So, I got a speeding ticket on Friday (my first one). The speeding method was "paced", which basically means he matched my speed from behind and looked at his speedometer. I was "paced" going 64 in a 45mph on the service road. What is the best way to approach this situation? Any advice is welcomed.

 

well prob just pay it and learn ur lesson but you cold get an attorney and take it to court but there is not much you could go on!

 

Always go to court for speeding tickets, especially for "paced" (aka 'clocked') violations.

Neatly dressed, groomed, and respectful, most times you'll get out of it.

 

Agreed with the above statements. If you were indeed doing that speed then the best bet would be simply to show up in court and see if you can get reduced fees.

If you're fortunate to live in a state where the police officer must show up, sometimes they won't bother. Either way, you have a much better chance of getting the ticket dismissed or reduced fines just by showing up.

 

really? but i thought IF the cop shows up you're pretty much screwed, 'cuz the court basically always sides w/ the cop on this and then you can't even go to traffic skool anymore (so if it's your first speeding tix in a while, you lose points)

 

^well even if the cop shows up you may still get like the points dropped or fine lowered as long as ur respectable etc etc

 

I would fight it, then drop the old I had a new set of wheels and tires on my car and I found out the hard way that day that my speedometer was off and I went and had it adjusted after this. This was in no way a excuse, I was probably speeding and I apologize for this but I didnt realize it was that bad. That is if you have a clean record, I have one so I dont know if it would work until I have to try my excuses one day. Then again I would drop that on the officer when he pulled me over in the first place.

 

You can argue that you were not speeding, 64 in a 45. Never admit to knowing the speed limit and knowing you were going faster then the posted limit. Most states have a maximum speed limit of 55 MPH for roads other then the freeway, so you can check the signs and if they were not posted very well you could argue that you thought it was a 55 zone. And then say you thought you were going 55, because the last time you looked at your speedometer you were going 55. Now because you are admiting that you were speeding, the best you can get is a fine reduction. Also mention that no one else was on the road, your speed was safe for the conditions (dry, well lit and straight road), you were not endangering anyone and you are very sorry.

Again the cop usually has to show up, but becareful because some judges wont let you attend trafic school if you fight it and lose. If thats the case, you should not contest it.

If you do contest it, and the cop shows up, the best thing that can happen is that the fine is reduced. You wont win. No defense to pacing.

 

Hey, sounds familiar but I had 68 in a 45. Apparently they just need to be behind you for about 4 seconds to pace you long enough to have reliable information. The cop for me pulled out from a shopping center that was adjacent to a red light. I was pulled over less than 1/4 mile from that light. Problem is, I know I had just reached 45 when I saw the lights.

I don't really know a good way to approach these situations, since it seems by being "paced," they can just say whatever they hell they want without question. Maybe look into what records they have of their speed v. your speed if you really want to fight it. Depending on the price of the ticket, it may just be easier and cheaper to take the hit and take a class to get the points off your license.

 

Contest it and get the fine reduced, then pay up and watch out for cops in the future when driving over the speed limit.

You could get a lawyer, but it's going to cost more then the ticket, and you WERE speeding, weren't you? I've never been tagged by a cop for speeding when i was driving under the limit. I have gotten 2 warnings and a ticket 5 years ago though.

When i got my ticket I went to court, and told the magistrate I wasn't driving any faster then anyone else on the road (true, it was a speed trap at the bottom of a hill), and I just wanted the minimum fine. It got me $150 off my ticket.

 

IN California anytime an official vehicle is exceeding the posted speed limit for an area, the official vehicle must have either an red light facing forward on, or a siren on.

I have gotten out of one ticket with this before, when I pointed out to the judge that the cop broke the law in exceeding the posted speed limit to pace me.

You may try and see if TX has a similar law. But in honesty with how pissed the Judge was that I knew about it, I was worried that it was going to be 50/50 decision.

 

take a defensive driving course and be more careful in the future.

 

I fought and won a paced ticket before.
The key is to instill doubt in the officer's statement.

I was paced over a bridge. The officer stated pacing approximately eighth mile distance behind me. By procedure, the officer needs to keep eye contact on the target for a set duration of time, a handful of seconds, holding a steady pace. The thing is, the bridge has an arc, and if the officer was behind an eighth mile, there is a point where I disappear from his line of sight as I crest over. The point at which I crest is way too short a time for him to establish target lock duration.

You can probably find yourself a line of sight defense by looking out a map.

Good luck.

 

same thing happened to me (65 in a 45). cop told me his computers were down in his car and asked "You dont want this ticket, do you?" Next time I probably won't be so lucky...

 

Did breaking the law invalidate the case because the cop is no longer is a cop at that point in time? I thought the issue generates another case where you charge the cop with an illegal speed trap, but your charge remains the same.

 

one more mile per hour and that would of been reckless driving. in california its considered any thing 20 over the speed limit. if thats the same in texas you might have had a nice cop that didn't want to slap you with reckless driving.

 

Any information gathered illegally is inadmissible in court, therefore his "pacing" statement is inadmissible, meaning he cannot charge you with anything, and your ticket is dismissed

 

Ah~ I see.

 

And for those of us who know the CVC, and laugh at this comment.....

In California, an illegal speed trap can be used as a defense....but it requires an out of date traffic and engineering survey on the stretch of road in question, among other things.

 

Disclaimer: The laws in your state may be different, but i assume they are all basically the same.

In Hawaii for an officer to pace you he must have high speedo annually(more often?) certified just like a radar/lidar/laser gun. There are also specific procedures he must follow. I may be a bit off as its been a while but;
-he has to be directly behind(within 50 yds) you or in the lane adjacent to you(ie not 4 lanes across the hwy).
-he has to pace you for a minumum of 400yds(roughly 1/4 mile)

The drawing below shows my case. Two highways merging together with the inner lanes merging into one lane. The speed limit over this entire area shown is 55mph.
I was the green car, unmarked cop was the blue car. Was late night and the road was empty. At the point i drew the first vehicle locations(left) is where i first saw the unmarked cop, at this point i was doing 76mph. Being an unmarked Camaro i didnt recognize it as a police vehicle. Notice what lanes we are in. The green and blue lines show our path of travel. The second vehicle locations show where he turned on the takedown lights(note the red light and my frowny face). At this point i had slowed to 70mph as i was a bit disturbed at the lane changing actions and explosive acceleration of the Camaro.
The unmarked Camaro was in the adjacent lane or behind me from for the distance shown in black. I was given a citation for doing 91mph, which was obviously the speed the unmarked Camaro was going to catch up to me, not the speed i was doing. I didnt argue with him.

I went to court and explained that i had gone back and measured the distance i had been on the now merged highway. By law he couldnt have been pacing me prior to that. I took an ariel photo(thanks internet) of the location and marked up positions and re-created the incident. My case was not to get out of the ticket, i told the judge straight up that i WAS speeding, but only at 76, then 70mph vs 91mph on my ticket; and that i wasnt looking to get it dropped, only corrected. At the time the penalties werent much different, i did it out of principle. I got nothing out of it, paid the 91mph ticket...




Moral of the story, or my take on pacing citations: unless the officer hasnt had his speedo certified, i think its useless to fight pacing tickets unless you have photographic/video evidence, or data logs or something hard. Otherwise its the officers account vs yours. You'll never win that battle...

 

If you were speeding, why not just pay the ticket? I'd fight it if it was wrong, but if not it's just stupid. There seems to be some odd morals about driving laws in here.

I don't know what you have to pay if you get caught, but if I do 81km/h in 70km/h zone I'd have to pay about $500 I guess. Pretty ugly money, but you do what you do.

 

I do agree. In my case i made it clear to the judge i had no intention of trying to get out scott free. My intentions were more of making a point on principle. I had no issue paying a ticket for the speed i was doing(or close even). But even though the penalty wasnt much different i had an issue with the idea the cops are running around out there not pacing people properly. The way the laws in HI have changed since, if that exact same thing were to happen ot another HI driver now, instead of a ticket for 91mph when they were doing mid 70's, they could be looking at jail time!

 

pob will spend more money going to court missing work etc etc than just paying the fine and learn a lesson

 

+1...

 

I'd probably do the same thing in your case, as it's basically being wronged (eventhough you were speeding a bit). And I'm a stubborn bastard