I think that applies to all of at one time or another, 
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Read the original post again. The OP didn’t say which lane they were in, left or right.
I’ve gotten out of two tickets.
One, I was going to a wildfire in a dept of forestry truck on a two lane highway. The speed limit was 55, but the highway was perfectly straight, no traffic, and I got clocked going 70. The truck wasn’t an emergency vehicle, but I got a copy of the fire report and the judge let me out of it anyway. The highway patrol officer wasn’t very happy about it.
The second, I had the cruise set at 70 in a 65. I pulled into the left lane to pass a line of cars that were going 65. When I got to the front of the line, there was a highway patrol car in front. Now I knew why everyone was going 65, but it’s too late. I left the cruise on, passed him too (he’d already seen me going 70 anyway). He followed me for a couple of miles, pulled me over and gave me a ticket. He said it was more my “disrespect for the law” than unsafe speed. So I asked if I hurt his feelings by passing the big bad law man. “What did you say?”, he asks. “I think you heard me. Gimme the ticket already. It’s Christmas Eve.” My wife is poking me the whole time telling me I’m going to get arrested. But I’m pretty sure it’s not illegal to be a jerk. The patrol guy proved that. Anyway, I waited it out and he didn’t turn the ticket in. I kept calling the number on the ticket trying to pay, but they kept telling me to call back. I called the last time on the court date. They told me to call the following day, but I told them they could call me if it came in. I guess it never came in.
I was in the right lane next to the shoulder. I did not notice the state trooper’s vehicle until I was just about upon him. Rather than assuming the center lane was clear and making an abrupt move into it, I slowed, moved over to the left edge of my lane, then moved back into the middle of my lane after I had passed the state trooper’s vehicle. When the trooper pulled me over, he correctly stated that the center lane was clear and that I had failed to move into it as I passed him. At 70 MPH it did not seem too wise to make a snap decision, assume the center lane was clear, and abruptly move into it. As someone else stated, I probably wouldn’t have won this one anyway. The trooper could have cited me for inattentive driving for not noticing him until the last minute. From his point of view, my staying in the right lane probably seemed to him to be a blatant disregard for his safety, even though he was parked on the far right edge of the shoulder and he was inside his vehicle.
The fine was already paid prior to my posting this question.
I think there was a component of this to my ticket. That was the part that irked me. I am super cautious around anyone in the road slowing down and giving them wide berth: law enforcement, pedestrians, bicyclists, road workers, etc. Unfortunately the trooper had no way of knowing my driving habits. All he had to go on his observation of a driver who ignored an opportunity to clear the lane for a parked law enforcement vehicle with its lightbar flashing.
I don’t how you drive but I would have known the center lane was clear when I am driving my eyes are always moving I look strait ahead for a few seconds then glance down to the dash gauges then to mirrors then back ahead and repete.
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I don’t know how much cheaper it would be but services like Off The Record which matches you with an attorney to help fight the ticket would be willing to have you snap a photo of the ticket and they’ll give you your options. The goal is to get the ticket dismissed but sometimes they at least reduce the violation to one that stays off your driving record.
I have never had a ticket for a traffic violation. I was pulled over for speeding, but was just given a warning. I was on a two lane road and there were two cars in front of me that were really going slow and were running so close together that I had to pass both at the same time. When I saw an opening, I floored the accelerator and shot around both cars and ducked back into my lane. However, I forgot to slow down to the speed limit. I felt fortunate to get off with a warning.
The other time where I was afraid I would get a ticket was when I was road testing a 1956 Volkswagen back in 1962. I took it out on the highway the speedometer registered 100. A police car came up behind and then pulled around me and kept going. I thought the policeman was hurrying to an emergency. The odometer on the VW read 66,000. Since the VW was a relatively unknown quantity at the time, I took a pass even though the $495 price tag seemed right. I was discussing this with a mechanic and he said there was no way s VW Beetle would do 100 and that the speedometer didn’t go that high. We then figured out that the car had been brought into the country and hadn’t been converted to U.S. measurements. I was going 100 kilometers per hour which is about 62 miles per hour. I was in a 65 mph zone, so I wasn’t speeding. I then realized that the VW I had tried out had about 44,000 miles. I went back to the dealer to check the car out again, but it had been sold.
If you live in an area where winters are cold, losing out on the VW would not have been a bad thing: the passenger compartment “heat” in them was minimal. My friend had a VW. With the weight over the rear drive wheels, it ran pretty well in snow, but we were always scraping frost off the inside of the windows. JC Whitney sold some kind of heating solution for VWs that my friend looked into but never purchased.
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Same with me. There was something going on in the traffic going the other way, so for a few seconds I was not looking straight ahead, at mirrors or at the gauges. I have had lanes that were empty one second and the next had a vehicle or more often a motorcyclist who was driving extremely fast like they were on a mission to meet their maker. I wasn’t about to fill that lane with my van without knowing it was clear.
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My experience mirrors Renegade’s. I have only receiver 3 speeding tickets in my entire trucking career and all were in Ohio and probably less that10% of my driving was in Ohio. They were all in the double nickel era and the fastest one was for 63 in a 55, the other 2 were for 62 in a 55, all on the interstate. All 3 took me to the JP to pay the fine. It was just about the money all 3 cops offered to “lose” the copy of the ticket that got mailed to my home state and none of them showed up on my transcript. To this day, I will not eat or by fuel in Ohio. I watch every Ohio State football game,just to root for the other team.
It is not that I have not been stopped in other states, but I have always told the cops the absolute truth, usually in a humorous way. I was going along route 12 in northern NY with the St Lawrence on my right and the road was deserted. state westbound not far from Ogdensburg . The speed limit kept changing between 35,45,and 55. I saw the state trooper pop over the rise coming at me and saw his brake lights flash as he passed me. By the time he got turned around I was parked on the shoulder with my license and registration out the window.
Cop: I got you at 62,. me: yep, that is just what I was doing.
Cop: Why were you doing 62? Me: it won’t go any faster.
Cop: Is that all you have to say for yourself>m Me: I am glad you did not catch me back where it was 35.
Cop: (with he head in his hands) Go on, jut get out of here! Me Yes Officer.
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OK, I misunderstood. Still they are getting a little sensitive about people not moving over. In Minnesota you need to move over unless the lane is obstructed, then you have to slow down. Yeah sure he went a little overboard but technically you were wrong so just forget it. There have always been a pile of patrol cars on that stretch of road though really looking, so if they can make a pinch for something other than just speeding, the guy gets a gold star for the day.
I personally haven’t had any tickets in decades. But my daughter had a couple in the past 10 years. And the courts in NH do NOT make it easy to plead not guilty.
Her first ticket she pleaded not guilty. Had to appear in court at 7am on a Wednesday. They made everyone who pleaded not guilty to a traffic ticket to wait until 4pm. Then at 4 you are called before a judge who then sets a court date. She shows up to the court date at 7am. They don’t hear her case until after 2pm. She beat this ticket, but it cost her 2 days of work (still a college student with a part time job). If you’re the bread winner in the family this could be a big financial burden.
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About 20 years ago, a friend was stopped in Indiana. After stopping and placing the car in park, he disconnected his seat belt to get his driver’s license from his wallet. The officer saw the disconnected seat belt and cited him for not wearing it. My friend explained the situation, but the cop gave him a ticket anyway. He took it to court and lost. The judge always believes the police except in highly unusual circumstances.
Thanks everyone for the replies. It seems as though without any proof like a dashcam video showing that I did at least slow down when I saw the trooper’s vehicle (which is also acceptable under the “Move Over” law), paying the fine was the most prudent thing to do.
The anecdotes about some courts making it difficult if you plead not guilty is concerning. It does not seem like antagonizing people who just want to tell their side of the story is the best way to serve the public.
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I can see letting the people pleading guilty first, their cases are more likely to be quicker, why make them wait.
Well not to go off the deep end but you need to pay attention. Justice has been going off the rails for a while. Don’t count on a fair and unprejudiced hearing. People are in jail for little or nothing, facing bankruptcy to further plea their case. Their cash, car, boat has been confiscated simply because they had cash even though doing nothing wrong. Not to mention trying to open their business to stay afloat against Governor’s orders. It’s all around and depends on the local DA and judge. I’ve seen it here, and in other states around the country. Like I said at 15 I learned that similar offenses can be punished or not depending on the bias of the judge and it hasn’t gotten any better. I have just tried to make sure that I and and my family are in a strong position to defend ourselves. So pay the fine as you already have and avoid the judge.
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Too late now, but here is my experience. Over 30 years ago on Pelham Pkwy in The Bronx there was a light that was timed, lets say poorly. It went from green to red really quick. I ran though the light and an officer was right there and gave me a ticket. I just paid it. My insurance company canceled my policy just as I was about to close on my first home. I found out later from co-workers that many also were ticketed but had gone to court. The judge knew about the timing issue at that light and dismissed everyone.
The cops here in OK show up for court. Only once in a blue moon are they no-shows. I’ve been to court on tickets 6 times and skated on 3 of them; one of them for the reason in an earlier post.
One was in a small suburb town and the cop wanted me guilty. When I showed up for court come to find out the judge was a guy I worked with back in high school so he dismissed the charge in spite of the cop’s vocal protest.
In another case the cops jailed me for no reason in OK City. The next morning I was bonded out and found out they had manufactured several bogus traffic violations along with a concealed weapons charge. The concealed weapon? A tire iron in the trunk. Cop was just mad because after frisking me 3 times and 3 car searches he could not find any drugs on me. I do not nor have I ever used illicit drugs although my hippie appearance might give that impression.
Showed up for court on that one and the DA did not want me anywhere near a court house much less a courtroom. They refunded the bail money and apologized “for any inconvenience this may have caused”.
Why get upset over sweating all night in a 100 degree jail with half a million cockroaches all over the place…
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As far as I can tell in New Haven CT traffic court you get one freebee ticket a year, as long as you make a donation to a charity instead of paying a fine.
I did a day of research and brought a binder full of law talk to my hearing, and before I could open my mouth, the city attorney said, “pay the same amount as the fine to the official charity,” and we’ll dismiss the charges.
You could continue and ask for a full hearing with a judge, but I can’t see why you would.
Same experience next time.
I’m sure this doesn’t apply to very serious tickets though.