Speeding in NJ (Wrong statue number???)

[pauldrexel]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NJ

I've got a speeding ticket in NJ on 1/1/06. The officer claimed I was going 75mph in 50 mph zone. I was going 61mph at most.

I'm trying to figure out how to beat this in court.
There are two things that I was wondering about:
1. The cop car was facing away from me. How can he use any kind of radar that way? Can I use this argument in court?

2. The ticket indicates that the I was going 75 in 50mph zone. However, the statue says 39:4-98 which is exceeding maximum speed 1-14 mph over limit.
It should have been status 39:4-99 exceeding maximum speeds 15-29 mph over 4...
(since this is incorrect status, can I use this as a defense?)

Thank you so much for any help,
Paul

[justalayman]

Two things here

1.there is such thing as rear facing radar as well as "portable" guns that can be aimed at will.

2. by charging you with a lesser offense the policeman was doing you a favor. If you want to plead guilty to the greater offense I'm sure the court would be glad to accept your money. As well you actually admit guilt to the lessor offense. Isn't it funny how these things work out.

[pauldrexel]

NJ.
a friend of mine said that if I go to the court I can negotiate with a prosecutor for a fine but not driving record points.
Did anyone ever do that?
I wonder how to approach the prosecutor with such proposal???

[VINCENTHN]

-
I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM ON THE SAME DAY.

I also heard you can go to court and ask to pay $400 instead of $220 (15-30 miles over the speed limit: 4 points), and have no points on your record. This means they are more interested in your money than giving you points. This only works if you are a New Jersey resident. If you are out-of-state, I heard they will still report the points to your DMV as "unsafe driving" , which will cost at least 4 points in Virginia where I am from.

It says 4-98 because there is no 4-99 on the ticket, but it does let the officer check "IN EXCESS OF SPEED LIMIT BY:" then give him/her several options. In other words, I don't think it's wrong for him to check 4-98.

If you are a NJ resident, you can contact the court yourself, ask to pay a higher fine, around $400, and have no points. You need to call and set up a court date with them.

If you are from out of state, you could have a local lawyer go to court for you and reduce the points to 2 or 0 ; he will charge around $300, and later you still have to pay the fines, between $200 and $300. This way it will not reflect too badly on your home state record, or not at all, and will not increase your insurance premium. Check with your home state DMV to see if they will record points from NJ.

PLS correct me if I am wrong.

[sukharev]

Originally Posted by VINCENTHN

-
I also heard you can go to court and ask to pay $400 instead of $220 (15-30 miles over the speed limit: 4 points), and have no points on your record. This means they are more interested in your money than giving you points. This only works if you are a New Jersey resident. If you are out-of-state, I heard they will still report the points to your DMV as "unsafe driving" , which will cost at least 4 points in Virginia where I am from.

It says 4-98 because there is no 4-99 on the ticket, but it does let the officer check "IN EXCESS OF SPEED LIMIT BY:" then give him/her several options. In other words, I don't think it's wrong for him to check 4-98.

If you are a NJ resident, you can contact the court yourself, ask to pay a higher fine, around $400, and have no points. You need to call and set up a court date with them.

If you are from out of state, you could have a local lawyer go to court for you and reduce the points to 2 or 0 ; he will charge around $300, and later you still have to pay the fines, between $200 and $300. This way it will not reflect too badly on your home state record, or not at all, and will not increase your insurance premium. Check with your home state DMV to see if they will record points from NJ.

PLS correct me if I am wrong.

Boy, what a bunch of urban legends

1) You would negotiate with DA before trial, that's when you may get a break for tickets under 20 mph over limit. Once you exceed 20, you are only likely to get a reduction in speed and points, but not a zero point deal.

2) A good lawyer would cost you upwards of $500, and using him is a last resort.

3) You cannot contact court yourself and just pay higher fine. This can only be decided in plea bargain agreement before trial (see #1)

If a statute is checked on the ticket, it's what you had to be charged with. However, the court is not going to listen to objections to a small error, and just correct the statute if needed. You have to use regular techniques to fight the ticket. OP has found one: radar facing the rear of the car is more likely to produce "ghost" readings, sweep error, cosine error, etc. However, this has to be argued well and coupled with the rest of the tool chest (like calibration, training, etc.)

[VINCENTHN]

Originally Posted by sukharev

1) You would negotiate with DA before trial, that's when you may get a break for tickets under 20 mph over limit. Once you exceed 20, you are only likely to get a reduction in speed and points, but not a zero point deal.

2) A good lawyer would cost you upwards of $500, and using him is a last resort.

3) You cannot contact court yourself and just pay higher fine. This can only be decided in plea bargain agreement before trial (see #1)

1) You would negotiate with DA before trial, that's when you may get a break for tickets under 20 mph over limit. Once you exceed 20, you are only likely to get a reduction in speed and points, but not a zero point deal.

The "zero point deal" was checked with the local NJ Court ; and confirmed by a lawyer (yes, I did talk to one, actually, a few, just to be sure.)

2) A good lawyer would cost you upwards of $500, and using him is a last resort.

Most lawyer I contacted (actually, they contacted me, about 20 of them - Not an exaggeration) would charge around $300 , some willing to go lower to "beat the competition".

After checking with the home DMV, it turned out I had a very good record with the home state, so a 'demerit' 4 point will not hurt.

Also, some websites will charge $99 to "bust your ticket" . They also offer a "money back guarantee" :

[url]http://www.ticketbust.com/index.htm[/url]

3) You cannot contact court yourself and just pay higher fine. This can only be decided in plea bargain agreement before trial (see #1)

No disagreement here . By contacting the court, I meant the DA before trial. Sorry I did not make myself clear.

I do not mean to argue; just trying to pass on some info that might be of help. PLS correct the lawyers if I am wrong.

-

[speed899]

I would just go to court and fight the ticket because you will not get the points but you will get the higher fines. NJ is real piece of work and I have had several tickets there so I know the fun stuff of the court systems there and I never used an attorney. NJ only wants your money and the points rarely will stay if you go to court since the cops never show up (except the shore cops).