Do I have a chance in this?

[Sora1421]

What is the name of your state? PA

About a month back I got a ticket for "Driving Vehicle at Safe Speed" on one of the back roads near my house. What happened was I was turning off the highway onto my road and it was around 9 and I wasn't going that fast at all on the highway as I was looking for my turn. I didn't see fast enough and i turned onto my road a little faster than usual but I was still on my side of the road and everything. I didn't notice that a cop also pulled in behind me going to a call he was on. I followed my road for about a mile and just continued to speed up. I slowed down a little and went around this one turn I admit faster than I would take it normally. As I was going around the turn there was another car going around it as well and i noticed his lights so i was careful. I was still taking the turn a little fast but I was on my side of the road, never went off the road, and never skid. The conditions were clear with no rain or anything. Once i got around that turn the cop pulled me over and said he thought i was trying to get away from him. he said he "was 95% sure he was going to get into a car chase" He said that I was going to fast for my level of experience as I have had my license a month or so and quote if I "had been driving for 50 years and were a race car driver" he could see where it wouldn't be bad. Isn't this a form of profiling in it's own? There is no posted speed limit sign from the turn off the highway to where he pulled me over. There is one for 45 MPH a little past where he got me but none before that. So I was not "exceeding the speed limit" in that area without the posted sign.

I admit that it was a little fast but there were no speed limit signs or anything to tell me i couldn't do around 55 or so on the road. Also I did not go off the road or skid or jerk at any time, I made the turn smooth even if it was a little fast.

My ticket reads exactly "OP TURNKD ONTO "X" RD AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED THEN CONT. TO SPEED UP AS I FOLLOWED" He doesn't even know there is no "K" in turned...

I'm pretty sure that there is no law for "speeding up" especially if there is no posted speed limit. Sure I accelerated fast but I like to feel the engine of my car sometimes, there is no law about accelerating fast on a back road like that as long as i don't go over the rated speed, which there was no actual posted. I can prove that becuase there still isn't.

I think the main reason I have a chance is that the violation written isn't a very good one. I know that you have to be guilty of exactly what it says and I admit I am guilty for turning in fast becuase i didn't see the road, but i did stay on my side. I also admit that I am guilty of speeding up after a turn...however i was pretty sure that those are not illegal to do as long as i'm not exceeding the speed and i'm not on anyone else's side of the road when i turned like that.

Do you guys think I have a case? becuase I think I have a very good chance, especially with the poor writing he did on the "violation"

Thank you for reading and any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[VeronicaLodge]

there are laws about what the speed limit is on certain types of road where no speed limit sign is posted. being that you only got your license a month ago, surely you remember this from your test, right?

[loulblades]

Originally Posted by VeronicaLodge

there are laws about what the speed limit is on certain types of road where no speed limit sign is posted. being that you only got your license a month ago, surely you remember this from your test, right?

In this case the speed limit is not relevant because that is not what the ticket is for.

This is one of those "subjective" tickets like too fast for conditions (which I received a number of years ago and was able to get dismissed but I digress). You didn't mention the actual code but if it is a 3361 (Too fast for conditions) that's worth 2 points.

If you want to fight it you need to be prepared to ask the officer questions on the stand that will have answers that don't support the charge (IE: did tires squeal when when making turn ..don't ask that question if they did) and hope the PO answers in a truthful fashion.

Good luck.

BTW: IMHO it is highly unlikely the poor writing will help your case.

[FlyingRon]

Lou's right 75PA3361 I assume (the charge is actually titled what it appears in the subject line which seems backwards to me).

[Sora1421]

Yes it says it is section 3361. I did not squeal my tires in the least and or go off the road. I stayed in between the lines the whole time i was driving. Isn't it sort of profiling that he bases how long I have been driving on how good of a driver I am? He even told me that he could let me slide i had been driving for years. I mean some people i know who have been driving for a while i have seen aren't the best either...I think it's just wrong that I was not breaking a law really that was written, it's just HIS decision and HE thinks I am not experienced enough.

I wish the cop would just not show up....but what are the chances of that hah.

[The Occultist]

An officer can choose to not cite, but if he believes you have broken the law, regardless of whether or not he would have turned the other cheek for a "more experienced driver", he can cite you and the courts would not consider this profiling. This is NOT the line of arguments you will wish to pursue in court; assuming you will choose to fight this, you will ONLY be able to effectually argue the facts of the case, that is, whether or not you were breaking the law you were cited for.

[ajkroy]

Profiling? Come on. Do you think cops are getting so good that now they can actually tell how long a driver has been driving just by looking at the vehicle?

For you to have been "profiled" it means that the officer had to have known you were in a high-risk group prior to the stop. Is that what you really think happened? Or could it be that he decided to make the stop because he saw a risky/illegal driving maneuver instead?

[loulblades]

Not sure I would go with the profiling angle. You mentioned you got this ticket about a month ago, I hope you sent in the portion of the ticket with the fine and court fee to plead not guilty. If you haven't done that yet then have other issues to deal with than the ticket itself.

I am guessing you are under 18 (if you mentioned in post, sorry I missed it but you did say about length of having a license) and if you plead or are found guilty you will most likely lose your license. You only have $6 to lose if you fight.