Troopers pulling over folks on way to rally

[Noah_Zark]

How do you use your speed control data to fight a ticket? Is there a way to download it for use in a case like this?

I used my six year old Garmin GPS to successfully defend a speeding charge.

I had the Garmin on, was doing an instantaneous 67 in a posted 65 when passed by a black BMW SUV with NY plates on I-80 near Ex 70 about two years ago. The trooper at a pass-thru at MM 69 stopped me, notifying that the stop was being recorded, and stated he measured my speed at 76 with his laser. I started my phone recorder and denied the charge, telling the trooper that I was doing 67, which was within the PA statutory 5 mph tolerance for limit above 65 mph, and that the black BMW that was passing me was the speeder.

He didn't back down, and I didn't show him the Garmin then, but while he was in the Crown Vic writing me up I used my phone cam to take a snapshot of the Garmin's stats screen which showed my 31 minute average speed at the time of stop was 64 mph, and the max speed was 69. He came back with the citation and explained it, told me where the magistrate was located, and had me acknowledge receipt by signature. I handed him the Garmin and explained the stats page, and while he held it I snapped a photo of it, getting the sleeve of the gray uniform shirt, his hand, and his wristwatch in the photo. I thanked him for doing a difficult and often thankless job, and said I'd see him at the magistrate's, no offense. He said have a nice day, but no verbal admonishment to "slow down," and the wind was out of his sails a bit compared to when he first stopped me.

At the hearing, I represented myself and the trooper was there, but arrived 25 mins late. I thought it was chickensh_t that the justice held the hearing for the cop and wondered if he would have done the same for me if I called ahead, but I digress. The justice read the charge and I pleaded not guilty. The justice asked me to present the basis of the plea, and I requested to approach the bench with my supporting objective evidence: The Garmin, the phone, and the photos I printed from the phone's cam. The justice listened to my defense and to the recording from the phone. I explained that the GPS was reset at DuBois at exit 97 when I got fuel before getting on I-80W, and had run for approx. 31 minutes since resetting, in reasonable agreement with the time it took for me to get to MM 69 when I was stopped. I explained that the GPS stat screen showed my average speed for that time, and the max speed was 69; even allowing for error I could not possibly have been doing 76. I verbally testified that when my particular vehicle is at 65 mph, the Garmin says the car is doing 65 mph, and it could be verified by observation if His Honor thought it necessary.

The justice asked the trooper if that was his arm in the photo holding my GPS, and the trooper confirmed it was. "Looks as if you got the wrong guy," the justice said. "Dismissed. Next case."

The trooper and I walked out together and stood outside BS-ing for 15 or 20 mins. He said, "Hey, no offense, but I seriously thought it was you and not the BMW." "

"None taken, and I hope there's no hard feelings with me doing what I had to do."

"Not at all; you did what you had to." We shook hands, and went our ways.

The take-away: Despite the cell phone being my primary GPS nowadays, I always have the old Garmin running when I'm driving so that I have the stats screen to rely on for objective evidence in case it's needed.

Noah

[ViperGTS19801]

A $70 dashcam will go a long way for proving you didn't do anything wrong.

While it does not measure speed or location, nor does it have a GPS built into it, it will turn itself on when you start your car (as long as your power supply is tied to your ignition) and record automatically. With all the driving I do, I can get about two weeks of driving recorded on a single 32GB Class 10 SD card which wells for about $15 at MicroCenter. It records both audio and video, works great at night even without the infrared turned on, and it pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it deal - until you need the video. Not to mention, it's fairly low-profile - if you mount it in a central location behind your rear-view mirror, it's practically invisible from the outside if someone is standing by your driver's door.

I wasn't stopped for speeding, but I was once stopped for running a red light, which I didn't. Despite telling the officer I didn't run it, and even showing him that I had a camera with proof of said innocence, he still cited me, but lost in court when I showed the footage to the judge. He looked surprised, which blew me away.

With footage of your drive, not only are you able to prove where you are, what you were doing, even whether or not you had your turn signal on (since it records audio), but when driving on marked roads, you can use the markers to determine your true speed at any given time, giving you an out if you are falsley accused of speeding, especially if you're on a highway of some sort.

I have it because I spend a LOT of time driving, and it's come in handy before, so chances are, I will always have a dashcam from now on.

[flyromeo3]

Along 78 and 22 this weekend, PA state troopers were pulling over dozens of people headed towards NJ all day long. We were pulled over while going under 60mph in the right lane.

The trooper asked where we were going and asked if there were any weapons in the car.

While pulled over I witnessed at least 8 others get pulled over.

The trooper then gave us a speeding ticket, despite the fact we were going 5 miles under the limit.


How is this not harassment?

there is a construction zone with a posted 45mph speed limit stretching about 4-5 miles west of the NJ/PA border heading east bound.

[RandomTask]

Aren't you innocent until proven guilty?...

LOL... you silly man... that's just one of the lies they told you in middle school... along with "FDR was the greatest president ever, and "liberty and justice for all.""

[NoGunsInCA]

A busy cop is a good cop. A bored cop can be a dangerous cop.

[Nullifidian]

Where did you get pulled over? 78 & 22 split just prior to the PA Turnpike.

On Saturday afternoon 3:30 PM I saw a PA State Trooper shooting radar onto cars on 78 from Rt 309 where 78 goes under 309. In fact the PA trooper was sitting on the northbound Rt 309 bridge with his car facing south as if he were driving against traffic. 309 is two lanes on this bridge, he was sitting on the shoulder, drivers side looking east with left hand operating radar on cars traveling on 78. His lights were on, so we could see him but I don't think it was very safe.

The speed trap was right before exit 60, where it goes from 3 lanes to 2, heading east towards NJ.

This was Saturday, so there was construction about 10 miles further east. Traffic came to a dead halt at around exit 67. It took roughly 30 minutes to go from exit 67 to the border of NJ.

[nerys]

I always run a dash cam! protects your butt !! make sure yours has a hazzard button (that preserves the video being recorded when you press it) I press it anytime something interesting happens or when I pass a "photo light" so I can later prove it was green when I went through (I once got a ticket for one of those 4 months later !! still had the dash cam footage! I won in court)

before I had a dash cam though I had an interesting encounter with a statie on 206 at 4 in the morning (I used to work till 0300 90 minute ride home)

he pulls me over and says I was doing 80mph. I swear I just break out laughing. He don't think this is so funny.

I said ever race for pinks? he looks at me odd I say

officer this is a 1974 vw thing with a worn out 36hp air cooled engine with my 400 pound butt in it.

if you can break 65mph I will sign the title over to you and walk home.

I have never had it past 62 it just refused to go any faster screaming like it was going to blow apart trying. :-)

I said you got the little ricer who blew by me doing a gazillion mph and yes it was orange too :-)

he actually let me go (I was doing 45 btw speed limit is 50) :-)

but get a dash cam. you can get a cheap one for $40 now adays. just MAKE SURE you have enough memory. some of the cheap ones use mjpeg compression and rediculous "bitrates" not even close to realistic. ie even a 16gb card can fill in 3 hours !!

so to be safe I always carry TWO cards. if something serious happens "AFTER" the encounter is over I stop the camera and swap in the spare card to make sure ti preserve whats on the "important" card till I get home to download it.

NEVER EVER tell the cop you have a dash cam. NEVER. EVER. if they have truly bad (ie criminal intent) they will at best take the camera at worst HURT you to get the camera.

while this is extremely unlikely to occur it CAN. also if he wants to stick you with something he might INVENT stuff to fight you with if he knows he faces video evidence

keep your mouth shut and just SHOW UP with the video evidence :-)

with a JUSTICE minded court ie one not hell bent on screwing you even when you are at fault cams can help your case !!

I got hit for blowing a red light (I checked the video I did technically blow the light) their were exigent circumstances though.

geo metro. sister in the back. truck making an illegal right turn causing traffic to dart left to avoid the truck which raises my "alert" level trying to figure out whats up so I pay extra careful attention to the truck. once I determine non threat now I notice the yellow light. AHH ok how long has that been yellow.

I check the RVM and crap guy in the left lane stopping and guy behind me closing WAY WAY over the speed limit. he does NOT look intent on stopping and I don't think he would have been able to if he tried.

tall curb on the right he would bounce he is GOING to nail me or the other car and if he nails me my car is done I will be in the hospital and my sister would probably be dead.

I make the call to blow the light on purpose. I don't speed up I just cruise through it (turns red 5 feet before I hit the white line) I toot the horn to alert the stationary drivers right and left (I know they are not moving yet still red for them but better safe than sorry)

JUST as I enter the intersection the guy behind me goes diagonal and "blows" the tiny gap between ME and the guy in the left lane who stopped and passes me going at least 25-30mph faster than I was going (I was doing around 43 at this time PSL 45)

no question he would have wrapped that car around my car had I tried to stop.

I showed this to the prosecutor at first he was like well you ran then stopped when he saw the other car go WOOSH.

all he said was. "wow"

he dropped the points and changed the ticket to one half the monetary cost (some minor infraction) of the red light ticket.

Obviously I took it. without the dash cam I was just "some guy not paying attention running a red light"

my new dash cam has dual cameras lower res camera in the rear window :-)

also helps (dash cams) in accidents. makes clear where blame lies.

get a dash cam. FORGET IT (but test it now and then make sure its working reformat the card now and then play some vids make sure its working right)

do NOT divulge you have one. ever. prior to getting to court.

[Campy]

All radar stops in NJ have to be logged and show a pattern of enforcement, summons, no summons and such. All radar must be calibrated before and after to show proper operation. All of these documents must be brought to court in the event of a not guilty plea. Even so the operator can still get false results depending on the operation.

[Curmudgeon]

I always run a dash cam! protects your butt !! make sure yours has a hazzard button (that preserves the video being recorded when you press it) I press it anytime something interesting happens or when I pass a "photo light" so I can later prove it was green when I went through (I once got a ticket for one of those 4 months later !! still had the dash cam footage! I won in court)

before I had a dash cam though I had an interesting encounter with a statie on 206 at 4 in the morning (I used to work till 0300 90 minute ride home)

he pulls me over and says I was doing 80mph. I swear I just break out laughing. He don't think this is so funny.

I said ever race for pinks? he looks at me odd I say

officer this is a 1974 vw thing with a worn out 36hp air cooled engine with my 400 pound butt in it.

if you can break 65mph I will sign the title over to you and walk home.

I have never had it past 62 it just refused to go any faster screaming like it was going to blow apart trying. :-)

I said you got the little ricer who blew by me doing a gazillion mph and yes it was orange too :-)

he actually let me go (I was doing 45 btw speed limit is 50) :-)

but get a dash cam. you can get a cheap one for $40 now adays. just MAKE SURE you have enough memory. some of the cheap ones use mjpeg compression and rediculous "bitrates" not even close to realistic. ie even a 16gb card can fill in 3 hours !!

so to be safe I always carry TWO cards. if something serious happens "AFTER" the encounter is over I stop the camera and swap in the spare card to make sure ti preserve whats on the "important" card till I get home to download it.

NEVER EVER tell the cop you have a dash cam. NEVER. EVER. if they have truly bad (ie criminal intent) they will at best take the camera at worst HURT you to get the camera.

while this is extremely unlikely to occur it CAN. also if he wants to stick you with something he might INVENT stuff to fight you with if he knows he faces video evidence

keep your mouth shut and just SHOW UP with the video evidence :-)

with a JUSTICE minded court ie one not hell bent on screwing you even when you are at fault cams can help your case !!

I got hit for blowing a red light (I checked the video I did technically blow the light) their were exigent circumstances though.

geo metro. sister in the back. truck making an illegal right turn causing traffic to dart left to avoid the truck which raises my "alert" level trying to figure out whats up so I pay extra careful attention to the truck. once I determine non threat now I notice the yellow light. AHH ok how long has that been yellow.

I check the RVM and crap guy in the left lane stopping and guy behind me closing WAY WAY over the speed limit. he does NOT look intent on stopping and I don't think he would have been able to if he tried.

tall curb on the right he would bounce he is GOING to nail me or the other car and if he nails me my car is done I will be in the hospital and my sister would probably be dead.

I make the call to blow the light on purpose. I don't speed up I just cruise through it (turns red 5 feet before I hit the white line) I toot the horn to alert the stationary drivers right and left (I know they are not moving yet still red for them but better safe than sorry)

JUST as I enter the intersection the guy behind me goes diagonal and "blows" the tiny gap between ME and the guy in the left lane who stopped and passes me going at least 25-30mph faster than I was going (I was doing around 43 at this time PSL 45)

no question he would have wrapped that car around my car had I tried to stop.

I showed this to the prosecutor at first he was like well you ran then stopped when he saw the other car go WOOSH.

all he said was. "wow"

he dropped the points and changed the ticket to one half the monetary cost (some minor infraction) of the red light ticket.

Obviously I took it. without the dash cam I was just "some guy not paying attention running a red light"

my new dash cam has dual cameras lower res camera in the rear window :-)

also helps (dash cams) in accidents. makes clear where blame lies.

get a dash cam. FORGET IT (but test it now and then make sure its working reformat the card now and then play some vids make sure its working right)

do NOT divulge you have one. ever. prior to getting to court.

Can you tell us what you are using?