Several months ago last year when i wasnt driving a RX8 i was in a 89 Taurus..One day i was stopped at a check point and ticketed for not having my belt on, i know there are some states with laws that say cops cant stop you for this reason alone and im not sure about NY.The belt in the taurus only worked intermittently and i didnt have it on when i was stopped for this reason alone, it wasnt working. I was ticketed and i mailed back the ticket saying im not guilty.Tommorow is my court date, Besides telling them the truth.....what else can i tell the judge that could possibly get me off the hook?.:o

you dropped your pot on the floor, so you had to unbuckle your seatbelt to pick it up and hide it from the police

j/k, at this point it's your word against the policeman's...do they have any proof at all that you didn't have it on? there just may be hidden cameras like they do on the expressways...it may end up costing you more if you fight it and waste the courts time rather than just paying the fine

There was 2 or 3 cop cars stopping every single car that passed the check point. There is no way he can remember me or my story! he has no case.Since this is a point on my insurance i will fight it, whatever the cost.Also he got the date on the ticket wrong, he put year 2001 instead of 2003. This is another thing i will mention after i tell my case.

Just as an FYI the police officer will write a report about the ticket. This report includes both sides of the conversation you had with him. They do this so that when they get into court they won't look stupid by not remembering the situation and what was said. Good luck with your argument but I think your fighting a loosing battle.

Try a no contest plea and beg for forgiveness. Promise to never do it again and for the judge to move it down to a lesser fine or a fix it ticket.

Or you can choose to pay more and fight it tooth and nail. I hear calling the judge a fat doodoo head if he disagrees with you will get his attention and make him listen to you.

Here in Texas there is zero tolerance when it comes to seatbelts. They don't care what the excuse is. If it wasn't on when they saw you, it's a ticket. If you said that they didn't work, they would cite neglect on your part since you knew about the issue but did not get it fixed immediately. At this point you are liable for a ticket for "endangerment to yourself and others" since you knew about it and did nothing. They don't joke around here. They can pull you over specifically for not wearing a seatbelt. If you know you will have to unbuckle it at all when you get pulled over, wait until the officer is next to you and can see that you were wearing it.

It doesn't matter if you think he won't remember you directly. That is the number one misconception that people have. Asking for proof is usually the argument. The proof is that you got a ticket for it and that he saw you. If it is his word against yours you can be damned sure yours isn't going to be the one the judge believes. If you mailed back the ticket in protest you just hurt yourself worse since they will interpret that as an attitude issue.

You've dug yourself into a seemingly inescapable hole and you will probably pay for it. It will take a miracle for you to get off. Just pray the cop doesn't show up. Most cops spend entire days in court rooms since many of the tickets they write have the same court date. If they show up the odds are stacked extremely high against you. Judges have heard every excuse you can think of more than once and will know how to deal with it. I'd just accept the fact now that you are out some money. At least that way if you get off you'll be surprised.

Sorry to be negative but you admit that you weren't wearing it and that the problem was known about for a while. You should have fixed it immediately or not driven that car at all. As much as I can't stand cops I think they've got you on this one.

I know im fighting a losing battle..but its a battle i must fight..It was a damn 89 ford, and there was no way i would put down money to fix it.according to this article http://www.motorists.com/ma/law_skirting.html
there are 31 states that have laws that " bans police from pulling drivers over for seat belt violations alone" ,i guess Texas isnt one of them.Im sticking to my story and also saying i did fix the problem shortly after (Got a new car :o ) and hoping the judge isnt a BI....Now if i end up losing, how much $ can they put on top of the original ammount?.I expect the negativity anyway nobody thinks i have a chance, we will see......

Don't think I'm not rooting for you. God knows I love it when someone beats the system. I just don't see much hope. Good luck never the less.

I would start by not posting to a public forum about how I plan to screw the system and lie. :D

Originally posted by murix
I would start by not posting to a public forum about how I plan to screw the system and lie. :D

I agree. No one at Wal Mart admits jack when the female courtesy voice (which really means "You have just jacked our store!") goes off at the exit about once every five seconds.

UPDATE: I went into the court room 30 minutes early today, A few cops showed up later on that didnt resemble the one that ticketed me. Ten minutes later i was called up and so was a cop, i didnt recognize him at all. I was asked all the standard crap and then the judge asked the cop somtehing that i dont particularly remember! the cop answered "No", Next thing i know the judge says "Dismissed".. "Not guilty", Step to the side. Got my receipt left the room and thats how i BEAT THE SYSTEM!. :cool:

I didnt plan on lying to the court, contrary to what murix thought. I was going to tell the TRUTH and hope for the best but i didnt even have to tell my side of the story cause the cop didnt even have a story of his own!.

Well congratulations. And it looks like you didn't have to go and call the judge a doodoo head after all. I have been let off on small traffic violations that way in the past as well. Just wish it happened more often.

haha the judge wasnt a doodoo head at all, he was all right. Last month another ticket i got was dismissed (playing music to loud in my rx8 supposedly..).Not a bad start to the year.

Glad to see that winning the ticket has put you in the right mood. I once had a police officer try to give me a ticket for my window tint being too dark. I just explained to him that it was on the car when I purchased it and that there was nothing I could do. I got out of that lame ticket at least. Better luck in the future.

Originally posted by complex
haha the judge wasnt a doodoo head at all, he was all right. Last month another ticket i got was dismissed (playing music to loud in my rx8 supposedly..).Not a bad start to the year.

So you're like the Wal Mart shopper who stuffs his pockets full of crap, walks right out the damn exit, and the fricking courtesy voice doesn't even go off.

Now I see.

More like the shopper that walks out and the courtesy voice goes off and gets me in trouble even though the person next to me that exited at the same time i did was the one shoplifting. Keep in mind, ive never been to a walmart in my life! WTF is a courtesy voice??

It's the recording that says in a sweet female voice, "I'm sorry, apparently we failed to remove one of our inventory devices."

It's a euphemism for "You just fu**ing jacked our store and now you are in deep sh*t, a**hole."

Does this technology have anything to do with RFID?:o

they made the seat belt law a primary here in Oregon a couple of years ago. so now they can pull you over for it. i have seen right out in front of our store the bicycle cops pull people out of the traffic at the end of the day, one after another, just to ticket for no seat belt