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.........