Posts Tagged ‘law enforcement’
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
State laws maintain that everybody is protected by equal rights in the eyes of justice. So, even when charged with an offence, culpability is not decided upon unless judged by the court, which even then undergoes through an extensive evaluation.
Same is true with speeding violations. You can beat a speeding ticket by knowing your rights which, although requires effort, can guarantee you the best chances of having the case dismissed.
So to beat a speeding ticket, lets start with the scene of the flagging down, you have the right to limit your answers to a polite “no, officer” and “yes officer.” Known as the Miranda Rights, you are free not to admit your guilt or answer questions that can possibly lead to self-incrimination, especially without the presence of a lawyer.
But, you DO want to be cooperative by providing your basic details such as drivers license, proof of auto insurance, and other things such as your name. Your right to be silent does not pertain to these.
In order to beat a speeding ticket, you have to do things in a certain way. Being courteous and respectful to another human being can carry significant weight when an officer is still deciding to ticket you or not. Losing your temper or verbalizing insults toward an officer of the law will absolutely guarantee you will NOT get out of a traffic ticket. And if you push the issue too far it can lead to more charges, especially in court.
You are not actually guilty until a judge finds you so in traffic court. And the burden of proof has to be provided by the law enforcement official who actually wrote the traffic citation. So don’t be afraid to defend yourself in court and try to beat a speeding ticket.
Try to remember specific facts about what happened before and while you were pulled over. Being vague wont help. Its easier than most think to beat a speeding ticket, the court gives both sides equal opportunity to present their side.
A lawyer can be summoned, if need be, or you can also represent yourself for minor charges. The court can grant relevant requests for documentations such as the statement of the officer regarding their version of events, and the make and model of your car according to their recollection. If you show that you have more credible answers related to the event, then you have a greater chance to beat a speeding ticket.
You also have a right to have a speedy trial as the court recognizes the constraints to work and personal life of attending court proceedings. Also, you can point out lack of evidence or delay trials in case the officer-in-charge does not show up in the proceeding.
Most traffic courts offer alternative to actually paying for a ticket like community service or attending a traffic school class. To beat a speeding ticket means knowing all options available to all people facing charges.
If you can beat a speeding ticket you will benefit greatly because violations are listed in your driving history, which can in turn affect additional charges or increase in your premium rates so you would want to avoid such inconveniences with a clear record.
Traffic violations can be punishing for several reasons. Just keep in mind when trying to beat a speeding ticket, biases and abuse aren’t tolerated by the court. Which means you have as good a chance as anyone to have your speeding ticket dropped when you go to traffic court.
Nys Speeding Tickets Also, you can point out lack of evidence or delay trials in case the officer-in-charge does not show up in the proceeding. The law can provide alternatives such as community service or going to traffic school in lue of payment. Especially without a lawyer present.
Tags: auto insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | No Comments »
Friday, September 17th, 2010
Law enforcements ability to write traffic tickets has limitations. For one, a law enforcement official can only pull over and write one citation at a time. The governments found this to be too time consuming and it cost too much money.
With the rapid development of technology, clever ways have been developed to make the process speedier.
So the government in its great ‘wisdom’ decided it wasn’t collecting enough money with the old system.
There are just too many factors: First, they have to hire the cop to pull you over. This also means the use of a police vehicle which also costs money. Next, the traffic stop itself is a dangerous situation for the officer and potentially other drivers or pedestrians. Third, after it’s all said and done, the driver may still end up driving away without a ticket (if the officer decides to just give a warning).
And last, in the time it took the officer to pull you over and write a ticket, many more people go speeding by, so there was money lost from not pulling them over!
So the photo radar was introduced to take handing out tickets to a whole new level. They can do the job of many officers.
There’s no longer the need to actually pull people over anymore. With traffic cameras, speeding tickets are mailed directly to the home of the offender. Talk about service!
Since it was deployed photo radar has increased revenue for municipalities that employ it, maximized enforcement resources for other duties, and increased conviction rates in traffic court. Also drivers insurance rates went up.
Currently only 20 states or so use the photo radar for speeding detection, but it is on the rise.
The photo radar is growing in popularity simply because of the points stated previously.
Many cities are beginning to join the growing ranks of municipalities using photo radar because of the automaticity of its revenue generation.
In areas that are financially strapped, photo radar gives them an immediate answer to their money misery.
Looking at it from the municipalities’ point of view it makes perfect sense. One photo radar can do the work of what would normally take a small army of real officers.
So how exactly does this photo radar work? What it does is take a picture of your license plate when the built in radar gun catches you speeding. Its programmed to take a photo at a predetermined speed.
For example, if a certain street’s speed limit is 25 mph, the radar gun might be set to activate when any vehicle travels over 30 mph.
When this happens, the radar gun will instantly trigger the camera to take a picture of the entire vehicle (sometimes it’s just the back, other times its the back and front of the vehicle) to get the license plate information. The picture is electronically filed away and the process is carried on throughout the day and night. Hundreds of individuals will have their picture taken - courtesy of Big Brother.
The following day, a few people will gather all of the pictures that were taken and begin to examine them.
What the examiners are looking for is the clarity of the picture and if the plate number can be read.
When a clear license plate is found it will be run through the bureau of motor vehicles database to see who it is registered to. If its a male and there is a male behind the wheel of the car, BINGO, a citation will be on its way to the registered owner. Ah the beauty of photo radar.
This process is repeated until all the pictures from the photo radar have been gone through, until the next batch arrives. Please let this article be a warning for you to look out for photo radar enforcement!
Learn more about beating speeding tickets. Stop by Janet Mcintyre’s site where you can find out all about traffic violations and the best advice to getting them dismissed.
Tags: auto insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
The best method to avoid getting a speeding ticket is to not drive. But most people work so this wont be possible for the masses. If you don’t like the thought of riding the bus then read through the following tips so hopefully you can avoid your next speeding ticket.
1. Don’t go over the speed limit. This is the obvious one, but honestly if you want to avoid a speeding ticket don’t speed. If you must speed do it on the highway.
2. Be prepared. Avoid speeding tickets by not standing out from the crowd. You can help yourself with this by going around your car and making sure all lights are functioning. Your mirrors, blinkers, headlights and tail lights need to all function correctly.
3. Quality of your vehicle. Fix small issues like cracked windows and use some touch up paint if your car needs it. Keeping it clean and up to date will help you avoid the eyes of the law.
4. Don’t sleep and drive. Keep yourself alert by sitting up straight and being aware of your surroundings. Police can be anywhere. Pay particular attention to things such as over passes and bends in the road as these can be magnets for cops and your next speeding ticket.
5. Being suspicious. If you drive a 1988 Olds Cutlass in a nice neighbor hood at night you will trigger a police officers attention.
6. Don’t draw too much attention. Depending on the car you drive, you may stand out from the rest. High performance vehicles will always catch the attention of an officer before, say, a Ford Escort.
7. Watch for curves. Do not exceed the speed limit around curves. You never know who will be waiting to give you a speeding ticket.
8. Stay out of the left lane. A lot of the police officers I personally know and others I’ve talked to admit that they target the left lane for speeding tickets. Its called the fast lane for a reason.
9. Know your city. Does your town or city have photo radar enforcement? These are becoming more popular as a way to automatically give out speeding tickets. You may think you only see a regular SUV on the side of the road, when in fact it could be a photo radar unit.
10. Pay attention ahead of you for brake lights. This is an easy way to be alerted to the fact that there is an officer gunning people for speeding tickets. On highways drivers rarely hit their brakes unless someone has abruptly pulled in front of them.
11. Be aware of what the police drive. A lot of the time you never know that the car you were just driving next to was an unmarked police cruiser until your pulled over and issued a speeding ticket. The unmarked cars are almost always the same as the marked cars, only they will be painted as the civilian version.
12. Beware of speed traps. Speed traps occur in virtually every part of the country. Knowing where they might be before you get on the road is a wise decision. Find out if the road you will be traveling has any speed traps listed on Speedtrap.org.
Unfortunately you cant avoid all speeding tickets, but you can greatly increase your odds of not getting one by using these tips.
Want to find out more about speeding tickets? Then visit Timothy Williams’s site for information on how to avoid and beat speeding tickets if you or someone you know has received one.
Tags: ADVICE, auto insurance, automotive, family, law, law enforcement, legal, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | No Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Over 100,000 people a day receive a speeding ticket in this country. That’s over 36,500,000 speeding tickets per year.
One in every six drivers will be ticketed for speeding this year.
An average speeding ticket will cost you $150.
$150 x 36,500,000= $5,475,000,000! Thats almost 5.5 BILLION per year in speeding ticket fines.
$900 is the average increase a speeding ticket will cause your auto insurance premiums to increase over three years.
Multiply 900 by 36,500,000 and you get $3,285,000,000 (3.28 BILLION dollars) in extra insurance money the insurance industry makes in a single year just from speeding tickets.
More than 95% of drivers who get speeding tickets will simply pay the fine and not fight it in traffic court.
The other 5% who make an effort to fight their ticket usually have their case dismissed or receive reduced charges that don’t get reported on their driving record.
In the US there are almost 200 million licensed drivers.
A police officer will fail to show up to court between 30 to 50% of the time. This is immediate grounds for a dismissal.
Paradise Valley, Arizona, in 1987 became the first town in America to use photo radar.
In 1966 Brooklyn Ohio was the first city that mandated the use of seat belts.
The age groups between 17 and 24 years of age receive the most speeding tickets.
More males than females receive speeding citations.
More women than men fight their speeding tickets in traffic court.
17 year olds cause more traffic accidents than any other age.
In July 1879, two men are fined for speeding horses in Seattle.
Henry Ford’s first automobile in 1894 only went in one direction, forward.
In 1868 horse buggies and also pedestrians in London were the first to use the precursor to the modern day traffic lights.
Since 1999, Washington, D.C. cameras have issued 2,421,841 tickets worth $182 million.
The earliest known speeding ticket on file was issued in 1910 to the Prime Minister of Canada’s wife. She was traveling at a whopping 10 mph over the limit.
Doctors receive the most speeding tickets than any other profession.
In salary and benefits an average police officer will cost a city around $75,000 a year. He will also make the town an average of $150,000 in that same year. Cops are good investments.
The top ten states for writing speeding tickets are:
1. Ohio 2. Pennsylvania 3. New York 4. California 5. Texas 6. Georgia 7. Virginia 8. North Carolina 9. Massachusetts 10. Connecticut
Learn how to fight your speeding ticket in traffic court. Stop by Steven Swihart’s site where you can find a lot more advice to help you challenge your traffic violations successfully.
Tags: auto insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | 12 Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Nobody likes to get speeding tickets. Hopefully, this article will give readers some insight on how to fight speeding tickets.
One thing you could do is file a discovery request with the prosecutor to acquire any documents relating to your case. These documents could include things such as the calibration records of the radar or speedometer of the car that clocked your speed. You would want to do this in advance of your traffic court date so you would have time to go through them for inaccuracies. But the possible downside of this is reminding the officer who gave you the ticket to show up in traffic court.
To fight speeding tickets remember that speed detecting devices such as laser detectors and radar can be subject to human error. And in a lot of instances police officers have neglected to provide proof of proper positioning of these instruments and thus cases have been dismissed.
Fight speeding tickets with technicalities. Simple things missing from the ticket can get it thrown out. It may be rare but if something as simple as the lack of the officers signature missing, or if it or the badge ID number is not readable then it could be dismissed.
Be Brief: When fighting speeding tickets, keep in mind that judges don’t have a lot of time. Give a brief report. Additionally, use of visual evidence, such as a photo of a road sign obscured by foliage may help your case.
Officers rarely have a good reason for missing traffic court. If you go to court to fight speeding tickets and the officer isn’t there and the court asks for a continuance you should respectfully object. This is an example of winning your case by default and it happens more often than you might think.
Obviously not getting a speeding ticket in the first place is the best way to fight it! Speeding tickets and other traffic violations can increase your car insurance for years to come.
Want to find out more about how to fight speeding tickets? Then visit Steven Swihart’s site for all things traffic violation related, and learn the in’s and out’s of the traffic court system.
Tags: auto insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
Throughout the years, there have been some pretty dreadful defense strategies used by many people when it came to their traffic ticket. But I don’t really blame them. Most were just relying on ‘insider’ information some website was selling.
In this article we will go over the 5 most common mistakes used by people when trying to fight their traffic ticket. Use these as a guide of what not to do.
Mistake #1- Delaying the Court Trial
Almost every other book I’ve read on traffic tickets advises you to postpone the trial by asking for a continuance. They claim the longer your traffic court trial is from the original infraction, the greater the chance the officer will fail to show up to court on your traffic ticket.
Do not try to delay your date with the traffic court. You will not increase the likelihood the officer wont be there and thus having your traffic ticket thrown out.
The question I’ve always had was if you do put off your court date, what do you do when he still shows up?
Then what? Police officers get paid overtime to show up to traffic court.
Mistake #2- Requesting evidence before traffic court.
You have the right by law to see any information the court plans on using to convict you. The process is called discovery. And it would be useful if you were charged with murder, but this is traffic court. Don’t do this, it can hurt your chances of successfully getting your traffic ticket dismissed.
When you make a motion for discovery and request evidence before your trial, this sends red flags to the prosecution that you are planning a good defense. He’ll take it as a challenge and will prepare his case so efficiently that it becomes almost impossible to win.
Don’t request anything or even contact the courthouse at any time prior to your trial about your traffic ticket. DO NOT let them know you are familiar with the traffic court process.
Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research
There is no need to spend any time reading boring law books. Its pointless.
Only rarely would it be prudent to look up a law so you know how it may be worded, other than that it is needless to do this with most traffic tickets.
Mistake #4- Attacking the officer’s credibility
If you go to traffic court with the idea you are going to attack the officers credibility, don’t waste your time. You can forget getting your traffic ticket dismissed. Saying the officer didn’t use the equipment properly, or that he singled you out or any number of other excuses are useless.
Challenging the officers training of a radar gun will always draw scrutiny from the judge. He will take the officers side and will insist you ask the next question.
Its just understood that the officer has the proper training on the speed detecting equipment he or she used to give you a traffic ticket. There’s no question about it. Say you do try this defense, where are you going to get the evidence the judge will ask for to support your claim?
Mistake #5- Showing up to traffic court unprepared.
This is by far the biggest mistake people will make when fighting a traffic ticket. They go to court, thinking they’ve done their homework, when in reality everything they did leading up to the trial was in vain. They’re research was done the WRONG WAY and as a result, they lose their case before they even had a chance to defend themselves.
Those who did no research go to traffic court with the notion that they can just tell their side of the story and the judge will see things their way and dismiss their traffic ticket. Yeah right!
Look, I know the thought of going to traffic court can be a little scary for some, but this isn’t a murder trial. It’s just a simple traffic ticket. Traffic court is set up to be extremely ‘user friendly’ due to the large amounts of people who go there every day.
Avoid these five mistakes and you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court and getting your traffic ticket dismissed.
Looking to find the best information on traffic court? Then visit www.Paytrafficviolation.com to find the best advice on traffic violations and how to fight them.
Tags: auto insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
There are differences between traffic tickets. Determining the type of ticket you have is important when evaluating your situation.
Sometimes if your ticket is not a serious one that gets reported to your auto insurance company, you may be better off just paying the fine and not challenging it in court.
The two main types of traffic tickets are either moving or non moving violations. Non moving violations usually involve smaller fines and can be a parking ticket or some kind of fix it ticket.
These can be a nuisance but at least they wont go on your driving history or be reported to your auto insurance.
Non moving violations can be things such as not wearing your seatbelt, a broken headlight or improperly parking your vehicle.
These types of violations are usually better dealt with by just paying the fine. Taking the matter to court is more of a hassle on your part because the fine being imposed is normally not more than $50. The amount of time, energy and cost involved in contesting the charged violation is not worth it. Besides, these types of tickets are very hard to beat in court. I mean, either you parked illegally or you didn’t.
But if you felt the ticket was given unjustly, you should always attempt to resolve it in some way. For example a broken head light ticket will usually be tossed if you show proof you fixed it.
A moving violation on the other hand, is any violation of the law, committed by the driver of a vehicle, while it is in motion. The term “motion” distinguishes it from ‘non-moving’ violations. While parking tickets are charged against a vehicle (which will be towed if violations go unpaid or are frequent), moving violations are charged against the person driving. Moving violations are usually classified as infractions or misdemeanors, but serious violations can be considered felonies.
Moving violations normally involve the payment of fines, and also having points assessed against the driving record of the driver. As points are accumulated more severe punishment can be ordered such as having to take defensive driving courses up to having your drivers license suspended.
In the US fines are in set amounts that can vary from $50 or so, up to and even surpassing $750 in some instances. In other countries traffic violation fines can be set proportional to the individuals income, and judgments of $100,000 or more aren’t unheard of!
Common moving violations include: speeding (by far the most common violation) , running a stop sign or red traffic light, failure to yield to someone with the right of way, failing to maintain a single lane, not stopping for a pedestrian in a crosswalk, crossing the gore (striped area), failure to secure a load to a truck, driving in a car pool lane illegally, or driving too slow for road conditions, particularly in a left-hand lane
More serious moving violations include: racing on a public street, road rage, drunk driving, and vehicular homicide
Also, traffic violations can either be criminal or civil. They both come with fines and points on your record, but a criminal violation is the only one that can get you jail time.
Sentences imposed in criminal cases are obligations owed to the state for violation of their laws. The term state can be applied to cities, towns, state or federal governments or any other kind of municipality. Obviously these are the moving violations you need to avoid at all costs.
Want to find out more about moving violations? Then visit Steven Swihart’s site on how to choose the best traffic defense for your individual needs.
Tags: auto insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets Posted in auto insurance | No Comments »
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