Kurt, you may have a better case than you think... (archive)

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A couple of things before I give you the key to getting off this one. Actually, the speed limit on 50 in Sac is 65mph, unless you are in some remote part I am not aware of. You had the luxury of a 75mph limit on 5 for the better part of the way up there, but to the best of my knowledge, 50 is 65mph all the way. I traveled between the East Bay (Walnut Creek area to be exact) to Sacramento quite a bit when I was up there and got pretty familiar with the area. They do use radad to enforce the speed laws as it is an area with a lot of open stretches of road and it is more effective than enforcement by air. For the record, I-5 is primarily enfoced by air, and for those of you Bay Area 8 guys that like to drive to Reno/Tahoe I-80 is primarily enforced by radar.

As for your case, the equipment (speedo) issue will likely not work. Your best case will be presented by using the defense that you were following the "Basic Speed Law" which says you are allowed to drive at a speed which is "reasonable and prudent" 65mph is a starting guideline that considers weather, time of day, road conditions and traffic conditions and sets a median guideline for a safe speed. 82 in a 65 may actually be deemed as "reasonable and prudent" provided that it was a clear night, visibility was good and traffic was very light. When I get back home in a couple of days, I can get the exact c.v.c. on it as well as a form that you fill out that is an affidavit of the above conditions being met. There is also the route which is the one where you get the radar records for the gun, the guy's training records and so on to try to prove a case that the radar was incorrectly being used etc. That one's a pain in the ass and a lot of work, but usable.

All of this can be done, especially if you are trying to keep a ticket available in Escrow for later on. However there is the other side which I have somewhat presented before where you knowingly sped like a demon miles before and due to "road karma" and a bit of good luck, you got whacked on a lesser charge at the end of the trip. You spoke of what a wonderful trip it was the entire way up until the very end. Think of what a lousy trip it would have been had you gotten popped for 140mph around Buttonwillow/McKittrick!!!

Either way, I am here to help. As I mentioned earlier, I am actually at the other end of I-50 in Maryland right now freezing my ass off. It's about 17 degrees outside andI am looking forward to some California sunshine and my 850.

Yup, as Gary Cooper would say, I bit the dust to 'night radar! The story follows, to make all of you without an Xmas ticket feel wonderful....my Xmas present to you all.

I left San Diego in the CalypsoRed Chariot for Sacramento about 6pm last night, Sat. I prefer driving at night on long trips that aren't interesting to begin with. Interstate 5 is a dull and monotonous drive to say the least, especially when one has become a veteran of the trek. I drove up 15 to 91 south to 71 west (great shortcut)
to the 210 thru San Fernando to the 5 up over the grapevine and on out across the great california plain to Sacramento. Also at night there doesn't seem to be as many speed monitors in uniforms out as compared to the daytime and I can usually make very good time with a much less chance of getting hit with Radar (Yeah Right). In fact I have never even heard of a radar experience at night so usually you can be fairly safe if you use good judgment and pick your spots etc. At least this has worked for me for many years with great success.

So, since we all have so many holiday chores etc. and little time for such drival, I will fast forward through the trip which had great weather and very little traffic, in some places no traffic for miles, especially from 11pm to 1:30pm. During the trip I was able to crack 140 a couple of times and lesser extra 100 mph speeds especially during those stretches where there were no towns, no businesses, no traffic and no 'on or off' ramps etc.

So, I had a great trip, I felt great, great music through the special Alpine sound system, clear night, great roads and a magnificent car that was running perfectly. Lord what a car. So smooth, so fast, so sure, so comfortable, so damn unbelievable. So, anyway, I finally get to Sacramento at about 1:AM, a good fast trip that was very enjoyable and......So, I'm driving now in Sacramento on the 50 freeway with the traffic, I swear, well, the faster traffic :-) but truly inbetween two others cars going just slightly slower than I am going, according to my speedo which is 75 mph, which I think is the speed limit and if not then I wouldn't be more than 5 to 10 mph over which they usually don't bother you with etc.

Then I swear to the good lord above, not more than one offramp from the one I take to go to my parents house, 520 some miles and 7 hrs later was a car sitting on the side of the freeway and as I went by him I noticed he was a black and white and I immediately looked to see that my speedo was 75 so I felt safe and didn't even hit the brake ..... and then he pulled out and came directly behind me and hit the light and pulled me over. I was truly suprised, as I was going what I thought was the speed limit, after going prohibitive speeds just during the previous hours, now actually trying to be safe and proper and he pulls me over. Go figure the odds, Must be Murphey's Law!

So, anyway he walks up on the passenger side and is a nice young guy and says he is stopping me for going 82 with his radar gun!!!!! At night no less! Wow, I am amazed. Then I tried to tell him that I had recently (10 months ago) purchased the car, which had a changed aftermarket differential and that I had changed my tire size as well which I showed him and he agreed that it is probably now out of calibration........and he gave me a ticket. He told me to go get it checked by AAA and if it turned out to be wrong to get it repaired or re-calibrated, which is not very easy with this car I don't believe. So, he smiled and wished me a merry xmas (I think he really enjoyed that part of our meeting)
:-)

So, gentleman, I got what I deserved for what I did earlier, but I definitely didn't deserve the ticket I got, unless you would like to take the position that it was my responsibility to fix the calibration immediately after I bought the car. Hmmmmmm, so guilty on two counts, but still not guilty of the actual accused crime. So, I of course am going to get the calibration done and see if it is off the amount I was speeding, which may just get off in court, I'm not sure. Also I have a perfect driving record, which is ludicrous to begin with, must be pure luck, and I would like to keep it that way, so of course I can always take the traffic school option which of course can be done by computer over the e-mail or through a choice of traffic schools run on the web. Then it won't appear on my record, which will then as a result still be perfect.

But, I would still like to keep the traffic school option open for next time, like the trip to Vegas, or across the USA to New York one of these days so I will have a ticket to burn so to speak. So I am hopeful of beating the ticket on the calibration issue or on the issue of night radar attempting to pick out a car among several others all going the same direction at the same time next to each other. Hmmmmmm, interesting stuff, I may even try to get one of these specialists attorneys who can legally and properly beat these things by due process etc. Of course, now that I have admitted to the whole world that I broke the law many times on my trip home (although in a very safe manner where no one could get hurt) I may be liable by confession over the Web or Net or E-mail or.....whatever this internet access is, Lord what a big mouth!

So, Just thought I would cheer all of you up who have not gotten a ticket today and in addition give you all a fair warning that the boys in blue will be out and watching very carefully from this point on out throughout the holidays until about January 3rd or 4th I would imagine. Thank God I don't drink and drive!!!!

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays to all you gentleman and please be careful out there!
Kurt

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