Traffic Ticket
 

From a closed thread
My wife got one today. Same thing, 26 in a 20. It happened on Bichara Blvd near LaGrande as she was coming from Publix.
Her fine is $131.00.
Something is going on. Either the police have been getting a lot of complaints about speeding in a particular area, or they want to send a message.
I try to stay within 5 mph of the speed limit all the time, but who knows? I might slip over once in a while.
Be careful out there.

Does anyone know if you go to court and fight it and are found guilty, do you have to pay court costs in addition to the fine?

Yes you do. At my welcome to the villages session county Judge Skidmore addressed the attendees. He told us that in any dispute in his courtroom between the story as told by a cop vs the story as told by one of us, he is ALWAYS going to believe the cop, so don't bother contesting tickets. He freely expressed his unwillingness to consider that the cop might be wrong. And he added that the court costs were going to be even higher than the cost of the ticket. I don't think he was joking.

I don't know, but if your wife was doing that speed, why fight the case? Put it down to right place, wrong time.

Why should you get a free ride from costs in court if you are guilty?

If however your wife is innocent, and the police were being vindictive, or the equipment was faulty, go for it, and I wish you the best of luck.

However, having just read Blueash's comment, I would think discretion is the better part of valour!

Doc: Long ago in another universe I received a ticket for going 60mph in a 55mph and to add insult to injury I was just entering a ramp and to merge with oncoming traffic. I called an attorney friend who intervened and he said the Judge told him it was over the limit whether 1 mph or 100mph and the cop had a right to issue the ticket; albeit the judge thought the cop was being an a--. I can also tell you that for numerous reasons a county is going to enforce the ticket from the guy who issued it to the guy who will judge who will find you guilty. Its all found money.

Frankly I believe police are in an untenable position and provide far better a service then is recognized and appreciated

But a speeding ticket for 6 mph over a bit much

Definitely sending a message to drive with caution where people are shopping and walking to their vehicles. We've see some outrageous driving in those areas. Unfortunately, those that are within reason of the limit get caught along with those that are grossly in violation. Perhaps using one of those radar trailers to show speed would have been nice to provide a warning before they started ticketing. Although I'm not sure how they would position it without blocking the cart lanes.

I think it's great we live in an area where crime is so low police can enforce these types of infractions! Until it happens to me ;)

All '6 mph over'...are not created equal.

Percentage over the posted limit...and all that. :D

Very true

So were talking about the road between the Belk's/Publix Shopping Center and Applebees, KFC, AAA stores? I can't believe that road has a 20 mph limit. It appears more like a Lady Lake speed trap when they need to pad the coffers.

With all the traffic at the shopping centers and restaurants, cars and carts pulling in and out often, I think a higher speed limit would be a recipe for disaster.

I'm curious. I've seen the two posts about "26 in a 20." That's what the citations says. What I'm wondering is how fast were these vehicle actually traveling. In other words, were they actually going faster than 26 and actually got a break from the officer?

What am I missing? Isn't 26mph in a 20mph speed zone called speeding?

In order to maintain 20mph on a 20mph road you would have to take your foot off the accelerator and let momentum take control. The two tickets for 26 mph may well signal zero tolerance above 5mph by law enforcement on roads posted or not posted at 20 mph. I am not saying this is true but if true that's about as absolute as it gets. And 20mph is a painfully slow pace.

But you can't win because the PR is always going to be about safety and unless you can prove a repeated pattern of abuse by LOE as was done in Illinois concerning red light cameras or the speed trap set north on 301. In both instances it took a judge who was in a position to place together the police misuse of traffic citations.

There are signs that indicate any road in the villages without a posted speed limit, the limit is 20 MPH. Also, there are several roads on the villages that are NOT multimode roads and are shared by golf carts and cars, these are specifically limited to 20 MPH. Burnsed in the village of Pinellas is one of these and has 20 MPH signs. Looks like the police have been listening to the complaints of speeders.........

You must find it really painful in a school zone.

No because of its stated purpose same as a parking lot etc
I do find it painful when the car ahead of me is going 20mph in a 35mph but then I guess that the suffering I receive now makes it that less likely that I'll suffer in purgatory..so all is well that ends well:D

That road had a big electronic sign up for months warning about speeding. I think they have become serious about enforcement on that road. It's a tricky stretch of road because folks don't always seem to realize that they do, or don't, have a stop sign.

Speeding
 

Speed limits are set to help prevent accidents but yet, some folks just do not get it. Consider this:
At 66 miles per hour, you are moving 88 feet per second. In a cart at 20 mph you are moving at almost 30 feet per second. Slow down, what is the hurry???

:bigbow:

No worries the birds will be back soon enough to take up the slack and keep the PD on their toes. Seems we have bigger concerns with people who think there are too many STOP signs in the world, and do not STOP at half of them! Really wishing the PD could be more on top of that, but who knows the tickets might not be as high.

Doc, help me out here - are we talking a speeding ticket in a golf cart or car? I do use this road to get to AAA and I drive a car on this road and I, for one, am sorry your wife got a ticket, but I appreciate the heads up that the police are out there. Now if they would come to BV where they are really, really needed and ticket a few, that would be great! I had better take my foot off the gas and slow down:evil6:. I left a club meeting at Seabreeze yesterday and could not believe the speed - was like a race track and it was pouring with rain.

If you had seen some of the accidents I have on that 20mph road you would understand.

Golf carts and autos, side streets, exiting fast food restaurants..bad combinations

Not true. 84 in a 70 mph zone is much worse than 18 in a 15 mph zone yet both are 20% over.

Sometimes percentages don't reflect the actual increase in danger.

You don't lose very much control of a vehicle by going 3 mph over regardless of the speed. An accident at 18 would not be much worse than an accident at 15. The same could not be said for the difference between 70 and 84.

I hate it when drivers merge with oncoming traffic---tends to cause a lot of front end damage:cus::cus::cus:

Guess it's time to add a radar detector on our carts :ohdear:

;) OP did not say if was a cart. If it was... I'm thinking it would have been more than $131.

Maybe time to just slow down - car or cart. :coolsmiley:

Baby You Can Drive My Car! Sorry I couldn't resist. Mrs. Nucky had a similar infraction a while back. It is probably better to pay the tab and be done with this. I am also sorry for this happening. Many people we live with are perfect. When you get pinched it feels terrible enough paying for the extra court costs will hurt even more. Consultations with a lawyer are free. What a damn shame.

Its that time of the year.
They like to hang out in the center divide at the Polo field
and on Morse in the morning.
Its a good revenue generator this time of the year, and I'm sure it will be cars and golf cars

Good! If it slows down the traffic, good!
Don't speed, and you have no worries.
I hope it generates a lot of revenue.

Yes, you will be required to ALSO pay court fees

Not true.

The issue is how much faster than the posted speed a vehicle is going and the only way to make a common sense equivalency comparison...is by using percentages.

Someone's personal opinion on safety...has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Almost any modern vehicle with a competent driver on an interstate/toll road is perfectly 'safe'...at 84 mph.

The same goes for drivers exceeding the speed limit by 30% on roads posted at say 35/40/45/50 mph. It's not about 'safety'...it's about exceeding the speed limit.

Or do you think those that exceed by 'only 6mph' in a 10 mph zone, should be given a pass also...even though they are exceeding the posted limit by 60%?

The bottom line is that your wife exceeded the posted speed limit by 30%...and shouldn't be complaining about being cited IMHO. :shrug:

She was in our car, but I've been in the golf cart on that road on some long slightly downhill stretches where it approaches 25-26 mph.

I agree,. It's an absurd speed limit. Accidents are not caused by people going 25 mph. It's the same as the 15 mph speed limit on Paradise Blvd and Paige. They're ridiculous. Almost everyone driving on those roads could be ticketed.

It was on the New York State Thruway and I was entering the Thruway via Weedsport to attend my last meeting before moving to Memphis and the trooper was sitting at the underpass. I had SAFELY merged as there were no oncoming traffic and was attempting to resume a speed of 55mph but he marked my speed as I first entered.

the trooper was being a smart--- and the Justice whom my attorney spoke with acknowledged that fact because the guy had a habit of such absolute issuance's it but again it was 5 mph over. Its this sort of nonsense that gives LOE a bad image.

the bigger problem with mergers are those who seem timid or unsure of themselves and proceed at too slow a pace creating more of a hazard. This is especially true if drivers in the merging lane are at or just above the speed limit

So, I'm curious. Who actually sets the speed limits in the Villages. If the CDDs truly are quasi political entities ( as the IRS lawsuit response contended) do they set the limits? And if so, how can the citizens get them changed?

I agree that 20 MPH is too low and 25 would be much more appropriate. In Michigan a while back, the City of East Lansing had a 25 MPH limit on a major state road that runs right through the downtown ( divided, 4 lanes). The State Police took them to court and won getting the speed limit raised to 35 as the judge concluded the 25 MPH limit was simply there for a "revenue enhancement" speed trap.

And a Judge who publicly states that he will ALWAYS only believe the LEO, is not a judge but a closed minded person who does not seem to understand the role of a Judge is to listen to BOTH sides without bias.

;) Sorry Doc the speed limit on Paige is 10 mph. You weren't speeding, were you? :police:

Specifically Bichara Blvd and the 20mph speed limit. On this stretch of road as with many streets in The Villages, it's not about how fast you can safely drive your car, it's about how fast you can safely come to a complete stop when the unpredictable happens. This stretch of road has alot of access points to shopping, services, restaurants, etc. At any time a car, cart, bike, wheelchair, pedestrian, animal and on and on can enter your path unexpectedly, and you have a much greater chance of avoiding a collision if you are travelling at the speed limit of 20mph.

If you were exceeding the speed limit, you deserved a ticket.

I drove the Washington DC Beltway for years and almost never exceeded the speed limit, even when merging. I would just gently merge into the right lane and the drivers would either slow down or move around me.

I don't know about you, but our cars came with brakes. If a driver merges slowly in front of me, I press the brake pedal (try it sometime) and the car slows down. If they keep crawling along, I go around them. No problem.

I just looked at the map to see where Bichara Blvd is. Yeah, we drive that road fairly often and only an idiot would go more than 20 mph on that road.

thanks for the heads up so we remember to drive the limit around here. it's easy to creep over it.