Cyrusx7

I was driving a lil slow, a 3-series behind me honked at me, realized I was going a bit slow, pushed it a little, broke traction for a fraction of a second, then looked in my rearview mirror and saw red and blue lights *sigh*

The guy pulled me over, first question: "So is this yours or your daddy's car?" I knew right then he had it out for me. Blah blah blah, answered his questions and didnt argue. He ended up giving me a ticket for "exhibition of speed" and admitted that I never broke the speed limit.

Is this beatable? Anyone get one of these? I need help! I didnt bother trying to explain that the car has 500+ lb-ft of torque and breaks loose all the time .. See related thread.

W211 BEAST

Everyone on this forum swears by ticketassasin.com (idk if i spelled it right) Good luck

Exodus

What a *****. Yeah, it's beatable. Immediatly go to court and demand a "Trial by written declaration", and write in what happened. Explain in the paper, the vehicle's enormous amount of power, and keep reiterating that you never broke the speed limit. Also say, the vehicle is equipped with a computer to help avoid that "ESP", and insist as soon as that happened the computer caught the car and stopped it. Should be enough to get you off the hook, should he even bother to write in for this.

WoodHill Motors

Yup, ticket assasin is the best! Trust! I've seen PLENTY people win through this site.

That was a BS ticket. I was pulled over for the SAME thing. Except he was nice enough to let me go.

CynCarvin32

I got that ticken a while back but i was not doing anything wrong. He heard the pulley chirp on the C32 RENNtech I was driving (a friends car) and swore I was racing a 325i sedan. The BMW was head of me when he pulled me over, the ticket said I was going 45 in a 45 and he still wrote it up as a 23109 (C).

That ticket is an automatic 2 pts and it is a misdemeanor not a infraction.

If it sticks thats on your record for a while.

I went to court and the judge said you can get a lawyer and fight it in trial or I will just give you a minimum fine speeding ticket and let you go today. I said ok since I had a clean record and did not want to waste time and money bothering with the court system.

The best part was that the cop that wrote the ticket marked it as an infraction not a misdemeanor, wrote my name incorrectly, and stated it was my car. With all those errors I still had the judge say I will call the officer and ask him if he meant to write is as a misdemeanor or change the code to something that was an infraction (23109 (C) does not exist in an infraction form). What will the officer say? Of course he will.

Its a real serious ticket equal to being caught at the street races pretty much!

That was my first ticket ever.... in 12 years of driving. Police in Malibu California are insane.

Good luck.

RRod

Dude .... I've been in your shoes but only worse and this will be a tough one (and more expensive than 23 years ago for me on PCH near LA Harbor). Depending on the jurisdiction, fighting the ticket may only extend the conviction date past your next insurance renewal. Also, in some areas the judges will make you wait several hours to have the officer brought in and thus no instant dismissals.

I was busted circa 1984 on Pacific Coast Highway in the Los Angeles harbor area near all the oil refineries when I was still a smart-*** kid in my mid-30's. I smoked the tires and fish-tailed from a stop light plus blew through a school zone at 70 mph after my passenger said lets see what this car can do upon returning from a alcohol-free business lunch (and fortunately for me with regards to no boozing at that particular lunch .... unlike so many other business lunches of that era).

An LAPD motorcycle officer had been a few cars behind me at the light and nailed me ..... first thing he said waking up to my window with a smile: "I haven't nailed one of these new models yet." I was driving the newly restyled 84 Corvette in triple black. I handed him my paperwork, and on advice from the refinery's Chief Engineer sitting next to me, I somehow managed to keep my mouth shut with both hands on the steering wheel while the officer lectured me about the school zone, etc.

He wrote me up for doing 45 in a 30 and "exhibition of speed" which made that a mandatory court appearance and a misdemeanor offense in California. However, because that stretch of PCH was clearly posted as a 40 mph zone (and not a 30), I decided to plead not guilty. My case hindged on the fact that the officer erred in listing the correct posted limit in the complaint, thus introducing reasonable doubt as to everything else he may have observed.

I managed to delay my trial to just before Christmas 1984 at my initial bail hearing and then posted bail (in hopes that the officer would be on vacation near Christmas as a back-up Plan B).

On the day of the trial, the judge and DA made me wait nearly 4 hours while they brought the officer in from where ever he was.

About 10 minutes before he showed up, I noticed about a dozen young attractive female courthouse employees milling around the back of the court room whispering the name of the arresting officer and they nearly swooned as he entered the court room. He could have been a TV cop straight from the old television show CHiPs that ran from 1977 to 1983 .... something I had not noticed at the time of the pull-over.

On the witness stand upon cross examination, he looked at photos of the posted limit, then looked at the female judge, smiled and admitted under oath that he had made a mistake.

I almost tasted victory up until the point he smiled at that middle-aged judge ........ and her nearly instant ruling with a slame of the gavel:

"40 is close enough to 30 .... Guilty on both counts and bail forfeited in the amount of $267 ...... Next Case!"

That's only about $550 in current U.S. dollars, however I'll bet the fine would be over $2500 today.

I've grown up a lot since that frustrating lesson in court and I've never been nailed since ..... because I try to drive eyes wide open with no tunes or NAV or cell phones or text messaging or cupholders or alcohol/drugs .....

Cyrusx7

Man, what bull****! Sorry to hear about yall's EoS tickets.. BTW, I signed up for ticketassassin, we'll see how that plays out..

What are my options again? Trial by written declaration or flat out paying it? I guess ill go with the TBWD and see what happens? Is that what you guys would recommend? I also took pictures and video of the area. I think im going to try arguing if I was really exhibiting speed in a 500hp/500lb-ft sportscar (near supercar, imo), I think there would definitely be tiremarks.

Also, I read up a little about it and it appears that the law requires that the intention to get attention had to be there? I had ZERO intent to get any attention, as I was simply accelerating because I was going too slow beforehand, as evidenced by the person behind me honking..

Oh, I forgot to mention, he didnt even list the model of my car on the ticket? The box is blank.. Does this help any?

CynCarvin32

Well the code reads that if you have any wheel slip your are exhibiting speed. So any sound upon launch yields a violation in the eyes of the law.

You can try to argue that the spirit of the law involves trying to prohibit people from doing hazardous burnouts etc and risking peoples safety.

The trouble is that they can dorp it down to an unsafe start and that STILL carries a 2 point fine these days. The law for a 23109 (C) is very strict in an effort to prevent street racing.

As for the trial by declaration, that only works for an infraction. This violation is a whole different ball of wax.

If given the chance to take a reduced violation of a speeding ticket.... take it. Its saves a big pain in the rear.

Good luck.

RRod

In most Texas jurisdictions (I presume that's where Cyrusx7 got nailed), it is unlikely to be given that option during this new era emphasing enhanced "revenue generation" from traffic divisions (unless you know a good 'ol boy or gal within the local dept, etc).

CynCarvin32

That along with the fact that street racing high on the list for what police departments want to prevent (or pretend to prevent).

But I should also say that the idea of a "500hp/500ftlb tq" car breaks lose will just seal you a ticket. I have see a friend try that one when he was caught powersliding my E55 around a corner in the wet and the officer said "you just hit the gas less if it that powerful." That just aggravates the judge or officer if you say my car is so powerful it just does that because we all know a 55k car can get away from almost any car on the road WITHOUT breaking the tires lose. Just use some restraint when rolling onto the gas!

He is likely going to have a head ache when all this is done.

Been there done that....

Limibeans

Exhibition of power/speed are two very tough cases to beat. You may be able to get off with the first summons by judgment with prejudice. Any cases after the first, you will more than likely have to pay the fines et al.

*Disclaimer: I dont have my black book with me so these are not the exact legal definitions. These are the laws as I can think of them off hand. These are loosely quoted.*

Exhibition of power is "chirping" your tires when shifting gears, or intentionally loosing traction while moving or stopped.

Exhibition of speed is revving out your engine and operating your vehicle in an manner which makes other drivers "nervous".

Some states combine the two into one charge.

There is even a "unsafe start" charge. I would suggest that you explain your circumstance to the judge and ask him to lessen the charge to "unsafe start" which usually carries less of a fine, and is only an "infraction" instead of a "misdemeanor".

sprins

Man, how can you drive a 500hp sportscar without "Exhibition of power/speed"?

Standing still it even exhibits power and speed!

Cyrusx7

What do you mean by "first summons" does that mean my first time getting this sort of ticket? and "judgment with prejudice"? Is that the same "prejudice" as a judgment with or without prejudice? or prejudice as in I was profiled due to my car? (Two types of prejudices). Thanks for the info!!

Haha, thats a good one, I may try to humor the judge with that one

Cyrusx7

MUAHAHAHHAHA!! I am SOO happy, guess what!! I called the City of Houston to see what I could do about my ticket and I was informed that the prosecutor reviewed the case and dismissed it! WOOT!!

Take that officer!!

RRod

Are you Irish? Maybe due to luck of the Irish on this most recent St. Patties day?