jvenner@wateng.UUCP (Jason P. Venner) (12/20/83)
I have applied for legal aid. Legal aid is a govern-
ment service (ie bureaucracy). I am waiting for the legal
aid to come through, however, I have had to hire a lawyer
already as my appeal is due on the 23 of this month. I fig-
ure the legal aid may come through (they won't back date it)
sometime in January. If I still need it by then it will
help.
I originally had legal advice from some law student
types... If I had hired a proper lawyer in the first place
(for about 1/3 of my yearly income now-days), I would have
gotten off the charges and had a speeding ticket.
If anyone wants proof, I will send them copies of the
various documents that I have had.
--
yours sincerely,
Jason P. Venner
uucp: : physical mail:
(jvenner@wateng) : Integrated Studies,
(watmath!wateng!jvenner) : University of Waterloo,
(allegra!watmath!wateng!jvenner) : Waterloo, Ontario.,
(decvax!watmath!wateng!jvenner) : Canada.
: N2L 3G1hlh@linus.UUCP (Henry L. Hall) (12/24/83)
In general, driving over 160 kph (~100 mph), even on
a deserted highway, is not a good idea, but this is not
necessarily the place to proselytize on speeding habits.
Anyway, a friend of mine did get caught for driving 95 mph on
a two lane non-divided highway (Route 2, west of Route 128) at
3:00 am on a Sunday morning. He said that even though the
policeman aknowledged that no one else was on the road, he still
received a ticket for reckless driving (at the time, Massachusetts
law decreed that the charge for driving in excess of 90 mph was a
criminal charge). The penalty for this charge was $250 plus a
3 month suspension of driving priviledges. He was driving a well
maintained BMW 320i and when a lawyer brought up this fact along
with his need for the car to get to work, the judge agreed to
reduce the sentence to a speeding violation.
With cases like these, I wonder why the police insist
on creating an extra court case in an already overloaded judicial
system for what certainly cannot be an isolated case. Maybe the
officer just thought that like most of the driving public, my
friend would just accept the citation without trying to fight it
in court.
There is a book authored by lawyer F. Lee Bailey on fighting
traffic tickets in various states. For example, in California, if
you are observed speeding by an officer in a helicopter or an airplane
and then pulled over by another policeman in a car, you have the right
to request that the trial be held in the county seat of the particular
county you were observed in and BOTH officers must appear at the trial.
Failure of either officer to appear constitutes a mistrial. In certain
counties, such as San Bernardino the county seat can be over 60 miles
from the place you were observed.
Jurisprudence not necessarily = Prudence,
Henry L. Hall
{allegra, cbosgd, decvax, ihnp4} !linus!hlh {UUCP}
linus!hlh@mitre-bedford {MIL}laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (12/29/83)
there is a town around here where the municipal taxes are very, very low. They claim that this is because they build their sewers and pay for their teachers out of fines for speeding. They also have the much lauded habit of nicking the out-of-towners, while letting the locals get away with the speeding. I don't know how much of this is true, of course, but I have yet to drive through the town and not see at least 3 people getting tickets... Laura Creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura ps -- the town is Dunville, Ontario for those of you who might be driving through.
mush@dsd.UUCP (12/29/83)
Thanks for your story about your friend fighting his 95mph trafic ticket. I think all of us should fight all our tickets, never waiving time, and demanding jury trials when ever possible. This would clog the courts in very short order and end the easy money scheme that is now in place. The cops whould have to stop giving out quota tickets and would have to give tickets only when a serious crime is being committed. Over the years I've fought just about all my tickets with an 80% success rate. I find that about 27% of the time the officer dosn't show. I once was taged for 45mph in a 30mph zone and was sucessful in proving that my JAG XKE could stop in a shorter distance from 45mph then the the court's charts indicated for 30mph. The courts charts didn't even agree with the Department of Motor Vehicles' chart. I just naturally drive faster in a high performance car than a piece of Detroit Junk, and am being just as careful. I think that who ever sets the speed limits should be given a BMW or a Jag in which to do his studies. I love the book you mentioned of Fighting your Traffic Ticket. Read this book before your next ticket, to get the maximum benefit. Dave Decker Ampex DSD Redwood City Calif (mush)
fair@dual.UUCP (Erik E. Fair) (12/31/83)
Dunville, Ontario??? That's a pun in itself, since according to
Laura, they are dunning the out-of-towners... (*GROAN*)
Sorry 'bout that...
Erik E. Fair {ucbvax,amd70,zehntel,unisoft,onyx,its}!dual!fair
Dual Systems Corporation, Berkeley, Californialab@qubix.UUCP (Larry Bickford) (01/03/84)
> I think all of us should fight all our tickets, never waiving >time, and demanding jury trials when ever possible. This would clog >the courts in very short order and end the easy money scheme that >is now in place. The cops whould have to stop giving out quota tickets >and would have to give tickets only when a serious crime is being committed. Who's to define "serious"? If you want to clog the court system, expect the amount of the fines to increase. And may the court system be clogged when one of the defendants has been charged with assaulting your sister. :-) >Over the years I've fought just about all my tickets with an 80% >success rate. I find that about 27% of the time the officer dosn't >show. I once was taged for 45mph in a 30mph zone and was sucessful >in proving that my JAG XKE could stop in a shorter distance from >45mph then the the court's charts indicated for 30mph. The courts >charts didn't even agree with the Department of Motor Vehicles' chart. So we should have different speed limits for different kinds of cars? Be realistic! >I just naturally drive faster in a high performance car than a piece >of Detroit Junk, and am being just as careful. I think that who ever sets >the speed limits should be given a BMW or a Jag in which to do his studies. While you're at it, why don't you fork over the money so the rest of us can buy and insure such things? Also, you might want to give driving lessons so we can handle cars as well as you do. Think of it - we could eliminate traffic accidents and casualties! :-) >I love the book you mentioned of Fighting your Traffic Ticket. Read >this book before your next ticket, to get the maximum benefit. Why not show some respect for the law and avoid the ticket in the first place? In the umpteen times I've done 400+ miles nonstop on I-5, I have never received any attention from the Patrol - while I drive past many who are receiving attention. Larry Bickford, {sun,amd70,decwrl,ittvax}!qubix!lab BTW, the original article was written maybe 40 miles from here - and went through 16 sites to get here.