I was railroaded...

^^^

Sold the Sweet Pickles bus for tree fiddy at the local chop shop.

[Mortimer]

^^^ Currently painting yellow brick road alternate route.

^^^

Looking forward to a new way to be yellowbrickroaded

[Mortimer]

^^^ Had 20 Century Schizoid Man played at his HS graduation party.

[Bigsmc]

Interesting day to say the least.

I am sitting in a room with about 40 people, they call them one at a time with the State Trooper that wrote the ticket. Each Trooper had 2-3 cases. After about an hour, there are no more Troopers in the room, but there are at least 20 of us sitting there. We all had the same Trooper! He showed up late.

They called me basically in the middle of the 20 person group.

Several people in front of me complained of the Trooper citing them for a speed higher than they were driving. One guy got ticketed the same day as me and basically had my same story. After a few of them, I'm thinking this Judge is just going to toss them all out. Not hardly.

Here's how it broke down, if you had a CDL license, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had a clean record, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had violations, he would listen to your story and decide what fine you paid (most paid the full amount). Well, I get up there, plead my case, judge asks me what I want, I say I want no fine, no points. Trooper says he's okay with that! Judge looks at my driving record, sees two tickets over the last 8 years and slams me with the full fine but no points.

The no points was worth my time, but I wasn't too thrilled how the judge was doling out the fines.

Thanks to everyone for your help and input.

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Interesting day to say the least.

I am sitting in a room with about 40 people, they call them one at a time with the State Trooper that wrote the ticket. Each Trooper had 2-3 cases. After about an hour, there are no more Troopers in the room, but there are at least 20 of us sitting there. We all had the same Trooper! He showed up late.

They called me basically in the middle of the 20 person group.

Several people in front of me complained of the Trooper citing them for a speed higher than they were driving. One guy got ticketed the same day as me and basically had my same story. After a few of them, I'm thinking this Judge is just going to toss them all out. Not hardly.

Here's how it broke down, if you had a CDL license, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had a clean record, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had violations, he would listen to your story and decide what fine you paid (most paid the full amount). Well, I get up there, plead my case, judge asks me what I want, I say I want no fine, no points. Trooper says he's okay with that! Judge looks at my driving record, sees two tickets over the last 8 years and slams me with the full fine but no points.

The no points was worth my time, but I wasn't too thrilled how the judge was doling out the fines.

Thanks to everyone for your help and input.

Power to the people.

[GPK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuTi9UZtPbw

[ninetoone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfNATuw1DRs

[golfer]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Interesting day to say the least.

I am sitting in a room with about 40 people, they call them one at a time with the State Trooper that wrote the ticket. Each Trooper had 2-3 cases. After about an hour, there are no more Troopers in the room, but there are at least 20 of us sitting there. We all had the same Trooper! He showed up late.

They called me basically in the middle of the 20 person group.

Several people in front of me complained of the Trooper citing them for a speed higher than they were driving. One guy got ticketed the same day as me and basically had my same story. After a few of them, I'm thinking this Judge is just going to toss them all out. Not hardly.

Here's how it broke down, if you had a CDL license, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had a clean record, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had violations, he would listen to your story and decide what fine you paid (most paid the full amount). Well, I get up there, plead my case, judge asks me what I want, I say I want no fine, no points. Trooper says he's okay with that! Judge looks at my driving record, sees two tickets over the last 8 years and slams me with the full fine but no points.

The no points was worth my time, but I wasn't too thrilled how the judge was doling out the fines.

Thanks to everyone for your help and input.

2 tickets in 8 years is considered a poor record in Tampa?
I'm just wondering, after going through the "justice system", would you do it the same way if you had to do it again, or in other words, was it worth fighting it?

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

Interesting day to say the least.

I am sitting in a room with about 40 people, they call them one at a time with the State Trooper that wrote the ticket. Each Trooper had 2-3 cases. After about an hour, there are no more Troopers in the room, but there are at least 20 of us sitting there. We all had the same Trooper! He showed up late.

They called me basically in the middle of the 20 person group.

Several people in front of me complained of the Trooper citing them for a speed higher than they were driving. One guy got ticketed the same day as me and basically had my same story. After a few of them, I'm thinking this Judge is just going to toss them all out. Not hardly.

Here's how it broke down, if you had a CDL license, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had a clean record, you got the charges dropped and paid court costs. If you had violations, he would listen to your story and decide what fine you paid (most paid the full amount). Well, I get up there, plead my case, judge asks me what I want, I say I want no fine, no points. Trooper says he's okay with that! Judge looks at my driving record, sees two tickets over the last 8 years and slams me with the full fine but no points.

The no points was worth my time, but I wasn't too thrilled how the judge was doling out the fines.

Thanks to everyone for your help and input.

So why did the F'n trooper even write the ticket in the first place if he was "okay with it", f'n douche bag

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by golfer

2 tickets in 8 years is considered a poor record in Tampa?
I'm just wondering, after going through the "justice system", would you do it the same way if you had to do it again, or in other words, was it worth fighting it?

Yeah, it only took up 2 hours of my time and cost me and extra $60, but it was worth it to not get points.

A bad record would've gotten me points too.

One of my two tickets was recent so maybe he was thinking he would curb my recent spate of speed by hitting me in the wallet.

[MaTH716]

I just find it fustrating( and I am sure you must too) that after all was said and done that it came down to your record over the last 8 years. So if you were going 90 MPH and had a clean record, would you just get away with court costs? Also, How could the judge justify the ticket/fine if the trooper said he was ok with your plea? The whole thing just sounds like a scam to get people into court and then get some sort of money out of them. One question, Did they ever get into the fact that the trooper clocked you going in the other direction? Is that a possible/ valid reading?
But I guess if you are satisfied with the result then the whole thing was with the effort. The no points will save you on your insurance in the long run.

[golfer]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I just find it fustrating( and I am sure you must too) that after all was said and done that it came down to your record over the last 8 years. So if you were going 90 MPH and had a clean record, would you just get away with court costs? Also, How could the judge justify the ticket/fine if the trooper said he was ok with your plea? The whole thing just sounds like a scam to get people into court and then get some sort of money out of them. One question, Did they ever get into the fact that the trooper clocked you going in the other direction? Is that a possible/ valid reading?
But I guess if you are satisfied with the result then the whole thing was with the effort. The no points will save you on your insurance in the long run.

Math, I can't speak for the entire state of Florida, but the city of Jacksonville has become one big speed trap over the last 3 months. There must be absolutely NO crime here, because every cop seems to be on traffic duty. It is a total scam, they are just looking to create revenue for the city, but the idea is NOT to get people going to court. Most will just pay the fine, which is what they "bank" on.

[AeWingnut]

there are small towns around here that hire cops to write tickets. They end up spending all the revenue they get from the tickets to pay for his salary. So they have few choices - have more tickets, get rid of the cop or raise taxes on the people of the town so the cop can keep writing the people that live there, their friends and family more tickets.

So, 5 mph over used to be a pass because the gun is't accurate enough - but now you get pulled over for that because no one is speeding anymore.

What are you going to do? Go to court? hahaha Judges don't care about justice.. it's all about revenue

it seems like the people that constantly break the law and are nothing but a headache get all the breaks imagineable. I have a friend who was attacked by someone high on drugs. She got her front tooth busted and had to spend thousands at the dentist. The loser was ordered to pay restitution or else.. ha. The cops don't have the resources to hunt the lunatic down.

I guess they are too busy writing silly speeding tickets. The real moral crisis of America

[Bigsmc]

Originally Posted by MaTH716

I just find it fustrating( and I am sure you must too) that after all was said and done that it came down to your record over the last 8 years. So if you were going 90 MPH and had a clean record, would you just get away with court costs? Also, How could the judge justify the ticket/fine if the trooper said he was ok with your plea? The whole thing just sounds like a scam to get people into court and then get some sort of money out of them. One question, Did they ever get into the fact that the trooper clocked you going in the other direction? Is that a possible/ valid reading?
But I guess if you are satisfied with the result then the whole thing was with the effort. The no points will save you on your insurance in the long run.

No I don't think anyone going 90 was going to get away with anything. Most of the people were 9 - 14 over the speed limit.

I don't think it was the two tickets in 8 years that did me in. I think it was the fact that my last ticket came only 2 months before this one. I assume the judge thought I was developing a lead foot and wanted to nip it in the bud.

The weird thing was the Trooper was adamant that his reading was correct with every case including mine but when push came to shove, he agreed to waive the fine and the points. It was the judge that decided to keep the fine and waive the points.

The whole scene was Doc Hollywood-ish. I thought they may put me to work to pay off my fine....

[The Bid]

I usually ask to see the gun reading. Its gotten me off once, and gotten me seatbelt tickets along with the original ticket 4 times.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

No I don't think anyone going 90 was going to get away with anything. Most of the people were 9 - 14 over the speed limit.

I don't think it was the two tickets in 8 years that did me in. I think it was the fact that my last ticket came only 2 months before this one. I assume the judge thought I was developing a lead foot and wanted to nip it in the bud.

The weird thing was the Trooper was adamant that his reading was correct with every case including mine but when push came to shove, he agreed to waive the fine and the points. It was the judge that decided to keep the fine and waive the points.

The whole scene was Doc Hollywood-ish. I thought they may put me to work to pay off my fine....

Probably all a con game if you ask me, playing good cop/bad cop.