NMA Contest: Tell Your Ticket Story & Win A Free Book
Have you fought a traffic ticket in court? If so, the National Motorists Association wants to hear your story!
To celebrate the redesign of the NMA Store and to encourage reader participation on this blog, we’ve decided to have a contest to see who can tell the most interesting story about his or her traffic ticket experiences. The winner will receive a free copy of the new book, Driver’s Guide To Police Radar, by Craig Peterson.
To enter, just post your story in the comments section of this post sometime before 12:00pm on next Wednesday, February 20th.
NMA staff will read all the entries and decide on a winner. We’re not looking for anything specific. It can be a story about how you fought a ticket and won or about a ticket fight you lost. It can be a funny story or an infuriating one. The winning story will be featured on the NMA blog.
About the prize, Driver’s Guide To Police Radar:
Ever wondered just how close that police officer has to be to get you on his radar? Have you heard that lasers can’t be aimed through car glass? Are you getting your money’s worth from your detector?
These are just some of the questions answered in Driver’s Guide To Police Radar by Craig Peterson. Craig is a nationally-known expert on speed-measuring technology. His inside information on how radar is used and misused may give you enough information for an acquittal.
(183 pages)
Don’t hesitate to tell your story. If you have several stories to choose from, that’s okay. Multiple entries are encouraged! Be sure to use a valid email address when posting your comment so we can contact you if you’re the winner.
The contest has closed.
The winning entry was written by Martin G:
This happened in 1997. I live in Ridgeville, S.C. and it is a speed trap town. This is how my story goes:
As you enter the town the speed is 45 and as soon as you get to a curve it turns to 30. Well, I know the tricks of the town so I slowed down to 25 MPH and as soon as I got around the curve I saw the Town Police. I waved and I laughed at my wife and said he’s gonna get me for speeding doing 25 in a 30 MPH zone.
He made a u-turn and put his lights on. As soon as I pulled off the road right in front of the Town Hall parking lot, he told me to pull down to the corner store (Carters Fast Stop). He followed me without blue lights and soon as i pulled into the store area he hit the siren/blue lights and I got out again and asked him why I had to pull 1/2 mile from the incident area. He replied it was not safe. I said I pulled into the town hall parking lot.
Well anyway, I went to court about 3 weeks later and the judge asked how do I plead , I told her NOT GUILTY. She laughed and said OK let’s hear it. I explained to the judge the speed limit is 30 and I was going 25, she then said the officer’s radar said so. I asked her when the radar was calibrated and if the officer had gone through the training that is required by the state. I also asked her when did they invent radar that can go around curves…
She thought for a minute and then asked me why I asked those questions and I replied I was hired by the Sheriff’s Office recently and was shown a little about how radar works. The JUDGE then said to the officer, “This case is dismissed.” I laughed and walked away. This makes all law enforcement look bad, but I had a good laugh!
Honorable mention goes to Mark Girouard. You can read his entry here.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Other Related Articles
To change the picture next to your comments, sign up at Gravatar.com. Each picture is associated with a particular email address. (This is a third-party service not affiliated with NMA.)
on 8/25/09, driving through walmart parking lot,turned to go down the aisle,toward store,when car hit my car backing out. When the cop showed up it was clear,the driver backing out hit me, he was ticketed for improper backing. on 8/27/09, the same cop came to my home,and said i lied to him,that i had crossed behind the car as it was already backing out,before going down the aisle,he got the video from walmart showing this,and i lied to him. He then told me to sign the ticket for careless driving,and if i did’t sign it he could arrest me,so i signed it,have not seen the tape,how do i even know it exsists. this happened in jax,fl. would love to read your comments
Here is why it sucks to be a Virgina resident due to the DMV:
Upon the death of my father, I registed his truck under my name as survivor, I notified my insurance company and registred that it is insured. Week later they send notice for verification of insurance I give policy number and everthing direct from the insurance including state registration number of the insurance provider. Well this goes on two more times the final time I went in person.
Did you know the state can revoke your driver’s licence without notification? I did not know that and they did so in regards to not having one out of three vehicles insured under their records.
So, I suffer with a police officer taking my license three miles from my home, forced to leave a woman to walk home after dark after 1:00 a.m., have a ticket for driving with a revoked license, an impounded vehicle expense and a $85.00 license reinstatement, oh did I mention Virginia DMV charges $5.00 for the privelige to grace their facilities!! All because of a typo on behalf of DMV!!
Right now I’ve sold my father’s truck and trailer notified DMV and guess what they sent me registration renewal notices a month later folks wish me luck!!!!
OK here goes. First off, I’ve paid speeding tickets I received if deserved. A few in other states at obvious traps I just didn’t pay. Crime shouldn’t pay. Look at your state DMV to see what states they will collect for.
In Ontario recently for a hockey tourney(I’m from NY) I was stopped solely because the officer saw the radar detector. It was off and he admitted I was doing the limit. I pointed out the traffic going by me over the limit, to no avail. He took the device and issued what amounts to a $170 ticket. He said possession of a radar detector was against the law. The sign at the border said USE of a radar detector was illegal.
This was absolutely nonsense, he obviously targeted a car from the states because I wouldn’t drive 4 hours to fight back.
I started out fighting next day. I emailed 14 Ontario parliament members for the area, naming the ticket, my belief it was injustice, and that I would take my twice yearly hockey tournament trips somewhere other than Ontario. That is 15 families, 15 hotel rooms, 3 nights, meals, etc. I told these politicos if I was found guilty, I
A) Wouldn’t pay. B) would not return to Ontario C) would let the hotel mgr, restaurant managers and tournament organizers know which politician had not helped me, by name and phone number.
Then I went to work on the court. I asked for a printed copy of the law and ANY applicable laws or statutes pertaining to Radar Detectors. I asked for a chain of custody document for the detector. I said I wanted to test it in court to see if it was even functioning, and would need a DC power outlet AND a functioning radar.
I asked the officer’s full name and shield or badge number, as well as his specific police department and location, as these are not legible or present on the traffic offense.
I requested that the officer appear for questioning AND I asked if I was due a court appointed attorney either in the initial court or at the appeals court.
I told them I would appeal ANY negative decision, and asked in advance for the laws pertaining to appeals and what my rights were.
I implied that I was suspicious of being stopped for racial reasons, and requested the proper authority or civilian review board to file to file a complaint.
I asked for a list of any complaints or disciplinary actions filed against the officer.
Several others, the point being to make myself the porcupine, the absolute hardest and most disagreeable meal the road tax monster can think of.
At the speed governments work at, they would LOSE money on me as they went through point by point to see what I was entitled to and what not. Clerks, lawyers, judges reading and talking, making copies, mailing certified mail, taking phone calls from politicians offices or merchants I had riled up. I had additional plans to further tie up this court and make that ticket cost them hundreds, or thousands of dollars.
But they just gave up and stopped contacting me, just as it was getting fun.
BE PREPARED TO FIGHT, AND FIGHT DIRTY. HIT THEM AT THEIR WEAKNESSES: SLOW, EXPENSIVE, LAZY GOVERNMENT WORKERS, and POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, AMONG OTHERS.
I read with interest the pro-cop and anti-cop messages. Let me start off by saying that I’ve gotten speeding tickets I DESERVED. I also admire policemen who keep us safe.
However, as more and more speed enforcement is being used for revenue generation, I’d ask the cops: Is that what you joined up for? To be a tax collector?? Millions of us are losing lifelong respect for the badge when we see you hiding at the bottom of hills on sunny days and dry roads, while we contend with the OTHER forms of bad driving that aren’t as easy to catch (unless you just drive amongst us in an unmarked car, PLEASE DO.) Nope, you go for the easy speeding tickets. When insurance companies PAY law enforcement to write more tickets as they recently did in NY) respect slips further. Toll/Tax collectors with a badge & gun. Isn’t there a meth lab you could bust?
Officers, you need to fight back against being used this way. Start with asking your unions, or you will continue tobe TOOLS.