It was abut 11:00 PM, and I was on the university campus.  School's out for the summer, so there's nobody around.  I was tired, and heading home to go to bed.  There's this section of campus with like 3 or 4 stop signs within less than 1/8 of a mile.

I stopped at all of them...but as I was approaching the last one I thought, "Goddammit, why not?".  I looked to port and starboard, no cars.  No deer even.  I slowed down and rolled through the stop at about 10 mph.  The bike was cold and I didn't want to have to deal with keeping the throttle up at a full stop.

There must have been a cop behind me (note to self: get mirrors!), because after I turned onto the main road to go home...I hear sirens.

So...I got a ticket for running the stop sign.  First time I ever ran a sign in my life.  I can't be that angry about it, because I *did* run the bloody sign...but I can b*itch about it...and by God, that's what I'll do.

Interestingly enough, I realised later that the possibility of punching the throttle and running for it *never* occurred to me.  I wouldn't do it...but I wonder why I didn't think of it.

When I saw you were the author, I thought you might have gotten pinched for slapping "I have a small pee pee" bumperstickers while SUV hunting this weekend...

You gotta remember--  look fore and aft...

LoL...nah, i decided to forego the sticker slapping business...it was too much trouble, and there were too many good arguments for why i shouldn't do it.  i maintain that *in theory* it's funny as hell...maybe this is the work of some big ugly SUV deity getting me back for even suggesting the idea.  What a jerk.

Dork.  Try fighting it.  Say the cop must have been mistaken as you put both feet down

Try fighting it? Hmmmm I don't know how it goes for you but here you get a fixed penalty notice, say thirty notes, but fight it and fail, which you normaly do, it doubles and can become points on your license which can take you to places you realy don't want to go.

take the money it would take to pay fine/court costs, and fight. but then again, alot of the LEO's have video so.... :dunno:

Nah dude, here in the U. S. of A. you ALWAYS fight the ticket. Losing means just paying it/points off with no additional penalty. But theres usually a fair chance you can get off or have it reduced in court. You don't need a lawyer, just show up prepared with your argument and a decent suit.

Not true.  I fought a speeding ticket in court here a couple years ago.  I lost, of course...and the judge did not lessen the fine at all.  I was shocked.  They usually lessen the fine if you plead guilty or 'nolo contendere'.  My case was a decent one too, I was well prepared, nice, and very civil.

I'm not about to fight this one, because the officer mentioned that he also paced me doing 60 in a 45, which he wasn't going to write me up for, but would mention in court for sure if I decided to fight the ticket.  Secondly, I need to make an actual case for why the officer was wrong.  It's basically his word against mine...and I have a good idea who the judge will believe.

This reminds me of the time I was going 73 in a 40 in a cage (yes 33 over and yes I could have been hauled off to jail).  The officer was very kind in writing my up for 5 over, as I had nothing on my record.  I briefly thought about going to court because I thought "there is a chance I could win it."  I don't have any idea why I even thought this because I was definately in the wrong, and he wrote down the actual speed I was going as a note on the ticket.  I paid the ticket and lived with my mistake.

dude, even if you don't want to fight it.  just show up.  there's always a chance that the cop won't show and you get off.  if he does, just plead guilty and maybe get a reduced fine/points.

dan

I dunno about this.  He said that they pay him to go to court, so he'll be there if I fight the ticket.  Santa Cruz is also really weird about traffic violations...it's a major source of revenue for the city, so they don't let *anything*slide.  Anyone living here or near here can probably vouch for the plethora of cops once you get on the 17 and into town.  If I pleade no contest from the beginning, my chances of a reduced fine are greatly increased.  I'm more worried about the points, but I'll just have to bring this up with the judge.

OK Most of California (My experience was with Fremont) schedule every one that was cited by that LEO on the same day. So If you fighting a ticket with a cop, so is everyone in that court that day, and if he skips on 1 he skips on 100+... so they dont, and its on his shift schedule day... Faaaar too organized... You need to spot him and literally crash into his car to take him out that day... :x
Cool.
Srinath.

Here in columbus, the junior DA is like a salesman... he wants to make the sale and win the case... Normally if you go and contest the ticket, and request the officer's training records (it's your right too)...  they'll offer you reduced fine and a "non-moving" violation without any points...

Thus "The Man" wins because he still gets a couple bucks and a minor conviction out of you... And you win by not paying the higher tickey and the related insurance costs for the next three years...

BAH!!! #$^!@&%&*#!@#!@#%&%^@#@#%

yeah....
i got a speeding ticket today less than one mile away from home coming from work.  f-in' sucks!  the cop said i was going 62 in a 40, which seems a bit like to me. as far as i remember, my speedo was in the 60-65 range.

seems like i get one of these every year