Bummer, Speeding Ticket This Morning

[kb1]

So I'll tell the story...I was riding through Upton I think it was on my way to Framingham, going by the Nipmuc Highschool. I was following a line of cars, going about 35-40mph. I let off the gas to reajust on the bike for a second and the car behind me got a little close, so I rolled it on a bit just to make up the bit of ground I lost. Never saw, the cop, have no idea where he was, stopped at a stop sign, let other cars go. Went through the stop sigh and oh, lights behind me.

So in my little acceleration I went to 44mph in a 30mph zone. He acknowledged that I let off the gas and slowed to 38 with the line of traffic but insisted that because it was a school zone he had to write me a citation (quota??). Oh well I know how fast I was going so I'll be paying the ticket online tonight when I get home. I hate getting tickets for silly shit like this though, don't they have anything better to do? All the vehicles were going around the same speed as me I was singled out because of the bike, easy target.

Anyway due to some prior speeding violations (in my car) I'm darn close to having issues with the RMV and my license for a while. I'm thinking about just taking the bike off the road for a while because it's an obvious magnet, I've been pulled over 4 times since getting it last May, once for the plate, twice for the pipes, and now this. The officer asked this morning as well if my pipes were legal. I think I might just take the bike off the road, and possibly sell it for a track only bike. I can't get tickets at TTD and I can ride and have fun..

Blah...end rant...feel free to discuss and me if necessary I guess.

[noudidnt]

too bad about the ticket.....
It is bike week, so you have to be alert for the next week or two. I was also asked if my pipe was aftermarket when I was pulled over. They seem to be preparing the way for adding non-OEM pipes to the list of infractions.

Good luck deciding what to do with the bike...

[Woodsy]

if you are in the right, fight it. if you are in the wrong, fight it! i have never had a ticket that either did not get reduced or thrown out. that 100 dollar ticket will cost you in insurance so think of that.

[R1]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8330/4.5.0.131 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Fight it! Especially if you are close to having enough points to lose your license.

I would start with the I was singled out because I was on my bike, then end with if I have to pay this ticket I could lose my license.

Imho sometimes a little burst of speed is needed to keep yourself safe on a bike and let it be known. Hell the cop should have at least pulled the car that was tailing you over too regardless of speed. Tailgaiting is more dangerous than speeding especially when its a car doing it to a bike.

[kb1]

I don't feel like I'm going to have any luck fighting it, and it takes time away from work. I mean at the end of the day I was going 44 in a 30 but I wasn't ripping along passing people by any means. I was riding in a line of cars trying to create a little seperation from the car behind me so I wouldn't wind up a hood ornament.

[noudidnt]

you could try that as a defense...you might as well fight it. It was a school zone... but depending on the cop and where he was, you could say that the driver behind you was crowding your back tire because you were doing the speed limit and you sped up to put some distance between you...it is your right as a rider. But it you are that close on tickets then definately fight it.

[KillBill]

Did he have a radar reading?

[WordTooYoMamma]

Wirelessly posted (Tilt: HTC-8900/1.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6))

dude fight the power! worse thing that happens when u go to the magistrate is you pay the ticket. Out of 5-6 speeding tickets I've been handed 1 is on my record. I fought it but 95 in a 55 is hard to fight...

[gixxersixxer]

Definitely fight it, it can't hurt! The only time I got a ticket I fought it and won so it is worth a shot, especially if you are really close.

[kb1]

Did he have a radar reading?

I don't know, He had my speed down pat, when I rolled on and acceled up I looked down saw I was doing over 40 and rolled off. So he had me right on the money, I'll have to look at the ticket.

[drop]

you could try that as a defense...you might as well fight it. It was a school zone... but depending on the cop and where he was, you could say that the driver behind you was crowding your back tire because you were doing the speed limit and you sped up to put some distance between you...it is your right as a rider. But it you are that close on tickets then definately fight it.

there's no "right as a rider" to speed because someone is tailgating you. if you don't like what the driver behind you is doing, you pull over and let them pass.

[Doc]

You could argue your case... Try and get it reduced. But then again as you said you were speeding.

I'd go to court just to save up the money to pay it. (If I had to)

[KillBill]

I don't know, He had my speed down pat, when I rolled on and acceled up I looked down saw I was doing over 40 and rolled off. So he had me right on the money, I'll have to look at the ticket.

Also, i know my speedo is off by about 3mph (stock) I'm guessing yours is too....so that puts you around 37mph according to the LEO. Did he recognize or see that someone was tail-gating you?

[kb1]

there's no "right as a rider" to speed because someone is tailgating you. if you don't like what the driver behind you is doing, you pull over and let them pass.

And that's what I'm afraid the magistrate is going to say to me ...


Anyone have a nice track bike they want to trade??

[scubasteveRR]

that sucks dude! I've been in this situation my friend, I would def fight it, even you are in the wrong and still have to pay the ticket. If you are going to lose your license over it maybe just enough time between now and when you fight so it will keep you out of the 3 tickets in one year rule. Also they might just send you to driving school before they take your license away from you??

my friend is a cop and those radar guns are not 100% all the time, you could at least say you where going 38 like KillBill said and reduce it by 100 bucks or so! takes the sting out of it a little bit, plus you wont lose a whole day of work. just a half day.

fight the power

I don't feel like I'm going to have any luck fighting it, and it takes time away from work. I mean at the end of the day I was going 44 in a 30 but I wasn't ripping along passing people by any means. I was riding in a line of cars trying to create a little seperation from the car behind me so I wouldn't wind up a hood ornament.

[kb1]

that sucks dude! I've been in this situation my friend, I would def fight it, even you are in the wrong and still have to pay the ticket. If you are going to lose your license over it maybe just enough time between now and when you fight so it will keep you out of the 3 tickets in one year rule. Also they might just send you to driving school before they take your license away from you??

my friend is a cop and those radar guns are not 100% all the time, you could at least say you where going 38 like KillBill said and reduce it by 100 bucks or so! takes the sting out of it a little bit, plus you wont lose a whole day of work. just a half day.

fight the power

I won't lose my license on this one...it will be the next ticket that will me. I got a $50.00 citation for driving "speeds in excess of reasonable and proper" during a snow storm over the winter. Lost control of the civic on the pike doing about 45 in blizzard conditions, and the cop wrote me that ticket. I fought that ticket till the end and still had to pay, so that one officially hit my record May 15th I believe, and now this one...so now I need to be especially careful till next May.

[scubasteveRR]

Yeah i'm sure you'll get your court date before then...

I'm in the same boat though... thats why I was trying to keep it at the speed limit with in 4mph yesterday when we were riding.

Never got a ticket on the bike though, but EVERY cop stares when i drive by just waiting for me to twist the gas.

sucks to have to think about it all the time... in the car I always click the speed control on at 69 too (I would click it on at 65 but even the grandma's in the first lane are up my ass at that speed!!) it def helps to not let you get carried away.

[slammp]

ok true story.

Last year I was driving through Chelmsford (+1 for Tricky Mike and tire changing). Long story short got pulled over for doing 35 in a 25 (apparently the center of town is like a school zone as far as limits go).

Was I doing 35 - absolutely
Was I intentionally breaking the law - no

Had my day in court last week (Lowell?)
Told the truth, ticket dismissed.

Moral: fight the fuggin ticket, it might save you on your insurance.

[kb1]

ok true story.

Last year I was driving through Chelmsford (+1 for Tricky Mike and tire changing). Long story short got pulled over for doing 35 in a 25 (apparently the center of town is like a school zone as far as limits go).

Was I doing 35 - absolutely
Was I intentionally breaking the law - no

Had my day in court last week (Lowell?)
Told the truth, ticket dismissed.

Moral: fight the fuggin ticket, it might save you on your insurance.

Yeah I think I'll at least fight it and see what happens. My last ticket was upheld when I fought it which is one of the reasons I have been ehhh about fighting it.

[toocrazy2yoo]

KB,

I fight everything. Back when I was but a young squidlet, about 25 years back, sometimes I'd have three tickets pending. Continuances. Challenges, even a third continuance to "get a lawyer". Things here in Virginia get continued on up to a couple of months per. The point of the fight is threefold. First off, you spread out your points over longer periods of time even if you DO bite the bag in court and lose, after say, the third continuance. But secondly, you might actually, you know, WIN. Who the hell knows how that happens? Maybe the judge is a biker, or has a son, or some connection to the sport and doesn't like it when cops shit on bikers. Maybe he likes your face, your story, or doesn't like the cop's face or HIS story. Thirdly, and this has happened to me twice the last three years driving a car fer chrissake: the arresting officer retires to Florida prior to your court date. When they call you up to answer the charge, you plead "Not Guilty" and call the absent officer to the stand. No arresting officer, no case, you go free. Also, ALWAYS go find the room where the prosecutors meet with lawyers to cut deals before trial. That room is for YOU, too. Before trial, I've touched bases with arresting officers and underlings who went to the prosecutor and killed the charge. As long as you don't lay down, act timid, let them know their guy is gonna get questioned, they'll entertain your complaint. If they know you're the fly on a crowded docket, you're gonna walk half the time just for THAT. It's worked for me. And wear a suit. Tie. Shoes. Clothes count. You know you're dressed for success when they have to ask if you're the lawyer for the defense.

I guess I'll add a fourth factor. MAKE it COST them with the continuances, the requests for certs on their gear, the speedos, the final request for the third or fourth continuance so you can hire a lawyer, then plead if the cop isn't retired and you know you can't beat them. If we, collectively, motorists and bikers alike, win, lose or draw, COST those bastards ten and twenty times what they stand to profit, this shit would soon stop.

Drunks? Knucklehead squids in traffic, whatever the miscreant, they can pay extra. But for chickenshit stuff like KB got snagged for? That's their bread and butter. That's the kinda stuff that oughtn't go unchallenged. Until folks make it cost the local government many times the "profit" in court time and trouble, they'll continue with this stuff.

Ok, I'll bail off the soapbox now. As you can see, it's a touchy subject for me.

[nt650hawk]

I got pulled over. 3 cars in front and 2 behind in a 30 mph zone.

I asked the officer when he pulled me over. What did I do? . He told me yelling at me "I SAW YOU SPEEDING."

I went to the hearing and I fought the law and I won. Come to find out he had issues with bikes and majority of his bike tickets were tossed out.

Plea you case. Your history may make things difficult but it does not hurt to try.

[Kham]

i lost every fucking tickets i ever fight. so sad

[kb1]

I got pulled over. 3 cars in front and 2 behind in a 30 mph zone.

I asked the officer when he pulled me over. What did I do? . He told me yelling at me "I SAW YOU SPEEDING."

I went to the hearing and I fought the law and I won. Come to find out he had issues with bikes and majority of his bike tickets were tossed out.

Plea you case. Your history may make things difficult but it does not hurt to try.

Yeah that's the tough part, my history. But ALL of my other speeding tickets were in the cage on a super highway (The Pike, 95, that sorta thing) commuting to and from work at odd hours when usually cops won't grab you for doing 75-80 in traffic. The accident just really killed me, and I think it's my history that hurt me the most appealing that one.

Bah!

[Expat]

Selling it again??
I hope you change your underwear as often as you change your mind about the bike.
Why lay it up? Just be careful, you have never had a ticket riding with me and we don't hang around too much, pick your spot to speed, thats all. Sounds like this one was just one of those things!
You need a few Newcastles to help you calm down!!

PS, fight it!

[kb1]

Selling it again??
I hope you change your underwear as often as you change your mind about the bike.
Why lay it up? Just be careful, you have never had a ticket riding with me and we don't hang around too much, pick your spot to speed, thats all. Sounds like this one was just one of those things!
You need a few Newcastles to help you calm down!!

PS, fight it!

Didn't say I was definitely going to sell it, just saying that I can't get in trouble again. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, for the time being I'm going to be very careful and I'm not going to commute on it. I am going to fight it, and I do need a few Newcastles..