Well... haven't been pinched for 13 yrs until today. Got caught in a speed trap and received citation for 59mph in a 40 zone. Cop says he got me with LIDAR.. so a few questions:
1. Is LIDAR a lasar device?
2. do Radar detectors help against these... or are there LIDAR detectors?
3. any idea of approximate fine? (I'm in NorCal)
4. anyone know if I go to court is there any possibility to get fine reduced and/or traffic school?

****... now I'm paranoid... found it near impossible to keep it at/below speed limit on the way home after ticket. Any and all input welcome. Thx.

 

LIDAR=laser. My Valentine 1 does all radar and laser, works unbelievably well but everyone has their favorites. If this is your first time in many moons, plead not guilty. Go to court and they'll offer you a plea bargain which usually results in a reduction of the fine and/or points. I've done this a few times over the years with great success. Actually, was it a local yocal or a state trooper? Often the locals don't levy points, they just want your money.

 

It was a motorcycle city police... with a 50lb chip on his shoulders. Can you actually fight a LIDAR recorded ticket? What's the argument "laser beam must have bounced off other vehicles?

 

Actually, I've never had to argue anything. They automatically try to get you to plea bargain. You agree to plead guilty to the lesser charge. I'm not sure how it works in CA, but when I did this in DE I first saw the magistrate and entered my not guilty plea. From there it went to the court of common pleas where they offered the plea bargain. The bottom line is they want your money more than anything. You might want to do some digging regarding the city police. They may not contact the DMV so it won't show up on your record. If that's the case, simply pay your "speeding tax" and forget about it!

 

Get an atty, let him do the plea bargaining. The fine may not be much or a few points... but when your Ins. Co. finds out about it, your rates will jack. For what the Atty. will cost it will be cheaper that the rise in Ins.

 

See if you can find a good traffic lawyer in your area. There's a local guy here in Tampa who's great. Basically you take him a copy of your ticket, a statement of what happened, and a fee, and he'll get the ticket thrown out. I've used him twice, worked flawlessly. It sounds shady, but I don't care how it works as long as it doesn't go on my record and my insurance doesn't go up.

 

I agree with this 100%. Get the Atty to meet with the DA before the cases begin. With such a clean record you may be able to get it reduced to something like failure to obey a traffic sign, and maybe sign up for a traffic school. They will know the court, the judges, and the DA's in that area's courts and know the best route. LIDAR is pretty unflappable but it wasn't reckless(nor grounds for reckless) and is probably only a 3 or 4 point ticket. At worst case scenario, it won't make a huge dent in your insurance anyway, you're over 25-if you are married, even less.

Technically, you can actually jam laser, as they are regulated by the FDA of all things.

 

Here's an interesting find on the web... posted by the National Motorists Association....

Fighting Tickets

This section contributed by National Motorists Association
Join the NMA!
800-882-2785 Web Page For the NMA Email nma@genie.geis.com For anyone who gets a laser ticket, we encourage you to fight it. That in itself isn't news, (we encourage everyone to fight all speeding tickets) but lasers are not on judicial notice in New Jersey. In fact, they're not on notice in 95% or more of the country's courts. The prosecution teams around the country are glad you don't know that.
What's "judicial notice" mean? When something has been given judicial notice, it means that the theory of operation has been proven to the court and expert testimony to prove that is no longer needed. Radar is one such example. Aircraft speed traps are another.
Laser, however, has not been proven to the courts, so the prosecution will have to fly in expert testimony to prop up their case and new toy) to prove that their latest gadgetry actually works as advertised.

 

You will loose your mind reading about fighting tickets on the internet. Just call a lawyer

 

those guys are the WORST. and for one reason............when they cant get on their bike, they are usually behind a desk. atleast in NYC its like that. so when they do get the chance to ride they are lookin to bang everyone they see. so pathetic.

but yea, id go to court for that. since its been 13 years, the judge may reduce the fine or points or just take one of them out completely. just as long as your not a d!ck in the courtroom, you have nothing to lose but your own time.

 

In response to laser detectors, yes they exist. Do they work well enough to keep you from getting a ticket? not really. The whole theory behind lasers makes it very very difficult to detect with enough warning to help you out. 99% of the time your laser detector goes off, you have already been caught.

Think of it like this...radar detectors pick up the radar beams coming from the gun. The radar gun shoots out the radio waves sort of like a flood light, bathing the entire area in front of the gun in radio waves. The laser gun, on the other hand, shoots a tiny pencil wide beam out that has to be pointed almost directly at a detector for it to be picked up.

The second problem with detecting laser is that the laser guns all have instant on operation, meaning the laser is not on all the time. It is only on for a few seconds while the officer is aiming it at a specific car, then turned off. Radar guns operate the same way, but many officers drive around with the radar units on constantly, giving you the opportunity to detect it from a mile away or more.

In short, radar detectors work great for constant on operation, but not so good for instant on where the officer only turns it on once in a while when he sees a car that looks like it is speeding. Laser detectors don't work very well for either instant on or constant on, the laws of physics are simply working against the detector.

 

Since you're in Calif and don't have any tickets on your record, why not just go to traffic school? If you do that, the ticket won't be on your record. As a former Peoples Republic of California resident (30 years), I can tell you that CA traffic court is the closest thing to a kangaroo court you're gonna see. Won't matter if you have a lawyer or not, if the judge wants you guilty.... you're guilty.

Hugh

 

Right but your lawyer will know if its worth sitting in front of a particular judge or trying for a continuance to try to get a better mix of da/judge.. Also, if you take traffic school in advance you have no 'punishment' to negotiate with. If you take a lesser charge and let them demand traffic school, they feel like they did something. Sometimes they suspend the entire charge if you go(class or online in some states).

He should already have positive points rendering his driving record still in the green, but insurance companies levy the actual charge against your premiums. Three years on your 'insurance record' for most minor violations, even it if stays on your record for 5-longer for bigger charges like reckless.

 

In CA, some counties have a rule that if you contest the ticket, you can't go to traffic school. In those counties, you have to declare your intent to go to school before you go to court. Also in CA, you don't usually get a real judge, you get a "Commissioner" who hears the case. Since its an "infraction", you can't ask for a jury. Delaying it probably isn't going to change the Commissioner who hears it, since each court location usually only has one or two Commissioners who hear traffic cases. An attorney is going to cost you $275/hr minimum. Traffic school is about $150, some of the schools are online (so you can do it at home), and you get the ticket dismissed. In Ca, they have a "good driver rule", so if you only have one moving violation or accident, your insurance can't raise your rates (for that). If you want to go spend a bunch of bucks for a lawyer, go ahead (its your money), but if your record is clean and this really is the first ticket in 13 years, I'd go for the "sure thing" and take traffic school. The thing you need to keep in mind is that Ca Traffic Court is not about "justice", its about collecting revenue.

 

DoctorQ,

I live in Northern California too. Got a speeding ticket about 10 years ago. I just went to traffic school to keep the ticket off my record and not have the ticket increase my insurance premium.

I didn't hire an attorney or go to court. I selected a traffic school that was advertised as humorous and it was okay. The instructor kept it light and tried to make it entertaining. He made it like a mock AA meeting at the beginning where we each a took a turn standing up and saying something like, "My name is Fred" (group "Hi Fred") "I'm a speed-a-holic". It was kind of a waste of a Saturday being in the traffic school all day.

I had called my insurance agent (State Farm) and took his advice on how to handle the ticket. My insurance premium did not go up.

It's been a long time ago but I seem to remember paying a little over a hundred bucks fine and around a hundred bucks for the traffic school.

Good luck! And I'm interested in how you handle this ticket and what you have to go through. So I'm looking forward to your posts about your upcoming "adventure".

Since we are driving a redfire Mustang, we're thinking that we are more of a target for the CHP (California Hiway Patrol). The cops always say that they do not look for red cars when handing out speeding tickets and site statistics, but I think red cars attract attention.

 

I'm pretty sure your descriptions of the technologies are pretty good and radar detectors can probably do a better job getting you out of a ticket, but that doesnt mean that laser detectors are completely useless.

It takes a little bit of time to get an actual speed reading from a laser so while he might be already pointing the laser directly at your car it doesn't mean that he "has" you for sure. Things like distance, color of your car, and if theres any reflective objects (licence plate) on the front of your car will factor into how long it takes him to get a speed reading. If you have a laser detector you are just that much more likely to be able to get slowed down a bit.

 

Yes but an attorney will tell you exactly what to do before you even go, knows the ins and outs of the local court system, and probably knows the officer. I'm just giving ideas, a lawyer will have a complete game plan in 5 minutes when you first see him/her.

Sounds like CA's traffic system is as well-oiled(for the public's you-know-what, that is) as every other government run organization there. What are CA residents keeping out of their paychecks these days, 23%? You could just pay the ticket, it is for the Fatherland after all....

 

CA resident here.

I once got three tickets in three days (no Dustin luck here!)

If it's minor, just go to traffic school and call it a wasted Saturday. In Los Angeles you have to pay your fine regardless of whether or not you plan to fight the ticket, and then THEY decide IF you get your money back for a plea bargain, reduced fine, whatever. Also on the ticket form it tells you that you can't even pay your fine without waiving your right to a jury trial.

It's pretty slick how they do it - you have NO chance of holding on to your money. I boil it down to two options:

1) Go to traffic school
2) Go to court and hope your cop doesn't show up

Attorneys are a waste of time and money unless you have a DUI, then expect around $6k or so for a defense.

My last court appearance (L.A. County) I'd say that 1 out of 5 cops showed up (of course MINE did!) and a lot of people got their cases dismissed for that reason. If you appear and your cop shows up you are toast - you won't get a reduction and the judge (or commissioner) will be piXXed off at you wasting their time so you won't even get traffic school.

Also, be ready for car-prejudice! My cop told the judge "I saw the defendant driving his Mustang GT V8 high performance vehicle with red racing stripes and modified loud exhaust accelerating at high speed away from me in a 35mph zone your honor!"

At that point it didn't matter what I had to say to defend myself (actually I *was* speeding about 55 or so and accelerating at the time, but that's beside the point) I was DONE. My car insurance was raised to about roughly $2900/year and I got a letter from the DMV telling me I needed to change my "aberrant behavior" or I would lose my license.

 

In VA they ALWAYS show up for court, but you get a lot of wiggle room depending on who you know and how you play it. I've seen them continue cases if the officer doesn't make it. Insurance is upper-middle rates and not too bad with a few tickets. I have a 95+ reckless and a failure to obey(both going away on my insurance 'record' this September) and I'm at 1700/year, at 35. I do have friends in NJ though that is an entirely different story


I think CA just finds all of the highest tax rates, insurance rates, fines, and fees they possibly can across the country and apply them all at the same time. For what you guys pay, a government-supplied Lincoln Town car should show up at your doorstep every day to chauffeur you around all day, not to mention the entire water/electric supply thing....

 

Use a lawyer...my son had a ticket a year ago for doing 75/55 MPH on a highway (which is technically reckless driving...over 20MPH of the speed limit)...for a mere $500 for the traffic ticket lawyer and an $85 fine (for some type of equipment failure)...this ended up being a lot cheaper than the risk of losing our insurance or having the rates jacked up...basically, the lawyer got it reduced to a "non-moving" violation (no points, etc.)...I didn't ask any questions, the lawyer did all the talking and I do believe my son got off cheap. GET A LAWYER that specializes in this. $$$ makes the world go around and it seems that it will solve a situation like the one you're in.

P.S. in my 36 years of driving I've been stopped for speeding around 25 times...half of which I've received warnings...the other half, I've paid the fine. Not proud of this...but it's just a fact. Especially if you have penchant for fast and powerful cars, like me.