What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?CA
Oct 15: I am driving on a flat stretch of highway in Kern's County (46-W). It's an undivided highway with one lane in each direction and a 55 posted speed limit. One truck and a trailer up ahead is going "slow" (around 50 as far as I can recall/estimate). So I wait for the broken lines to appear, then speed up past the trailer, realize that the gap between truck and trailer is too little to get into... so I decided that the safe thing to do would be to speed up past the truck in one shot... since the truck is big and I don't wanna be smashed by oncoming traffic (of which there were none but I didnt wanna linger too long in the opposite lane), I press the accelerator and go past it... I guess the inertia stayed and for about 5-10 seconds I might have been doing around 90ish. After that, I slowed down and was doing what I believe is around 80-85.
Cop comes up... writes me a ticket for 94 in a 55 zone. I did not admit guilt or anything... just took the ticket and left it at that...
Oct 18: I am going in the carpool lane on the S-405 behind two other cars which are again going "slow" (cant estimate how slow... basically slower than flow of traffic in the non carpool lanes with no other cars ahead of them)... so I waited for the broken lines, sped past them and got back into the carpool lane ahead of them...
Two minutes later I get ticketed for doing 75 in a 65 zone... which, the officer explained, was my speed when I was passing them...
The question: In the first case, I know I was doing much more than I should have in the 55 zone... but ticketing me @ 94 was probably very harsh... this was my first ticket ever so I didn't realize I should have asked for his radar reading (he specified radar in the ticket)... In the second case, its completely bogus in my opinion... I have been driving on that stretch everyday for more than a year and a half and "normal flow of traffic" is always around 75 during that time...
So the question is how do I go about handling these two... I did some research and based on that I am thnking I should probably try to get over the second ticket with a driving school plea and not have it screw up my insurance any more... with the first ticket, I guess I dont have a driving school plea option since I was doing more than 20 above the speed limit... I know I dont have much of a case there but whats the best approach? Things are complicated now with the second citation and I am guessing the judge will factor it in when making a decision about the first. In any case, simply paying the fine and not doing anything about it seems not like the smartest option... Should I just go ahead and represent myself or is a lawyer more appropriate in this case... and also: is 94/55 reckless driving in CA? Apart from the fine, which I am guessing will not be less than $500, how bad can it really affect me? Would my licence be likely revoked?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated... and thanks in advance!
Oct 15: I am driving on a flat stretch of highway in Kern's County (46-W). It's an undivided highway with one lane in each direction and a 55 posted speed limit. One truck and a trailer up ahead is going "slow" (around 50 as far as I can recall/estimate). So I wait for the broken lines to appear, then speed up past the trailer, realize that the gap between truck and trailer is too little to get into... so I decided that the safe thing to do would be to speed up past the truck in one shot... since the truck is big and I don't wanna be smashed by oncoming traffic (of which there were none but I didnt wanna linger too long in the opposite lane), I press the accelerator and go past it... I guess the inertia stayed and for about 5-10 seconds I might have been doing around 90ish. After that, I slowed down and was doing what I believe is around 80-85.
Cop comes up... writes me a ticket for 94 in a 55 zone. I did not admit guilt or anything... just took the ticket and left it at that...
Oct 18: I am going in the carpool lane on the S-405 behind two other cars which are again going "slow" (cant estimate how slow... basically slower than flow of traffic in the non carpool lanes with no other cars ahead of them)... so I waited for the broken lines, sped past them and got back into the carpool lane ahead of them...
Two minutes later I get ticketed for doing 75 in a 65 zone... which, the officer explained, was my speed when I was passing them...
The question: In the first case, I know I was doing much more than I should have in the 55 zone... but ticketing me @ 94 was probably very harsh... this was my first ticket ever so I didn't realize I should have asked for his radar reading (he specified radar in the ticket)... In the second case, its completely bogus in my opinion... I have been driving on that stretch everyday for more than a year and a half and "normal flow of traffic" is always around 75 during that time...
So the question is how do I go about handling these two... I did some research and based on that I am thnking I should probably try to get over the second ticket with a driving school plea and not have it screw up my insurance any more... with the first ticket, I guess I dont have a driving school plea option since I was doing more than 20 above the speed limit... I know I dont have much of a case there but whats the best approach? Things are complicated now with the second citation and I am guessing the judge will factor it in when making a decision about the first. In any case, simply paying the fine and not doing anything about it seems not like the smartest option... Should I just go ahead and represent myself or is a lawyer more appropriate in this case... and also: is 94/55 reckless driving in CA? Apart from the fine, which I am guessing will not be less than $500, how bad can it really affect me? Would my licence be likely revoked?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated... and thanks in advance!