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I fought the law and...



...I won!

As some of you may recall, another rider and I got tagged for 85 MPH in 
a 55 on a recent ride in Marin Co., CA. Yesterday I had my day in court, 
and IMHO I believe I got the best outcome possible.

[Recap: At the summary hearing, had I pled guilty I would have received 
1 point on my license, paid a fine of $270, and not been allowed to 
attend traffic school. I wanted to attend traffic school, though, so I 
pled not guilty. By attending traffic school, and not getting another 
ticket in 18 months, the state will not put the point on my record, 
keeping my insurance rates low. I still have to pay the fine either way, 
and there's a fee for the traffic school, but they usually are much less 
than the insurance rate increase that comes with getting a point on your 
license.]

The judge allowed the CHP officer to make his case first, since the 
burden of proof is on him. He proceeded to wildly exaggerate the 
situation, which both surprised and disappointed me. (In fact, I was 
surprised I was surprised, as I'm usually the cynical sort.) He claimed 
we were a group of 12 (IIRC, we were only 8) riders; that we were all 
riding "high powered sport bikes" (there was a mix of bikes, including a 
Honda Rebel); that there was light to moderate traffic on the road 
(IIRC, only two cars passed us the entire time it took to write the 
tickets); that we had passed a white Tempo or Taurus in a no passing 
zone (we had not); and that we were speeding well in excess of 100 MPH 
before he caught up with us and paced us at 85 MPH (again, not true).

Instead of trying to debate him point by point -- surely a losing 
strategy, especially without any other witnesses to back me up -- I 
instead tried to place a seed of doubt in the judge's mind as to the 
officer's veracity. I verified that the officer claimed he saw us pass a 
vehicle that was going in our direction of travel, but that he had not 
written a ticket for that. I then told the judge I recalled that the 
officer had said he *presumed* we had passed a car in a no passing zone, 
but that since he had not witnessed it he was not going to issue a 
ticket for it. (Not the strongest argument in the world...)

I then went on to plead my case by saying that although I substantially 
disagreed with many of the details of the officer's testimony, I agreed 
that I was probably going approximately 85 MPH. However, I had received 
only one ticket in the last 12 years of driving, and the incident was a 
momentary lapse in judgment, not a habitual behavior. I indicated that 
my attendance at traffic school would help reinforce my knowledge and 
awareness of the laws to the benefit of everyone. (Blah, blah, blah...)

The judge agreed, found me guilty, noted that I would be allowed to 
attend traffic school, and sent me on my way. Yea!
- -- 
Blake "Dawgbert" Sobiloff <sobiloff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Burlingame, CA, USA


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