Saturday, April 30, 2011

TV station tests red light warning app

A TV station checked a cell phone app designed to warn you about red light cameras, dui checkpoints and speed traps. They got warned right at the intersection--a little late to help.

The app uses information compiled by users so the information is not complete. Cops worry about motorists constantly glancing down to check the cell phone and rear ending the car ahead.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

2 ways NOT to beat a traffic ticket

  • Cop stops driver. Driver makes 911 call. Officer rushes off to the shooting. Nothing there. Cop calls the number which called 911. Driver answers. Oh boy.

  • A New York City PD deputy inspector faxed a lieutenant, beating a traffic ticket for a friend. He asked for this on departmental stationery. Nothing low key here.

  • Traffic cameras on school buses? The state of Washington is considering the idea.


    --brought to you by How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download
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    Tuesday, April 26, 2011

    How much does it cost to eat ice cream in a rental car?

    This car rental agency can charge you $100 if you get a traffic ticket while in their car.

    What did they do for that $100? Nothing.

    No word yet on what they charge to eat ice cream in their car.

    Monday, April 25, 2011

    Police captain gets traffic ticket

    A North Carolina police captain was ticketed for not stopping his cruiser at a school bus which had halted with flashing red lights.

    He hired an attorney and mounted a vigorous defense.

    He was convicted but the sentence was suspended.

    Sunday, April 24, 2011

    Pay the DA and walk away?

    In some New York counties, if a driver pays a fee to the District Attorney's office and goes to traffic school, the DA will ask for a dismissal or not prosecute the traffic ticket. The state Commission on Judicial Conduct questions the practice.

    I wonder what people would think if the driver paid the judge (instead of the court) and went to traffic school and the ticket got dismissed? Is there a difference?

    Nevada has a requirement that police departments audit their traffic tickets twice a year. There is a proposal to reduce that to annually.

    How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download
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    Saturday, April 23, 2011

    Surprise! Who got your traffic fine?

    Where does your traffic citation fine go? In Pennsylvania, possibly into the pocket of the cashier. One (former) court employee was allegedly keeping the cash and changing the computer records to cover her take.

    Reportedly she did this more than 150 times for $60,000. American ingenuity is doing fine.

    A cop in Florida has been arrested for allegedly forging a motorist's name on a traffic ticket. I'm not sure how you do that--or why. But if this goes viral, who needs quotas?

    Officers in Trinidad ticketed a government driver with the Minister of Works and Transport in the back seat. Gutsy.

    How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download
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    Friday, April 22, 2011

    2 new ways to beat a traffic ticket (?)

    New ways to beat a ticket:

  • A 60 year old Rhode Island man asked a judge to dismiss a traffic ticket received when he was 23. The judge granted the request. The man paid $100.

  • One gentleman claims he got a traffic citation taken care of in Chicago by slipping the court janitor $20. Obviously a while ago. While I'm not recommeding the method, it does go to show it's who you know.

  • Cadets in an Indiana training class were warned people who exit cars at traffic stops are trying to hide something. So don't get the officer excited--stay in the car.

    You've heard the warnings. Don't drive through high water--you don't know how deep it is. In Athens County, GA, there's another reason: they'll write you a traffic ticket.


    How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download
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    Thursday, April 21, 2011

    What the courts let one cop get away with

    In Connecticut, here's what an officer did, according to facts accepted by the appellate court:

    1. in "great rage and anger" threw a traffic ticket onto the driver's chest while the driver was in a hospital bed

    2. after his sergeant tore up the traffic citation, the officer submitted another copy to the police department

    3. arrived at the driver's home at 5:30 am three weeks after the traffic incident, asking for insurance information

    4. refused to provide the driver with a copy of the police report even after telling his department's internal affairs division he would do so
    The driver sued the officer alleging emotional distress (among other things). The appellate court concluded that while the officer's behavior may have been "bad manners", it did not rise to the level of inflicting emotional distress.

    Behavior in Connecticut must be "extreme and outrageous" to inflict emotional distress.

  • Gee, re-writing a traffic ticket your own sergeant tore up?

  • Banging on a guy's door in the dark, 90 minutes before sunrise, for insurance information?

  • Not supplying a report his own department told him to fork over?
  • Maybe if the officer had shot the guy, the court would have ruled for the driver.

    Nah, people get shot every day. What's outrageous about that?

    How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download Buy Now

    Wednesday, April 20, 2011

    Big trouble for a couple of fuzzy dice

    It is illegal in Pennsylvania to have things hanging from the rear view mirror which "materially obstruct" the driver's view. The officer must have reasonable suspicion that this law has been violated before she stops a car.

    One defendant got pulled over for this. During the stop, the officer determined the driver was under the influence of a controlled substance and made an arrest. The driver was convicted but appealed, claimiing the officer had no reasonable suspicion to make the stop and therefore all evidence obtained from the stop should be ignored (like the driver's condition?).

    Unfortunately for the defendant, the officer opined in court that foam dice and at least 4 pine air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror would hinder the driver's view. The court agreed. The dice rolled the wrong way for this driver.

    A search of the California Vehicle Code (under "rear view mirror" and "mirror") turns up no similar law. It is widely believed in that state that hanging things from the rear view mirrior is illegal but I don't see the law. (Probably they would cite you under a general obscured vision section.)

    More information on traffic tickets available: How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download
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    Saturday, April 16, 2011

    Getting their man in Pennsylvania

    Pennsylvania is rough. Constables allegedly drove almost 500 miles round trip to arrest a man (in shackles) who had underpaid his traffic ticket by $47.

    One of the constables, when questioned, saw no discordance in traveling 8 hours to collect a $47 fine.

    Update: 4-17-11: Gas averages $3.87 a gallon in Pennsylvania. Assuming the constables got 30 miles to the gallon, they spent $60 in gas to go after that $47.

    Friday, April 15, 2011

    Traffic Ticket Scandal in New York City?

    A not too coherent article in the New York Daily News suggests some cops were willing to take money or a bottle of booze to lose a traffic citation or not show up at court. Some officers reportedly have retired as a grand jury investigates.

    Update: 4-22-11: Senior city officials had traffic tickets fixed, the grand jury discovered, an unnamed source told the Associated Press.

    Wednesday, April 13, 2011

    Speed limit 85 miles per hour?

    Texas is thinking of raising the speed limit on some roads to 85 miles per hour. Texas, along with Utah, already has the highest speed limit in the nation--80 mph. 33 other states have top limits between 70 and 79.

    Second chance ignored. Gwinnett County, Georgia offered people with traffic warrants the opportunity to pay their fines without additional penalties, cancelling their warrants. The offenders weren't impressed and participation was minimal.

    If you get a traffic citation, do it in Baltimore. 83 year old guy allegedly runs into a 20 year old bicyclist. The victim has "catastrophic brain injuires". The driver is going to jail, probably prison, right?

    Nope. In Baltimore, she got 2 traffic tickets. Her maximum criminal exposure is $1,000 and points on her driving record. No word on whether she's going to traffic school.

    Get the real story: How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download Buy Now

    Tuesday, April 12, 2011

    DUI checkpoints expensive -- $2,800 to arrest each driver

    Two traffic officers win $2 million in court from the Los Angeles Police Department. They'd broken the silence and said there was a daily quota of 18 traffic tickets a day for motor officers on the city's Westside. They alleged the department retaliated against them for this revelation. The jury agreed.

    Update: 4-15-11: The chief of the LAPD still insists he has no quotas and wants to appeal the verdict. (Please! Give me more bad publicity!)

    Update: 4-17-11: One attorney wonders if all the traffic citations written under the quota system will need to be dismissed.

    Slowing down to get a good look at an accident may be a violation in Ontario, Canada, this article says.

    Lots of devices interact with the Iphones and Ipads to warn of red-light cameras, speed traps, schools and DUI checkpoints. Not sure how much attention you're going to pay to the warning if you're plastered.

    DUI checkpoints, by the way, aren't there to catch drunk drivers. In Costa Mesa, CA, for example, less than 1% of the cars stopped at checkpoints have intoxicated drivers. California made only about 2% of its drunk driving arrests at DUI checkpoints in 2008.

    The real secret to the checkpoints is federal funding--$14 million to California in 2008. That's about $2,800 per driver arrested. Strike you as pricey?

    Update: On April 28, 2011, Martinez, California police ran a 3 hours DUI checkpoint. They talked to 503 drivers and nabbed one drunk driver. That's 2/10 of 1%. Is it possible if all the cops at the checkpoint had been driving around for 3 hours, they might have seen more than one intoxicated driver?

    Find more information about traffic tickets at How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook. Or instant PDF download Buy Now

    Monday, April 11, 2011

    Bad economy might help you with beating a traffic ticket

    The lousy economy may help you beat a traffic ticket! One-third of the South Carolina state troopers in Dorchester County have quit.

    When they don't show up in court, the cases have been dismissed. The Highway Patrol has a wage freeze so 11% of the officers statewide have left since 2008, looking for better paying work.

    If you get a traffic citation in another state, can you ignore it when you get home? Maybe not. Some states talk to each other. Your home state may suspend your license until you take care of that out of state traffic ticket.


    The book on other great strategies for fighting a traffic ticket: How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for just 99 cents from Kindle or Nook.

    Saturday, April 9, 2011

    Saturday stories from around the web

    No front license plate means the radar has nothing to read and the red light camera has nothing to photograph. A reader at this site says a recent AOL article made these claims. The column's author, apparently a cop, says radar and cameras work really well even with the front plate gone.

    Her fix it ticket went from $25 to $911 when she didn't take care of it and she's upset. Uh, lady, you're lucky you weren't stopped again and arrested. Courts don't like being ignored.

    This site claims to provide a free database of speed traps in North America. All verified (how do they do that?) Registration required.


    Officer gets this guy twice for running stop signs in Miami (same officer). The writer is worried because he can't appear in court to defend himself--he lives in Europe. Hey, the extradition treaty probably doesn't cover stop signs. Of course, if you ever want to come back here ....

    Her roommate's boyfriend told her Arizona would not put a point on her record for speeding if she just paid the fine. Good luck on that one.

    I couldn't make this stuff up. A lady here wants to know if she goes to trial, can the judge find her guilty? Uh, he's not selling Avon from the bench.

    When you want the real information, check out How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for Kindle and Nook. Just 99 cents.

    Friday, April 8, 2011

    Weird Laws?

    It's illegal for a woman to drive in a housecoat in California, one web site says. But a computer search of California's Vehicle Code shows no mention of housecoat. Bad info.

    The same site says you'll get a traffic ticket if you shoot an animal (except a whale) from a moving vehicle in California. The Vehicle Code doesn't mention whales. The only shooting it prohibits is taking potshots at traffic signals and the like.

    Where do they get this stuff?

    Third time's the charm. This site says you have to honk when passing a car in Rhode Island either on the left or the right. Actually, that one's partially true. Incredibly Title 31, section 15-4-(1) of the Rhode Island statutes spells it out--but only when passing on the left.

    Don't rely on scuttlebutt if you have a traffic ticket--get the facts with How to Beat a Traffic Ticket: The Six Steps Guide. Available for Kindle and Nook. Just 99 cents.