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Date:         Fri, 13 Dec 2002 11:22:11 -0600
Reply-To:     Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Friday - Photo ticket at stop lights
Comments: To: itaylor@ATTBI.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I don't have any problem with standing up for your rights or even hiring an attorney if necessary. I've been to traffic court probably ten times in my life and the Dallas courts have their own tactics. If you show up to contest the ticket (even when they are advised of it) the officer has to be there and if he isn't they reset the court date and you get to do it again. I had one citation that earned me four trips to traffic court before they dismissed it (if they can't get the fine they'll get it from the county parking garage at $5.00 a trip.) This can go on indefinitely and even with the dismissal you are subject to having the case heard again within 12 months. I don't have any experience fighting a video camera so I can't speak on technique required. I got removed from the Vanagon list and moderated for 30 days when I reported a minor Grocery store bump in my Westy. The other participant in the minor no damage bump pressed the issue and my insurance went up $275.00 this year. That is a fair amount from the $300.00 it cost me last year. Any action or lack of action has to be an individual thing. I learned the Deny, Deny, Deny method first from Richard Nixon and again from Bill Clinton and ultimately it got them nowhere. Is there a lesson in that ? I have some experience from working closely with Attorneys, Judges and Prosecutors and it is a fact that every court has a budget and often its the budget that screws you. If you have to go to court get the earliest court setting in the morning that you can ............... before budget is the issue and not your innocence. I've also had Judges say "Just pay the ticket, we're a small county and we need the money". (after 3PM ) In a direct reversal I've had a Judge dismiss a $375.00 no insurance ticket and let me just pay a no inspection sticker fine of $25.00 ( 8AM on a Monday) Careful moving those old VW vans around ....... the cops aren't concerned about your transportation cost, they want the next cost of living salary increase. They can make a $200.00 tow job sound like a bargain if they have a mind to.

Stan Wilder 83 Air Cooled Westfalia

On Fri, 13 Dec 2002 11:29:32 -0500 Isaac Taylor <itaylor@ATTBI.COM> writes: > Hey Sean, I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in > Massachusetts the axiom is Deny Unto The Death. Every time I've > been > pulled over -- every time -- the cops themselves tell me "you > should > contest the ticket in court, and it'll probably be dismissed". And > they are right: every time I've contested a ticket (which is most > of > the time) they are dismissed, rubber-stamp style. The traffic > courts > here are so swamped that basically anyone who bothers to show up in > court has their case perfunctorily dismissed, not because they're > (we're) in the right, mind you; but because the magistrates and > judges don't have the time to so much as listen to you explain how > the light was yellow, and it was raining, and your kid just dropped > his pacifier, etc. Rubber stamp, and off you go. Deny, unto the > death. > > Massachusetts writes a lot of tickets too, and our insurance rates > are among the highest in the country. So you really do have to keep > your safe driver rating as high (or low, or whatever) as possible > or > it can multiply your premiums by a shocking degree. So depending > on > where you live, and which way the winds blow there, I recommend you > don't automatically pay the ticket, but rather risk the court > appearance. It could save you cash in hand, and wasted time in > traffic school, and future insurance hikes. I think it's worth > risking the potential increase in penalty, to have a chance to > avoid > all that BS, don't you? > > -Isaac in Cambridge > >

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