Ranman, I should have listened.

[HyperDonzi]

But no, I had to be running late, oh well, Ill speed a little, didnt watch the speedo, was watching the road, cop got me, he was VERY GENEROUS, reduced it to 90. Was in a 55, 35mph over, no wreckless op/endangerment, but I will have 220 in fines, court costs, safe driver course, lost license, higher insurance, etc.

Tommy

[Walt. H.]

Tommy,
So you were guilty when you posted, "I'm going to Jail" a little while back. You just didn't realize it then either? :D :p :D Opps! Watching the road? :rolleyes:
The judge won't buy it, anyone going 90 mph knows it. Even in a Viper or etc.

Walt,

[Darrell]

Tommy; I hope you wasn't in your Ranger at that speed, those wouldn't handle high speeds very good. :rolleyes:
At 18 I was stoped at 112mph, I was given reckless driving and was unable to afford full coverage insurance for the next three years. eek! Looking back it was a very expensive lesson. If you worried about insurance rates, you can allways get mairred :p :D , However that may not be the best way to lower your cost of insurance. eek!


Good Luck, Been there done that. :)

Darrell

[HyperDonzi]

I was in my daily driver/beater ranger and got a speeding ticket... Married will lower insurance rates, but the GF fund will depreciate...If the ticket stays speeding, a minor violation, I will have to pay 10/month more for liability. If it somehow gets changed to wreckless op, a major violation, I will have an additional 70/month going to the mean insurance scam artist frown

[Ranman]

I saw your other post Tommy. It's too bad because no matter how hard you try to clue a young person in, they don't care to listen. Frankly, I'm disappointed. I do understand though, I was you at 16. I made the same mistakes and I paid dearly for them. I wish someone would have spent more time with me helping me understang the impacts my actions would have on my life. It has taken me over 10 years to get my **** together so I could get decent insurance, decent credit and a clean driving record.

You don't understand how much your actions RIGHT NOW at 16 will impact your life as a young adult. It's absolutly critical that you keep your nose clean more now than ever.

The irony is that most 16 to 18 year olds are too immature to even be able to realize what they are doing to themselves. You don't understand that you are setting up your future right now. Insurance companies look at your credit score and driving record to determine your rates. Poor drivers and bad credit go a long way in determining whether your a responsible person or not. They charge "high risk" people high rates.

Credit companies look at your driving record and insurance ranking to determine your rates. Poor driving and high insurance equals low credit with high interest. They know these people are at risk of default and therefore charge you more. Basically, the more you screw up, the more you get screwed and the harder is is to get out of it.

Credit card companies give better rates (higher credit at lower interest) to safe drivers.

One day you will want to buy a new car. You need credit to do that. Mom and Dad can't sign for you forever. To get credit, you need someone willing to take a risk on a young person. Who will want to take the risk on someone who gets tickets etc??? It tells the companies you are irresponsible.

All I'm saying is, in order to make life work to your advantage, you need good credit, cheap insurance (good rates) and obviously a good driving record.

One ticket is not the end of the world Tommy, but two is a pattern. Good luck with what you do Tommy. In ten years, whan your 26, you'll come back to me and know exactly what I was saying today. I think I'm all out of advice because I'm starting to think I'm typing for nothing. frown

[HyperDonzi]

Up until the ticket, I had a friend get a 93 in a 55 ticket, would laugh about it, and never thought I would get caught. The last two days I have been thinking about all of this, Im done trying to go fast on land. Fixing the tranny in the thunderbird, and already have it for sale. Truck will be up for sale soon also, I want to buy a small truck, but something able to haul a 18 all day long with no problems at 55. The water is a lot smarter to go fast on.

[TuxedoPk]

Ranman- Very well worded advice. Before reading your post I was prepared to explain how to get out of this ticket, but I realize that would be truly detrimental to Tommy in the long run.

Tommy- Sorry to hear about the situation. We've all made our mistakes. The only positive thing I can say about feeling the sting of a mistake like this is that it will hopefully prevent you from making a bigger mistake down the road.

If you figure you've just lost one hair, let's see if you've got the same receeding hair line as the rest of us 20+ years from now :)

[HyperDonzi]

I think I am half bald already, and the court date is the 11th. Any ideas on how to get a few mph taken off? Or should I count my blessings for not recieving wreckless op?

[Kirk]

My .02

Wear a suit and tie and eat the crow

In the end it will be a cheap lesson!!

KJ

[HyperDonzi]

In the section where he marks how he caught me:
Radar, Air, VASCAR, Pace, Laser, Stationary, Moving.

He marked stationary. He passed me going southbound, I was going northbound. Does stationary mean he was sitting still? If so, would I maybe able to get out of it?

Is it even worth for getting out of some of it? Speedlimit is 55, a lot of people go 45, is it possible (*legal possible*) I was going 40mph and he just said 90? Or could I say I was going 35 for conditions? (officer marked rainy, and wet, but was dry)??

[mphatc]

I like Ranman have had my major share of speeding violations . . . LOTS of them.

Getting out of a ticket on such a technicality at your age is DIFFICULT at best. You'll need to plead Not Guilty to get the case to go to trial, hire a lawyer ( BIG $$$$$$ ) and hope that the cop who stopped you doesn't have a bad day when he finds out you are going to fight the case!

IMHO, swallow hard, pay the price, pay the increased insurance, find something to drive that is cheap to insure until your record is clean.

As for going fast on water . .and not on the land, one can go fast anywhere, one needs to know when and where the right time and place is.

I finally got over going fast on the street when I started driving on the race track, and really got involved in advancing my own driving skills with high performance driving schools. These taught me respect for a cars potential, and the dangers involved.
As a result of this I started my now 20 year old son out on the race track and in perforamnce driving schools. He was a qualified skid pad and safety skills instructor BEFORE he had a NH Drivers License. In 4.5 years of driving he's had no tickets, no accidents.

MPHATC

[Ranman]

Tommy,

All of these technicalities and the way the cop wrote the ticket will make no difference at all and the judge will laugh at you for even bringing them up. Seriously.

Here is my only advice and I assume it works the same way in OH though I'm not sure.

Number one, if you can (parents allow) call the court about three days prior to your hearing and reschedule. Just say I'm unable to make the 1th, can I have another day. THis strategy has been the most successful for me, though it is far from perfect. (I'v gotton out of the highest number of tickets using this tactic). Where you may get lucky by doing this is the court schedules all of the people that the cop wrote tickets to for the same day. THis means you and any other people who got tickets recently will appear in court on the same day. See the cops spend the whole day in court once week or whatever. IF you reschedule, you break out of that group. If you are the only one to appear for that cop, there's a better chance he'll not show. If the cops a no-show, you walk free. PRoblem is that if the cop is a court "regular", they'll just schedule you in his next "batch". This tactic has worked for me a few times though.

My next suggestion is to wear a suit to court. You should have a nice suit by now. IF not, give your parents crap for this and dress the best you can for court (khaki's, button shirt and tie). If you look lik a punk in the courtroom, the judge will treat you like a punk. IF you look decent, respectable and RESPONSIBLE, you increase your chances of getting lower fines/costs. Respect the judge and his office.

My last piece of advice is don't whine or try to get out of it on some BS item on the ticket or some lame excuse. The judge has heard them ALL. Your best approach, if given the opportunity to speak, is to admit your mistake and emphasize that it will not happen again and accept your punishment. IF nothing else, that is the most dignified and respectful thing you can do and it's the most infrequent thing the judge sees.

Oh, bring your parents with you if you can as they can support you. Their presence also shows the judge that someone is looking after you.


Those are my tips, they're real, and I'm still pissed at you for letting me down.

P.S. I'll try to post a pic if I can, but I so have you and your friends beat.

[Team Jefe]

More advise from a Speed junky:

My .02 - Take this with a grain of salt. Afterall it is just a speeding ticket.

Randy is on the nose with changing dates, dress, your folks, etc.

When you get in front of the judge, No BS, he has absolutely heard every freakin' excuse you can think of and about a million you haven't. Stand up like a man and admit you were speeding, admit it was stupid, tell him you have learned your lesson, and ask for leniency. Most courts will accept deferred ajudication (basically probation) where the ticket is dismissed if you pay some court fees and don't get in any more trouble for 6-mo or a year. The judge gets his money (which is what he is really interested in) and he gets to "Keep you on the straight and narrow". It all depends on how committed you are to keeping out of trouble (and I'm not just talking about speeding).

The reason I have a Donzi ZF, instead of a Mako, or Robalo, is that on the Ninth time I got pulled over in my Camaro SS, I decided I needed another way to go FAST. Jefe's Revenge, lets me go fast and Fish.

JEFE

[harbormaster]

Also when speaking with the judge be sure to answer "yes your honor" or "no your honor",

[JimG]

See, you should've bought that Miata... they won't go that fast!!! :D :D

He he, just kidding!

No sermon here, Hyper... I collected quite a few in my day, so I'd be a hypocrite to dog you on one speeding ticket. :) Listen to all the good advice, these guys know of which they speak.

Most of all, don't beat yourself up! You are a fine young man, and you are off to a good start.

And...the mere fact that you SURVIVED 90+ in that truck is testament to fact that someone is watching over you! :)


JimG

[HyperDonzi]

I am going to try everything I can to try and get some knocked off, but no matter what happens, Im done speeding on the streets. This isnt worth it. Any of you with kids my age, Let them read my post, for my first offense, It will be AT LEAST lost license for 3 weeks, a 4 hour long class, 160 in fines, and that is just what the Judge is going to do for sure, theres also parents and insurance. I had a friend get the same ticket, I laughed about him being dumb enough to do 90 in a 55, thinking I wouldnt get caught, Im the dumb one. Oh well, stuff happens, and a ticket is very good compared to what COULD have happened.

[TMANN]

I have also been in your shoes and can't say anything but just leave early everywhere you go. I learned the hard way a couple of years ago when I got 10 tickets in 3 months... This is the absolute truth. I had just bought a new 2000 vette and was driving from Dallas to Houston almost every other day. Anyways I sold that car and now drive a Donzi :) . I don’t know if this will help or hurt you but I got out of all 10 tickets by using a lawyer for every one of them. If I would have paid them I would not have a license or insurance. I spent about $7000 on lawyer fees when it was all said and done so it was a hard lesson. My lawyer would just laugh at me when I came in the last five times and I saw a side of my wife I never want to see again. She still tells people she has to budget in lawyer fees every month even though I haven’t gotten a ticket since then. It’s just a way to make me pay longer. To sum it up just leave early then you won’t need to speed.


TMANN

[HyperDonzi]

Court this morning, I wore a suit, was the best dressed in the court room (not best dressed kid, best dressed person) and had to pay 50 in fines, 50 in court costs, 5 for a safe driving class, and no license for 4 weeks. I had the highest speed and highest amount over compared to anyone in there :( I learned, Cheap compared to what could have happened.