this has been bugging me for a few weeks now, and I finally decided to get as many opinions about it as possible to help me deal with it.
be patient with me as I try and paint a solid picture for everyone.

about 3 weeks ago I was driving N on the highway (US-27) near my home. I was doing the spd limit and wasnt in any hurry, so I wasnt feeling pressured to speed at all. Im driving along in the left lane as there are 3 semi's in the right lane going about 40mph. ahead of me is a minor intersection (no light) from the left that occasionally see's heavy traffic, as the PO is on that road. the speed limit is 50mph at that point of the road, and turns quickly (within 200 feet) to 55mph beyond it. there is also a sheriff behind a car directly behind me (another reason for not speeding)
so Im traveling about 51mph when this guy pulls out from the left intersection, across the Southbound lane, around someone already in the center lane waiting for traffic to clear and right in front of me ! forcing me to slam on my brakes and also weave to slow my truck down as fast as possible.
after taking my RoW and the RoW of the person already in the center, he then proceeds to match the speed of the semi's in the right lane (40mph) even once we hit the 55mph zone he barely inched his speed up to 45mph. thankfully, the driver of the rig next to him slowed down some as he must have seen what was going on, allowing a slight gap now in the right lane for this jack-a-napes to go over and out of faster traffics way (which is also posted right before the spd zone raises from 50-55)
now, at this point of the road, there is a decent little downgrade of about 150-200 feet below average. its also fairly steep in the direction Im heading. so this jerkoff doesnt take the invitation to move over, so I do.
I floor my truck to get around this guy before he decides if he is going to floor his SuV to block me in. (he didnt, but not knowing his intentions I felt it better to be safe)
anyways, I floor my truck just long enough to get around the guy, then I let off the gas and allow my truck to slow back down to the speed limit of 55mph. maybe 2 or 3 seconds go by and the sheriff is on my **** and he turns his lights on.
so I pull over, get my things together for him, and wait for him to approach. when he gets to my door, I ask him why he is pulling me over ?
he tells me he clocked me going 76mph !
I then ask him why he didnt pull the other person over for taking 2 peoples RoW and causing a traffic situation by proceeding below the speed limit ?
he replies he saw nothing of the sort (how freakin blind can a cop be !? [I almost said that too])
anyways, he proceeds to give me a citation of almost $300.0...
I started to get pretty angry at this point, and almost told him off. I even asked him again why he is giving me a citation over the other person, who I know for a fact he saw some of it as he made a mistake at this point and told me the other guys make/model of car during his explanation.

I was truly livid, and was SSOOO close to blowing up, but past experiences have shown me that solves nothing when dealing with the police.
anyways, I was having a hard time deciding if I wanted to fight it since it truly is/was a BS situation in my perspective.

what finally deterred me from doing so was 2 things.

• 1st. that if I did choose to fight it and lost, the courts could charge me up to another $500.0 on top of the original citation and court costs of another $125.0 (all in all, it could have cost me $905.0....)
• 2nd. the law is blind and only see's in black and white, there is no "gray" area (unless your a life time criminal and know how to play the system...) and according to the the letter of the law, I did indeed exceed the posted spd limit, regardless of the reason.

now some will also argue in the same way, but what you have to understand is that my truck will absolutely NOT go from 45mph-76mph in that short of a distance (3.0L auto) without the downgrade in the road. and since Im born/raised in SFL where its completely flat, Im simply not used to how much of an effect that has on the acceleration of a vehicle. I am by no means a moron, I knew there was a cop behind me and I would never intentionally go 21mph over the speed limit right in front of one. I would go 10mph for a short distance to pass in that situation, and that is exactly how my truck would normally respond...

anyways, it might be a moot point by now as Ive paid the fine and already finished DD1, but still, I'd like to hear others opinions on the matter.

 

It's prolly best in that kind of situation to just pay the fine and be done with it. Most of the time fighting won't get you much, without definitive proof, you're fighting an uphill battle.

All in all, its a crappy situation, sorry it happened, but oh well

BTW that was a long a$$ post lol

 

just pay it.

 

yea, sorry for it being so long, I just wanted to make sure the situation was as clear as possible :)
I decided the same thing, its just an uphill, losing battle :(

the only thing I know about fighting a traffic citation is that if the cop cannot show up, then most of the time its thrown out, but that is 1 heck of a gamble to play and possibly end up more than tripling my fines....

 

exactly

 

If he said you're going 76 then he used a radar detector on ya? Cause that would be official but....


Why the hell would you drive erratically or fast near a cop? **** i go slow as hell just so they wont bug me.

 

I wasnt driving erratically, I was passing a much slower vehicle.
one that was going 10mph under the speed limit, in the left lane, immediately after passing a sign saying "slower traffic keep right" that is posted on both side of the roadway.

he was the one driving erratically with his move to pull out into traffic.
and yes, he was using a speed gun.

 

so why wouldnt you honk or flash your high beams at the *** in front of you? kinda makes sense

 

well dude you went 76 and got burned for it. You went 76 in front of a cop. Even if the situation sucks because some other guy didn't get in trouble. It's not the other drivers fault you got a ticket, hes just lucky his stupid behavior didn't get him pulled over.

 

considering what was going on, I figured that would just exacerbate the situation to the point the guy would slow to match the semi so I had no chance of passing. granted, that also might have attracted the attention of the cop (maybe, if he could get his head out of his ***).
but I just wanted to get away from the guy, and slowing down as someone else mentioned in another forum Im part of, would have then meant "I" was the one breaking the law by going too slow in the left lane.

what upsets me is that I had no intention of going 76mph, my truck will not accelerate that quickly (on level surface) the only reason it did was due to the downslope of the roadway. in about 1/16the of a mile it drops about 150-200 feet into a shallow valley, the upslope on the opposite is much more gradual, it takes a little over 1/8th of a mile to get back level.
I even explained all that to the cop, he didnt seem to care 1 way or the other that it truly was a simple mistake.

 

You are not responsible for the actions of others, only yourself. In this situation you were the one who sped to get ahead of someone else. Regardless of the reason, you were in the wrong and got caught. Not much you can do.

"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing." – Thales

 

Now that you mention it, I went to Canton Texas last Friday, on Sat I decided to drive to Durant OK to go to casino, I did not want to drive interstate so I took alternate route through a 'Mayberry' speed limit was 70 dropped down to 40 through town, of which I did, driving out of the town speed limit goes from 40 back to 70, I see the 70 mph sign I start sppeding up, Barney pulled me over for doing 55 in a 40 zone, I pointed to the 70 mph sign about 100 yds behind me. He informed me that I had speeded up to 55 before I got to the 70 zone. Talking about picking "fly poop out of pepper". That was $154 technicality.