Ticket questions; advice

[ajaxthebetter]

First ticket today in the BRZ, and second in my 25 years of life.

Was driving home on 522 East near Monroe after getting off work, a portion I drive daily. Police are everywhere there, so I know better than to do excessive speeds.

I am in the right lane but see no one in the left, neither ahead nor behind me, so I move into the left lane. Reason being, main street Monroe exit is coming up and people tend to slow to under 50 to get off there. Also moved over since if I don't have to be behind or amidst cars, I won't be.

Proceeded along in left lane for 1/8 mile and saw car approaching in rear view. Signaled and moved into right lane ahead of an Escape. Upon cresting the hill I see a police officer at the end of the merge ramp. I was going a comfortable speed so I did not stab the brakes. Checked my speedo: was doing 62. Escape was not losing ground. Car in left lane was still gaining.

Though the speed limit is 55 here, I thought nothing of it. The road is as straight as the lanes are wide on this new section. I'd argue 55 is ridiculously slow here, but that is beside the point.

As I pass the ramp the police officer tears out of there, throwing a plume of dust into the air from the median. I am now doing 58. Officer tears after me, tailgates me for about an 1/16 of a mile (?), then lights me up. His driving already far more dangerous than mine...

Comes to the car and tells me I was doing 66 in a 55.

He proceeded to tell me the stop was being recorded.

In my anger, I failed to ask what method was used to record such a speed.

I told him cars were gaining on me. He said I was, "leading the pack." Part of me thinks I have a case right there, in that he had to know all of us were doing the same speed and chose my car because of how it looks. Perhaps not. I WAS in front, as most cars exit onto main street Monroe.

My question is:

What is the likely method he used to assess my speed? It merely says SMD. Do these need to be calibrated often?

Would the video tape be recording the whole time and show both the device used and my speed?

However unlikely, I feel as if he is lying or embellishing my speed. I was doing 62--over, yes, but during a lane change on a downhill.

I used GPS afterwards to test spedo accuracy. It consistently read 1-2 mph over. IE- I would have been doing 68 on my speedo to get to his 66 figure. Just not that likely.

Either way, just discourages me. Been working so much overtime to afford my new wheels and tires then this happens. Will cost me more to go fight it than just to pay it, even though I feel strongly he/the device was wrong.

Sorry for long read. Thanks in advance.

[swarb]

http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/smdhome.htm

[ajaxthebetter]

Hmm. I visited that site before posting. Unless I am mistaken, it reads Speed Measuring DeviceS. The plural is where my question comes into play. IE, he was faced the same direction he would be traveling, not oncoming, thus his device was...I don't know.

He was not outside his vehicle.

I think it must have been an antenna based radar, but upon research those seem to have accuracy issues as well which I may be able to bring to light in my defense.

[raven1231]

Pay the ticket and be more careful going forward.

[PNW FRS]

Ask for Traffic School... pay the $$... and move on. That might help keep the ticket off your driving record -- possibly help keep your insurance from dinging you for the infraction.

You've admitted you were over the posted maximum... if you tell the judge or commissioner that "...I was going with flow of traffic or thereabouts..." and that should mean you're not guilty of speeding... give it up... that's not the same as saying, "... I was not speeding... the officer is wrong...".

An old LEO friend of mine sums it up like this... "Unless you're a Saint behind the wheel 100% of the time, chalk up any ticket (for any type of infraction) as paying your dues for all the times you didn't get caught."

[Dvipercop]

I'll PM you when I get off work in the AM.

[ajaxthebetter]

^ Awesome. Was hoping for your response.

[Fastbrew]

Perhaps a 9500ix would have helped? I wouldn't drive my car without it.

[RobertPaulson]

that's a tough section, the cops are there all the time and i rarely go over 60 unless i have someone "leading the pack" and i have tons of room between us.

the reason for the 55mph speed limit is because they haven't finished construction and haven't done the road evaluations needed to raise the speed limit.

as far as fighting the ticket goes, if you can, get it differed if you haven't done that before, pay the court fee's associated with that and don't get another ticket in 7 years or you could lawyer up and have them fight it.

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by Fastbrew

Perhaps a 9500ix would have helped? I wouldn't drive my car without it.

unless there was a car in front of him (which i believe the op said there wasn't) that wouldn't have helped because the LEO typically don't fire the radar/lidar until they have line of sight.

[ajaxthebetter]

Yeah. The section is just brutal. I kind of figured it was still that speed due to construction, even though I rarely see them working on it anymore.

My first time being stopped in 6-7 years--that was when I got my prior ticket. I honestly feel/felt I was doing the right thing: Speeding up a bit to move out of the way for a faster approaching vehicle, even if only just.

Wonder what the limit will be changed to in future. It is mind numbingly slow as of now.

[slyphen]

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter

First ticket today in the BRZ, and second in my 25 years of life.

Was driving home on 522 East near Monroe after getting off work, a portion I drive daily. Police are everywhere there, so I know better than to do excessive speeds.

I am in the right lane but see no one in the left, neither ahead nor behind me, so I move into the left lane. Reason being, main street Monroe exit is coming up and people tend to slow to under 50 to get off there. Also moved over since if I don't have to be behind or amidst cars, I won't be.

Proceeded along in left lane for 1/8 mile and saw car approaching in rear view. Signaled and moved into right lane ahead of an Escape. Upon cresting the hill I see a police officer at the end of the merge ramp. I was going a comfortable speed so I did not stab the brakes. Checked my speedo: was doing 62. Escape was not losing ground. Car in left lane was still gaining.

Though the speed limit is 55 here, I thought nothing of it. The road is as straight as the lanes are wide on this new section. I'd argue 55 is ridiculously slow here, but that is beside the point.

As I pass the ramp the police officer tears out of there, throwing a plume of dust into the air from the median. I am now doing 58. Officer tears after me, tailgates me for about an 1/16 of a mile (?), then lights me up. His driving already far more dangerous than mine...

Comes to the car and tells me I was doing 66 in a 55.

He proceeded to tell me the stop was being recorded.

In my anger, I failed to ask what method was used to record such a speed.

I told him cars were gaining on me. He said I was, "leading the pack." Part of me thinks I have a case right there, in that he had to know all of us were doing the same speed and chose my car because of how it looks. Perhaps not. I WAS in front, as most cars exit onto main street Monroe.

My question is:

What is the likely method he used to assess my speed? It merely says SMD. Do these need to be calibrated often?

Would the video tape be recording the whole time and show both the device used and my speed?

However unlikely, I feel as if he is lying or embellishing my speed. I was doing 62--over, yes, but during a lane change on a downhill.

I used GPS afterwards to test spedo accuracy. It consistently read 1-2 mph over. IE- I would have been doing 68 on my speedo to get to his 66 figure. Just not that likely.

Either way, just discourages me. Been working so much overtime to afford my new wheels and tires then this happens. Will cost me more to go fight it than just to pay it, even though I feel strongly he/the device was wrong.

Sorry for long read. Thanks in advance.

the ticket itself should say the method of tracking. Radar/Laser/Pace. go to court and fight it. request for discovery 14 days prior to the court date, if the prosecutor does not send you the discovery prior to 7 days of court date, you can motion for dismiss due to lack of timely evidence.

[RobertPaulson]

Originally Posted by ajaxthebetter

Yeah. The section is just brutal. I kind of figured it was still that speed due to construction, even though I rarely see them working on it anymore.

My first time being stopped in 6-7 years--that was when I got my prior ticket. I honestly feel/felt I was doing the right thing: Speeding up a bit to move out of the way for a faster approaching vehicle, even if only just.

Wonder what the limit will be changed to in future. It is mind numbingly slow as of now.

my guess would be 65 once they finish expanding it to 4 lanes from the bridge to just past echo lake road. However i don't think that phase start until next year and even then, they need to do something about the bridge going over echo lake road because i don' think its wide enough to support 4 lanes.