%#^!#$ AHHHHH!!

[Kal]

Bang on.

All tools used to legally nail speeders in the UK need to be calibrated. So if he followed you he'd need to prove his speedo was correct.

Isnt there a beyond all doubt clause at the heart of all law in North America?

BTW. Looking down at road bad. Flicking eyes over speedo to make sure you are within the limit good. Otherwise we'd have speedos on stalks with the mirrors.

In fact its part of my mirror check when I move my eyes from my right mirror to my left one.

[rapidblue]

I was in court one day waiting to explain my own ticket(cop forged the date) and I was watching another hearing.

was he trying to get it counted toward last month's quota or something? i'm trying to think of a motivation.

Our tickets have like 3 carbon pages. he forgot to write the date on the ticket when he first wrote it out. Driver(me) gets the to copy and he keeps the others. So my copy didn't have the date but magically come trial date his copy managed to have a date on there, umm illegal=no ticket for me.

/thread hijack

[Dirtytoes]

oh and yes, it WAS an estimate. i remember telling him that i wasn't going that fast and he said:

"we've been trained to just able to tell by our eyes how fast you were going"

....peesh ya right!

[flynrider]

It's been about a decade and a half since my last ticket, but I do remember that (at least here in AZ) there was a box on the ticket where the officer had to put down how the speed was measured (i.e. time between two points, radar, calibrated speedo, etc...). Does your ticket say anything about how your speed was measured?

You said :

i told him that i wasn't looking at my speedo because the MSF poeple told me to never look down

Do not say this or anything like this if you do go to court. It sounds like a lame excuse. Would a judge believe that the motorcycle training course would tell you never to look at your speedometer? Or would it be more likely that you misunderstood or misinterpreted a statement about always keeping your eyes on the road? I think the latter would be more likely, and could very well earn you a guilty verdict.

[Kal]

"we've been trained to just able to tell by our eyes how fast you were going"

Uh-huh so Police cars have speedos fitted why exactly?

[NorthernPete]

Well, some of the times they use other objects to calculate the speed, I mean, you can usually tel if something is WAY over the speed limit. How ever its not as sound as a radar hit, it can hold up. Im betting you were keeping an eye on your speed on the way home now though wernt you. shoulda let you off with a warning.

[BubbaGump]

oh and yes, it WAS an estimate. i remember telling him that i wasn't going that fast and he said:

"we've been trained to just able to tell by our eyes how fast you were going"

....peesh ya right!

I guess the question would be why would they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment, training and manpower to get their traffic cops qualified in using technical equipment if any shaved ape can be "trained" to just with their eyes?

[spur55]

Hmmm....just wasn't your lucky day. How many times were you speeding and didn't get caught? With me, just about everytime I get on my bike. I know it's just a matter of time, when your in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yeah, you can fight the ticket or just pay your dues...Good luck...

[Dirtytoes]

...at least here in AZ) there was a box on the ticket where the officer had to put down how the speed was measured (i.e. time between two points, radar, calibrated speedo, etc...). Does your ticket say anything about how your speed was measured?

idk, i remember seeing it say "estimate" somewhere on there, that was yesterday...but when i look at it now, i don't see anything....it just says, appx speed [60] , speed lmt [40]..

but anyway

I guess the question would be why would they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment, training and manpower to get their traffic cops qualified in using technical equipment if any shaved ape can be "trained" to just with their eyes? Rolling Eyes

seriosuly, i think i'm gonna bring that up when i go to court....

i read that the cop gets anywhere from $200-$300 if he shows up to court on that day....true/false?

eitherway, i hope the officer doesn't show because then i have to sit there for fifty hours, then try talk for another 50 hours to the judge...etc...etc....and if he does show, then i'm definitly fighting it.

[MrGompers]

I would check out http://www.motorists.org/ for some useful general info.
Look on the left for the button that says "fight your traffic ticket"

Others have made some good suggestions here already. Prolly the best one is look on the ticket for any checkboxes describing how your speed was determined. (not all states have these boxes)

I can tell you from personal experience if those boxes are there and nothing is checked it will be dismissed. I received a ticket like this in Massachusettes years ago and the box wasn't checked. Showed up in court plead not guilty case dismissed. I was in court for five minutes.

Next time you get pulled over remember not to say anything incriminating. Anything you say will be written down by the officer and used against you in court. Also, ALWAYS keep a photocopy of the ticket. When you get to court compare your copy to the states copy. You'd be surprised how many tickets are changed before you get to court.