First ticket of the season..... hmm RCMP go tazer someone.....

[urbanj]

Its was a great day yesterday at around 14c so went for a ride to Whistler with the misses.

Maybe you guys can help me on this as I've never been pulled over on my bike. so im cruising along doing my thing, hear some whistles and what not look behind and I see there is a cop. Look down, I'm going the speed limit, so I think ah whatever.

He comes up license and regi blah blah. the convo goes exactly like this

Cop: Why didn't you pull over right away

Me: I dunno it's windy, im on a motorcycle and unless I physically move to
see my mirrors I can't see you DIRECTLY behind me.

Cop to my GF: You couldn't hear me either?

Me: she has her iPod in.

Me: so why are you pulling me over

Cop: you were speeding

Me: Ummm, no I wasn't. You just pulled me over.

Cop: You were doing 112kmh in an 80 zone caught on forward facing radar.

Me: when?

Cop: 10km back

Me: 10km BACK! Well I wasn't and if you apparently followed me when i didn't pull over right away you saw i was going the speed limit the WHOLE time.

So he leaves, comes back and give me a ticket for speeding and for failure to stop for the police. At this point I'm just laughing.

Cop: if you want to fight it you can meet me in North Vancouver. (NV is about 1.5 hours from whistler)

Me: hahahaha. prefect see you there. I live there.

Cop: Ride safe
---------------------------------------

Lol WTF. After all that thats what he has to say, ride safe. Idiot. So I've talked to some friends with siblings that are cops and they said I should be able to win easily but what a joke. All i do know is if I did go that fast (which isnt even fast ) i'd do it again if it means me riding safe, getting out of dangerous situations etc.

 

[deeptekkie]

You know, IF you weren't speeding it sounds to me like they shot a speeder, (perhaps lost him), and pegged you instead. Just my biased, unprofessional opinion....
Good luck!

 

[shomach1]

sad way to start the riding season!
I fought RCMP at Port Coquitlam law courts a few years ago for speeding. It was forward facing radar at dusk and I was last of a string of cars on 2 lanes near Albion. I lost because the judge believed RCMP, not me.
Keep us posted with your results, but may take months to get court time.

 

[chimneydoc]

From what you said that he got you 10km back, that's about 6 miles. It should not have taken that distance to pull a u-turn to come and get you. If he lost sight of you it sounds like he just pulled over the easiest target. Good luck in court. Doc

 

[Jez]

Bummer. If you were speeding, I'd just hold your hands up to it. But they do get it wrong sometimes .

 

[tweak89]

Me: so why are you pulling me over

Cop: you were speeding

Me: Ummm, no I wasn't. You just pulled me over.

Cop: You were doing 112kmh in an 80 zone caught on forward facing radar.

Me: when?

Cop: 10km back

Me: 10km BACK! Well I wasn't and if you apparently followed me when i didn't pull over right away you saw i was going the speed limit the WHOLE time.

No offense, but sounds like you had a bit of attitude. Best way to deal with getting pulled over is be polite, take your ticket and if you choose, fight it in court.

You will not win trying to tell the officer that he was wrong.

Not sure how many of you have gotten tickets on major highways, but it can take a few miles for a cop to catch up to you in a safe manner. You would be surprised how fast you can be going and not realize it, especially on our bikes. Doesn't mean you WERE speeding, but you COULD have been at the time he allegedly caught you on radar. Happens to me all the time, going faster than I think I am for short spurts along the freeway.

Can you take ticket dismissal classes or ask for deferred adjudication up there in the Great White North?

 

[Dennis in NH]

I got a ticket one time (not speeding) but in the end, it was cop's word against mine. Cop ALWAYS wins -- it's called Prima Fascia (something like that). That was the start of why I dislike cops so much.

If it was here in Massachusetts, I think you're getting a ticket unless he doesn't show up.

Dennis

 

[kpaul]

This does sound like it'd be your word against his, and you stand little chance in that scenario (even if he doesn't show up, I know here in WA that doesn't really mean anything). There's no innocent until proven guilty for traffic court, you have to prove your innocence, and I don't know that you have the tools to do that.

A lawyer can always get a ticket dismissed. Here it costs about $300 to get the ticket dismissed and given our insurance policies, that's worth it versus just taking it along with the increase in insurance cost.

 

[champion221elite]

I got a ticket one time (not speeding) but in the end, it was cop's word against mine. Cop ALWAYS wins -- it's called Prima Fascia (something like that). That was the start of why I dislike cops so much.

If it was here in Massachusetts, I think you're getting a ticket unless he doesn't show up.

Dennis

I'm sorry to hear you dislike police officers so much. We've never met, but I certainly hope you don't dislike me already.

Your statement about cops always winning in court is not exactly true. Speeding tickets and similar violations are civil infractions and therefore each side is responsible for making their case by a margin of 51%. The officer will discuss his level of training and will talk about the Farency guidelines (not sure if Farency applies in Canada). The officer will talk about the equipment used (Laser, Radar, or time/ distance) to calculate your speed.

Given the situation, the officer has many points that he or she must touch on in order to prove their side of the argument.

The defendant is also responsible for proving their side by 51%, but is often difficult because they do not have much to offer other than their side of the story. Civilians don't have any speed measurement training, and don't have any video evidence to make their case.

Bottom line, if you feel you were wrongly issued a citation, you're more than welcome to have your day in court. Don't go to court and simply try to "wing it". Rather, do your research and be prepared. Look up the Farency guidelines and be polite and professional when you're speaking to the officer and judge/ magistrate. It wouldn't hurt to go and watch traffic court for a couple of hours to see how the process goes. This will give you a better idea of what questions are asked and the best ways to respond to them.

BTW, if the officer does not show up for court, DO NOT plea to anything. This becomes a default judgement situation and the case should be dropped and the citation dismissed.

 

[Dennis in NH]

I'm sorry to hear you dislike police officers so much. We've never met, but I certainly hope you don't dislike me already.

Hi and thank you for the advice. Person to person, please accept my apology if I offended you. I guess it's hard for me to let this one go -- I was unfairly treated and never felt so powerless (the State Trooper yelled at me pretty badly and I felt physically threatened when I honestly felt I didn't do anything wrong). I showed up in court only to have the Neanderthal-like bailiff chuckled at me as I presented my case and the Magistrate tell me it's my word against the Troopers. I could've spent more time and money to straighten things out but chances are I would've lost and lost more of my life and resources fighting a hopeless system. My insurance gives me a "freebie" so I chose to pay and end it there.

I try to remember there are some good cops out there and am very delighted to hear of one. But these occasions are really tough to come by. Tonight, a cop stopped my boss in our rental car in San Diego -- he was courteous and stopped because my boss (driver) didn't have his lights on at about 7pm (I guess they should be on 1/2 hour before dark) and cut off another car (we were trying to follow my GPS and missed an exit). I think the cop actually did us a favor because we probably were hard to see; plus, he issued only a warning and was quick about it.

Perhaps it's not cops in particular but a system that I don't much care for -- and I'm not going to speak of this anymore in this thread .

Dennis

 

[lonesoldier84]

just think of it as some more taxes you pay for those pristine highways you have out there.

here we pay speeding tickets and have rubbish roads.

 

[Tailgate]

I sympathize with you. Some cops are outright liars. Once I was arrested for a DUI at about 2 am (it's true, bars CLOSE most places in USA at this hour!) after I pulled into my driveway. They cops were outright liars from the get-go. They took me downtown for a breath test (cops didn't have portable tests back then) and I blew a reading significantly below---in my opinion, stupid---the "presumptive" limits. After this, one of the cops was swearing in disgust. Of course, now, the cops with egg on their face, couldn't own up to being wrong, decided to "salt" the evidence and wrote on the ticket that I, in addition to drunk driving (even though I was below limits), made an unsafe lane change, failed to stop at a stop sign AND drove on the wrong side of the street at the intersections about 20 feet from my home. Total and complete fabrication of the events. The cops were out to get a bust and decided, I guess, get me because I, at the time, was a kid and they wanted to "have some fun." Since then, I have since learned that some motorists, instead of fighting an unjust (and in my case, heavily fabricated) ticket, will "Yes, sir, yes sir," take a plea bargain because the whole court process is intimidating and potentially very expensive. I showed up in court, refused to spend hundreds of dollars on an attorney and represented myself. Minutes before the court appearance a DA offered to drop the DUI if I would take it to a court trial (not jury) and face reduced charges of running stop sign and driving on wrong side of street charges. I probably should have refused that also but I accepted his offer. The court judge just split these two charges down the middle and "convicted" me of running a stop sign. I still remember the two officer's names and this happened over 40 years ago. It sucks when you run into crooked cops.

 

[lonesoldier84]

Wow....that's so horrible. Amazing. Makes you want to video all of your rides.

 

[Boneman]

Three words for your court date, "LOSS OF CONTINUITY". End of story.

My highschool law teacher got out of a ticket by explaining how the cop, in order to make a safe and legal U-turn, had to take his eyes off his car to do so. In that time the simialr looking car that was "actually" speeding, turned into a store parking lot and when the cop got turned around, he nailed my teacher instead.

Now, our teacher admitted to us that this was pure BS, BUT, he did prove that this COULD of happended and that the cop could not be 100% certain that this scenario DIDN'T happen! Even the judge commented to the fact that "I feel you are guilty, but you have shown/proven a loss of continuity". Ticket was dismissed.

Since the RCMP got you on forward radar, there is no way he could identify you by license plate! And since it took him over 10km to catch up with you, I would argue a total loss of continuity!!

Good luck and keep us posted.

I love cops and fully respect what they do (almost made it through to the RCMP in fact), but hading out chicken s**t tickets to the very tax payers that they are supposed to be protecting does chap my a$$....

 

[lonesoldier84]

YES!!!