i got a speeding ticket yesterday. i was driving behind a sheriff

[catmother]

for about 4 miles. figured if i'm behind the sheriff i'm doing the speed limit unless he's got his lights flashing. we were in the passing lane as were many cars. all of a sudden he changes lanes, i pass him and then i change lanes. next thing i know he pulls me over. said i was doing 75 in a 55mph. i told him i was following him but he said when he changed lanes i went faster then him. i feel like this was a sleazy trick. now i do drive fast -- always have. if there are not many cars on the road i feel why not?

my husband said i should go to court and fight it. but my feeling is the judge will pull up my driving record and see that i've been caught speeding before and if i lose, i forfeit my right to go to traffic school so the ticket will not go on my license.

he had another guy in the car -- who i think was in training because usually the sheriff rides alone. my feeling is he told the guy "watch me get this bitch in the sports car".

i know i'm wrong for speeding, but being tricked by the sheriff is just as bad on his part.

[tx_dem41]

1. Like you said...you were speeding.

Pay the fine.

[catmother]

10. well i'll be sitting in traffic school for 8 hours -- the cost of which

is about the same as the ticket. but at least it won't go on my license. here in arizona you can go to traffic school every 2 years.

[newscott]

19. I'm glad we don't have that option in MA

I'd be doing 90 plus everywhere then.

[patdem]

2. You are lucky it was just speeding..here 20 mph over is reckless driving

WTF did you PASS him? ?":_) even my cat commented!

[catmother]

3. he changed lanes so quickly. n/t

[tx_dem41]

5. And you were going so fast.....you couldn't help yourself....

get my point?

[Webster Green]

4. I'm assuming that your speedometer is broken...

Otherwise, your post makes no sense.

[catmother]

7. no my speedometer is not broken. i usually don't pay too much

attention to my speed. i live in a remote area and most of the time there are not alot of cars on the road.

again i admit i was wrong. my point is the way he caught me i felt was trickery.

[tx_dem41]

9. You "usually don't pay too much attention to [your] speed".

Which makes you a bad and dangerous driver. I could care less what trick the officer used. I'm glad he or she caught you. Now the question is....will you learn a lesson from this? Or just play the victim role?

[catmother]

11. i'm not a victim. and i will watch my speed in the future. n/t

[gristy]

14. Well, good!

Your fellow drivers appreciate it!

[Catherine Vincent]

6. You should never pass a police car.

Even if traffic builds up behind you, don't pass them up.

[catmother]

8. good advice. n/t

[Nikia]

13. I'd never pass a police car

In fact, I'd let it pull away from me if it started speeding. Even though I have little reason to worry, I really don't enjoy having the police watch me drive.

[newscott]

20. I did this in Illinois once.

Stupid mistake.

There was a line of cars doing 55 in the right hand lane. The limit. I pulled into the passing lane at about 60 to pass. I ended up passing about 10 cars when I saw the police car at the front. I decided not to slow down and go all the way to the back of the line. I passed him too. As I did, his lights went on.

He gave me a break though. Just came up to me asked for my license and said there was no way he was going to let me go because I had passed about 10 other cars behind him.

Verbal warning.

[Left Is Write]

35. I have passed police cars many times over the years.

I do the speed limit. If they are driving below the speed limit and I can legally pass them, there is no reason not to.

Make sure you leave enough room between the police car and your own, so you can't be accused of cutting him off or something.

[catmother]

12. well i have gotten so much flack about this. have any of you

ever driven faster than the speed limit? and don't lie.

[ticapnews]

16. I got a ticket for speeding five years ago

They got me in the morning rush hour going 51 in a 35. Went to court. Fought it. Got a cop to lie on the stand. Watched the judge give a 5 minute lecture to the police.

Not guilty.

I have gone faster than the speed limit many times, but not as much now as I am concerned with my gas mileage. I have noticed that an awful lot of cars fly by me with the cruise control set on 65...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

17. Yes, I have

but not very often. When your car has a quarter million miles on the engine, you don't tempt fate. But when I speed, it is always on a lonely road, with no cop car around at all (see my post below-you can be following the law and still be picked up)

[purr]

18. I do and have and I wont put you down for it..

One time I had to go over the speed limit - when I had an active intestinal infection.. it was either go faster to get home or shit my pants.

The speed limits around here are so outdated its unreal. Shit, even on a road where a school USED to be is still 25 mph. I could understand when there was a school there but after?

I admit I have a lead foot but I am a very safe driver. I dont go 20+ over though.

Just remember - never pass a cop :)

[catmother]

27. i've been driving since 1958 -- i'm 64 years old. my first husband

used to call me "sledge hammer foot". but like you i am a safe driver. when i'm on the freeway i like to keep a couple of car lengths between cars. i'm very careful when changing lanes, i actually look behind me (that's the way i was taught) and i always signal.

and i know he feeling of almost shitting my pants. lol

ON EDIT: i thought he might give me a break because of my age. i don't look my age but i thought maybe when he looked at my license. i have a friend who is now 81. but back a few years ago she was a snowbird. she lived in arizona for the winter -- then went back to illinois in the spring. i don't remember which state she was in, but she was stopped for speeding. when the officer saw her license, he said "you're 76" and she said "yes". he said "go ahead".

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. Honestly? Once. And I fought it and won, because I wasn't speeding.

:hi: (The guys radar hadn't been calibrated in over 6 months) I think he caught a red pickup on his radar that flew past me, and caught me instead. It was insane...He said I was going 95 in a 35. I was driving an old Chevy Caprice, that would have fallen apart if it had even gone over 75. I honestly see no reason to speed. :hi:

[tjdee]

28. Hell yeah, but not with a cop car right next to me, LOL!

I think you're right that he did play a trick on you, and that sucks.

[Left Is Write]

37. Yes, and I was ticketed.

I was doing 45 in a 35. I knew the limit was 35mph, and it was stupid of me to be doing 45. I deserved the ticket.

That was many, many years ago. I do not make it a habit to drive above the speed limit. At all.

[Maddy McCall]

38. Of course I have, but I've got the good sense not to speed past...

a law enforcement vehicle that has a radar gun on the dashboard.

You will look like an idiot if you use the excuse that "he didn't have his lights and siren on, and he was speeding."

Deputies frequently respond to emergency calls without lights and sirens. For you to justify your mistake by blaming it on the sheriff will not only make you look silly; it will also put you on the shit list of the sheriff, a place you certainly DON'T want to be.

Take your ticket, pay your fine, and forget about it.

[LSK]

40. of course

If you do the speed limit on Chicago expressways, you are not driving safely. Doing 55 when everyone else is doing 75 is not safe.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. at least you were speeding

once I was ticketed for coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, signaling, and then waiting for traffic to clear before turning right. It was the end of the month in a town notorious for ticketing any motorist who was not from there to boost town revenues. I paid the ticket-it was far away and would have cost me too much time and money to contest it (plus the court hours were wierd, like really late at night). I checked my record a couple months later, and lo and behold found that the town had never reported the alleged violation. About that time, the state troopers conducted a sting operation on the town and the whole city government was thrown out (and perhaps sent to jail) for issuing bogus tickets. Guess I wasn't the only one-maybe they stopped a lady in a sportscar who had connections.

[Nikia]

23. My father was ticketed after an ambulance passed him

The officer clocked the ambulance and ticked my father driving a red sports car. My father had been visiting my mother's granmother who lived several hours a way. He ended up paying the ticket even though he hadn't been speeding.

[Shine]

21. I agree, that was sneaky and low down.

I think you're right about the training aspect, too. I think he was just showing off, under the auspices of "teachable moment".

Whatever. Bummer, catmother.

For what it's worth, I've received a few speeding tix in my life, too. You are not alone! :)

:hi:
Shine

[Horus45]

22. He set you up and you fell for it

I used to commute on the NYS Thruway everyday for 20 years and whenever this happened to me I got right back behind the State Trooper when he changed lanes.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. This happened to my husband once. He was 17 and had a 65 Fastback.

It was dark out and this guy was really riding on his tail. At the next light (when it turned Green) my husband hit the gas. Next thing he knew, lights...it was a cop. The cop asked him why he did that and he said,"Because you were riding on my ass." The cop let him go with the proverbial warning. :hi: I'd fight it along those lines.

[hfojvt]

26. I am not sure about Arizona law

but for my ticket in Iowa I discovered that police are not allowed to speed, except when pursuing a suspected felon, or going to an emergency or when there is a threat to the public. If that is also Arizona law, then he himself was probably violating this law by going 70 in a 55 before he changed lanes and allowed/encouraged you to pass.

However, I would strongly suggest that you NOT goto trial without a lawyer, in which case the point kinda becomes moot. Unless you are willing to invest a fair amount of time learning their game, even an assistant DA will tear you to shreds. At least that's what happened to me. It's their game, no matter how much you think the law and the truth is on your side, and no matter how much faith you have in your intellect and/or eloquence. It's like trying to win a game of chess against an experienced player when you have never played before. Not only can they beat you fairly, but they can also cheat without you being able to call them on their cheating because you do not know the rules.

OTOH (I am an economics major after all) many times the cop will not show up to the trial and the case will be thrown out. My sister the court reporter says this even happens in alot of DUI cases. I feel like I won with the trial option because the state spent over $100 to collect a $50 seatbelt ticket. If everyone does it maybe they will leave us the fu$% alone, at least in regard to seatbelts. I hope they nail the serious speeders.

[no_hypocrisy]

29. DU Traffic Lawyer checking in: Go to court. Try to amend the ticket to

either a lesser offense if possible, or a lesser speed (more likely) with the prosecutor before court starts. First plead guilty to your ORIGINAL speeding offense.

You learned a valuable lesson. Fighting it isn't worth the spit invested.

[Floogeldy]

30. When you show up for the hearing . . .

. . . place the sheriff under citizen's arrest for speeding. ;)

[skygazer]

31. I see no point in fighting it

You WERE speeding and whether or not you were tricked is not going to be the issue with any judge. Do the traffic school, be glad it's not going on your record and take it as a lesson.

We've all gone over the speed limit at one time or another but I think you got flak because you sound rather cavalier about speeding. Saying you don't usually pay much attention to your speed makes it sound like you don't give a shit.

"If there are not many cars on the road, why not?"

1. Because it's against the law.
2. Because if a deer or something jumps out in front of you, you have less chance of avoiding it.
3. Because it's against the law.
4. Because you might get stopped for it.
5. Because it's against the law.

[LisaL]

32. Oh lordy, you got to be kidding. You admit you were speeding,

yet still want to fight it? What exactly would be your argument? You think "I can drive faster that the speed limit if there are no other cars on the road" is going to go over well with the judge? What do you think speed limits are for?

[Nikia]

33. Sometimes I drive fast if there are no other cars on the road

If I see a car, I slow down. A law enforcement vehicle would be a vehicle I'd definitely slow down for.

[Left Is Write]

34. About this...

"if there are not many cars on the road i feel why not?"

The "why not" is because it's against the law, and you might get pulled over and ticketed.

[bigwillq]

36. That blows.

You were tricked. :(

[Zomby Woof]

39. When you pass

You are only legally allowed to pass while maintaining the speed limit for the entire pass.

You would not win a challenge of this in court, in any state.

[Jamastiene]

41. I have the opposite problem.

I drive like Kurt Cobain was rumored to drive: "like an old lady." Even state troopers pass me on a two lane road. I have even had local police ride my ass and then pass me on double yellow lines with no sense of urgency or sirens or lights. Like the rest of the drivers who see 35 and think it means 55, they pass me. It's a running joke among my friends an d family that I drive too slow even though I am the only one going the speed limit.