So I was driving home late last night and I was on a interchange from one highway to another in Rochester, NY. I come off the interchange and I look up ahead and I see a officer on the side of the road, so I look down and my speedometer says I'm doing 60 and I'm in a 55. So i dont touch the brakes cause on the highway you can almost always drive by a cop doing 5 over. So i pass him and I see him start it up and he pulls into the lane behind me. he paces me for half a mile at which point I had slowed to 50. He puts on his lights and I pull over. He tells me that I was speeding and he takes my info and goes back to the cruiser. When he returns he tells me he got me doing 71 in a 55 on his radar. I asked if it was locked in and he said nothing to me and talked into his walkie talkie and walked away.

So what the hell? Is my speedometer wrong? Was his radar wrong? This is really bad. Iv never been pulled over in my elky before and I dont have any prior moving violations on my record. What do I do?

Help anyone!?

Hmmm... you didn't say if you got the ticket or not. If so, what was it written for exactly?

got the ticket, 71 in a 55. thats it

That's odd. Generally tickets get written for speeds lower than clocked, so that the offender is more likely to pay it, then fight it. I would have expected the ticket to be for 60 in a 55.

It sounds like you have grounds to fight it, or at least get it reduced. In court, you can simply say you were only doing 60, and the officer would not repond to you when you asked about it.

Often times during the month when money needs to be brought in they'll "Re-calibate" the guns to catch more people.

At least that was discovered around a speed-trap town near here.

Got two more tickets today, I was at fault however the officer spelt my last name wrong on ticket. My last name being VanderVen and what the ticket says is vanderview. I'v heard that in NYS if there is a piece of info on a ticket that is wrong then the ticket is not valid. Any one know if this is true?

It sounds like you need to slow down, and stop worrying about how you can cheat the law.

My experience with tickets is this, if you go to court and say that you were doing 60 in a 55 zone and not 71 the judge will still find you guilty of speeding period, as 60 is faster than 55. If you go to court and plead not guilty, it will go to trial, then if the officer does not show up at trial the judge can dimiss the case as then there is no witness for the prosecution. Here's the kicker: the ticket was written for 71 in a 55 zone, that is 16mph over the speed limit. That is a major violation for a CDL holder like myself. If it was written say for 69 in a 55, 14mph over, then it would only be a minor violation. My advice before you decide, check with a lawyer in your area. A decent lawyer would probably be willing to advise you for a nominal charge.

ok, at least if you plead not guilty and go to court you can try to get the charge reduced to the proper speed being 60. This like Mama said is a minor violation and will help a little bit but odds of the judge tossing your case are slim. Ive gotten a ticket in Rochester and its not pretty. There is no plea bargaining in the city because of the number of cases they have to deal with, so they wont reduce your ticket unless you've got grounds to go by (which you do).

You can check your speedo just by driving next to a friend on 490 or something and have eachother check the speeds and compare. If doing this on a cell watch for more cops!

I'd also like to know about the wrong info on a ticket muyth because my ticket I just got has my old address on it so I'm in the same boat on that one.

Heres another thing. Plead not guilty and request the officers supporting deposition. Legally you are entitled to that, but most officers hate writing them, so they blow it off. If you do not reccieve it, by law the case must be thrown out because you were not provided with the means for a defense. If a support deposition is given, usually you'll meet with the prosecutor before the trial and he'll offer you a deal to plead down to a non moving violation.

hey........byron wouldn't by any chance be port byron would it?? just curious....... ok, here's the deal speedy....

1. as soon as you get a ticket in n.y. you've got 48 hours to send it in to please not guilty, and get a supporting deposition. (dep is when the officer has to write up in letter form exactly how caught you, whether he clocked you, paced you, or in my case once if you pass him)

2. Once you mail it in and plead not guilty, you forgo the initial court appearance date on your ticket and they will contact you with a trial date.

3. now is where it gets tricky.. I forget the exact time frame on this, so you might want to go down to your local library and read into the v & t laws of nys.. but that suporting deposition has to be received by you in a timely manner. I believe you have to have it in your hand at least 5 days before your trial date, or it might actually be more (haven't used this in a while).. and if you don't have it before this time frame, you can request dismissal in court of the ticket, and they have to dismiss it. (they do have the right to reissue the ticket within 24 hours, so VACATE...

4. if the officer doesn't appear for the trial, you can request dismissal.

5. usually, the officer is the one who will be there in court, and they'll take you aside and play LETS MAKE A DEAL with you... sometimes this will also involve a district attorney, or and assistant d.a...

6. considering you've gotten 3 tickets now?? you might better get a lawyer....

and they'll take care of all the stuff.........

Well I just returned from court and this is what happened. First off i mailed in the ticket and pled not guilty and asked for a supporting deposition.

Tonight was my court date and I showed up an hour early... hehe im a little anal retentive. When I got called before the judge he read the date, time and location to the ADA and I then said the officers name to the ADA and she just kinda stared at him and nodded. She then took me aside and said she was going to give me an 1110 A. I accepted and of course was given a bill for $145.

So my theory is the judge and ADA knew that this cop was giving people BS tickets.



Thanks to everyone for your advice!