I got a BS speeding ticket and I am going to do a trial by mail.

The ticket says: 2004 Black 2 door Mazda
The car I own is a: 2005 Green 4 door Mazda

Driver’s license and license plate numbers are correct. I was very polite (and surprised) when the officer pulled me over and he seemed like a nice guy but my passenger and I are pretty sure he should've pulled over the kid we saw speeding on a black Tiburon He just said “my buddy saw you speeding a while ago” and wrote me a ticket. Since it will be the officer's word against mine, I'm on the losing side (that’s what I’ve been told by a lot of people). Also, I had a squeaky clean record before this if that counts. Any help/tips will be appreciated. Thanks everyone!

 

Did you ask to see the radar?

If you ask and he deny's you or the speed was different than what he said, that grounds for dismissal.

Otherwise Id say appear in court.



BTW to answer your original question, no I dont think the year being wrong will help your case

 

Call an attorney and ask!

 

 

call an attourney, and ask for a bit of help, he'll answer you for free in hopes of making business

 

Yes. This is exactly the sort of thing that can get your ticket dismissed if you present it in the right way. There are lots of places online that will give you more info on how to use the discrepancy to your maximum advantage.

 

Sarcasm? I really cant tell.....

 

I know people who have had their ticket dismissed by saying "there was a truck between me and the cop, and i don't think radar goes through trucks".

So I'm serious. This sort of thing can get a ticket dismissed, but you'll have to know the law better then I do to pull it off.

 

Just what does “my buddy saw you speeding a while ago” mean? Did his buddy see you? Clock you? How did he convey the info to the one who gave you the ticket? Did your license number come from the officer who saw (clocked?) you? Or did the one who ticketed you copy it from your registration after he stopped you after his buddy said "I saw someone speeding"?

Let us know what your lawyer thinks.

Ken

 

I agree with the others, I think you should call an attorney. On my "running a red light" I got about 4 months ago, the cop wrote that I had WA plates, when in fact I have OR plates. One cop said if MY information was right, that it won't matter. Yet a few other cops, said that it would get thrown out, because if the cop can't get the state of your plate, who says you went through a red not a yellow.

If your plate is the same, that will be points on their side, yet if your registration says 2005 Green, you might be able to use that against him. The 2/4 door I don't think will matter, as insurance companies call them either or as well.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm going to call an attorney and see what he says. Unfortunately I didn't ask to see the radar, I wish I knew better, I just never got pulled over before.

He just said that, “my buddy saw you speeding a while ago” and pointed at the direction where he came from. I had passed about 3 police cruisers a minute or two earlier. They were all parked at an exit and I just figured they were pulling speeders over because I saw a lot of people speeding left and right. About a minute later I see a cruiser approaching to me REALLY fast (maybe 90mph) so I switched lanes as soon as I had the chance to let him pass but he squeezed in right behind my car, paced me and pulled me over. When he was writing the ticket he asked how fast I was going. Then he said: "mmmm... I'm gonna put 84 here". I handed him my insurance card, registration and driver's license and he got all my info from them but somehow wrote it down wrong on the ticket.

 

I would, in a non-insulting manner, when in court, ask the cop, how credible is his opinion that you were going "hmmmmm... 84", if he cant even read your registration right. Apparently someone wasn't paying much attention.

 

Why don't you just pay for the ticket, or try to have it removed by taking the traffic class, I'm sure it would cost more trying to go through all that hassle

 

Well if he takes it to court, and especially with a clean record otherwise, they may remove it for a year pending he doesnt get another, or may drop the price, etc.

 

years ago, I dismiss one of my father's ticket based on the wrong color of the car on the ticket.

and now the Year and color of the car is completely off so.

Just mail it in, with a picture of your car's color under Bright sunlight, showing that its green not black, and its 05 not 04.

 

ditto, definately would fight it... and compile all the evidence backing my side up... good luck.

 

I'm fairly sure you can get it reduced or dropped, you will likely need to call a lawyer .......(you will most likely get stuck with court costs)

 

If it was the officers buddy that saw you speeding, then he is the one that would have to appear in court to testify against you as a witness. Along with the officer that wrote the ticket. Your post doesn't say if the arresting officer was the one that clocked you. It only says that the arresting officer heard from the witness that you were speeding and wrote the ticket based on that information.

 

You're kidding, right? There is obligation on the cop to show the driver the radar gun.

 

The fact that he wrote down the wrong color and wrong model year is irrelevant. The fact that he got the license number of the car and the drivers info is enough for the court.
Now the fact that he got his information from another officer and that officer did not write the ticket it becomes a matter of not being able to confront your accuser. And he asumed you were speeding,, well that could be another issue that would eable you to get out of it.
Problem is most people do not fight this sort of thing. The state keeps it's cost for the ticket just slightly under the cost of a lawyer.
So why pay more for a lawyer when you can just pay the ticket.

 

How does that work if the cop writing the ticket isn't the one with the radar? Sounds like this was similar to the old-fashioned setups with a radar at one position, and a pickup point a bit down the road. No simple way to see the radar roadside.

One cop who got me on radar refused to show me the unit roadside, even though it was right there, saying I could see it and their calibration records in court.

What if you're clocked by an airplane?

I recall a post here about a guy who was clocked from an airplane. His lawyer subpoenaed the aircraft for the trial. The state dropped the case because of the cost involved in producing the aircraft.

Ken

 

Most jurisdictions will require that the police provide records, if challenged, regarding the vehicle's radar gun tuning as you mentioned. Same with an airplane. Until trial or discovery motion upon court action (the ticket is protested) you don't have any right to see the police's evidence. Your friend might have gotten the ticket tossed too, not because the airplane wasn't there but because the pilot wasn't.

There are plenty of ways to fight a speeding ticket. This isn't one of them.

 

obviously it is, since it worked.

if the cop cant see the color of the car he pulls over, how can he be competent enough to do anything else?

a lot of great advice in this thread.

definitely call an attorney. try to make an example out of the cop. cops run far to unchecked in my area.
what alneisen says is true. both the cop that saw you speeding and the other cop will have to appear in court.
"hmmmmm i'll put 84" is not professional at all. unfortunately you have no way of proving he said.

 

Really? I see nobody here saying it worked. And oh by the way, how do you know OP was clocked by radar? There's nothing here saying it was a radar reading......in fact he says he was paced.

There is a defense here, but its not a slam dunk and you can expect whichever cop shows up to be uh, less than truthful. Be sure to ask for speedometer calibration reports as well challenging the cops credibility based on his statements. Regarding the issue of vehicle color, if it was night time, a nordic green RX-8 will easily be mistaken for black. Heck even in daylight you have to really pay attention as our nordic green is a very dark green. Don't count on using that as a technicality defense.

 

well im in my 3rd year in corecctions in school and as i see it, you really dont ave to call a attorney if you dont want to. when your in court state that the vehicle isnt yours so he radared another car and ask to see the radar papers and the guns stats. and if he said it was your car ask why he ut 04 because that may dismiss it rightthere ( they pullled me over in my old hatch and they put coupe so i said my buddy wwas next to me and they dismissed it) and if he goes on with a lie present the info bought him saying his other officer "saw" catch him in a lie, the judge is "supppose" to be more optimistic towards you...you should win