Anybody get more tickets because they drive these trucks??

[LilD]

The only car I got tickets in was my lowered, dressed up S10. Was my fault for speeding but have driven as fast in my others and not gotten tickets but none were or are painted up as nice as the S10. Now I will find wood to knock on.

[ubtripn]

The funniest part of it all was I told my wife that I didn't think I could get a ticket in my truck if I wanted to when I started using it as a daily driver. Acceleration is poor and I cannot break 65 without standing on it for 3 miles. Boy was I wrong.

I also accelerate very mildly to save gas. Oh well.

[big_al_71]

I have never being stopped on my truck I have gotten some thums up from cops. My truck is also loud but never an issue at least not yet..

[68gmsee]

ubtripn, I just passed thru there a few weeks ago. Man what a mess compared to 35 years ago when I lived there for a few years.

Friend of mine was on a motorcycle when 3 or 4 trucks passed him in a small town. He speeded up to keep up with them and a cop stopped him. When he asked the cop why he didn't stop the other trucks he said "can't stop everyone that speeds, they'll get their turn."

In your case, regardless if the other vehicles were going faster than you, they still see it as you were going 40 in a 30 so you will lose. I was told that about 98% of defendants lose in traffic ticket cases. Not sure if that's true.

[ubtripn]

Yeah, Boise was the best kept secret around for a long time. Good fishing, good hunting, good town. Now, well it's kind of like a little LA but with no more room to grow. Sad.

I will probably just pay and move forward. (At a snails pace.) =)

[piecesparts]

Originally Posted by ubtripn

First - I am not saying that I was not breaking the law. I was and I will pay. How much I pay is yet to be decided.

Second - I thank God for all of the men and women that do the job that keeps us safe. (I actually made a Cop give me a ticket 15 years ago because my young son was with me. He wanted to do a warning but I wanted my son to see that if you break the law, there are consequences.)

What I am saying is that I should have the right to dispute a charge without risking a larger fine. That being said, in this case speed limit was set to 30, I was doing 40, I was wrong. I accept that. I just don't like the uneven application of the law hence what I witnessed this morning but C10boob cleared that up for me.

The main point of my post was do you get pulled over more being in, what can appear to be, a faster ride?

As I said, I drove a white Subaru Outback for many years without incident. But in my truck, 2 times, I was going the same speed as the others or the speed of traffic but was chosen for the honor of a ticket. I was just wondering if anybody else experiences this. A potential uneven application of the traffic laws.

Another point that bothers me is the 30 miles an hour when it used to be higher. There is no reason for 30 in the area I was in. No residential, 4 lanes. They have been lowering the speed limits even further around town. It seems like a revenue move to me. Like the town that had red light cameras and was making lots of revenue so they shortened up the red light duration even more and raised revenue. This is a whole other thing though.

Once again if you do not want more of a fine or an increase to a level that the court wants to charge, then use legal representation. At least show up ready to do battle legally.

[ubtripn]

Great advice, thank you.

[Dieselwrencher]

I wouldn't repaint my truck just because of 3 tickets. It might be something else. Just saying.

['68OrangeSunshine]

In Arizona, the officer has to show up at court to represent the State. If he's a no show, the prosecutor will try to get the judge to ask you for a continuance. Don't give in. If the State cannot furnish its witness, the judge has to "dismiss without prejudice". In theory you could be prosecuted again on the same charge, but they never bother. if they dismiss w/o prejudice, you walk. I've beaten a couple of tix that way.
I recently got snapped by a photo radar van. The fine was $240. They cited me at 59.5 MPH or 11-15 MPH over limit.
It was a dark and stormy night. There was a monsoon storm ripping its way north from the border. I was having dinner with a old school buddy at his parents' place in Green Valley. I expected my GPS to get me back to the freeway [I-19] so I could head home to Oro Valley [about 60 miles]. The little b!tch voice said <<turn right now>> I did, and got stuck on Old Nogales Highway. Due to the geography of the Santa Cruz River -- there were no left turns connecting to I-19 to the West in that stretch. The posted limit was 45 MPH, but I didn't notice the signs. I thought I was doing about 50 [which used to be the old limit]. A large flash of ball lightning popped over my right shoulder, preceeded by a sharp BOOM. I sped up to get out of that microburst cell and 2 more ball lightning flashes popped off. [Or so I thought]. I did see a photo radar van in traffic a little later, before I got to South Tucson and turned west to find the freeway and make up for lost time.
About a week or ten days later I got a ticket in the mail, with sharp, clear images of my truck front and back, with close-ups of me driving and my license plate, from Green Valley Justice Court. All my friends said 'don't pay any attention to photo radar tickets, they're just BS'. So I didn't. About a month later some process server comes to my door and I got served.
I tried to call some traffic lawyers in town, but never got a call back. I guess they won't touch this type of case. I was able to opt out for defensive driver school which cost me $224 and no points on my record. So I saved $16 and wasted a fine Saturday morning I could have slept thru.
I thought of trying the "Dismiss W/O Prejudice" trick, but with all the color photography they had on file [they even listed my full VIN number!] as prima facia evidence, I most likely had no chance, and would have had to pay court, and process costs.
Lesson learned -- drive with a rubber gorilla mask on at all times.
BTW I drive a bright Omaha Orange C/10.

[ubtripn]

That is definitely food for thought. I have heard that before but knowing my luck he would be there =)

[ubtripn]

I need a "Support Your Local Law Enforcement" bumper sticker, some white paint and then I should tape an egg to the gas pedal. (Not that it can go fast anyway.)

[PanelDeland]

The one that gets me around here are the people who don't think.Several of the school zones in my part of town are in 40 MPH zones.Before school started they had the light signs out with "School Zone,Speeding fine $468".That's kind of their way of letting you know that the area will be a school zone when the flashing yellows are on.What gets me is that on most of those streets,people tend to drive 45-55 mph.even thru the school zones when the lights aren't flashing.If they get technical about it,these are still school zones though not active at the time.They could be fined the $468 for driving thru them at that speed.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by ubtripn

That is definitely food for thought. I have heard that before but knowing my luck he would be there =)

It backfired on me once. About '98 or '99. I had been driving a buddy's Dad's Dodge pick up. He said he was too loaded to drive. It had been modified with a performance chip and had "Breakin' Rules" graffics on the tailgate, instead of DODGE. I admit, I was zooming. The radar buster had bleated its butt off, but it was already too late.
I showed up in court at Oracle AZ, wearing a nice tan suit, blue shirt and tie, and my highly polished black 'highway patrol' boots. The court bailiff, A DPS [AZ HP] sergeant, sees me waiting for trial and asks if I'm there for my case. [He spies my shiny black boots.] I say 'yes'. Next thing, he's going into the dispatch room and I hear him on the radio telling Patrolman Poncherelli to get his a$$ over to court code 2!
So I had to eat it that time.

[ubtripn]

Ahhh see, show up but lay low.

['68OrangeSunshine]

UBTRIPN: Can you take the traffic school option?

[ubtripn]

My last interaction with a judge didn't go so well. It was for Jury duty, I recommended the idea utilizing those unfortunate enough to be unemployed to serve on jury duty and he dressed me down. When the screening came up I said to one of the questions, "Well they wouldn't be here if they weren't guilty right?" He DID NOT find it funny and threatened me with contempt but he did excuse me.

I can do the traffic school to pull 2 points but I don't know for how much. Surly less than the insurance bump I bet.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by ubtripn

My last interaction with a judge didn't go so well. It was for Jury duty, I recommended the idea utilizing those unfortunate enough to be unemployed to serve on jury duty and he dressed me down. When the screening came up I said to one of the questions, "Well they wouldn't be here if they weren't guilty right?" He DID NOT find it funny and threatened me with contempt but he did excuse me.

I can do the traffic school to pull 2 points but I don't know for how much. Surly less than the insurance bump I bet.

You're lucky you can't be a juror on your own trial.

[ubtripn]

Lol - yeah. I didn't mean it, I just knew it would dis-qualify me which sounds bad but I served 3 years in a row when others "who didn't vote and get on the list" did not serve once.

['68OrangeSunshine]

It turned out it was $16 cheaper for me. My insurance guy is in Green Valley. He knew that trap. He said forget about it-- it doesn't matter.

[ubtripn]

I need that kind of luck =)

[dohyde34]

Originally Posted by ubtripn

Thanks, I just don't want to become a magnet. In Boise all the speed limits are lower than a normal city plus we have twice the number of officers so it can be a real challenge.

are you really b**ching about boise?lol come over the hill to emmett, 25 cops for a town thats city limits is 5 miles wide. and all the are on huge power trips.

[dohyde34]

and ya you can do the traffic school...20 years old with 4 tickets.....butttt you can only do it once in three years. so i wouldnt unless you had too yet.

[chevy72pu]

I'm 60 years old. Been driving for 45 years. Stopped for speeding once when I was 16, in my dad's blue '65 Bel Air. I was trying to beat a red light. Had a red '84 Dodge pu, a red '90 Silverado, currently drive a red '03 Z71, a red '72 C10, a red '68 C30 and occasionally drive the wife's red '10 Traverse. Never once been stopped for speeding, reckless driving, or anything else in any of those. I don't put much stock in the Orange and Red attracts cops theory. All of my trucks have always had glass packs, Flowmasters, or Borla exhaust so they are not quiet.

[pritch]

I've found that the only place you can beat a ticket is at your driver's side window.

Paint your truck smurf-turf blue

We drove through Boise a couple of years ago on our wall up to McCall. Driving through Boise was when we decided to break down and get a GPS unit.

[1972_K5]

In Idaho fine amounts are fixed and include court costs. You can't be fined more for fighting the ticket. You can't be issued a higher fine by the judge. If you want you can take time off from work to plead not guilty and explain to the judge that you know that you are guilty, but you will most likely have to pay the fine. You can hope that the officer is unable to make it to court for whatever reason and they will dismiss the citation. Just before your trial the prosecutor should check with you to see if you still want to go forward, and they can tell you if the officer has shown up or not. My thinking is if I felt I was innocent or had some extentuating circumstances, I would plead not guilty and see what the judge thought. If I screwed up and did something I shouldn't have, I'd just pay the fine and move on rather than wasting everyone's time.