YOUR WACKIEST SPEEDING TICKET---THE FINE ACTUALLY

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rct269

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NUMBER 1: 73 in a 55----in a pack of cars all going pretty much the same speed in three lanes. That said, I was the only one with an unmarked car behind me---ZAP!!!

The fine was $270---Chattanooga---3 maybe 5 years ago.

So be it!

Number 2: 92 in a 55-----also in Chattanooga---2-3 weeks ago---also in in a pack of cars moving in the low 70's. I'm not leading this pack, but I'm close to the front. I'm also in the inside lane of four lanes----not counting the upcoming exit lane----for what was where I'm supposed to get off. Never mind I wasn't even remotely pay attention like I should have been. There's no way to make this exit by slowing down----but there's a better than even shot at it if I speed up, dodge a couple of cars, and do the deed. I do the deed! My radar/laser detector SCREAMS----A LASER ALERT!! Now a laser alert isn't really a warning like you get for radar-----it's a sure fire confirmation you're dead meat hanging in the locker!! And so it was! So be it again!

The fine was $124.

HUH?!!

What's up with THAT?!!

Ralph Tremaine
 
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I haven't had a moving violation charged against my license in the last 20 years (not counting a couple of deferred-prosecution speeding tickets).

HOWEVER, there was a time when I was able to count up at total of least 39 moving violations that I had been charged with over the years that I had been a licensed driver.

In my younger days, I've been given citations for just about everything that they have a charge for.

Reckless driving
DUI
Speeding (literally DOZENS of times)
Failure to wear a seatbelt
Failure to dim headlights
Rolling stop (stop sign)
Running a red light
No working headlight (on a motorcycle)
No motorcycle helmet
Improper Equipment (missing front bumper and plate)
Expired tabs
Unsafe equipment (bald tires)
Unsafe equipment (cracked windshield)
Driving with a suspended license
and BUNCH of speeding tickets

If you can think of it - or if THEY can think of it - I've probably been given a ticket for it.
Hell, I've received as many as six traffic tickets in ONE year, two in separate instances in one day, and have had my license put on "probation" and had to attend traffic school at least 3 times.

HOWEVER, as I've matured, I've learned that the juice just ain't worth the squeeze. Especially when it comes to speeding.

These days I VERY seldom exceed the posted speed limit by more than 5MPH, and until I got rear-ended on my bike last weekend, I hadn't been involved in any accidents in over 20 years.

Live and (hopefully) learn I guess...
 
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Speeding is oft times in the eye of the beholder.

This transpired during a stop (of me) by a state police officer (8 mph over the limit) He literally sang a little ditty I've never forgotten: "Seven is heaven----eight is great----nine is fine----and 10 you're MINE!" That was followed up by "Now get out'a here!"

That was followed by "Yes, Sir!"

Ralph Tremaine
 
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Twenty plus years ago I was is Salt Lake City on business. I got a $175 ticket for doing 30 mph in a 25 mph zone. I protested to the officer that I didn't see any sign. He basically said "tough." I went back and looked for the sign. I did find the sign but it was covered by a big leafy bush. It was cheaper to pay the $175 than pay for a round trip airline ticket to try to fight it in court.
 
Back in the late 1980's I got a ticket in New York for speeding in a construction zone. Speed limit went from 70 down to 60, 45 when workers present. I was doing 70. Fine was $100. Thing was, although there were orange barrels on our side of the divided highway, the workers were on the other side. Regardless, I wasn't going to stick around and fight it.
 
20 years ago I had just put a new fuel pump in my 88 Mustang GT supercharged convt. and the next morning at 6am I was on my way to play golf a few towns over so I took the highway. Not a soul around so I opened it up.
My buddy told me my exit was coming up and by the way the cops like to hang out at the bottom of this hill a lot.
I told him "I don't see no stinking cops" in my best mexicali accent.
He says "How about THAT one." pointing to the median strip.

Damn.

I pull off the ramp and he has me lit up like 4th of July.
"I clocked you at 105 in a 55".
I tell him I haven't had a ticket since high school and don't usually speed on public roads but I just fixed the car and wanted to see how it was running on the top end.
He eye balls me and takes my paperwork and heads back to the cruiser. 10 minutes later he returns and tells me he could cite me for wreckless driving..driving to endanger..racing... and tow the car. However, if I do not contest the speeding ticket and pay the fine, he will write it up for 94 in a 55 which is under the limit to really toss the book at me. Yes sir..no problem and thank you for the break.

My buddy is giggling all the way to the course..and all I could think is thank God I was slowing down. $365 down the tubes and big time points on my insurance rating.
Plus my friend kicked my butt golfing. That was a bad day and my last ticket.
 
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Many courts used to impose court fees even if you just paid the ticket.

This practice came under fire and courts stopped imposing fees if you mailed it in.

Could explain the difference but I am not certain.

Not speeding but over 20 years ago I received a $200 parking citation outside the Ghiardeli Choc Store in San Fran. Dented the vacation budget.
 
Have had one citation. 35 in a 25. Embarrassing thing is, I had to write it to myself. Paid the fine, but thought about contesting it. Would have been fun to present the State's case to the judge, then walk across the aisle and plead the defense case.
 
I got a citation around 1998 for speeding. It was one of those years when we had a nightime speed limit going back to 65 mph. I was written up by a MHP officer who saw me in the opposite lane. He refused to write the time he turned his sirens on as the ticketing time but went with when he had me sign it. He had me pulled over for at least 15 minutes prior, maybe 20 then wrote me for 76 in a 65 zone. Grace period was 30 minutes after sundown and I thought I made it by at least 3 minutes. Fine was $75
 
Speeding Tickets!

Knock on wood never got one. Although I can name about a half dozen towns in Texas off the top of my head where if you ain't a local you WILL get pulled over/cited for something even if you are obeying the law to the letter!

I tend to avoid those towns if at all possible or find ways off the main drag going through them.
 
I had a few back in the day, but no citations in over 15 years
A couple of years ago, while I was managing a facility our company had in Oakdale, CA, my boss, the plant manager, and I were coming back from dinner in Sonora


I get pulled over, the officer asks me if i know how fast I was going, I say 72, he says, actually 74...he asks if I know the speed limit here, I say 65, he says, no 55. He advises that the limit is lower between x an y....then asks why we were up that way, given ln a Florida license. I explained that we have a plant in Oakdale and that we come up on a regular basis to have dinner. He asks where we ate dinner, we tell him and he makes three or four other recommendations. Then, he tells me to be careful with my speed from this point to Y, and says have a good evening. As he starts to walk away, he notices my boss in the backseat is not wearing a seat belt. He tells my boss to buckle up. Boss asks, "In the back seat?". Officer advises yes per Cali law
.....boss says to me after the officer leaves, "I can't believe you get a pass from goimg 74 in a 55, and I get yelled at for no seat belt."

Robert
 
The Last Standing Knight said:
Knock on wood never got one. Although I can name about a half dozen towns in Texas off the top of my head where if you ain't a local you WILL get pulled over/cited for something even if you are obeying the law to the letter!



I tend to avoid those towns if at all possible or find ways off the main drag going through them.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a couple of Florida towns that back in the day were so notorious for ticketing people for 2 mph over the limit, that I heard that Florida passed legislation forbidding tickets for any speed less than 5 mph over the limit.

Robert
 
My brother being a CHP, told me;

"9 over, may site"................

"10" over, Will site".

"20" or more over, Here comes the Judge" !!
 
Back in the summer of '75, I was attending the annual state's attorneys' convention in Chicago. Coming back from dinner with a car full of prosecutors, I was ticketed for failure to make a complete stop. Court appearance in around 3 weeks, IIRC. Since my residence was 300+ miles from Chicago, I'd wind up being two days out of the office to attend. Even tho appearing personally would be likely to result in a dismissal or no-record disposition, I just couldn't be out of the office for that. Now, that prosecutors' convention had a lot of local Cook County (Chicago) assistant state's attorneys in attendance; surely, someone could tell me how to get the court date moved up so I could appear and plead while I was there for the convention. Guess again! Everybody from Chicago I talked to had some suggestion on how to fix the ticket--some even giving me the name and phone numbers of various politicos who would contact the judge for me or pass a few bucks to the officer, but no one could tell me how to get the case set early so I could appear in open court.

I wound up retaining local counsel to appear for me and tender my written plea of guilty to the judge. The judge, somewhat surprised by the procedure, collected a modest fine and entered a no-record ("court supervision") disposition.
 
BC38 said:
. . . HOWEVER, there was a time when I was able to count up at total of least 39 moving violations that I had been charged with over the years that I had been a licensed driver.

In my younger days, I've been given citations for just about everything that they have a charge for.

Reckless driving
DUI
Speeding (literally DOZENS of times)
Failure to wear a seatbelt
Failure to dim headlights
No working headlight (on a motorcycle)
No motorcycle helmet
Improper Equipment (missing front bumper and plate)
Expired tabs
Unsafe equipment (bald tires)
Unsafe equipment (cracked windshield)
Driving with a suspended license

If you can think of it - or if THEY can think of it - I've probably been given a ticket for it.
Hell, I've received as many as six traffic tickets in ONE year, and have had my license put on "probation" and had to attend traffic school at least 3 times...
Click to expand...

Here in Arkansas your license would have been suspended, then revoked, if the moving violations continued. Your minimum limits insurance would have been $750–$1000 a month too. You were very fortunate to be in whatever state you were in.
 
I think my last traffic citation was in 1967. Excessive noise, loud mufflers on my 55 chevy. Intersection of S. Congress and Ben White Blvd, Austin, Tx IIRC. Could have been worse. We were all minors and had a case of beer on the back floor board.
 
It was my Buddy and it was in Guam.
We were snaking North behind flatbeds of Bombs headed to Anderson, AFB.
The Red Light comes on.
The Local Yokel actually stopped us because my Buddy's Tag was expired.
He had a long convoluted story about shipping his car to Guam and problems getting the tags renewed.
The Cop was so impressed he wrote a Speeding Ticket.
So we go to Court.
The Judge asked me who or what I was? A Witness, Oh Honorable One.
Get out of my Courtroom! So I go into the lobby.
Then he throws the Cop out and he joins me.
It's little awkward, so we talk guns.
He carrying a WWII really ugly 1911.
Does it shoot?
Yes it shoots! I realize it don't look that good, but it does shoot.
Then the Cop is recalled into the Court.
Then it's over.
The Cop gives a somewhat sheepish Good Bye, Drive Careful.
As we drive off, I ask what happened?
The Judge dismissed the case and chewed out the Cop.
Oh Great! My Buddy was there for several years.
I was there TDY!
 
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The Last Standing Knight said:
Knock on wood never got one. Although I can name about a half dozen towns in Texas off the top of my head where if you ain't a local you WILL get pulled over/cited for something even if you are obeying the law to the letter!

I tend to avoid those towns if at all possible or find ways off the main drag going through them.
Click to expand...

In central Ohio, there is a small town named Galena. It has a 4 way stop sign, and almost everyone got a ticket there from the late 60's to around 1980. Locals included! Someone wrote a letter to the editor of the Sunbury News (in the next small town) Complaining! The Chief of the two man force responded to that letter saying people need to count to 10 after stopping! A local attorney filed with the courts. All stop sign tickets for about 15 years were overturned, the village had to return all fines, the village had to pay the state to remove all those points, and anyone who suffered loss could sue the village! (The mayor didn't suffer personally but should have, as he was part of it!) It close to bankrupt the village government, and they disbanded their PD!

Ivan
 
Back in the 70s, I got 2 speeding tickets in the same place on the same day. Going to see my girlfriend and coming back. Managed to convince the judge that nobody was that stupid and my speedometer was messed up. Ended up with just an improper equipment.
 
Cruise control is my friend. That V-8 in the Grand Marquis likes to take off.

The next town going south is a total speed trap. The whole town is posted at 30 mph, and I have seen patrol cars frequently hiding out. But at least on the road I usually travel there is a warning sign that the speed limit is going down to 30 so I watch my step. Looking like I'm driving an unmarked patrol car probably doesn't hurt.
 
6518John said:
Here in Arkansas your license would have been suspended, then revoked, if the moving violations continued. Your minimum limits insurance would have been $750–$1000 a month too. You were very fortunate to be in whatever state you were in.
Click to expand...
Well, if they were all in one state, that would probably have been the case. However, The vast majority of them were spread out over a period of about 20 years (ages 16 - 35), and were issued in 4 different states (Missouri, Wyoming, Idaho, & Washington).
I did get my license suspended three times - once in Missouri when I was 18, once in Wyoming when I was 21, and once in Washington when I was 23.
In all 3 cases I either hired a lawyer to get it reinstated, or satisfied whatever time/fines necessary to get it back. The 3 times my license was on probation and they made me do traffic school were all in about a 10 year period between the ages of 25 and 35, and they were all here in Washington. All 3 of those times I got 2 or 3 tickets adding up to 6 or more "points" in less than a 2 year period.
In the last 25 years or so I've only had a couple of tickets on my record. Once I became a dad I saw the error of my ways and I reformed :)

EDIT: In answer to the ORIGINAL question my "wackiest" ticket was for failure to dim headlights - never even heard of that one before - and the fine was $147.
 
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