Anyone ever fight a paced speeding ticket?

Oddly enough I got one saturday on my way to a DE 88mph reduced to 84mph I am thinking it was dark and there were lots of other cars on the road so maybe i can get a lawyer and "tell my version of what happened" Anyone ever succesfully fight a VASCAR (sp?) ticket ? Anybody know how to get my ticket fixed for a fee? Anyone from AZ who can recomend a good lawyer? How much? Help!!!!!!!!!!!!

i asked for a small jury trial, and when it came time it was dismissed because the cop didn't show up, i imagine they just didn't want to waste all that time and money with a 6 person jury with such an inaccurate way of determining speed

I did. In my case we proved that the cop did not have enough time to start from a dead stop, accerate to catch up, and then pace for for a minimum distance (I don't remember what that distance was), in order to get an accurrate read on my speed. The other factor in my case was that all this happened on a city street, not a highway... Part of the Judge's ruling was that "pacing" was intended for the highway, not city streets... Roy

The undoubtedly used his speedometer for pacing. The speedometer "head" is removed and calibrated on the test bench, there is NO calibration certificate as installed, too many variables, tire pressure, etc. The officer likely checked the as installed calibration just after coming on-shift with another officer's radar until therefore "hearsay" evidence. When he came on shift the tires were likely cold and he will likely have no idea of the change in accuracy as a result of the tires heating up and air pressure increasing their rolling circumference. And how often does he even check his tire pressure himself? Is the speedometer driven from the front, FWD, or the rear? You don't mention the posted speed limit, if it was 70 or 75 you might have a chance with the above arguments, if 45, you're toast.

i get an attorney involved in all speeding tickets--it's cheaper than increased insurance premiums. your local porsche club should be able to advise you of a good lawyer--porsche owners are great clients and repeat customers.

I got a similar ticket a couple of weeks ago. But mine is 80 in a 65 and the officer didn't pace me. I didn't see him in the carpool lane and passed him. Now is there a law about the calibration thing and do you guys think that it'll be worth fighting (do I have a chance to win)? When I was in college a professor (ex CHP) told us about how they are supposed to have their radar's calibrated every 3 months and that they never did it. I don't remember how to prove this in court.

Let me know how your case turns out as I could use this AZ info for the future. Were you going too fast to qualify for traffic school to get this ticket removed? Thanks.

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just to set the record straight, i think that jason got paced by an airplane (VASCAR), not by a cruiser on the road...

Ouch. Aircraft instruments are pretty accurate. But.... how would the pilot or the co-pilot of the aircraft determine your speed? Match against the wing tip? Or is there a device to make sure the plane is following at the same speed as the car below? I mean if I move my head slightly forwards or backwards (and depending on altitude) matched up against the wing tip (or something or point of reference), you could very possibly be traveling 10 or even 15 miles faster or slower! ????

Have you ever wondered what the white stripes painted a 1/4 mile apart on the highway are for? They're for the highway patrol to time you across a measured distance so they can compute your speed. VASCAR == Vehicle Average Speed Calculator & Recorder

I too, got a speeding ticket over the weekend. I wasn't even in the Porsche. I was driving to the car show with my little boy in the back. He was crying up a storm and I didn't notice the cop behind me. He says I was doing 62 in a 45 but wrote it up for a 62 in a 50. It was 8 in the morning and there was no one on the road. His pacing distance wasn't very far at all either. It was on Laguna Canyon Road. Is it worth getting a lawyer, or should I do the school? If a lawyer, can anyone recommend one in Orange County? First ticket in 12 years.

I absolutely love going to court against a bear in the air. The FAA says his primary responsibility is keeping his eyes open for other air traffic. He dare not testify otherwise, usually he won't even show up in court. Be damn sure he is supenaed by the court.

fight all speeding tickets regardless of guilt or outcome, because the hit it takes on your insurance is terrible, then if you fight and loose they usually have you do a driver Ed. course or give you deffered Ajudication so that it doesn't go on your perm. record

just a little follow up I got a lawyer and he went to court on my behalf today and the officer never showed so my ticket was dismissed!!! The piece of mind representation gave me was worth the price! Plus I didn't have to miss a days work...which would have cost me way more than the price of the lawyer! fight the power!

Congrats Jason!

I go to court on 4-20-04, CHP 91 freeway. 80 in a 65, but don't have representation. Anyone know someone?

996this I very un-informedly found my guy on-line I am sure Cali is Chock-ful of traffic lawyers

FWIW, I was just reading something in the UK (Autocar or a motoring section in the newspaper), and apparently Porsche drivers are the most frequently ticketed by speed cameras. Wasn't too much detail about how they got at that, but seemed to be based on number of tickets for each make divided by some unknown denominator serving as a proxy for ownership (I guess)

Here's a little FYI. I guess you could consider me an expert. (check out my screen name) In regards to calibration, tire pressure and all that other stuff has nothing to do with pacing a vehicle. Officers don't check their cars at the begining of a shift with a radar gun either. Speedos are typically calibrated twice a year. The certificates are kept in the vehicle's file. Copies of the certificate are always brought to court as part of the evidence against the speeder. Same goes for radar units. Although radars are always checked with tuning forks at the begining of a shift and the end of the shift. You can pace a car on city streets or the highway. All you need is a reasonable distance. There is no such distance specified by statute. Most officers maintain a pace for at least ten seconds, as that is usually enough to verify the speed if you are close enough. All you need to do is maintain a speed long enough where the car in front is neither gaining nor losing distance. With regards to pacing from a plane, it is extremely accurate and tough to beat. The pilot has nothing to do with clocking the vehicles. They employ a spotter who records the times and relays them to ground units. Tickets are very tough to beat in general. It's not impossible, but not likely. Most cops will show as they typically are disciplined for not appearing. Besides, it is often overtime for them to be there. On the other hand, if you do go to court, you won't beat it but you will probably get some sort of reduction. This ususally requires an attorney to accomplish this. You have to way out the cost of the attorney vs. the reduction in sentencing. Hope this was helpful. Feel free to ask any questions.

Congtrats Jason. Glad you fought, glad you won.

I have a couple points of interest as well. All of my comments refer to the State of California, and all of my Law Enforcement info refers to Anaheim PD. 1. You can complete Traffic School online. I guarantee you that paying for and completing traffic school is much less expensive than hiring a lawyer. The only negative to this is that you lose a couple hours of your time by doing traffic school online (you lose a whole day of your time if you do traffic school in person). You are eligible for TS every 18 months 2. A good friend is a patrol sgt and he said that the only speedos that get calibrated regularly are the traffic enforcement speedos. The department rarely spends the money to recalibrate the "regular" patrol speedos. This will buy you 5-10 MPH of "wiggle room". It WILL NOT get you out of doing 60 in a 25 zone. 3. If you get nabbed for going less than 10 over the limit, you can claim that your speedo is uncalibrated, and therefore your speedo indicated that you were going within the speed limit. The older your car is, the better this will work. It won't work on a 2004 996. It's even better if you can get a speedo shop to give you a "certification" letter than your speedo is out fo whack. Again, if you were nabbed for less than 5 over, depending on how your speedo is layed out, you can claim that your speedo does not display speed by the individual MPH, but in every 5MPH increments. This is common in some trucks and most cheaper vehicles. 4. With all due respect to deputydog, I have had 3 traffic infractions in 8 years and in each case, the officer did not show up to court. One of them was even a CHP officer! 5. You DO NOT need to hire an attorney to help you win a traffic ticket. If the cop doesnt show up, you win. Period. If the cop does show up, you are more than likely screwed, with or without an attorney. IMHO, I would only hire an attorney for a serious violation such as reckless, DUI, or other violation where my driving privileges are at stake. In cases such as these, good attorneys will run you about $1000.

well.... i must say i will hire an attorney EVERY time! my reasoning: 1) it only cost me $500 2) missing a day of work would cost me more than twice that plus i could not be bothered to go to court (waist of time) if i happened to be off. 3) my guy gets a lot of stuff done at pre-trial conference and often gets stuff dismissed or gets people who should not be eligible traffic school 4)The lawyer may know the judge and or prosecutor and get "a favor" My case was dismissed but i WILL use a lawyer from here on out!

My blood pressure rises every time I read a speeding ticket post. Most of the tickets do nothing to improve road safety. They are a form of taxation. Any township, city, state govt. etc. will tell you that. Regarding traffic "safety:" How many times have you seen someone driving "stupid" (e.g. tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off) and thought aloud, "that deserves a ticket for dangerous driving." Instead, I regularly see motorists pulled over in rush hour for going 10 over while moving in traffic (yes, it happened to me), creating massive commuter "gawker" delays. As long as there are "quotas" for tickets, there will be frivolous enforcement.

Pointless to try to fight a paced ticket anywhere in Europe. The cops will show up in court with a video tape, show a nice footage of your speeding car, the camera system calculating speeds, top and average, distances and every other parameter you can think of. Nah, you're done if your plate shows and the cops have stopped you. That said, the consensus in the States is much more relaxed when it comes to speeding. You guys have no idea about radars and cameras until you've lived in Switzerland. My current ticket pace seems to be 1/mo. The funny thing being, I've yet to receive a ticket with the Porsche as so far it's been just with the Audi (a diesel one even). As for penalties, going more than 40kph excess on highway and you'll be likely to spend a few days in jail and be licenseless for months, even years if you're a repeater. The worse part is that after a certain threshold, your fine will be a certain percentage of your annual income and a sure court case (++expenses). Luckily the insurance rates are not affected by the # of tickets..

wow, i thought that one day i might like to retire to CH, but after reading seravi's post, I better think twice! -ryan

TrojanMan, You've been getting very lucky! You should start playing the lotto

Makes you wonder, if insurance rates don't go up with a speeding ticket in Europe, why do they go up here? Mmmmm...

If it's a serious offence. http://www.ellison-law.com/ If it has to do w/ radars http://stantheradarman.com/ Peter

Wazoo........................... I lived in switzerland for 2 years during the early '90's. Insurance was easily 2 x what I was paying in Illinois. I moved to Belgium, and the rate was 50% more than Switzerland. A colleague moved to Belgium and brought his 928GT with him. The first few insurance quotes he received were for $1000...............per month! I can't even recall how high the annual road tax was, but it would make your nose bleed. Trust me, you don't want to trade insurance rates with Switzerland or any country in Europe. Cheers,