A little bit of the hooligan in me has died today

[hbliam]

He may have been indicating that he wouldn't show up for court or he may want the overtime. It's a toss up. It is true that if he doesn't show up you walk. At Long Beach traffic court you might as well try. If the cop does show up they give you a last ditch chance for traffic school.

The radar/pace issue is a non-issue. Pace is actually easier for the cop to present as the calibration of the radar/laser, his training, etc., don't come into play. He probably wrote you for the 75 because he only had you at the 90 for a very short period of time. Pacing someone for 100' vs. 1/4 mile isn't as good a case. In other words...you go to trial I bet you would lose.

The race box. Well there isn't one for Italian. 

 

[DY]

Everyone tells me that in California, they dont drop the charges if the cop doesnt show up to court. 

I would pay the 150-200ish dollar fine, take the stupid 30 dollar Online traffic school(if your county allows it, and it takes less than 10 minutes)  and your insurance/dmv points wont go up.  They allow you to take the traffic school in lieu of points, Once every 1.5 years.  You admit you sped, you got caught...just man up and pay for it. 

[hbliam]

Everyone tells me that in California, they dont drop the charges if the cop doesnt show up to court. 

I would pay the 150-200ish dollar fine, take the stupid 30 dollar Online traffic school(if your county allows it, and it takes less than 10 minutes)  and your insurance/dmv points wont go up.  They allow you to take the traffic school in lieu of points, Once every 1.5 years.  You admit you sped, you got caught...just man up and pay for it. 

Negative. If you pled not guilty, have a court date, and the cop is a no show the case is dismissed.

[Labbedds]

Don't listen to Dewey, I've gotten out a couple tickets this way.  DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY....

[stillhogkrazy]

I have fought 2 tickets in court .one time the officer didn't show and the judge after calling my name and finding the officer was not there decided to hear more cases before ruling on mine.  3 or 4 cases are heard and he finally gives in calls my case .No cop = no ticket . The other time i pleaded guilty with an explanation  and got a greatly reduced fine, it wasn't a moving violation. 
Got o court and fight it or as Michael Moore said try the trial by written declaration. Good luck 

[Dieter]

It's all true. I got out of a ticket for blatantly running a red light, all because the cop didn't show. The only thing you lose is time. Besides, there's absolutely no consequence for fighting it. If you have the time, go for it. Also, use up one of those optional extensions. The more time that surpasses, the less likely he is to remember you and the less likely he is to feel obligated to show up. G'luck!

[hbliam]

Got o court and fight it or as Michael Moore said try the trial by written declaration. Good luck 

I always wonder how anyone wins with the "written declaration" route. I've had a few people try that, and all it does is give me the opportunity to sit down and perfectly prosecute them. It all depends on the agency I guess. LAPD, CHP, LBPD, LASD, (read: large) it might fly, but any other agency I think you are going to be out of luck. I'd try the cop no show route first and then traffic school if nothing else.

[Grampa]

fyi... I got tagged by the chp a few months ago. wrote up for 80 in a 55 (was actually going 147 )


The court papers that I got in the mail, said I could pay the fine and not go into court. they wanted $240 something, plus the traffic school add.

I went to court, and planned on asking for a reduction in fines and traffic school. I got the reduction with out even asking. Down to $103.00 plus 35 bucks for the traffic school add. Then I went home and did a local on-line traffic school for $25.00. I took their tests (5 total), and now all I have to do is take thier final test in front of a notary public, and I is done. ( I have a friend who is one, and it won't cost anything)

I'm not sure how it is up in SF, but if you go to court.... take cash. The courts here, charge you for using credit cards or writing checks, and there are some cards they dont take. They point over to the ATM machine and say... you can get cash there, but that machine hits you with a ungodly fee as well.

[Kaveh]

The nice thing about doing a trial by written declaration is that if you don't like the verdict (you're found guilty), you can request a new trial in person.  Trial by written declaration is like a free try, no consequences if you don't get it.  You can still contest it in court.

[the ron]

in massachusetts , tickets stay with you longer than most people get for murder. it takes 6 years for a ticket to go away. it might help you to find out how long it takes for a ticket to exit your driving record in california. that is where your from right? i'll check your info later!
anyhow, when you go to court, see if you can make a donation to the united way or something in leu of the ticket. usually that will go over well with the prosecutor. they sit there all day every day listening to people  try to get out of tickets. don't admit guilt. thats the key. but offer to make the donation.
from my experience, if the officer doesn't show up at the initial hearing, they will set a court date and they sometimes stack up the dates so the cop will be there all day.
good luck

if it makes you feel any better, i once had a cop go the wrong way down I-95 in connecticut to pull me over. he asked me if i knew all of the other riders that went pass him at over 160mph, i said no. i got away because i never rode that fast and i was on a zx-6 where as my friends were all on zx-11's and such. another cop put a gun to my other friends head at the end of an exit ramp!!! it was a bad day. but the thing was we weren't speeding, we got left behind and it was the same situation as the yellow duc. that the cop is talking about.  we got punished for being on bikes. no fair, oh well life lesson learned.

the ron .

[hbliam]

it might help you to find out how long it takes for a ticket to exit your driving record in california.

3 years.

[Snips]

the ron .

Maybe these were the 'we have 696s on order' cops?

the 'stickin up for 696s' Snips

[the ron]

Maybe these were the 'we have 696s on order' cops?

the 'stickin up for 696s' Snips

 ZING!! I just got that LOL......

the ron

[the ron]

fyi... I got tagged by the chp a few months ago. wrote up for 80 in a 55 (was actually going 147 )

thats scary fast!!! careful, 

the ron

[MendoDave]

Everyone tells me that in California, they dont drop the charges if the cop doesnt show up to court. 

I would pay the 150-200ish dollar fine, take the stupid 30 dollar Online traffic school(if your county allows it, and it takes less than 10 minutes)  and your insurance/dmv points wont go up.  They allow you to take the traffic school in lieu of points, Once every 1.5 years.  You admit you sped, you got caught...just man up and pay for it. 

Double negative, the computerized test takes a few hours because you have to read through a bunch of material before the program will let you answer the question. The upside is that you can log in and out and not have to do it all in one sitting. Then you have to go to Kinkos and take the actual exam which is about 15 min or so. I went through the material at night when I couldn't sleep. Its sort of the equivelent of traffic school time wise.

+1 if the cop doesn't show, its just your word on what happenend...