4 ms·

If anyone had actually challenged a speeding ticket, the scam might have been caught earlier. I doubt anyone there had any training or probably even understood

If anyone had actually challenged a speeding ticket, the scam might have been caught earlier. I doubt anyone there had any training or probably even understood calibration. But people generally just pay it and move on.

skj 13y ago
Generally that's because to fight it, they'd have to visit the town's courthouse or spend money on a lawyer. If I were the one choosing the fines, and I lacked a soul, I'd choose a fine amount that maximized #speeders * $cost * %fighting.
ZachPruckowski 13y ago
Once you've got all 3 town employees, the police force/posse and half-to-all of the town council in on it, it's not like it's impossible to get a particular judge elected. Get an extreme hard-ass, a crook, or just someone's lawyer cousin on the bench in a lightly-contested non-partisan election, and it'll be basically impossible to get a ticket thrown out.
jasomill 13y ago
It's even worse than that. I once got pulled over in a small town for a rolling stop, and the officer basically said that I had two options — either he could write me three tickets — one for running a stop sign, one for disregarding a mechanical signal (flashing red light), and one for speeding ("nearly 25" in a 20, he claimed) — that added up to nearly $400 in fines and several points on my license, or else I could agree, right then and there, to show up in person at the county courthouse within 30 days and pay a $100 "fee", that "wasn't a fine", so, while it couldn't be contested, it also wouldn't show up on my driving record. In other words, if I was willing and able to show up in court, I may as well just agree to pay the $100, because, bullshit speeding ticket aside and regardless of the truth of the matter * , it's sort of pointless to argue in court that, in spite of the officer's testimony, I did, in fact, come to a complete stop — the only way I could have avoided >$100 in fines is if the officer hadn't testified at all, which, without familiarity with the particular jurisdiction or considerable research, isn't a very safe bet, and certainly not one I was willing to make on the side of the road at 3:00am with no time to think it over. * Truth be told, I may well have roll-stopped, as I was making a right turn at a four-way stop with no other traffic and perfect visibility in a 20MPH zone at 3:00am, and I probably was driving 25 in a 20 at some point, because I don't regularly calibrate my speedometer or watch my speed that closely, and it was one of those small towns where the speed limit drops from 55 to 20 in the course of a few blocks.

skj 13y ago

Generally that's because to fight it, they'd have to visit the town's courthouse or spend money on a lawyer. If I were the one choosing the fines, and I lacked a soul, I'd choose a fine amount that maximized #speeders * $cost * %fighting.

ZachPruckowski 13y ago

Once you've got all 3 town employees, the police force/posse and half-to-all of the town council in on it, it's not like it's impossible to get a particular judge elected. Get an extreme hard-ass, a crook, or just someone's lawyer cousin on the bench in a lightly-contested non-partisan election, and it'll be basically impossible to get a ticket thrown out.

jasomill 13y ago

It's even worse than that. I once got pulled over in a small town for a rolling stop, and the officer basically said that I had two options — either he could write me three tickets — one for running a stop sign, one for disregarding a mechanical signal (flashing red light), and one for speeding ("nearly 25" in a 20, he claimed) — that added up to nearly $400 in fines and several points on my license, or else I could agree, right then and there, to show up in person at the county courthouse within 30 days and pay a $100 "fee", that "wasn't a fine", so, while it couldn't be contested, it also wouldn't show up on my driving record. In other words, if I was willing and able to show up in court, I may as well just agree to pay the $100, because, bullshit speeding ticket aside and regardless of the truth of the matter * , it's sort of pointless to argue in court that, in spite of the officer's testimony, I did, in fact, come to a complete stop — the only way I could have avoided >$100 in fines is if the officer hadn't testified at all, which, without familiarity with the particular jurisdiction or considerable research, isn't a very safe bet, and certainly not one I was willing to make on the side of the road at 3:00am with no time to think it over. * Truth be told, I may well have roll-stopped, as I was making a right turn at a four-way stop with no other traffic and perfect visibility in a 20MPH zone at 3:00am, and I probably was driving 25 in a 20 at some point, because I don't regularly calibrate my speedometer or watch my speed that closely, and it was one of those small towns where the speed limit drops from 55 to 20 in the course of a few blocks.