I was pulled over for speeding when it was very late and I was the only car on the road. ADVICE PLEASE!?
There were two officers, one of them told me I was going 104mph in a 65mph zone. They then proceeded to ask me irrelevant personal questions. For example – what was on my laptop screen? (I had my laptop on the passenger seat). Prior to them asking those questions they were insinuating that they would take me to jail if I did not comply in regards to their questions. The police officer failed to inform me of what the price of the speeding ticket was and gave me only one detail – they would send me the steps to take in the mail in regards to the ticket. I was pulled over in California and I am from Washington (not D.C.) What are my options at this point?
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
First off, pay no mind to this person:
"Dee, I would go to their superior officer online and tell them what you told us. This is not normal procedures for officers. I would file a complaint of police harrasment and tell the superior officer if they dont do something about this that you will go public with it. I had a officer do similar to me and he was forced to go back to their course in manners for cops. They have to abide by procedures…ask exactly what the procedures are for stopping someone. Explain that you have no intentions of trying to get out of the ticket but you want to know is their harrasment legal….and can they not inform you of your rights in this manner…hope it helps. "
In CA, as far as I know, we don’t have set fines. The fines vary by area and will be determined by the court. I write speeding tickets all the time and have never seen a fine.
From what you’ve written here, I see no harassment whatsoever. Just cops investigating. When driving that fast they assume you’re into something bad, or on something bad. They’re trying to figure that out.
You were ripe for a reckless driving ticket, a very bookable offense here. You got off easy. The court will mail you the detailed instructions on what to do for the citation. follow the directions on the letter.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Plead guilty in mail in the fine if that is an option (that may not be an option based on how fast you were going)
Or appear before the court and plead innocent if you feel you are innocent.
Hire an attorney and ask him for legal advice.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
I only see one. You have to pay. 39 over is pretty high.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Pay the ticket. They had every right to take you to jail at the speed you were going. They can ask just about anything, but you decide if you want to answer.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
with this amount of speed you need an attorney
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
If you were even remotely going that fast they could have taken you to jail. I would say be glad they didn’t. That’s reckless driving. I think if they want to, the court can take away your license. Either way the fine will probably be quite hefty. Bummer.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Dee, I would go to their superior officer online and tell them what you told us. This is not normal procedures for officers. I would file a complaint of police harrasment and tell the superior officer if they dont do something about this that you will go public with it. I had a officer do similar to me and he was forced to go back to their course in manners for cops. They have to abide by procedures…ask exactly what the procedures are for stopping someone. Explain that you have no intentions of trying to get out of the ticket but you want to know is their harrasment legal….and can they not inform you of your rights in this manner…hope it helps.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
First of all, I had a friend who was killed by a guy who was going 75 in a 35 mile an hour zone. The guy was the only one on the street at 11pm but lost control of the vehicle, slammed into the house and killed her were she was sitting on the sofa watching a movie with her Dad.
Just because no one was on the road doesn’t mean you don’t endanger people.
Think next time you floor that pedal. Pay your fine and take your punishment like a big boy.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Here is what you can do. Take the laptop and close it while driving. I have cited many people for that little known violation while driving. Too many things can distract you while you are driving. Two, driving that fast is very hard to do, unless you are trained to do so. And even then, it is difficult. If you were going 104 miles per hour, you could very well be in jail at this time for reckless driving.
As far as the fine goes, the probable reason the fine is not on the citation, is the citation is for a mandatory court appearence. If I were you, I would go to court and lay yourself at the mercy of the judge. You could get a lawyer and ask for a lesser penalty. I would suggest you start obeying the law. Something so "meaningless" as a speedlimit overlooked, can result in a long shift for me body counting and part finding.
Take it easy.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Advice – Slow Down and Obey the Law. 39 over was not an oversight.
P
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
Dee J,
The speed you were going is way to fast….you were basically an accident waiting to happen. You should be thankful you are sitting here on Answers seeking advise and not in a morgue.
Do you realized if you had wrecked, those officers would have been working a fatality? Do you have any idea the stress it causes a police officer to work a fatality accident and then to have to deliver death notices to the family? And how about your family, would you want them to have a police officer and chaplain standing on their doorstep?
I’m not a police officer, my husband is, and I am a communications officer for our sheriff’s office. As far as I see it, the questions the officers asked you were appropriate. The speed you were going raises many suspicions. Thank your lucky stars you could answer the questions!
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
You have two options:
1. Call the court, find out how much the ticket is, and send in the money.
2. Get an attorney for hundreds of dollars, go to court, plead not guilty, go through the trial, get found guilty, and then pay the ticket.
If you were going 39 mph over the limit, there’s no way in the world you will ever win.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
First, it makes no difference of the time of day, and whether you were the only car on the road. The speed limit is the speed limit, period. Second, how fast were your going? Third, the police officer can ask you anything he wants, whether you choose to answer it is up to you. As a general rule, a summons in lieu of arrest. In the "old days", people were actually arrested for speeding. Your best bet, if you were actually going that fast is to plead out. I Really don’t see any way that a magistrate is going to find for you for going that far over the speed limit, in in fact you were. Another option is to hire a lawyer, but that will cost you thousands. You’ll probably pay that in court costs, fines and insurance increases anyway. If you are guilty, and you know, be responsible and do the right thing. Good Luck!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
usually if you are going faster then 20 miles over you have to appear in court. They asked you the laptop question maybe because they thought you were looking at it while driving. Most Officers do not tell prices because some of the fines are accesed by the judge. My dept doesn’t want us to say fines in case we quote wrong price,
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
The only advice you need is to own up to your own actions. You were speeding at such a rate the officers had EVERY RIGHT to arrest you and book you in jail. You’re lucky they didn’t!
As for the questions, officers have the right to ask you ANYTHING they want to ask. And you have the absolute right to not answer, regardless of how they act while they’re asking.
As for the price of the ticket… police officers don’t set the fine/fee structures, the Courts do… so the officer didn’t have any idea what the fine would be…
Wait for your information to come in the mail, then deal with it immediately.
By the way, no speed law in any state says it’s okay to speed if there are no other cars on the road. you were either speeding or you weren’t… and the speed at which you were going is excessively dangerous. You deserve whatever you get, simply because you think you’re special and don’t have to follow the rules like the rest of us.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 am
There is a lot of misinformation here. You were probably cited for violating Vehicle Code section 22348, subdivision (b)–driving over 100 mph. That is an infraction, you cannot be taken to jail for such an offense unless you refuse to sign the promise to appear (which is what the citing officer was probably trying to tell you). It is not reckless driving.
The reason the amount of the fine was not listed on the citation was because NO California citations list the amount of the fine. However, the fines do not vary much from place to place, because there is a statewide schedule. The scheduled fine for this offense is $760.
The court can also suspend your driving privilege for up to 30 days. Whether that would affect your WA license and your right to drive outside CA would depend upon whether there are equivalent WA consequences for a similar conviction. I am not versed in WA traffic laws. A conviction will be reported to the WA authorities.
There is a mandatory court appearance for this offense, it cannot be handled through the mail. If you are intending to return to WA, you might be well served to hire an attorney to appear for you (I doubt that this will cost "thousands" of dollars, but it will probably cost "hundreds"). An attorney might also be able to negotiate a better disposition for you. For example, if the citing officer was off by only 3 mph, you would be guilty only of speeding at 35 mph over the limit. That could reduce the fine to $380, and you might even be able to go to traffic school which would cost a bit more, but would keep it off your record for DMV and insurance purposes. (The traffic school option is only a possibility, and is probably not likely at 35 over the limit.)
It certainly cannot hurt to consult an attorney, at any rate. I would suggest an attorney who specializes in traffic tickets in the county where your citation was issued. A google search for "attorney traffic [name of county]" should get several.
I do not see anything untoward in the police officer’s conduct from what you have described.