So as of today, i've got two speeding tickets from driving my Mini, which i've had since Nov. I currently live in NorCal (San Jose), moved here about the same time I got my Mini. I lived in SoCal all my life and from the 5 years ive been driving in SoCal...not a single ticket. Got pulled over once for a fix it but thats about it. So the second I move to NorCal I get tickets up the wazhoo. I'm thinking the cops around here are more aggressive than SoCal, I remember the actual ticket I ever got was last year, driving from SoCal to NorCal for a convention, so out of my entire driving career all my tickets have been in NorCal, even when I was living in SoCal.

Anyway, so last month on 3/2/05, I was driving to work, the usual routine that I drive and I was particularly excited that day because I was going to AMVIV II later that night. I get pulled over about a block from the freeway on ramp, allegedly going 56mph on a 40mph zone. I didn't even see the officer until the lights on his motorcycle was flashing. Tagged me using Lidar and wrote me a ticket for VC 22350 (Basic Speed Law). So I do a little research do decide to do a trial by declaration. I head to the court house and wait in line for an hour to tell them I want a trial by declaration, the clerk gives me 20 days and I leave. To my dismay I see a nice new ticket on my Mini, yes a PARKING TICKET. I was parked in between 5 other cars on the same street, and when I got back I noticed all the cars were gone but mine...and a sign that said "NO PARKING AT ANY TIME UP TO THIS POINT" argh.

A month and a half later, 4/21/05 im driving to work again (same time as my other ticket at 10:40am in the morning) but this time im on the freeway. I'm going with the flow of the traffic at about 75-80 and I get this car who keeps tailgating me for no apperant reason. So this guy is on me for like a good five minutes and I just said, screw it and downshifted to 5th and sped up and into the fast lane. The other car speeds up but goes into the far right lane, like he wanted to race me. So I this happens for about 10 seconds and i'm about to slow down, then I see a camero (I guess it was a camero, definately wasn't a crown vic.) behind me speeding up, and then the blue and red lights from the sunvisor turns on, turns out to be a cop. So he pulls me over, insults my intellectual integrity (Wasn't so smart there were you) and asks if I was racing the guy, I reply "No" since I wasn't. I ask for a warning and he tells me "No" since you zoomed right past me and hands me a ticket (VC 22349 Speed Limit) for 85mph on the freeway of 65mph.

I'm planning on fighting both tickets (well one is already in the process of being fought) but I need some advice. I'm thinking of using a lawyer to get them out of the way but they might be expensive and I don't know how to find one. I also found out about Ticket Busters (http://www.ticketbust.com/index.htm) and I would like to know if they are any good. I've got about a week left to turn in my Trial by Declaration and im not sure what defence I should be using. I've got a pretty good defence for if I was standing in front of the officer in the courtroom where I could cross examine him (http://www.helpigotaticket.com/speed/30questions.html) but i'm not sure what to put on for the trial of declaration. I'd rather just pay Ticket Busters $99 bucks each if they can get me out of both tickets but I don't know anything about them.

I've already used up my traffic school about 12 months ago and I don't want any points on my record (3 years of insurance premiums? No thank you.). I'm also looking into a good radar detector (Escort 8550 or Valentine One) and planning on doing some Autocrossing to sedate myself from going over :P

Edit - Oh yeah and I saw 2 Minis pass me while pulled over on the 880/17 fwy :\

 

Sorry about all the tickets you got and I do feel for you.

Why do the police want to pick on a MINI?

 

Don't take this wrong, but you could slow down.

Just a thought.... :smile:

 

I HAVE been slowing down ever since the tickets. It just seems unjustifiable to have a four lane street with very little traffic and nothing but corporations on either side of the road be labled as 40mph zone. Recently when I drive on that road I always stay below 45mph, but everyone else just zooms right by going 55+, luck of the draw I guess.

 

I feel your pain. I currently have two speeding tickets, one well deserved, one totally bogus. I paid up for the first one, but I'm planning on fighting the second one.
I too am wondering if ticketbust.com is a good way to go for that.

For the record, my first ticket (the one I deserved) happened on a deserted highway on my way to Vegas, so it wasn't because I was street racing or anything like that.
So please, no flame-fest

 

to being wrong, but in typical spoiled brat fashion you're going to try and get out of it all. Too bad they can't throw jail time at some of you clowns. You break the law and then try to slime your way out of it. Hope they fine you the max, take away your license for a year and impound your mini.

 

My one and only ticket so far was in my last car (BMW 330i) while traveling to work @ 4:50am

Same kind of issue...cop hiding in complete darkness and scared the crap out of me when he flipped his lights on.
I don't know exactly what this "trial of declaration" is but here in Maryland you can go before a judge and pleas guilty to the ticket and usually just pay the fine and they wave the points. I would go this route if possible.

 

No sympathy here. I've had one ticket in my entire (50 yrs) life and that was for speeding thru a school zone in San Diego...on my BICYCLE twenty years ago. And the strange thing is, despite obeying the speed laws while driving, I still manage to have tons of fun!

Slow down. Folks like you give Mini drivers a bad name with the cops. pb

 

thanks for the the return to yester-year.

a long time a-go: i got 2 tickets in the same day from the same cop.
both were well earned.
doug

 

I am averaging one speeding ticket every 10 years. (Have had four.)



And just because I said that, I will probably get one on the way home.



A MINI sticks out, Averywo. AutoX sounds like a good idea. Might help burn off the desire to speed.

 

Generally, speeding tickets are not much more than just an income generating "schemes" for police departments. I see people everyday running red lights, hugging the inside lane, cutting off other drivers, not using their indicators, etc. The enforcment is easier on a speeders than catching drivers for other offenses. Also, driver's education is subpar in this country. Every year we have more and more incompetent people introuduced driving population. Many have no proper knowledge of the rules and have no driving skills at all; therefore, they are committing every traffic offense in the book, but most will only get ticketed for speeding violations.

"Speed kills" as the cliche goes. I bet not paying attention, not knowing the rules, and not having active accident avoiding skills kill more people than speeding.

 

These cars are a blast to drive and so tempting to let them fly. I fight the urge all the time sometimes unsuccessfully. No lectures save this, don't be the cause of your or anyone elses early demise.

 

This is a bit harsh...come on, tell me that you haven't (even once in your life), tried to get something for nothing or change the outcome of something to be in your favor...IMHO it is no different. If I'm wrong here, then hats off to you because you are the only person I know of that has 100% lived their life that way.

Back on topic...yes you broke the law (so have I...oh, I'm a bad, bad person). My advice is to fight it because at the very least, you will lose fewer points...

 

I am the police and I only admire the MINI. But it is good to protect the MINI from those who might abuse it. About 25 years ago I was admiring a 72 Chevelle SS going down the road. It was going a little over the limit and my partner ask if we should go after it. I told him no let's ride up the road and see if we find him in the ditch. Well less than a mile away we found him wrapped around a telephone pole. I guess the 17 yr old had paniced when he saw us and kicked it. It was not a nice Sunday.

 

if they were both in the same place shame on you.

 

Since Ive gotten my MINI Ive recieved the following:

Failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign

70 in a 55

65 in a 15

80 in a 65

AND, I have a Valentine One. Each time I got nailed with LIDAR which the V1 doesnt pick up till its too late and one time I had the V1 off.

My advice...

GET A LAWYER. Even if its only your first ticket.

You might just want to pay it and be done thinking you wont get another one for a long time but you would be surprised how easily it can happen and add up.

I dont know about Cali, but here in NY three speeds in 18 months or 12 points on your license is an automatic revoke.

I got a lawyer who was good. He got one speed down to a seatbelt, one to a broken speedometer and one cop was a no show.

My lawyer even said the speed limits on the highway are set way low here. They are 55 but any road engineer will tell you they can easily accomodate 65/70. Its because they need to generate revenue for the state and tickets are a large part of that.

Your other option is to buy a laser diffuser. It hooks up to your car and gets mounted to your plate. When the cop hits you with laser it defuses the beam, and therefore he doesnt get a reading thinking he misfired and missed you..he moves on to the next car. These things are expensive though. A guy in our MINI club out here has one and it cost him almost 2K.

When I had my Honda Civic I never got a ticket. A Red and White MINI with bonnet stripes though is def going to stand out more than a Civic. Its a moving bullseye really.

One cop even told me in court "We sure love to go after you MINI people."

 

Only one ticket in my MINI for me. Was doing 110 in a 65 zone in the middle of the desert by the Salton Sea in SoCal. I deserved it, paid it without complaining and moved on. :smile: But I was having fun!!!!! (and as long as I'm not dangering anyone else but myself, thats all that matters).

Plus, we all know the MINI can handle it easily.

 

Sorry about the tickets. I live in Norcal now, and have lived in Socal, and have family down there and visit quite often. It is my observation that traffic flows faster in Socal. Sure, there are times and places where we go fast up here, but I think you will need to get used to going a bit slower.

Have fun, and be careful.

 

My problem with speeding tickets is that, more often than not, it's the wrong people gettin' 'em. Having lived in Germany for over 7 years and spending a LOT of time on the Autobahn, I can testify first-hand that SPEED doesn't cause accidents, STUPIDITY does. I rarely see people getting pulled over for passing on the shoulder, or weaving in and out of slower moving traffic, tailgating, blocking the left lane, etc. But I DO see people getting pulled on open roads in good weather for 10 over. That's not public safety - it's revenue generation, plain and simple.

In Germany, I routinely drove between 125 and 145 mph on cars and bikes, and I felt much safer then than I do now at 80-90 on the Colorado Interstates. Why? Better trained drivers who were concentrating on driving, not applying makeup or talking on the phone or eating or reading or - well, you get the picture.

If I'm driving stupid and get pulled, I take the ticket and go on with my life. But what fries my @$$ is when you see major stupidity right in front of a cop, like cutting three lanes to make a turn, or pulling an illegal Uey, or stuff like that and they don't get pulled over.

What we REALLY need to do in this country is to revoke EVERYONE's license and actually train people how to drive. You know, use blinkers, get out of the left lane, use your mirrors, don't jaw on the cell, obey traffic symbols, etc. Then you could boost the speed limits and get rid of some of the traffic clogging lights actually make some progress on the road. . .but of course, that'll never happen.

So I guess - if you wanna drive fast, drive fast. Just don't drive stupid. And if you get written up, face up to it and pay the fine. That's the price we pay. . .

[Stepping down off the soap box now, sorry]

 

The first ticket sounds bogus. The second one... well those things happen. You have to be very selective about when to let your driving become 'spirited.' If I have a tailgater, I usually maintain my speed, or slow just slightly, and ignore the rear-view. Eventually, they get tired of that, and speed by. In which, case, they can get the ticket.

Another strategy; always be sure you're not the fastest car in traffic. I like to let someone fly by me at, maybe, 15mph over the limit. Then I can trail them at a distance and slightly lower speed. If there's an officer up ahead, they'll find him first. Of course you have to watch the rear view, and pull into a slower lane if you see anyone closing fast. Just don't race. Enjoy the ride and, if you choose to exceed the posted limit, watch out.

 

Dude - how long were you in Germany?!

But seriously, I agree with you whole heartedly. Speed doesn't kill people - stupid, unattentive, ham-fisted idiot drivers kill people (and usually NOT themselves at that!).

Remember when they increased the speed limits across the country a couple years ago? All the law-enforcement 'experts' predicted a huge increase in fatalities on our nation's highways... In actuality, the reverse happened! Fatalities actually decreased.

- - m

 

Don't mess with Johnny Law..

 

LOL...You sound like me!!! Personally, what I'd like to see happen is that everytime you go to have your license renewed (every 4 years here in Maine), you have to take a driving test and a written test...

 

What fun is that

From an older man.

Earl

 

I'd support that in a heartbeat. I mean, what does it take to get your license in the US? I took my test in West Virginia (I know, I know. . .) in 1977 and it was a quick 25 or 30 question test (maybe 50) and then a quick run around the block, then parallel park, then - DING! You got a license.

Ridiculous. And no vehicle limitations - I was out later that month driving V-8 Camaros and scarily overpowered motorcycles. Most other countries have a porbationary period where you can only drive smaller, lower-powered vehicles until you can prove that you know what you're doing. Oh well. . .