Received a Ticket whilst not speeding

[MercuryFree]

Hi all,

Tonight I was pulled over and received a ticket for doing 63km/h in a 50km/h area. The thing is, I was travelling 46-47km/h at the time, and as such I am extremely pissed.

Does anyone have any advice on how to defend this ridiculous ticket? Anyone had anything similar happen to them?

Cheers in advance

[lucasthefallen]

did you ask to look at the scanner?

[Akane]

No radar readout, no valid afaik.

what i'd do: "Hey cop, can I see the radar readout? No? See you in court"

Record it down with your camera phone. Produce as evidence.

[Bling]

What did you say when you got pulled up?

Probably not much you can do once the ticket is in your hand. If I believed I wasn't doing that speed i'd probably argue it on the spot till I was taken down to the station

[jondee86]

When it gets to court, and it is a choice between believing mr/mrs Joe
Public or the word of a Police Officer, the court will ALWAYS take
the word of the officer. End of story... no argument... you lose.

Cheers... jondee86

[Bling]

Jondee86, just when I thought your avatar was awesome I noticed your sig pic

[mike227]

I'd definitely challenge it in court, though its unlikely you'll win.

Odd cause earlier this year I had nearly the same thing happen to me around oriental parade,

"you were going 66 back there"
'No, I'm pretty sure I was going 47, can I see the read out'
"no, we just drove behind you and matched you speed"
'but you were like almost 100 meters behind me, I honestly do not believe I was going 66'
"Lucky I'm just giving you a warning then"

I was pissed off but mostly disappointed, I know I drive along at around that speed (and i think its odd cause who ever's car I get in I'll be cruising along and look down and I'm always just under 50) and one of my passengers had been looking at the speedo and said that I was going 47 at the time. It kind hit me afterward that there was nothing stopping him from writing out a ticket, that if he had been in a bad mood there is absolutely nothing I could have done.

Its just a bit silly you know, it achieves nothing, you know you weren't speeding, the cop knows you weren't speeding, all it's really going to achieve is pissing you and your friends off, and giving you a very legitimate reason to show no respect at all too the police.


As far as what can you do, I'd make a formal complaint too the Independent Police Conduct Authority (formerly the Police Complaints Authority, but now half of their staff are not police), the officers badge number will be on the ticket. Your complaint may not achieve anything, but if he try's it a few times more (sounds like this officer is on a bit of a power trip and won't be able to help himself) and those people complain also, then they might have a closer look.

[MercuryFree]

She showed me the readout (oh yay, a number that has no link to my car), but when I asked to see a calibration certificate as I have the right to do according to the Police's own "speed enforcement guide" I was informed that they are not kept in the vehicle . There was a car behind me which I think was the real culprit, and I've been reading up on these police radar things and as far as I can tell she would have had no way to tell which of us was the offender....raaaaaage.

To make it even worse, I have a radar detector in my car and had picked her up about 2 minutes before I even saw her, why the hell would I not have adjusted my speed even if I were speeding? (which I bloody well wasn't anyway)

It just pisses me off as no way in hell am I paying a fine for something I didn't actually do (even if it's only $120).

BZG|BLING - I informed the officer that I was not speeding and she must've picked up someone else. Both when she first pulled me up and after she showed me the readout.

Jondee - If I get my manager and assistant manager at work to write letters saying that I am an amazingly upstanding trustworthy individual will that help in any way? *sigh*

Trying to study for exams ffs.

[Mr Revhead]

nah letters from them wont help

a police officers testimony is taken by the courts as fact. unless independant witnesses counter it
independant doesnt mean your mates in the back seat.

[MercuryFree]

nah letters from them wont help

a police officers testimony is taken by the courts as fact. unless independant witnesses counter it
independant doesnt mean your mates in the back seat.

9:50pm @ night, nobody around. *sigh*.

Guess the only way I'm going to win this is to take it to court and quiz the officer in question as to how she determined out of the four cars in front of her it was me speeding. "The radar said so" "The radar told you it was my car?" "nah, um, you were the closest so it must've been you" "radar doesn't work that way dearie"

eurv3aqnieuaq

[fivebob]

Guess the only way I'm going to win this is to take it to court and quiz the officer in question as to how she determined out of the four cars in front of her it was me speeding. "The radar said so" "The radar told you it was my car?" "nah, um, you were the closest so it must've been you" "radar doesn't work that way dearie"

Actually the radar will say so, well at least it will say there is only one vehicle in the beam. IIRC the radar emits some sound that tells the operator there's only one vehicle and then the operator can lock the speed in.

There's been a few cases in Australia where the cop had this sound switched off (listening to the radio!!) and had to admit that in court, so the driver got off

[flygt4]

in all honesty you're likely gonna lose in court , or at best , cost yourself more $$$ in the long run.
unless the demerits are going to DQ you then its probly easier to let it go and pay the fine.
(i know this is what the cops hoping for, but it sucks that its true)

I had a false accusation by an officer of excessive acceleration make it all the way to the judge (3x court appearances) before the police prosecutor stood up and said that "none of the criteria for the charge to be laid had been met" , ie I had done nothing wrong and cop was fishing for an easy guilty plea.
it cost me my car for 28 days, $400 impound fee, a couple hundred lawyers fees, and 3 mornings off work. I only fought it because i would have lost my license if found guilty.

[ROBODISCO_20v]

Had the same thing happen to me a few years back when I had the 86. When I asked to see the radar he said he followed me at the alleged speed. He was at least 50m behind me when I saw his lights come on so I knew he was full of it. Then when he asked me how fast I though Id been going I said my speedo didnt work so he gave me a ticket for my car not being upto wof standard as well as the speeding ticket!
I wrote in trying to get off both tickets, I was more concerned about the speeding ticket as I knew that car wasnt really in great condition but to my surprise they let me off that. Couldnt get out of the speeding ticket though.

Write in protesting your innocence by all means, but I dont like your chances of getting off. The worst that can happen is you'll drag out your payment time & make the f#@kers work for their money

[xsspeed]

Yeah definately complain. F*ckers pulled me over once when I went through some lights (green) they had a guy with the radar and a chick at the next bus stop. They were wired up, so he obviously told her to flag me down. Gave me a ticket for 62 iirc, I asked to see radar, she asked her partner, he replied "already cleared it sorry". Dodge as f***. I wrote in but didnt get off, was pissed but then just took it on the chin. Never had a ticket since, touch wood.

[lucasthefallen]

no quota system eh.

[MercuryFree]

Guess the only way I'm going to win this is to take it to court and quiz the officer in question as to how she determined out of the four cars in front of her it was me speeding. "The radar said so" "The radar told you it was my car?" "nah, um, you were the closest so it must've been you" "radar doesn't work that way dearie"

Actually the radar will say so, well at least it will say there is only one vehicle in the beam. IIRC the radar emits some sound that tells the operator there's only one vehicle and then the operator can lock the speed in.

There's been a few cases in Australia where the cop had this sound switched off (listening to the radio!!) and had to admit that in court, so the driver got off

The radar said nothing other than "detected speed" and "patrol car speed".

Ie. a little red 63 and a little green 49. No other lights on, no other displays etc

In any case, there would have been at LEAST two of us in the beam.

in all honesty you're likely gonna lose in court , or at best , cost yourself more $$$ in the long run.
unless the demerits are going to DQ you then its probly easier to let it go and pay the fine.
(i know this is what the cops hoping for, but it sucks that its true)

I have only ever had one ticket so only have 20 demerit points on my licence, I'm not at all worried about those it's just the bullshit nature of some bitch cop wanting me to pay $120 for something I haven't done. I'm a student, I don't have have $120 lying around for the Cop Quota Fund.

[matt dunn]

You'll go to court, probably have to pay fee's, and the ticket.

Pay up and give up, it's the cheapest option.

[Adamal]

no quota system eh.

They do have a quota, but its for the amount of stops they have to make per hour, not a number of tickets they have to issue/dollar amount to pull in.

[pjay]

When it gets to court, and it is a choice between believing mr/mrs Joe
Public or the word of a Police Officer, the court will ALWAYS take
the word of the officer. End of story... no argument... you lose.

Cheers... jondee86

Pfft i just came out on top of a my word vs police's word case less than a month ago, and a friend just last fortnight. Most Judges ARE fair no matter what anybody says.

Challenge it. Same thing happened to a friend over the w/e, ticket for going 80km/h in a temporary 30km/h. Except he was going 50, and the limit in that area is 80 anyway, and there was no temp 30 sign!?!

If the case draws out all the way to a defended hearing, the cop possibly wont show. Nobody likes to piss around, but if you can piss the case around to a defended hearing, you have a good chance of coming out on top.

[MercuryFree]

Ticket arrived in the post today, time to write a 2 page angry letter to the Police Infringements Bureau and see if they pull their heads out of their asses