here is my situation, 30 mins ago. i was at a red light with my friend. turned green and a mustang goes thru the red and turns right (going in the same direction as i am) i go to my friend,(listen to my blow off valve) hit about 5500 RPM (40km) than started to cruise. 65-70km MAX! down the road (3 mins) cop comes flying up behind me. pulls me over. runs up to me and with a attitude says all the lisenece and regisration, "i was pacing u for about 5 kms back there and i clocked u going 81km in a 50". i said, sir im not lieing, i went hard in 1st but i started to cruise slowly. he tells me "u calling me a liar?" "pop the hood". i giggled, he asked me whats funny. i said nothing. after about 10 mins of looking at the turbo xcess b.o.v he tells me to sit in my car. comes back and starts gettin angry. (i had my liscense suspended before) so he says ''this will be the 2nd time ur gonna get ur liscense suspended. id tell u where the court is but im sure u know". so i start driving up the street. he brakes HARD for the light so id catch up. i come beside him and he STARES me down. we both pull in the timmys together where 15 other cars are there. i go out to go get a coffee, he pulls right behind me and runs out. (at this time the helicopter is in the air shing the light on everyone. he screams very loud. IM GONNA TAKE SOME PICTURES OF THE RED MAZDA I PULLED OVER TO SEE IF WE HAVE FOOTAGE OF THIS KID RACING. i continue inside and when i came back out he was gone.

my question is can , (on the exact KM) give me a ticket for how fast i was going when he was ATLEAST 10 cars behind.??? and i am honestly not lieing, there was no way in hell i was going 81????

 

with your prior suspension, your in a bad spot, cops can and will do anything, it sucks, but you have to live with it, on a long weekend i tend to not drive my car much due to the extra police presence. just go to court and fight it see if you can get it brought down to a lesser charge/fine, the cop is just trying to fill the long weekend quota.

 

so pretty much he can say he "paced me" and at exact 81? what about the thing when a driver asks for proof and the cop has to show the radar gun? i had 3 tickets before and did not fight a single one. just payed. could i tell the judge somehting about, i never said i didnt speed before but this time im fightin because i truely wasnt speeding?

 

you can state that the accuracy of the cruisers speedo is off.

 

yes he can, will it stick?, 60% says so....

whenever you get pulled over ask to see the gun in which he clocked you with, if he dont show it, you shouldnt get a ticket....

 

And he can state the accuracy of your speedo is off.


Then it is your word against his. And what judge will believe you (who has a prior suspended lisence) over a cop?

Pacing people for speeding is standard police proceedure, and while it may not be exact, it will certainly hold up. If you REALLY want to fight this, you will have to go and get your speedo tested, to be sure that it is in spec. If you have proof that your speedo is perfectly calibrated, you can argue that you were doing less than 81, but you wont get off free without a ticket - maybe a ticket for 71kph. Might be worth it.

I am curious as to why you would pull into a "racers" hangout with a cop on your ***? Isn't that inviting trouble?

 

bummer man. this case seems to go against u.

 

i honestly went there for a coffee. i didnt know i would be asking for trouble by parking far away from everyone and going directly into tim hortons. i honestly dont hate all cops. just watching the news and u see people getting shot down town and rapes and other nasty things going on but they are sooo focused on pulling everyone over with a exhuast to make sure they wont be speeding even tho while im pulled over , moms in their minivans are going 20K over.... profiling...

 

Sure, it's profiling, but what mom in a minivan goes on cruises and does excessive speeding on them? I'm sure you, with your modified RX7, speed a hell of a lot more than the average soccer mom.

Nevertheless, your situation sucks since it sounds like that cop was outright harassing you.

 

It's something of a myth that if you have a witness in your vehicle, that their 'testimony' doesn't count.


It does. A witness is a witness. So plan on hauling your friend to court with you, or at least getting a sworn statement of some kind from him.

You might be best off approaching a ticket-fighting company with this. They'll know how to handle it, what forms to file, and how to handle your friend's testimony.

 

i had 2 witnesses when a lady totally rear-ended me infront of my old skool but they tosses their testimonies out the window because they were my friends, needless to say i lost the case, and the car....

the lady claimed she couldnt speak english and was in a hurry, but spoke perfect english yelling at the gas attendant for putting premium in her regular gas-using car....

 

ya il just got make a court date and go from there...

 

As I recall (in Alberta) if the cop doesn't show up in court the ticket is dropped. Maybe he won't show up.

Also as I recall (in Alberta) the RCMP cars are equipped to measure the speed of other vehicles while the RCMP car is moving but the city police cars are not.

Yeah your word against his is just that. You can try asking things like "how far away were you?", "did you lose sight of the car at any time while following it over those 5 km? for how long did you lose sight of the car?" and "since you lost sight of the car is it reasonable for the average person to be sure it was the same red car from the distance you originally saw it from?"

On a side note I was checked for my train fare twice last week. I go weeks without being checked but in the last week of the month I often get checked a couple times.

 

Forget about the cop being an a-hole it is of no relevance in court and will get you nowhere with the Judge (trust me I ripped into a cop once and had the courtroom laughing but the Judge lay into me hard and I lost on a $400 ticket).

Your witness testimony, the calibration of your speedo as well as the calibration of the cruiser's speedo, along with trying to prove that the Police officer did not have enough time to pace you are the only real plans of action.

Plus don't forget to postpone your first court date, there is a far greater chance of the cop missing the 2nd court date.

Good luck

 

I agree isn't there some rule about how long and consistant the cruiser has to pace behind the speeder for an accurate speed reading, I know when i got nailed like that he followed me for like 5km. And i would deffinatly miss the first apearence cops hate going to court more than they have too good luck man or. Or you could always go postal on their asses

 

As Lawyer's Spirit alluded to, one of the things you're going to have to do is show your speedo is calibrated - if you're going to court, you'll want to have this done ASAP so that questions of changes to the car or tire wear don't open up doubt as to the validity of your speedo certification. This may also tell you whether you should be going to court - maybe you really are out on the slow side (eg, oversize wheel/tire OD will make the speedo read slow). If his basis for charging you is pacing you, the question will be how close, how many cars in between, etc, that may have kept him from accurately pacing (if there were cars between, obviously he would have a tough time pacing unless they were all going as fast as you - in which case, why is he pacing you?) If your speedo checks out accurate, you will be able to question the cop as to whether his speedo is accurate - and it's not accurate just because it says "Certified" on it. I remember Road and Track testing a new police cruiser back in the 80's - it's "certified accurate" speedo was out by something like 8mph at 60 - so unless he can show it was calibrated around the time of your incident, it is entirely open to doubt that it is accurate.
I got a "pacing" ticket once when I was young and foolish - the cop obviously guessed my speed - but on the low side by 40kph - so I thanked him and paid it, resolving to never be quite so foolish on public roads....

 

He was pacing you because you were breaking the law. That is the answer he will give, and the answer the court will accept without batting an eye. It doesn't matter if there were 1000 other people on the road going twice as fast as you were. The fact is that - according to his equipment - you were breaking the law, and that's all that counts. Other people breaking the law as well doesn't make your indescretion any less important in the law's eyes.

I'd stay away from the whole "Why me?" and "Profiling" arguements. All it will do is make you look like a whiner. Stick to the facts and see what happens.

 

see the thing with this guy is , im very nervous when driving on the streets so im always checking my rear view mirror, at the red light when i was talking to my friend i looked behind me, a truck than a mini van and i couldnt see the rest. as i started to move the truck turned off and the van was staying back, we were driving for another 2 mintues and i check the rear view again. a car is flying to catch up to me so im thinking its one of my buddies and all of a sudden... lights. i thought he was gonna complain about muffler or check my car for nos (lol) but the guy comes up and tells me am i aware that i was going 81 in a 50. i told him i was looking at my speedo and i was going 65ish. and the famous words come out " You Calling Me A Liar'? at that point i just shut up and didnt bother to argue.

 

Actually, you are done....
You have admitted in speeding 15 over by saying 65. He would have written that down and would use it against you in court.
Best is just to bargin plea with the prosecutor.

If you are feeling brave, you can go and file for full disclosure and see what the COP has on you. There is no point guessing around without knowing what kind of evidence the prosecution has.

Once you get the full disclosure, you'll have an idea as to what to do.

 

having a few relatives on the OPP and metro force I can say that he is at very least going to get you on a minor speeding charge. Thier is some odd unspoken rule that a traffic cops can never been wrong. between the whole ' officers discretion' and the courts bias towards charging anyone that even could be suspected of being involved with 'street racing' your going to have an uphill battle. I would think if you take it to a para legal the issue of visual sight line on YOU while pacing and that I seem to remember that a paced ticket needs to be paced 3 times ( back off and speed up to match ) in visual sight.. may lead to your case being tossed.. however that suspended lic is going to kill you.. you screwed the pooch with that move. Also I remeber a paralegal asking me what his ' attitude' was towards me, ( my one ticket in 20 years i get a 30 over when passing on a 4 lane rd. ) .. said it had 'some 'bearing. I had an OPP from up north here over awhile back, Sr. sgt. he said it's not the performance cars and thier drivers they are worried about.. it's the blue hair crowd that is the BIG issue for them.. ( OPP)

 

ya i figured my previous record will come to haunt me. thanks for the advice tho, much appriciated.