I've trusted many of you for advice about what to do with marketing and insurance coverage, so I figured I'd throw this one out there and see what the consensus of opinion is.
I was driving home from a training seminar the other day. I had made one stop to run an errand and was in an unfamiliar area that I have driven through before maybe one other time, about a year ago. I was trying to get back to the interstate. I turned left out of the shopping center parking lot onto the road that connects with the highway, thinking to myself "I need to watch my speed here because I seem to remember the speed limit is unusually low for this type of road" -- a four-lane road with a small grass and trees median in the middle that cuts through a residential area. I traveled eastbound in the left lane about 2/10ths of a mile before I saw a signal about a 1/10 of a mile ahead that turned yellow, so I began to slow down. The signal turned red. I had slowed down to less than 10 mph and was preparing to stop at the marked stop line when the signal turned green.
As I was slowing down and preparing to stop for the red signal, I noticed two police cars parked parallel to one another, yet facing opposite directions -- one north, one south -- so that the officers in each car could talk to one another directly through their driver's side windows.
When the signal turned green, I smoothly accelerated through the intersection. I saw that the northbound facing police officer had turned right on red behind me. He pulled into my lane (the left lane) and almost immediately turned on his lights to signal me to pull over. I turned right into the next available side street and parked, and the officer parked directly behind me. A few second later, the second officer (who had apparently turned around) in behind the first.
I kept my hands on the steering wheel, rolled down the window, waited for the officer to approach.
Me; "How can I help you officer?"
PO: "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
[I'm thinking maybe I have a tailight or headlight that's out ....even though I had had a burned out rear brake light replaced just the day before when I got the oil changed in the vehicle]
me: "No, I have no idea."
PO: "Well, I clocked you going 41 miles an hour in a 25-mile an hour zone."
Me: "Really????????" I kept my voice calm but I did do the arched eyebrow thing because I was so flabbergasted and incredulous. No way I was going 41.
The officer took my license, registration, and proof of insurance back to his squad car. Comes back a few minutes later with a citation for driving 16-24 mph over the limit. I asked the officer to pinpoint for me exactly where he observed me going 41.
He said "Well, my partner saw you going 43 and and you were going 41 when I clocked you just when you saw me."
Me: "Again, officer, exactly where was that?"
Officer: "When you were travelling eastbound on [road]."
I politely explained to the officer that I thought he was wrong. I told him "My wife is never going to believe that I received a ticket becuse she is always giving me a hard time for driving too slow. I'm the guy who sets his cruise control at the speed limit. You have got to be kidding me."
The officer explained to me my options, which are to 1) plead guilty and may a $120 fine with the ticket going to my MVR; 2)plead guilty, pay a $160 fine and attend traffic school, with no points against my license (since this is my first citation in more than 13 years), but the ticket still could appear on my MVR and thus affect my insurance rates if I want to change companies; or 3) plead not guilty and request a trial.
PO: "But of you take that option you have to pay $160 just to get in the door, and you may still lose the case and have to pay the fine anyway."
I'm thinking to myself.."Since when do I have to pay money to exercise my right to due process?" but I could see I was getting nowhere so I took the ticket and and said "Have a nice day, officer."
I went back the next day and took several photos of the area after I did some calculations. The best I can figure is that IF I did accelerate to 41 mph (which I firmly believe I did not do, I was traveling at a safe speed for the conditions and was treading lightly because I knew the speed limit was low), I could only have achived that speed in about a 100-yard zone before the spot where I began to slow down for the light. What's more that zone is barely visible from where the officer was parked, and there are several trees and a large marquee for a building that obstruct the view of the road, and the other officer was parked alongside of him, as well remember. Not sure how he could have gotten a clean radar reading until I popped out from behind the marquee, by which time I would have slowed considerably for the light and would have been travelling well under the limit.
So my question is this....
Should I plead guilty and go to traffic school? Obviously, this is a no-risk option that just takes an investment of time (4 hours on a Saturday) and money, which is really tight right now.
Or, do you think there's enough reasonable doubt here that I have a chance at being found "not guilty" should I roll the dice and request a trial? To me this is the principled thing to do.
My defense strategy would be to 1) notify the prosecutor of "Discovery" and ask for information on the year, make, model, S/N of the the device used to measure my speed, and info on the maintenace and calibration records of the device; and 2) if it gets to this point, use a blown up google maps to ask the office EXACTLY where he observed me going 41. If he can't pinpoint a place, or if he pinpoints a place outside the 100-yard zone or that is outside his clear line of sight, I think I have a pretty strong case.
After putting two and two together, I believe the other officer might have observed a different vehicle ( I drive a black SUV...boy, those aren't very common, are they?) speeding on a part of the road that I didn't even travel on (perhaps before the light where I turned left onto the road) and that this is a case of mistaken identity.
BTW, the next day when I was taking my photos, etc. (being SURE to drive under the speed limit at all times on this road), another officer pulled his unmarked cruiser into the same spot at the cross street, and about two minutes later, pulled over some lady in a Chevy.
I was driving home from a training seminar the other day. I had made one stop to run an errand and was in an unfamiliar area that I have driven through before maybe one other time, about a year ago. I was trying to get back to the interstate. I turned left out of the shopping center parking lot onto the road that connects with the highway, thinking to myself "I need to watch my speed here because I seem to remember the speed limit is unusually low for this type of road" -- a four-lane road with a small grass and trees median in the middle that cuts through a residential area. I traveled eastbound in the left lane about 2/10ths of a mile before I saw a signal about a 1/10 of a mile ahead that turned yellow, so I began to slow down. The signal turned red. I had slowed down to less than 10 mph and was preparing to stop at the marked stop line when the signal turned green.
As I was slowing down and preparing to stop for the red signal, I noticed two police cars parked parallel to one another, yet facing opposite directions -- one north, one south -- so that the officers in each car could talk to one another directly through their driver's side windows.
When the signal turned green, I smoothly accelerated through the intersection. I saw that the northbound facing police officer had turned right on red behind me. He pulled into my lane (the left lane) and almost immediately turned on his lights to signal me to pull over. I turned right into the next available side street and parked, and the officer parked directly behind me. A few second later, the second officer (who had apparently turned around) in behind the first.
I kept my hands on the steering wheel, rolled down the window, waited for the officer to approach.
Me; "How can I help you officer?"
PO: "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
[I'm thinking maybe I have a tailight or headlight that's out ....even though I had had a burned out rear brake light replaced just the day before when I got the oil changed in the vehicle]
me: "No, I have no idea."
PO: "Well, I clocked you going 41 miles an hour in a 25-mile an hour zone."
Me: "Really????????" I kept my voice calm but I did do the arched eyebrow thing because I was so flabbergasted and incredulous. No way I was going 41.
The officer took my license, registration, and proof of insurance back to his squad car. Comes back a few minutes later with a citation for driving 16-24 mph over the limit. I asked the officer to pinpoint for me exactly where he observed me going 41.
He said "Well, my partner saw you going 43 and and you were going 41 when I clocked you just when you saw me."
Me: "Again, officer, exactly where was that?"
Officer: "When you were travelling eastbound on [road]."
I politely explained to the officer that I thought he was wrong. I told him "My wife is never going to believe that I received a ticket becuse she is always giving me a hard time for driving too slow. I'm the guy who sets his cruise control at the speed limit. You have got to be kidding me."
The officer explained to me my options, which are to 1) plead guilty and may a $120 fine with the ticket going to my MVR; 2)plead guilty, pay a $160 fine and attend traffic school, with no points against my license (since this is my first citation in more than 13 years), but the ticket still could appear on my MVR and thus affect my insurance rates if I want to change companies; or 3) plead not guilty and request a trial.
PO: "But of you take that option you have to pay $160 just to get in the door, and you may still lose the case and have to pay the fine anyway."
I'm thinking to myself.."Since when do I have to pay money to exercise my right to due process?" but I could see I was getting nowhere so I took the ticket and and said "Have a nice day, officer."
I went back the next day and took several photos of the area after I did some calculations. The best I can figure is that IF I did accelerate to 41 mph (which I firmly believe I did not do, I was traveling at a safe speed for the conditions and was treading lightly because I knew the speed limit was low), I could only have achived that speed in about a 100-yard zone before the spot where I began to slow down for the light. What's more that zone is barely visible from where the officer was parked, and there are several trees and a large marquee for a building that obstruct the view of the road, and the other officer was parked alongside of him, as well remember. Not sure how he could have gotten a clean radar reading until I popped out from behind the marquee, by which time I would have slowed considerably for the light and would have been travelling well under the limit.
So my question is this....
Should I plead guilty and go to traffic school? Obviously, this is a no-risk option that just takes an investment of time (4 hours on a Saturday) and money, which is really tight right now.
Or, do you think there's enough reasonable doubt here that I have a chance at being found "not guilty" should I roll the dice and request a trial? To me this is the principled thing to do.
My defense strategy would be to 1) notify the prosecutor of "Discovery" and ask for information on the year, make, model, S/N of the the device used to measure my speed, and info on the maintenace and calibration records of the device; and 2) if it gets to this point, use a blown up google maps to ask the office EXACTLY where he observed me going 41. If he can't pinpoint a place, or if he pinpoints a place outside the 100-yard zone or that is outside his clear line of sight, I think I have a pretty strong case.
After putting two and two together, I believe the other officer might have observed a different vehicle ( I drive a black SUV...boy, those aren't very common, are they?) speeding on a part of the road that I didn't even travel on (perhaps before the light where I turned left onto the road) and that this is a case of mistaken identity.
BTW, the next day when I was taking my photos, etc. (being SURE to drive under the speed limit at all times on this road), another officer pulled his unmarked cruiser into the same spot at the cross street, and about two minutes later, pulled over some lady in a Chevy.
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