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Claiming an Officer Mistook Another Vehicle for Mine as a Defense to Speeding Ticket

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  • 03-14-2016, 12:38 PM
    delta1103
    Claiming an Officer Mistook Another Vehicle for Mine as a Defense to Speeding Ticket
    I'm from Utah and last week, I got pulled over for supposedly going 87 in a 70. I KNOW this was not my speed, while I know I was speeding (80-81 mph) I was definitely not going 87. Prior to being pulled over there was a black, lifted GMC Sierra coming up from behind me at a ridiculous speed (at what i'm guessing to be 87 mph), in order to get out of the way of the truck I sped up from ~75 mph to 80-82 mph to get ahead of the car next to me and switch lanes. At the same time a highway patrolman was merging onto the freeway from my right, he looked over, made eye contact with me, then proceeded to pull me over. The cop came up and told me I was going 87, I said that "I know I was going fast, but I was not going 87." He returned to his car and came back with the ticket - for 17 over.. After signing it, I asked the cop if he had saw the black GMC Sierra speeding ahead of me, and he replied with "Yes, but I could only choose one." :confused:

    Is it possible for the cop to have registered and mistaken the truck's speed for my own? And is this worth explaining to a judge and seeing if they will lower the ticket? It was for my safety that I sped up to avoid being rear ended by the truck.
  • 03-14-2016, 12:51 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    You have no idea how many hundreds of people post the exact same story.

    Bottom line: You were breaking the law, you got caught, you admitted to the cop that you were breaking the law.

    Pay your fine.

    Use your cruise control from now on. Set it to the speed limit.

    Never worry about the guy behind you. Speeding up is absolutely the wrong response. Lots of people make that mistake and pay for it. Keep to the speed limit and they will go around you.

    PS: Judges here the same story every day. Doesn't cut any ice with them either.
  • 03-14-2016, 12:54 PM
    delta1103
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    I'm not saying I wasn't speeding. I wasn't going the 87 mph he says I was.

    Oh, and PS: You must have nothing else to do other than to troll on people's posts. Every post I've seen from you is the same shit. "You are in the wrong" "You broke the law" "Use your cruise control".. No shit, thanks for telling me the obvious. I'm here asking for opinions, not to be babied on what I did wrong and on what I should do, so thanks for nothing.
  • 03-14-2016, 01:03 PM
    cdwjava
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    So, your defense will be, "I'm guilty, but guilty of speeding at 10 or 11 MPH over the limit, not 17."

    Maybe the court will accept your plea to the lesser speed. If the fine is based on the MPH, maybe that will save you a few bucks.
  • 03-14-2016, 01:07 PM
    delta1103
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    Thanks cdwjava, I know it sounds odd, but yes that's exactly what I am saying.
  • 03-14-2016, 01:13 PM
    cdwjava
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    Quote:

    Quoting delta1103
    View Post
    Thanks cdwjava, I know it sounds odd, but yes that's exactly what I am saying.

    Then, when you go to court, confess to the lesser speed and hope for the best.
  • 03-14-2016, 01:47 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    Quote:

    Quoting delta1103
    View Post
    I'm not saying I wasn't speeding. I wasn't going the 87 mph he says I was.

    Oh, and PS: You must have nothing else to do other than to troll on people's posts. Every post I've seen from you is the same shit. "You are in the wrong" "You broke the law" "Use your cruise control".. No shit, thanks for telling me the obvious. I'm here asking for opinions, not to be babied on what I did wrong and on what I should do, so thanks for nothing.

    I'm teaching you how to avoid future tickets. But I guess you don't want to see that. Oh well.
  • 03-14-2016, 05:02 PM
    L-1
    Re: Cop Mistook Speed of Another Car for Mine
    Quote:

    Quoting delta1103
    View Post
    "I know I was going fast, but I was not going 87."

    Just food for thought –

    Most people don’t intentionally speed. Instead, they drive at a speed they feel comfortable with and assume they are not speeding when they really are.

    An officer doesn’t turn on his emergency lights the instant he determines your speed. He may have paced you from a distance back, or used radar or lidar from a distance away and needs time to catch up with you. By the time he gets behind you, your speed may have changed (and be slower) as most drivers don’t maintain a steady foot.

    When most drivers see emergency lights behind them, their first instinct is to panic, feel the adrenalin flow through their system, take their foot off the gas and only then do they look at their speedometer. In that time span, their speed drops and is much lower than what they were driving when the officer measured their speed.

    Lastly, most people don’t drive while constantly watching their speedometer. If they did, their eyes would not be on the road and there would be more crashes. Even if they did drive with one eye on the speedometer, not all speedometers are accurate. Depending on what speed you are traveling, they may be off by one to five MPH, so your speedometer may say you are within the speed limit when you are not. (If you belong to AAA, take your car in for a free calibration.)

    With this in mind, understand why courts do not give a lot of credence to people who say, “I know I wasn’t driving that fast.”
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