first time violation, no traffic school???

[lttlppr]

What is the name of your state? CA
About a month ago, I was heading towards San Francisco from Sacramento on I-80. I just drove through Vacaville and was entering Fairfield where speed limit was 65mph. While I was driving on the 1st lane going 70 give or take 3 miles, I saw a CHP vehicle ahead of me. I immediately slowed down to 60 mph and kept a safe distance from behind. In few minutes, CHP slowed down drastically and then changed the lane (to 2nd lane). At that point, I felt uneasy that he changed lane, so I slowed down further, going 55mph. However, even at 55mph I was going faster than CHP. Before passing him, when I matched CHP's speed, my speedometer read 50mph.
Anyway, as soon as I was ahead of him, he changed back to the 1st lane and within seconds pulled me over. He came around and asked me if I knew how fast I was going and I told him 65? 70?. He then replied "Then how come my radar said that you were going 85mph as you were coming behind me?" I didn't say anything further because I was afraid that I'll be held in contempt for arguing with an officer.
Truth is, I never went 85 and normally don't go past 75mph since I am paranoid about fuel efficiency and gas price.

My question is, is it possible for CHP to get a correct radar reading of a vehicle coming from behind while moving? My friend thinks that while in motion, CHP has to either pace me for some distance before pulling me over, or I would have to pass CHP with speed exceeding the speed limit. If CHPs can read speeds on vehicles coming from behind, is there any chance he got an inaccurate reading due to radar's calibration error?

I just got a notification from the court, and it says that I was 16+ of the speed limit and I am not eligible for a traffic school. I got my license in Jan 2003 and this is my first moving violation and I know many people who have history of several moving violations like mine and they were always granted the traffic school. Do you have any idea as to why I am not eligible?

What should I do?

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by lttlppr

My question is, is it possible for CHP to get a correct radar reading of a vehicle coming from behind while moving?

Yes. They use a Stalker dual band radar that operates in mobile and in staionary mode and can be targeted to the front or the rear.

My friend thinks that while in motion, CHP has to either pace me for some distance before pulling me over, or I would have to pass CHP with speed exceeding the speed limit.

Your friend is wrong.

Also, trained radar operators learn to conduct visual estimations. These estimations are confirmed by radar or lidar.

If CHPs can read speeds on vehicles coming from behind, is there any chance he got an inaccurate reading due to radar's calibration error?

There is ALWAYS a chance (slim and remote) that the calibration was off or that the officer did not have the radar set properly. However, since he alkso made a visual estimation of the speed, this will be harder to defeat. Though it might put the speed at +/- 5 MPH.

I just got a notification from the court, and it says that I was 16+ of the speed limit and I am not eligible for a traffic school.

That's odd ... it has always been that you were eligible unless the speed exceeded 25 MPH over the posted limit (unless there were prior traffic schools in the last 18 months). There are also certain offenses for which you cannot take traffic school. Specifically what offense or offenses were you charged with? (Please provide section numbers)


- Carl

[CdwJava]

Also, if you were driving a commercial vehicle - or have a commercial driver's license, the same rules would not apply as they would to the average driver.

- Carl

[lttlppr]

Thank you for your reply..
The court notice says: "You were cited for the following violations"
VC22349A Speeding 16+
COTRFADM FEE Traffic administrative fee
PC1465.8A Court Security Fee

Citation No./Agency: 8066VL CHP
Total Bail: $200
Eligible for Traffic school: No

I know I'm asking you a redundant question, but in my situation, what do you think the chances are that the officer will show up in court?
Oh, and I wasn't driving a commercial vehicle and never had any violations before (other than some parking tickets)

[CdwJava]

You were cited for driving 16+ miles over the maximum speed of 65 miles per hour.

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be eligible for traffic school. This might be in error, so you might want to give the court a call or consult an attorney. There also may be something on your record that you are not aware of. You might want to check with the DMV and obtain a copy of your driving record.

Unless there was a new law that went into effect this year regarding eligibility for traffic school, you SHOULD be eligible from what you wrote here.

- Carl

[lttlppr]

thank you!