny angle at the lights -where was your friend watching from?"
Her "She was following me"
Cop "Well.... did she stop?"
Her "Yes"
Cop "Well, then."
Her "But she was behind me. After me. And she felt she could have safely gone through on Yellow too!"
Cop "But did she?"
Her "No."
Cop "Well, then."
Her "But..."
Cop "Look, it's all on video, the judge will side with me, but even if he doesn't you'll still get done for unsafe driving as you should have stopped at the yellow -it's the same fine but no points -would you rather just plead guilty to that and get no points? I'm willing to go with that if you want."
Her "OK"

Me roll

$180. Original fine would have been $40 and 2 points. She has no previous points so our combined time that morning plus the court costs was worth more than the possible increase in car insurance.

The key is to forget the "crime" factor and look at it for what it is -a revenue maker or unofficial taxation system.

Are they police or a local chapter of the IRS sometimes?

This "negotiation" of prices is laughable. I realise that in criminal cases you can strike plea bargains but either you committed the traffic offence or you did not. This threat of points smacks less of deterring traffic offenses and more of some deal between the insurance companies and the municipalities.

I'd go to court and fight the case because if everyone did, this system would start to unravel from the added costs.

Not when the defendant pays all costs.......

..... $140 for 2 minutes of court time (1 judge, 1 cop, 1 stenographer/whatever) should surely cover real-time expenses.....? 2 minutes was the average time of the cases preceding my friends -hers took about 30 seconds as she accepted the lesser charge -they all got the same fine/costs, though.

Dianey - I feel for you!

Pilgrim is right though, it's the revenue aspect. They are given quotas to meet each month, and the last few days of the month, you will see them stop more people for stupid stuff.

Our son got stopped a few months ago, he was driving to work, in his nurses uniform, driving a large pick up truck. Son doesn't speed early in the mornings, he's like me on go slow.

He's driving down this country road from his fiance's house, and this cop comes out of the local fire station, sirens blaring, lights flashing. Son pulled over, thought the cop was going somewhere in a hurry.

Nope, cop was after him, after several minutes of questioning, asking why was he on that road. Duh he lives off of that road! The cop tickets him for the tint on his front window being too low.

Son tells cop it was there when I bought the truck, it's been there for four years.
Cop tells son he's got 24hours to get the whole tint removed, and if he drives down the road the next day with it he'll nail him.

Hello son was on his way to work a 12 hour shift! And it was on the truck when he bought it, not dark either just a light blue/green like most windows have along the top.

Cops around here are nothing but on one big 'ego' trip, with big bully complexes.

Dianey if you go to his Capt. you'll probably get harrassed again. If it happens again, I'd call your local tv station or newspaper, and make it public that nurses get harrassed for driving safely.

Good luck. roll

Actually, the tax payer subsidises these costs as well. The point is that if all traffic violators were to actually fight their case, the entire court system would become bogged down and the costs would become more than was gathered from both taxation and the defendant paying the costs. Obviously, if the defendant wins then they do not pay any costs.

As a violator you are encouraged and advised to run up the white flag before fighting any battles - this is not necessarily for your benefit, is the point I was trying to make.

For the record, when I got ticketed by the Police in Britain, I paid the fine without a court appearance. The reason for this was that I was caught fair and square going way over the limit and a battle would have been a waste of everyone's time - I'm not really talking about these situations which are down to driver stupidity (I certainly think mine was) but was thinking more along the lines of the minor or made-up violations that seem to occur under the quota system - like your friend and Diane getting stopped, for example.

You guys should move to Atlanta, let me tell you what the unofficial laws are here

1.Red light - optional
2.Yellow light - slam on the gas and come to a halt in the middle of the intersection so those with a green cant get round you.
3.No turn on red - N/A
4.Interstate speeding - Doing less then 15mph over gets you run off the road
5.City street speeding - Whatever takes your fancy
6.HOV Violators - Two Points, fine, costs and beating with a rubber hose
7.Tail gating - Ref #4

NoteAll laws applied on Holidays to the fullest extent when you really care about where you are trying to get too

I have never actually received a ticket for anything.

However, my other reasons for being stopped were an illegal lane change (must have seen me come out of the only place in Boulder that will serve a Bloody Mary or a beer at 7am, again not drunk) and driving with my side lights on at dawn when plenty of other people didn't have lights on at all (this happened to be on the day after Boxing Day so probably looking out for drunk people again).

The one time I was stopped for speeding he followed me from a liquor store. I was I think 7mph over the speed limit.

I'm just tired of getting stopped for doing nothing and receiving verbal abuse from people that should know better. Anyway, I've got over it now, so thanks for listening. lol