'Nother car story

[ulysses5019]

Estonut says:

The scenario you describe would also have happened if the cop didn't show up for the hearing.

Decision was not changed because of cop "no show".

In my experience, & those of my acquaintances, cops always show up for traffic hearings. In some circumstances, the courts are allowed to put forth an "equivalent officer", meaning someone who was not on the scene but will represent what the officer on the scene said. This wouldn't hold in a criminal case, but it seems to in traffic court in some places.

Also in my experience & the experience of my acquaintances, the court in a traffic case is never going to say "the cop was wrong & you were right". So no one should go to such a hearing hoping to hear that. What they should hope for was "ticket rescinded" or "ticket made into a lesser offense" (which is of course what's important for insurance purposes) based on the driving record & in-court very respectful behavior of the person looking to get the ticket to go away.

I have twice gone to court for a traffic ticket and had the officer not show. Both times the ticket was dismissed. I don't think it happened in your undisclosed city.

[BigDrawMan]

if ghost didnt exist, man would need to invent one

-bill cowher

[sunflower]

I have no idea what color eyes my parents or the rest of the Beast sisters have because I honestly don't notice eye color in other people..... but my eyes used to be bright blue, but now they're just kinda murky colored.

The Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't recognize murky as a color though, so my DL still says blue. Of course it also says I still weigh 225 lbs., which is no longer true....

lb13

I'm so glad our weight is not on our licenses!

[sunflower]

Estonut says:

The scenario you describe would also have happened if the cop didn't show up for the hearing.

Decision was not changed because of cop "no show".

In my experience, & those of my acquaintances, cops always show up for traffic hearings. In some circumstances, the courts are allowed to put forth an "equivalent officer", meaning someone who was not on the scene but will represent what the officer on the scene said. This wouldn't hold in a criminal case, but it seems to in traffic court in some places.

Also in my experience & the experience of my acquaintances, the court in a traffic case is never going to say "the cop was wrong & you were right". So no one should go to such a hearing hoping to hear that. What they should hope for was "ticket rescinded" or "ticket made into a lesser offense" (which is of course what's important for insurance purposes) based on the driving record & in-court very respectful behavior of the person looking to get the ticket to go away.

I have twice gone to court for a traffic ticket and had the officer not show. Both times the ticket was dismissed. I don't think it happened in your undisclosed city.

I went to court for a traffic ticket once, it was about two years ago. They had us all herd in there in the morning. No cops, no judges...just prosecutors of some sort and the woman told me in no uncertain terms that if I did not accept her reduced ticket amount (but with speeding still as the offense), that she was going to prosecute me for reckless driving (I was not even at the right speed for that) and I honestly was so scared that I paid the stupid thing. But whether the cop was there or not was not even a factor. I don't know if that's how it is everywhere in CT or what.

[Estonut]

I have no idea what color eyes my parents or the rest of the Beast sisters have because I honestly don't notice eye color in other people..... but my eyes used to be bright blue, but now they're just kinda murky colored.

The Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't recognize murky as a color though, so my DL still says blue. Of course it also says I still weigh 225 lbs., which is no longer true....

lb13

I'm so glad our weight is not on our licenses!

Just put it down in kg, and you're a waif!

[ghostjmf]

ulysses5019 says:

I have twice gone to court for a traffic ticket and had the officer not show. Both times the ticket was dismissed. I don't think it happened in your undisclosed city.

I have twice in my life gone to court for traffic tickets & both times an officer was there representing the officer's side. One time it was one of those "surrogate arrresting officers" I referred to, once it was the real deal.

Once was in a city in Mass, once in another state I am not gonna disclose. The one in Mass got dismissed precisely with the wording I gave previously, the stuff about "you have a good driving record & we don't think you're a menace to society". There had been a "turn left only on green arrow" sign, obscured by shrubbery & distance, & when the arrow wasn't green it didn't light up at all, unlike at all other such Mass intersections, where it lights up red when they want you not to turn left. So the 3-on-the-pole light turned green, people in the left lane started to turn, I was 6th or 7th & if I had stopped I'd have been run over. The cop at the speed-trap position on the street we turned onto nabbed us all as we turned.

The officer running the hearing made it clear that they were not going to say the officer (who was represented by this other officer who hadn't even been there) could ever have done anything wrong. I acted completely obedient, thanked them & gratefully left.

I've had a parking ticket dismissed with the same kind of phrase.

The ticket in the undisclosed state was for not slowing down to 35 miles/hour from 60 miles/hour, given about 20 feet in which to do so. I was guilty, & agreed I was; I just wanted to see if this state had possibility of me attending driving school, as some states have, in order to not get the incident to show up on my record. The officer running the hearing said "oh, we don't report to your state anyway, unless you are a DUI". According to my state at the time, however, that was not strictly true.

[Jeemie]

I once got a ticket thrown out because they said I was going 55 in a 50 zone...but I had the photos to prove it was still a 55 zone.

Ticket was thrown out, AND the judge admitted the cop was wrong.

You just never get the honorable judges, though, I take it.

Yeah...THAT must be it.