Well, I got dink'ed this weekend. I went riding with buddies, trailered out to a gravel bed about 2 miles from my home, and rode for a little bit. My forks were acting up, didn't bleed them out right or something after working on them, and the front end was deflecting everywhere. I wadded up my knee on a big rock, and was just not happy with riding with the screwy forks, so I decided to call it a day. My buddies offered to back up and bring me home, but I told them it was only 2 miles of back country roads, and then headed on home. Less than 500yards from my house I got stopped by a village cop, and sat in the back of the car. He wrote me for uninsured, unregistered, and uninspected. The bike only gets ridden on private property with permission, so I don't have it registered, insured, etc... So I think I'm going to court to fight these... I know its not supposed to be on the road, but I was putting along the side, and I had hurt my knee, maybe the judge will have leniency. Anythoughts, tips, advice. I know, I'm a moron for riding down the road, so you can spare me those. If I don't get these tickets reduced, I'll have to sell the bike just to pay for them!
Dirtbikes and Traffic Tickets
- Thread starter atc3434`
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #3
Yeah, I'm not betting on my chances... if they were just fines I wouldn't be too upset, but the uninsured one will screw my insurance premiums up real good. Oh well, I'll plead with the ADA tomorrow, if that doesn't work, there will be a nice '01 YZ125 forsale... never raced. Lets hope it doesn't come to that.
SpeedyManiac
Member
- Aug 8, 2000
- 2,378
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Personally I don't think you stand much of a chance, except you might be able to get off because you were injured. Hopefully you'll get a nice judge. Good luck!
Always has to be that damned low-life cop that wants to make a name for themselves... :|
I've had something similar happen to me. I live on a somewhat "dead-end" street, but it doesn't end...it just loops around onto the main road going through town again. I live on the other side of a highway...so the rest of the town is seperated from my block. We always take my 9-year old cockerspaniel, Gizmo, around the corner and down to the end of a street where there used to be a ferry terminal (By the water obviously). I'm 16, and have been driving golf-carts since I was old enough to touch the pedals :laugh: Me and my father took my dog down to the used-to-be ferry terminal, where I walk the dog 1-mile back up the street, and 1 mile back down. Here's where it goes downhill...after I get done walking the dog we always drive Around the block on our golf-cart (Electric BTW). My father has a bad back and can't walk that much, so he has the handicap thing that you hang in the car, which he took with him on the golf-cart. We get about half-way around the block and two young SOB's of cops trying to make a name for themselves pull us over, on the golf-cart...My father showed them the handicap-thing and they didn't care about it. Long story short (Because this went on for atleast 20 minutes sitting out in front of the Dunkin-Donuts parking lot...They wanted to give my father all the same violations that you got, AND wanted to give ME a violation as well (We don't get our permits until 17 here). That would have screwed me from getting my license at 18...I would have had to wait until 21! We was "putting" along the sidewalk even...not even on the road. I tell ya...these young cops are such low-lifes. There was atleast 50 cops that passed us before that incident that just nodded and kept going. :bang:
I've had something similar happen to me. I live on a somewhat "dead-end" street, but it doesn't end...it just loops around onto the main road going through town again. I live on the other side of a highway...so the rest of the town is seperated from my block. We always take my 9-year old cockerspaniel, Gizmo, around the corner and down to the end of a street where there used to be a ferry terminal (By the water obviously). I'm 16, and have been driving golf-carts since I was old enough to touch the pedals :laugh: Me and my father took my dog down to the used-to-be ferry terminal, where I walk the dog 1-mile back up the street, and 1 mile back down. Here's where it goes downhill...after I get done walking the dog we always drive Around the block on our golf-cart (Electric BTW). My father has a bad back and can't walk that much, so he has the handicap thing that you hang in the car, which he took with him on the golf-cart. We get about half-way around the block and two young SOB's of cops trying to make a name for themselves pull us over, on the golf-cart...My father showed them the handicap-thing and they didn't care about it. Long story short (Because this went on for atleast 20 minutes sitting out in front of the Dunkin-Donuts parking lot...They wanted to give my father all the same violations that you got, AND wanted to give ME a violation as well (We don't get our permits until 17 here). That would have screwed me from getting my license at 18...I would have had to wait until 21! We was "putting" along the sidewalk even...not even on the road. I tell ya...these young cops are such low-lifes. There was atleast 50 cops that passed us before that incident that just nodded and kept going. :bang:
slideways11
Sponsoring Member
- Apr 18, 2000
- 411
- 0
When I lived in the states I used to beat tickets just by postponing the court date as many times as they would let me. When I did go to court I would plead not guilty to the charges, if the officer was not in court they always let me go.
- Apr 17, 2002
- 1,975
- 0
Show the judge (and the officer) respect for doing their jobs and you may catch a break, but it all depends on how strict your county is with violations like this. Find out if you can offer to do community service to keep it off of your record as a moving violation. That might be a stretch, but it is worth asking. If you have a record that reflects you're normally a well behaved human they won't 'go after' you, usually. Just remember, RESPECT gets you pretty far with those guys. :cool:
a454elk said:
Just grab a hollow point Elk and do us all a favor. :rotfl:
- Thread starter
- #11
Maybe a plea of temporary insanity? ;) I know, I'm defintely in the wrong riding on the road... but I think sometimes extenuating circumstances justify certain situations... I really wanted to ice that swelling knee! Doesn't make it right... load up Elk! *Lowers head in shame*
Ol'89r
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Jan 27, 2000
- 6,961
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a454elk said:
:yikes: Them dang dirty coppers. They just got no respect for us law breakin' types. ;)
Hey Carlo. Was that your gauntlet that I ran over while coming home on the 91 freeway yesterday? :rotfl:
Didn't see any coppers. Musta been two for one day at Krispy Kreem. :laugh: :moon:
Ol' runnin stealth mode on the 91freeway 89r
atc3434` said:
No really officer, I left the milk out on the counter and it's going to spoil, otherwise I never would have been going 117 in my truck on the way home from riding. No really I swear ... ;)
If you didnt run and were decent to the cop you may have a chance. Forget the ADA and the judge, the key is the cop. They will do what ever he asks most times. Go talk to the cop, Im sure you have his card :nener: . Tell him your sorry and that you dont have a problem with some NON MOVING violations. Tell him your sorry and it WILL NOT happen again. The cop did you a favor BTW. He could have wrote you a book on your bike, non DOT tires, no turnsignals, no tail light, no horn, no mirrors, and the list goes on and on and on. No insurance, no licence, and not registration are the big ones though.
BTW, if your cool with the cop he may even do you a favor and not show up for the hearing, thats what a guy did for me, all charges dropped as you have to be proven guilty,,, but trush me, If I had been a tool or ran and got caught, he would have been there with bells on :p . He even drove by the cort house as I was leaving just to let me know what was what :worship:
BTW, if your cool with the cop he may even do you a favor and not show up for the hearing, thats what a guy did for me, all charges dropped as you have to be proven guilty,,, but trush me, If I had been a tool or ran and got caught, he would have been there with bells on :p . He even drove by the cort house as I was leaving just to let me know what was what :worship:
You could say you walked there and you were going to walk back too but your knee was hurt too badly. You should have gone to the doc to get a look and get a piece of paper showing you had your injury looked after. The cops didnt offer to call an ambulance did they? If you go to court they usually drop the cost in half. You could ask that after the judge tells you that you couldnt be on the road and you were very stupid and in the wrong and you accept that in court. Judges hate excuses. The ticket is written the cop cant un-write it. You could supoena him to be there and ask him why he didnt ask you (a minor) if you needed medical attention in front of the judge and your parents. Protect and serve right? If he let you walk home you could say it took you 12 hours to walk the rest of the way cause you couldnt walk more than two steps at a time.
JasonJ has some good advice there. I'd be more inclined to do that than the path Greenbean started to go down, since that will just make the cop mad, at which point he's totally against you and will dig his heels in just to win. Respect is the key, as is accepting fault and pointing out it was a mistake you made just that once, with perhaps pain due to your injury as overriding your better sense.
- Aug 2, 2000
- 13,510
- 19
Okay, I'll show my bad side. I had my 83 XR500 and I was riding on an expired temporary license and no insurance, thru town, when I got pulled over. I knew I was in the wrong, and these were not just moving violations, but they were misdemeanors with no set fine. So I had to meet with the city attorney. We chatted at the PD, and I told him that it was an off road bike. He said, "You can't license that, right?" I said "I suppose not". He said "well then, that ticket is moot since you can't give someone a ticket for something they can't do. We might as well get rid of this 'no insurance' ticket as well." I said "Okay" and went on my merry way. I think the attorney didn't like that particular officer, and if memory serves, he got booted off the force.
Needless to say, I got the sucker licensed and insured about two weeks later. I'm not proud, but I guess I got lucky that time. We're also talking Idaho, not New York.
Needless to say, I got the sucker licensed and insured about two weeks later. I'm not proud, but I guess I got lucky that time. We're also talking Idaho, not New York.
- Feb 9, 2000
- 2,450
- 2
a454elk said:
And to think we pay their salaries too ... don't these buggers know who they work for :p :ride:
- Thread starter
- #19
GREENBEAN said:
Well, I'm not a minor, 21 in a few days, but he really did kinda let the medical attention thing slid. I'm writing the DA, I called his office, and he actually returned my call personally, and seemed very helpful on the phone. He explained how to get the court date pushed back, and then told me to write him and he'd see what he could do. My buddy and bandmate is a NYS Tropper, and he put a call into his office as well, so maybe that helped grease the wheels. I'd really like to beat the uninsured ticket, the fine is like 500 bucks, the other two arn't so bad. Admit my guilt and beg for mercy, that's my plan at this point... no sense in trying to say you were right when you were wrong. We'll see how it goes. I know the officer was doing his job, but tickets totaling well over 700 dollars, plus major car insurance hike, well, it seems excessive for a first time offence for somebody with a clean record. We'll see what happens, I'll keep ya'll posted. Thanks for the tips, rebukes (well earned), and comments.
On a side note, borrowed a buddies TTR125L sunday to try and get the girlfriend into riding. 15 minutes into learning, she paniced making a turn to wide, grabbed a handful of throttle and couldn't let go. She went down an enbankment, hit a tree, and flew over the bars. I'm glad I made her wear all my gear. She might try a 4wheeler some time, but I dunno if she'll want to tackle a bike again. Maybe she'll ask again, but I'm not holding out much hope for that after such a nasty get off. Oh well, less bikes to maintain.
- Jun 5, 2001
- 7,538
- 18
I'm a subcontractor Bundu. I work for Okie, cutting lawns, walking his mutt, washing his bikes, stuff like that. Kick 'em all in the jimmy I say, dang non conformers, specialy those old coots running the 91 like the criminals they are. I'm watching you old man, you may move slow, but your're a crafty one.
scar tissue
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Dec 27, 2000
- 1,429
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Oddly enough, everytime I've been nice and polite I've still recieved a ticket.
One time I was Extremely PISSED off, not just at the cop, and really laid into him. If I was in Texas or something, I'd probrably be shot. I was let go with no ticket, but i don't recomend this approach.
The funniest part is I was doing a ride along with a new prospect employee from out of state. The guy about crapped his pants. :rotfl:
FYI next tme pull off your riding jersey, Show em a little cleavage. Hey it works on ELKs crew. :nener:
One time I was Extremely PISSED off, not just at the cop, and really laid into him. If I was in Texas or something, I'd probrably be shot. I was let go with no ticket, but i don't recomend this approach.
The funniest part is I was doing a ride along with a new prospect employee from out of state. The guy about crapped his pants. :rotfl:
FYI next tme pull off your riding jersey, Show em a little cleavage. Hey it works on ELKs crew. :nener:
Ol'89r
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Jan 27, 2000
- 6,961
- 45
a454elk said:
:nener: BUUUUWWWWWAAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHA!!!
If that's your idea of an APB, it was pretty weak. :laugh:
I didn't see one copper all the way through the canyon and back. I even took an extra trip through just to make sure. I did see your gauntlet laying on the road though. I had to cross three lanes of traffic just to hit it. :rotfl:
Scar. This is the only kind of cleavage that excites Elk.------------> :moon:
Ol'farty9er
- Feb 9, 2000
- 2,450
- 2
it's just a clever way of not raising taxes ........ just raising taxes :) :p
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As others have stated, your results may vary depending upon your particular police officer, judge, etc., but some general rules to follow (from my professional experience):
1.) Show respect. Wear a SUIT to the hearing, not jeans and a T-shirt. Address the judge as "Your Honor" and the officer as "Sir" or "Officer/Trooper/Deputy".
2.) You want to communicate to them that you realize you were wrong (very important), but respectfully offer the reasons behind your transgressions. "Your Honor, I'm not contesting any of the testimony the Officer has given, but I would just like to explain why this situation occurred. I fell and hurt my knee, it was only two miles home on a back road that doesn't see much traffic..etc., etc."
3.) Indicate that you are more than willing to pay a fine for the violations, but state that your concern is about how the citation for operating without insurance will effect your coverage. "Your Honor, I work/go to school full-time (important to let them know you are a productive member of society and not a loser), and loss of insurance would jeopardize my employment...etc., etc." Also be sure to mention your clean record - if you've never gotten a ticket before, let them know.
Overall, you seem to be on the right track. Again, it depends upon who the particular judge and officer are, but if you follow the advice of your Trooper buddy (not just the advice of people who have only been on the receiving end of a citation), you should be good to go.
Good luck!
1.) Show respect. Wear a SUIT to the hearing, not jeans and a T-shirt. Address the judge as "Your Honor" and the officer as "Sir" or "Officer/Trooper/Deputy".
2.) You want to communicate to them that you realize you were wrong (very important), but respectfully offer the reasons behind your transgressions. "Your Honor, I'm not contesting any of the testimony the Officer has given, but I would just like to explain why this situation occurred. I fell and hurt my knee, it was only two miles home on a back road that doesn't see much traffic..etc., etc."
3.) Indicate that you are more than willing to pay a fine for the violations, but state that your concern is about how the citation for operating without insurance will effect your coverage. "Your Honor, I work/go to school full-time (important to let them know you are a productive member of society and not a loser), and loss of insurance would jeopardize my employment...etc., etc." Also be sure to mention your clean record - if you've never gotten a ticket before, let them know.
Overall, you seem to be on the right track. Again, it depends upon who the particular judge and officer are, but if you follow the advice of your Trooper buddy (not just the advice of people who have only been on the receiving end of a citation), you should be good to go.
Good luck!
