by the time i saw him (before he turned his lights on) i was already abt 65-70mph

 

Definately fight this ticket.

He has no way to prove it was you that he passed the other way. he has no radar number to prove how fast you were going. He didn't match your speed for a good enough distance to win the ticket.

He would have had to declared that he followed you and paced your speed for a given amount of time. Not turned around on the freeway and then had to catch up to you. 5 minutes equals 90mph. That's rediculous.

You should win this ticket easily. He has no proof what so ever.

if you loose the case..immediately ask for traffic school. But I don't see you loosing this case unless the cop has notes you don't see. Which I doubt.

I mean you could say you got on the freeway at any given entrance in the previous 5 miles and he would have no way to prove you didn't. Loosing sight of someone for a couple minutes. A person you saw very briefly going the other way on the freeway. Having no trail speed time/distance and no radar reading..... I can't believe he even pulled you over.

 

he didn't see me going the other direction on the freeway... he saw me going the other direction on marsh road... before the freeway

 

ok so i got the forms to do the written declaration thing.... any tips on how to write my defence in the written declaration?

 

.

 

duud i know that already o_0

 

can anyone help me with the calculations though?
i think the distance from the marsh entrance going north 101 to where he got to me right before the whipple exit is ~3miles. he says it took him 5 mins to try and catch me in that distance and thats how he calculated my speed at 90mph from that distance and the 5 mins.

btw i think it only takes about 3 mins going 65mph within that distance... i think. i tried going in that area with that distance and about that speed and it seemed like abt 3 mins for 3 miles?

 

dude look at my PM to you. it's pretty much laid out for you.

 

did you send me a new one or you mean the old one? the one sent a while ago just cleared the mixup of that bayfront expwy and marsh rd.

i wanna add in the calculations with the times over the distances but i'm not sure if i'm doing it right haha

 

if it's 3 miles traveling distance, and your speed is 65 mph (which is the legal speed), then you are capable of traveling 3.24 miles. but then again, my math isn't all that great.

65 mph / 60 mins in a hour = 1.08 miles a minute

1.08 x 3 = 3.24

 

yah i think thats what i got for going 65mph for 3 miles.. now how would i apply that to the 90mph calculation with 5 mins?

 

disclaimer: I'm still mostly asleep while I write this, so take this with a grain of salt


First and foremost: I believe the fact that he says he saw you, then lost sight of you, then he finally "caught up to you" X-miles later should be your biggest defense.

1) He cannot be certain that the person he saw earlier was you (especially in the Bay Area). I doubt he had time to read your plate number.

2) Aside from that, unless he radar'ed you or paced you, then he doesn't have an accurate measure of your speed. What he's doing now is just guessing, and I've never heard of that being admissible evidence.


Now, as to the officers numbers. It really is all dependent on the number of miles it took for him to reach you from the time you passed him.

Assuming 3 miles:

If the officer traveled 3 miles in 5 mins, he traveled 0.6 mpm or 36 mph to catch you (that disregards the time needed to accelerate from 0 - X mph, so you could bump up the mph a few).


Since I'm not to familiar with the area you were in, can you tell me what city and what streets you were in/on specifically. You said Marsh and Whipple and the 101, but I'm not really sure where that is.

 

Fighting a ticket does have consequences. If you just ask to be allowed to go to traffic school, and pay the fine, you get to go to traffic school to remove 1 point from your record.

If you fight the ticket and lose, you don't get the option of going to traffic school, and you pay the fine and get the 1 point on your record.

That said, this is BS so you can fight it and win. Officers can NOT estimate your speed only. They must use radar or pace you for 3 seconds minimum. Simple fact.

No court fees, just time wasted going in for your court time.

 

Are you sure about this? From what I've heard, you can: 1) Ask for "Trial By Written Declaration", if you lose this you can ask for a court appearance, and if you still lose you can ask for driving school (as long as you haven't gone to driving school in the last 18 months).

 

werd thats the way i'm going for right now...

i'm just wondering now if the written declaration letter has to be in some kind of format when i write it... or just write a couple paragraphs of my defence, sign, date it, and turn it in with the forms..