Ticket on skyline

Grrrrr.
Heading south, behind 2 horse trailers, I even waited for a broken line,
that southernmost straightaway.
After passing, there he was, pointed my way, he didn't even hit the
lights. Half a mile later, a second cop pulled me over. Palo Alto
police.
73 in a 55. Nice guy, saw the trailers, said they should have pulled
over, then wrote me up.
He asked if I knew the speed limit, I said it's only posted "end 50".
Whatever.
Guess I'll take my lumps, but if I were to contest it, do both cops have
to show up?

After I got my ticket, I went back the other way, and stopped on the
side of the road waving down cars and bikes for a while to relieve
stress.

And to the 3 cruisers that could have warned me but didn't....

MB
1100RT

 

I think you can beat it... look up the section of the VC they list,,,read it
verbatim...look for any loop holes. How did they arrive at a speed of
73...Radar? That has more holes than a golf course...you need to read up
on that. any angle, other car, bird, ant shit whatever throws it off.

Then there is the justice issue I brought up...you were doing a very
sensible thing in passing these trailers where you did, quickly. Then
promise to appeal using an attorney and a jury... they dont want people
doing that and exposing the scam...its better if they let you walk if you
have built a good case for yourself.

Safety is the only legitimate reason to ticket..thats what we pay those
people for... the bottom line...splitting hairs on how fast you were
trucking when you scooted around those trailers is not 'protecting and
serving'...its using the public as sheep to be sheared...I made a big point
of that. In open court. The word spreads.

they dont need no steeenking words spreading.


Phil Scott

 

I am not a lawyer, but I have unfortunately been to traffic court a
few times (4). With the help of the classic Nolo Press book, I have
fortunately won 75% of the times I've been to traffic court.

The judge won't immediately throw the case out without both of them,
but if you defend yourself properly you should be able to make it so
the case gets dismissed if only one of them shows. If only the citing
officer shows, you need to make sure no hearsay evidence is admitted,
and that should do the job.

If I got that ticket I might well end up taking it to court feeling
very confident that I could probably beat it. Even if both cops were
to show, there are some significant issues that might work in your
favor.

Did they write you for 22349 or 22350? Be aware that maximum speed is
harder to beat than basic speed, so your chances will depend somewhat
on the answer to this question.

Do they have a recent enough engineering survey for that section of
road, if applicable?

How did the second cop ID you to make sure you were the same person
whose speed was allegedly measured by the first cop? How far apart
were they?

You should at least go through informal discovery to try to find
answers to those questions before committing to a guilty or nolo
contendere plea. If you do discovery, pay special attention to the
prosecution's statement (or lack thereof) as to who will testify
against you. If they don't name any witnesses, only the citing
officer's testimony should be admissible. If that happens, the officer
who allegedly measured your speed can't testify even if s/he shows up.

You've read the book, right? "Fight Your Ticket (in California and
win)" published by Nolo Press. Get the latest edition and do
everything it says.

-- Robert

 

Sounds like a book every biker should own.

Phil Scott