Advice Required

[glo]

New to the forum but I have been riding since I was ten years old and I'm now 36 with a 04R1. SO a big hello to all the members.

That being said I am after some friendly advice with out to much flaming.

A few weeks ago I got caught onthe 93 doing 125mph ($700+)and got a ticket which I have requested a court hearing for. Any advice how I can save myself a few bucks, get away with it, good exuses. Does anyone know any attorneys that can maybe help me out. I don't want to loose my license.

Note it was 5:30am on a saturday morig going into work with very little traffic.


Thanks in advance.


glo

[SSearchVT]

Wow, getting caught going that fast is going to be a tough one to talk down. You're lucky handcuffs weren't brought out. The best advice I can give is if you have other tickets on your record stall the hearings as much as you can to buy some time for them to clear.

Good Luck...

[glo]

It was estimated at 125mph, Not radared. Plus when the trooper initially approached me he stated " I was doing around 100mph". Then when he brought me the ticket he had changed it to 125mph.

[Awesome]

You can get a lawyer but I doubt it's worth the cost. Try to talk to the trooper before the meeting with the magistrate and ask if he would consider reducing it. Take responsability and don't make any excuses when you speak with him, just be straight up. You might be ok since all you got charged with was speeding, and no reckless anything. Good luck.

[dhuze]

I would try to plead to the fact that I was "only" doing 90. Yes it's fast sounding and you would be admitting to speeding, but the penalty is much less severe (25 over and under 100).

I would also talk to a lawyer. they cost money but they dont take your license.

lately I have been hearing a lot of cops "guessing" how fast people are going. I don't buy it and would fight it every time. My boss just got pulled over and the cop told him he could judge speed just as well as a radar. He got a ticket too for 65 in a 30.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by glo
It was estimated at 125mph, Not radared. Plus when the trooper initially approached me he stated " I was doing around 100mph". Then when he brought me the ticket he had changed it to 125mph.

yer fucked, if he increaced his initial estimate he musta not liked your attitude , the 4 or 5 times I have been stopped at speeds over a ton, I rode away with a verbal warning, and I never been caught going over 100 on a highway, all my incidents were in 30-40 mph zones

[bigred875]

STOP BREAKING THE LAW ASSHOLE!!!!

[Lucky13]

What's your driving record like? Is it clean? If it is I bet this will help reduce the penalty. If your record is two pages long you're screwed.

[Rhonda66]

Originally posted by hessogood
You can get a lawyer but I doubt it's worth the cost. Try to talk to the trooper before the meeting with the magistrate and ask if he would consider reducing it. Take responsability and don't make any excuses when you speak with him, just be straight up. You might be ok since all you got charged with was speeding, and no reckless anything. Good luck.

I agree. You're lucky he didn't take the license then and there. I got busted on 128 in a cage doing 100+ many years ago and I told the cop "what can I say? You got me" and he gave me a ticket for 85 and said I was lucky he didn't take my license then and there. I had to suck it up and pay the massive ticket, but life went on.

I went to court a couple of years ago to fight another much more minor ticket and there was a kid there who got busted doing something like 125 in his dad's Mercedes. When he said he "was only doing like 100" everyone in the room snickered and needless to say he didn't get off, but they did have pity on him and reduced the ticket a little and he didn't lose his license.

Good luck!

[richw]

OK Annual Old Man advise

Go to the court house where the ticket will be tried.
Stand back to the court house and look across the street and around.

Spot the lawyers office nearest to the court house steps and go in and ask if they do traffic court. If no go to the next nearest.

Sign up for the (should be) $500 retainer Have a check with you. Your story is that you were speeding but 125 is ridiculous. The officer appeared very aggitated so you were not going to argue with him/her. You are remorseful but this ticket is way out of line.

The D/A will cut you some kind of deal, with your attorney your usually not present for "the deal" ask for a ticket for 14 MPH over. Or no ticket and they suggest a donation to a charity.

If it isn't pure revenue enhancement you will have a 60/40 chance of walking with fees plus a donation. More important free for the next event and no insurance increase which is the
Real Fine.

[bump909]

how'd he catch you?

[dhuze]

Originally posted by bump909
how'd he catch you?

Not everybody wants a felony evasion charge so we stop.

[bigred875]

Originally posted by dhuze
Not everybody wants a felony evasion charge so we stop.

pussy

[highsider]

Originally posted by richw
OK Annual Old Man advise

Go to the court house where the ticket will be tried.
Stand back to the court house and look across the street and around.

Spot the lawyers office nearest to the court house steps and go in and ask if they do traffic court. If no go to the next nearest.

Sign up for the (should be) $500 retainer Have a check with you. Your story is that you were speeding but 125 is ridiculous. The officer appeared very aggitated so you were not going to argue with him/her. You are remorseful but this ticket is way out of line.

The D/A will cut you some kind of deal, with your attorney your usually not present for "the deal" ask for a ticket for 14 MPH over. Or no ticket and they suggest a donation to a charity.

If it isn't pure revenue enhancement you will have a 60/40 chance of walking with fees plus a donation. More important free for the next event and no insurance increase which is the
Real Fine.

Amazingly, I have to agree with richw.

Get a lawyer. This whole mess is going to cost you a few bucks, so dont be afraid to spend $500 on a good traffic lawyer. A good lawyer is usually on a first name basis with the DA, and this helps immensely.

Also, if he doesn't have you on radar at 125, I would fight the entire thing - i.e., prove I was speeding at all.

[bump909]

Originally posted by dhuze
Not everybody wants a felony evasion charge so we stop.

i should have been more specific. i just wanted to know the details of how he got stopped. did he blow by the cop on the side of the road? was he trying to pace him?

[glo]

Thanks for all the help.
The trooper was on the side of the road giving out another ticket, so soft arsed me after i had gone past him decide to give it some gas. Little did I know he had just finished writing the ticket.Next thing I knew he was in my mirrors flashing his lights.

Hey it is pretty easy to break the law on an R1

[SVRACER01]

if he EVER "lost sight of you" then you can argue the "it wasnt me" defense. this usually only works if you didnt admit to ANYTHING at the time of the ticket and just denied everything and took the ticket with a smile. this way in court you can claim that someone else blew by you at an incredible speed right before you got pulled over. this especially works if your bike is at or near stock and only you can tell the difference from your R1 and the next. this way you take pictures of several R1s and other motorcycles and tell him to pick YOUR bike out. if he addmitted to doing 100mph to catch you then there is no way that he would have ever caught up to you if you were doing 125 (simple math) use this simple math to your advantage if the above is not an option for you.
An Interceptor (police car) goes 0-100 in something like 25sec (motor trend) add this time to running to his car and get going (15sec) and then figure out how far away "you" would have been away from him at 125mph. on a guesstimate.....you are alredy at least a mile ahead of him and pulling away, so mathimatically there is no way he would have EVER caught up to you close enough for you to even know you were being stopped so said "125" is rediculous and you can "admit" to something more beleivable like 85mph or something. Without radar he really shouldnt have much to stand on.
visit your library and read up on some "fighting tickets" books and they will also help you with conducting youself in the courtroom (objections, etc...) hope something here helps. been there....fought that.....won some....lost more

[ssg]

do you know what speed you were doing when you actually got pegged?

Im just trying to figure out how a non-jato equipped leo catches anyone hauling along at 125. Running or no...the math just doesen't go, unless he was in a black leather vest and had a wookie in the passenger seat.

[ChR1s]

1. never admit guilt -- i.e., you don't say, "But I was only going ___."

2. bear in mind that for traffic citations, all The Man needs to present to the court is "facts sufficient" to get you a "responsible" finding. Plan accordingly.

[ancosta]

The $700 is incidental, the surcharge is a bitch though. Find out how many points it is if you are found speeding at that rate, e.g. is it the same as +10 over.

A good attorney can make or break the entire thing. I spent about $1k out of my own pocket when I was literally almost killed in a massive traffic accident in 1998. SVT contour, Talon TSi, 2 guys in their mid 20's who know each other, must have been drag racing. The Talon was being driven by a local kid whom I hadn't seen in YEARS. He hit me from the side, trying to overtake me while I was taking a left, pushign my car about 250' down the road. He shaved a telephone pole in half, flipped nose over tail, and took the entire wheel, susp & front fender out of my car. He looked like he was beyond dead when I walked up to the car, sparking power lines flopping around and all.

He went to the hospital and registered .35 on the drunkometer or blood test. I told my honest story to the police twice, they named me a suspect to a crime, told me I would go to jail, then I shut up. Recieved a summons in the mail a few days later.

It took a decent criminal attorney to show up for 2 magistrates hearings to get me out of drag racing, driving to endanger, blah blah blah. If I didn't have that attorney with me, I would have been hung at high noon regardless of what I said. If that is possible, just think how well an "estimated" 125mph will stick up in court.

The other guy was never charged with DUI by the police, regardless of me telling the police he was drunk, the hostpial recording he was drunk (that documentation was used to throw out the police charges).

Bottom line for you - get a lawyer if you want high chances of getting the fine reduced but if you are getting the same surcharge as if +10 over limit, you are going to pay equal amt for lawyer then you'd save on ticket.

[JeffL]

Honestly, I'd try the lawyer route like Richw suggested. All things considered, your drivers license + not taking the hit on insurance are much more valuable than the $500-1000 you'll pay for getting out of the ticket by use of a lawyer/having to make a donation.

[Kham]

fuckin cop was on a roll.

[jjs777]

...hope this helps..its along read but...go ahead

If your not in mass then sorry...maybe this helps others in MA

This will save you a bundle if you own BOTH a car and a bike and BOTH are at least insured in YOUR name.

Assuming you DONT get out of the ticket - and you know you'll be surcharged - try this to avoid the huge surcharge

FACT: The surchare goes against the total value of your insured vehicles whether it is a bike or car. If bike costs 800 to insure and the car 900...then your gonna get surcharge on the combined value of 1700.

If you are now paying insurance on BOTH a car and bike - then transfer the insurance of the car to a friend or relative. You can STILL be listed as a drive of the car but the insurance SURCHARGES will go toward the bike.

Theres a number of factors here which are important. If you OWN the bike...then you could drop the insurance to just liability (no fire/theft) and the cost presumably would go down to below $550 (guessing) and is even less $ out of your pocket.

Here's the winning point - You will be SURCHARGED on the VALUE of the insured bike. If you pay a flat 550 on the bike for insurance then the surcharge factor on 550 is negligible over three years.

Compare this to the cost of the surcharegable incident is on BOTH your car AND bike. For me - this used to save me LOTS of money on 3 cars registered and a bike.

ANOTHER OPTION!

okay...so ya wanna get drastic - transfer insurance of EVERY VEHICLE you currently insure to someone else - DO NOT LIST YOURSELF as a driver yet! Contrary to some insurance agents you CAN register the auto to anyone even if they dont have a license - as long as the listed driver person is licensed!!

Go and get a piece of poop bike...it doesnt even need to run. As long as you have a title. Go register and insure the turd and put minimum insurance on it. Then after say 30 days or so for the red tape to clear - then list yourself as a drive on your original vehicles. Your surchargeable incidents go against the insured value of your piece of poop bike. That means minimal surcharges...say $25 per year ?

Some insurance agents will have no idea this works. My wifes best friend is the self claimed insurance queen. I explained this all...she said I was wrong. I did this for years and my buddies did it too. You dont need to explain to yoru agent - if they ask too many questions and give you static go somewhere else !

Okay believe any of this? It gets better. I dont know how long it takes to happen, but this also was true for me. After doing the tricks above...after a year, I then reinsured the vehicles in my name. EVen though I was working with the same agent my policy number was sepearte for the auto and bike. As long as the POLICY of the BIKE anniversary EACH year is AHEAD of the POLICY anniversary of the AUTO....THE SURCHARGES ONCE AGAIN WENT ONLY TOWARDS THE BIKE !!! and only the bike.

believe it or not the system is flawed...and in this flaw some folks can make out.

my girly insurance agent is tossing and turning in bed right now I know she is....


PS If you continue to get surchargeable incidents...even if in the auto...the surcharges still go against the bike OR in the latter options the vehicle #1 anniversary

sorry...hard to explain all this...but hoepfully you can get the gist of it

[tls25rs]

Originally posted by jjs777

FACT: The surchare goes against the total value of your insured vehicles whether it is a bike or car. If bike costs 800 to insure and the car 900...then your gonna get surcharge on the combined value of 1700.

This is not accurate in Massachusetts, you may have experienced this but I would guess it was due to an inexperienced insurance agent.

If you check out the Massachusetts Insurance Commision website, not sure of the URL, it is explained clearly that, if you have more than one vehicle insured, the SDIP step rating, higher than neutral step 15, from your license will be applied to the policy that is the most expensive. The remaining vehicles will be charged based on an SDIP rating of neutral or 15 points. Now, on the other end of things, if you are below the step 15 neutral point then all of your policies are eligible for the "safe driving discount"

EX:

Car A $2000 per year

Car B $1000 per year

Motorcycle A $1500 per year

The surcharge can legally be applied only to the insurance on Car A by the insurance company.

I know about this because I also dealt with an inexperienced insurance agent for quite a while and then I did some research. The discovery of what I explained above got me a nice big refund check from the insurance company when I pointed out that they had been illegally surcharging me on both my insured vehicles for the last three years. They had to go back and calculate how much additional I had paid in surcharges and refund the difference to me.

Regardless of all that I just posted, good luck in getting this fine/incident taken care of. I have never used a lawyer to fight a traffic ticket so I have no input on that. But, I do know that if you go in with a good attitude and if possible talk to the prosecutor and/or the ticketing officer beforehand, sometimes they will help you out, as long as you were pleasant in all your dealings with the officer they should at the least cut you a break.

L8R

Joel

[Rice-rocket1]

Originally posted by tls25rs
This is not accurate in Massachusetts, you may have experienced this but I would guess it was due to an inexperienced insurance agent.

If you check out the Massachusetts Insurance Commision website, not sure of the URL, it is explained clearly that, if you have more than one vehicle insured, the SDIP step rating, higher than neutral step 15, from your license will be applied to the policy that is the most expensive. The remaining vehicles will be charged based on an SDIP rating of neutral or 15 points. Now, on the other end of things, if you are below the step 15 neutral point then all of your policies are eligible for the "safe driving discount"

EX:

Car A $2000 per year

Car B $1000 per year

Motorcycle A $1500 per year

The surcharge can legally be applied only to the insurance on Car A by the insurance company.

I know about this because I also dealt with an inexperienced insurance agent for quite a while and then I did some research. The discovery of what I explained above got me a nice big refund check from the insurance company when I pointed out that they had been illegally surcharging me on both my insured vehicles for the last three years. They had to go back and calculate how much additional I had paid in surcharges and refund the difference to me.

Regardless of all that I just posted, good luck in getting this fine/incident taken care of. I have never used a lawyer to fight a traffic ticket so I have no input on that. But, I do know that if you go in with a good attitude and if possible talk to the prosecutor and/or the ticketing officer beforehand, sometimes they will help you out, as long as you were pleasant in all your dealings with the officer they should at the least cut you a break.

L8R

Joel

The other part that really sucks is if they issue a credit for any thing it's based on the value of the lowest value vehicle. So they have you coming and going. I'm in the wrong line of business. Insurance = legalized extortion.