2 tickets, 2 weeks...advice?

[OptionZero]

Hey ya'll i did a search for 'speeding tickets' and read up on some advice, but my case is a bit different.

Last week:
Davis, CA. Sunday...around noon. School town.

That means its empty as hell.
I"m bored and hungry, and the house has no food, so i head on down to burger king.
Enroute, there are some nice bendy roads, so i decided to yanno..."test the suspension" as we here like to do from time to time.

I see a cop coming on the corner, so i slow down...let him pass...go around a corner....wait a few seconds...then speed back up a bit. Few more seconds, BAM....he lights up outta no hwere behind me, apparently he's good at coming up on blind corners behind people.

51 in a 35 zone he says. I say, sorry officer, i was keeping my eyes on the road, i thought i was going around 35-40. He laughs and said...uh...sure.
Then i say there's nobody around, its sunday morning, there's no traffic. on top of that, i was about to slow down for the stop sign anyways. He says 51 woulda been ok, he woulda let it go, except the spot where he radar'd me was a "residential" neighbor hood, and there was a soccer game naerby, so there might have been kids! Now, honestly, there are a few houses, but only on one side, and nobody on freakin sunday morning is gonna be bustling around. And there were no kids or soccer game in sight. I figure argue or just take it, its only 1 offense (3 years perfect before that).

Today, on i80 to Davis, a freakin RSX tailgates me. I slow down a coupla times, allowing him ample opportunity to pass. He chooses to follow me right on the bumper. I say, ok, fuck it, speed up. We do a little bit of weaving, but he does crazy shit like no-signal 3 lane changes cutting off trucks. I stay in the left coupla lanes and end up right on him anyways.
Suddenly, he slows down to a crawl, and i'm like...ok...so i gas it and decide pass him and be done with it, he must be getting off soon.
Red and blue lights.
So the cop pulls me over, and lets the RSX go, claiming he called for backup.
Again i say...officer, everybody around me is going 85, i'm just flow of traffic. He replies that i outran the flow of traffc and passed several cars. Strangely, while i sit there talking to him, millions of cars fly by going 90+. most of 'em SUV's with people talking on the cell phone.
He replies that my moving in and out of traffic means 85 is too fast, other wise 85 is fine...
Anyways, i still think thats bullshit because i signaled all my lane changes, and did NOT cut anyone off.

So.
Clean 3 year record, then a 51 in a 35 and a 85 in a 65.
I don't know much about tix except i appear on the court date, and i can fight it. For one, i can go to traffic school, but the other is going to stick. i cannot...CANNOT get a traffic ticket on my record, my parents will kill me. Fortunately, i chagnged me license and insurnace addresses to my school addy so they won't see anything they aren't supposed to.

Anyone in the Sacramento/Davis/Vacaville/Fairfield area know cops that can help out? hehe
Or, have you gotten tickets before...do cops here usually show up to the trial? If they don't show up, i win, correct?
Dress nice, and be nice. If I plead guilty, does that mean it AUTOMATICALLY goes on my record? Can i plead guilty, but still try to talk my way out of it?
Will the short span between tickets affect my ability to fight either ticket?

thanks, much appreciated. I'm going to law school when i get outta college, i'l chalk it up to practice.

EDIT:
The first cop who pulled me over, in the city, pulled over a mustang 15 minutes later. Can i use this somehow? Say he's trigger happy, trying to fulfill quotas or som ething?

[RBS14]

referring to the last statement about quotas....... that's a long hard road that i think you don't want to go down. It can be proven but its VERY time consuming and hard. Judges try to look for ways to screw you once you start doing stuff like that even tho ur right. It sux.

[hookedup240]

ok well if you plan to get out these tickets be ready to pay out the a s s. When you go to court talk to the prosecuter first, they can be really helpful. Tell him your dilema he will tell you what he can do.

I had a friend get out of a 85 in a 65 but he ended up paying like $300-400.

[Megadang]

Originally posted by OptionZero

do cops here usually show up to the trial? If they don't show up, i win, correct?
Dress nice, and be nice. If I plead guilty, does that mean it AUTOMATICALLY goes on my record? Can i plead guilty, but still try to talk my way out of it?
Will the short span between tickets affect my ability to fight either ticket?

1. Yes, from experience, cops will show up to their court dates. I just had one last week, and it turns out the officer and the judge were " close personal friends". I have heard of stories where you keep postponing the date to pay the ticket, and then eventually decide to fight it 8- 9 months down the road, take it to court, and by then maybe the officer will forget. You can go to the the traffic court and ask for the officers notes and shit like that. that'll help you prepare to fight your ticket.
2. usually if you plead " guilty, or no contest" the judge will be nice. imho most of the judges give everyone a break. explain your situation, soften it up a bit, make it seem like u were in full control , blah blah blah. Just make it seem that it wasnt half as bad as the ticket shows. If you decide to plead guilty or no contest it wont appear on your record right away. so if you have both court dates within a short matter of time, they'll both see that you have a clean record and will usually cut you a break.

3. the span of time that you deal with these tickets is up to you.. you can change court date, postpone the date the fines due. its all in your hands.. just do it in a timely fashion.

Good luck

[OptionZero]

So...set the two court dates close to each other, hope they both see a clean slate? Then plead guilty/guilty, hope the judge reduces it.

The Davis ticket does not have a date on it, it says i will be notified or i should notify the court...i'm not sure which, he said THEY would contact me (mail), but the ticket says i need to contact THEM....

The CHP one says Dec 31st, which is quite a ways off.
How to i go about scheduling then?
I'll probably go visit the courts Tuesday, talk to them inperson to discuss my options.

[ca18guy]

Pay an attorney to take care of it for you, they work wonders

[OptionZero]

If i could afford an attorney, then i could afford to pay both tickets, traffic school, and the increase in insurance, and not worry about it. But i can't.

[ca18guy]

Well you asked for advice and a lawyer would get you out of it more times then not. Mine cost $250 a ticket, maybe you could get a 2 for 1 deal

[OptionZero]

Yeah, i know, but...i'm in davis man...i'm poor too...

[mbmbmb23]

Get ready to receive all kinds of junkmail from lawyers now.....and they may send it to your parents home. I guess when you get tickets, its public record and the lawyers have their peon interns dig thru the public record and send out junk mail solicitations.

Last spring I got 3 tickets all at once, outta-state expired liscense+registration, 59 in a 45, and no seatbelt (S13 lapbelt was off). I had let my liscense+registration expire because I'd intended to move back home (from NC to IN), and I didnt wanna mess with renewing it here in NC. Anyways...basically I was screwed. I'd had my first speeding ticket a year ago and my insurance went up from that (first ticket ever..and I'm 26).

Basically I took a traffic school class ($130 total), obtained my NC liscense, and got my registration up to date. I showed up to traffic court (to plead guilty or get a court date set) with my new liscense, registration, receipt from traffic school...and I showed them to the magistrate (judge's helper that does all NON violence and NON alcohol+drug related traffic cases) to prove that I had straightened everything out. He wiped everything!!! Also, because I took the traffic school nothing showed up on my insurance.

My advice for you is to take a traffic school, get proof that you sat thru the class....and then take that proof to the court, dressed professionally, and plead that both tickets are dismissed. It couldnt hurt.


-m

[cdlong]

ask for certificates of calibration for the radar gun and training for the officer on that equipment. there are others too (saw it in a book), basically anything you can think of. if any are out of date or missing, you are off the hook.

if you can figure out which route the first cop took, you might be able to prove that he hed to speed past that soccer field that he mentioned, putting kids in more danger than if he had let you go.

[Bliss]

Originally posted by cdlong
ask for certificates of calibration for the radar gun and training for the officer on that equipment. there are others too (saw it in a book), basically anything you can think of. if any are out of date or missing, you are off the hook.

if you can figure out which route the first cop took, you might be able to prove that he hed to speed past that soccer field that he mentioned, putting kids in more danger than if he had let you go.

Unless you are extremely educated on this stuff, or plan to be quite quickly, I wouldn't suggest it. "Wasting the courts' time" can get you in even more trouble. A

Also, I don't see how the cop having to speed affects the fact that you were speeding.

Like others have said, I'd say go to traffic school and bring the receipt, new registration, and hope he wipes it. Good luck.

[fastpace]

i got two tickets in one month. as i finished defensive driving I got the second one. I don't know if they have this in californa, but I did jeferred judification. which means that you pay a fine, mine was $240(go figure), and not get another ticket in that town for 4 months and nothing will be on my record. If I were you I would see what your options are and decide what you want to do, but regardless it is going to be expensive.
goodluck