Okay... so would it be considered entrapment

[DarkTirade]

if the cops follow you so closely and shine their all-too-bright headlights in your mirrors enough to make you uncomfortable and half blind, so you speed up to get around some traffic to change lanes and then they bust you for speeding?

... because that just happened to me. I'm turning 27 next week, and I finally got my first speeding ticket.

Their excuse for following me so closely on the highway? I had a headlight out. Which, apparently, this district only gives you 24 hours to get fixed and verified. Which is a bit of a problem, since I'm going to be gone tomorrow until at least 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon. :banghead:

[Danger Mouse]

1. I got pulled over for a tailight on a Sunday one time.

It was a huge headache putting it in by the deadline. It was nuts.

[DarkTirade]

3. Yeah, that's another thing.

If your car is such that you need tools to get to the headlight, which mine is, you either have to have the tools and knowhow to do it, or you're screwed.

Thankfully my grandma only works until noonish tomorrow, so we're gonna switch cars tomorrow and she'll deal with the headlight, then when I get home I'll drive it up to wherever I need to go to drop off the little slip that verifies that my light is fixed.

I understand wanting it done ASAP for safety reasons... but goddamn, people. 24 hours is not enough time.

[flvegan]

2. Not entrapment, no, because you'd have to prove intent.

At which point, the cop would apologize for maybe following too close (which they would NEVER do) but they were on their computer running your tag, etc.

I would go to court and plead the case. The judge might sympathize.

[DarkTirade]

4. I'm tempted to try the court thing

but I don't know the courts in this area, don't know how well that sort of thing would fly. Technically I was probably speeding when they first pulled up behind me... but that's because the flow of traffic was going about 65-70, and it would have been unsafe to drive any slower than 65 right then. And I was most certainly not driving in any kind of unsafe manner.

My other problem is time. I have no time to take it to court. The only free time I have these days EVER is at night. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have class, Monday, Wednesday and Friday I take my grandpa to dialysis. And it would cost just about as much to hire a taxi to get him to dialysis as it would to pay the ticket. And missing class would negatively impact me as well, albiet not directly financially.

[petronius]

5. Not in a legal sense, but the cop knew what he was doing

I had a friend get a ticket for speeding once when he was passing at a legal speed in the left of two traffice lanes. A cop came flying up behind him, so he sped up to finish his pass - Bam! ticket time. Sounds like the exact same situation...

Explain clearly to the judge, or see if you can just do the (painfully expensive but no points on the record) traffic school. If you go to court, you night ask why they needed to get so close behind you to inspect your headlight - that sounds difficult to me...

[DarkTirade]

6. I need to find out what the courts in this area are like too.

I moved here almost exactly a year ago, but this is the first time I've had to deal with any kind of legal anything.

[Pavulon]

7. Take it from a pro

never go to court on traffic. Get a lawyer and ask them how much it cost to make it go away.

[DarkTirade]

8. Hell, I can't even weigh the cost of a ticket against the cost of a lawyer right now...

they didn't put the cost of the ticket on the ticket itself. Or if they did, I haven't found it yet. Bleh. I think I like the way they did it in FL better. You get all the info on the ticket, and you get a reasonable amount of time to try and respond.

[Pavulon]

11. If it was just speeding

to make it go away costs between 400 - 600. If you get pegged of more than 8 over your insurance will go up.

[DarkTirade]

12. The flow of traffic at the time was ten to fifteen over already.

And I sped up to get around a truck so I could change lanes. So yeah, it was a bit over.

[hippywife]

9. Whenever there is a cop behind me...

I always go 5-8 miles under the speed limit so they get tired of following me and go around. It usually works.

[DarkTirade]

10. Unfortunately A) it was dark, so I didn't know it was a cop

and B) his headlights were uncomfortably bright to the point where it was interfering with my vision and he was following me close enough that I was worried about a possible collision if I slowed down. :banghead: