ticket for drag racing? wtf?

[PooPoo240]

few days ago around 11pm going to my friend's house I get a ticket for drag racing by the Orland Park Police.PIGS!!
It was a two lane road turning to one lane. I was stopped at a red light. approaching me from the rear is a white eclipse with exhaust and before he comes to a stop the light turns green and he gets in the right lane and we both kinda took off, but not full acceleration. what we didn't know was that there was a cop behind him. I hit around 40mph in a 30 mph zone and slow down. the eclipse kept going to about 55mph...then the cop turns on his lights. he pulled us over and told us that we were drag racing. I have to go to court in July. I think it's bullsh*t because we weren't really racin. he wasn't even at a complete stop. I plan on taking pics of the road that we were on to prove that he just past me because it was a two lane turning into one. I also plan on having documents to prove that my exhaust is 50 state legal, and that probably the loud noise might have made the cop think that I was racing.
the funny thing is that he calls for reinforcements and blocks us both in a dead end street, like we're gonna take on a highspeed chase. probably watched 2fast 2furious... damn pigs. any good suggestions to help me out? we're both gonna meet up before the court date to get our stories straight...so, we don't look like we're making sh*t up.

[Bill Roberts]

11PM.......

Cops seem to think the road is their personal property after 10PM. Seems most problems happen between 11PM and 3AM. I stay the hell off the road between those times...I know...no fun...but it works for me.

Yea, you two getting together is a good idea...but you already have 3 strikes against you automatically. It may be a good idea to see if the cop had in car video. Getting a public defender or a lawyer may not be a bad idea. If you think about it from the cops view, two cars side by side at wide open throttle. Hard to prove you were not on the floor. Going to be a toughy. I wish you well.


Going to be an interesting discussion.

[old_s13]

Bill, how can you tell people NOT to drive at those hours? Nothing against you or anything, but you've gotta be older.. no one in their right mind under the age of 30 stays home at those times! I can understand if you're 30+ and married, but when you're young you're out hanging out with friends or partying.

The advice is simple, go to court. I would post-pone your court date as much as possible (usually 1-2 times), then I would be prepared with a cross-examination for the officer SHOULD on the court date. Take pictures of your car (hopefully its not excessively flashy), take pics of the street.. and if you have the number of that Eclipse owner.. take pics of his car. Take video of your exhaust with sound, rev it up so that the video will show how loud your exhaust is. If you have time, get a decibel meter and show that reading -- then find the VC and show what the maximum amount of DB's are required by law for street cars.

It IS legal to modify your exhaust, as long as it doesnt pass a certain DB. You simply cannot modify your exhaust to exceed the decibel limit OR to mess with emissions, but you sure can use aftermarket.. thats all your choice. Yes, the "CAN" exhaust isnt the best choice.. especially when you are going to show it to a judge, but if you know the law.. it doesnt matter what your exhaust looks like, it comes down to specs. You also have to stress that the cop is not qualified to make such judgement calls and that he does not have testing equipment handy to even perform such decibel tests.

As for the drag racing thing, thats easy. During cross-examination, ask the officer to recall the incident and describe what he saw, how did he witness you two "drag racing." If he doesnt even mention "tires peeling out" then you should be okay. As soon as tires slip and make noise, thats a good sign of "exhibition of speed" so the cop will actually have something against you. Technically, a "drag race" is when two cars side-by-side burnout and accellerate from a stop. If the light turned green and you didnt burnout but you both accellerated, then technically that is not a true exhibition of speed and he just felt like slapping you guys with a ticket like that.. he could have been mislead by the loud exhaust -- common.

Prepare your court case and there is a good job the judge will let you case go. Show the judge that you take this case seriously by bringing evidence, examples, and you should be okay. If you had a witness(es) in the car, try to bring them.. they will help tremendously. Its all about evidence.

Chances are, the cop wont show. Cops tend to show for more expensive tickets, or court dates that are conveniently scheduled together with other cases they have to appear for. For them, its ALL about money.. your car AND your face mean nothing to them. But when you're on the road, obviously big chrome exhausts and flashy shiet sure does get their attention.

ps: Calling cops "pigs" and even having that mentality will mess you up. Dont come into court with a biased mentality, hating cops.. thats just not cool. Cops are cops, you get your share of good ones and bad ones. For them, its a job. The way they make money is giving citations. If its ANYONE to hate, hate parking enforcement.. those focking bastards!#@!


Enjoy!

[PooPoo240]

thanks much for the good advices... will try to come up with as much evidence as i can to prove to the judge that I'm not ****in' around for this ticket.
anything you guys think I should do...I'd appreciate it.
thanks a lot!!

[Bill Roberts]

I know old_s13 feels that it is utterly impossible to have your self home and not driving...or someone elses house and not driving by 11PM...but face the facts:

Late night cruising, places you under a magnifying scope. Car-pooling after the "show out" around 7 to 9 is most cool. Meet some chicks, proimise to take them for a Saturday morning cruise down the coast and a nice breakfast and park the SOB at 10:30 and get LAID...

Now, you want to get out of this..and you will lose sleep worrying.



Here are the choices:

You can postpone the whole situation until a real court date.

Not good......but the best choice overall. but your first visit in court is an arraignment...best to resolve it right now. Do you know what the cops all looked like? Can you ID them in court? Their obviously were several cops there so can you prove to yourself that when you enter the courtroom...that they are not there...AND the cops can hide in the chambers until your case comes up so you will not know they are there.

They play dirty games in court. They want your money and they are in bed with the insurance companies...taxes etc..

During said Arraignment, you will be presented with the charges that are proposed against you. At this time (first court visit) you can either say guilty (Judge will fine you and you will have to deal with any other situations that will come about like points to your DL, and driving school, or anything the judge wants to do. He may have a bad day and throw you in the jail for 30 days...who knows)??

This is the time that you are supposed to let the court know whether you plan to contest the ticket or if you are going to just "plea guilty, or no contest" A plea of Not guilty is a contesting of the charges.

If you see no cops and you are at the bench with evidence and the other guy and all that...then you may be able to proceeed..unless a cop comes out of a back room to show his side of the story..and hope he has no video in his car...he can lie then and say...I was doing 60 and not catching them..and he will!

But if you formally contest it, the cops will be there and you do have the right to know what actual evedence he has against you...whether video, whatever. A written police report. Gives you time to prepare your case...and if no priors..you will probably win it.


It is in the courts best intrest to dispose of the case quick..it is a terrible gamble.

If you are not guilty, contest it formally. It may happen that day..it may bve postponed. Your legal council will require that you have access to everything the cops have, as evidence. As is, your words against his..and cops win if they are there...good doing on this..you must think it through.


Bottom line to avoid this bullcrap is to carpool and not get out there where you are exposed...yes it is old Man talk...but when 75% of all 16 thru 22 year old car accident deaths occur after 10:30PM...then that says something.

I know you were not doing anything but pushing the dude to either get around or fall behind..it is normal street life..happens all the time. The cop will have a different story..you better believe it..and backup cops too??? Yep..I would contest it.

[twitchy]

feel lucky

your still driving right?

2 good friends of mine got busted for "drag racing" although neither had exceeded the speed limit of 90 Kms yet. 5 grand of tickets each, lisence suspensions, impounding of your car, etc.

up here its not even an option, its like a parking ticket, theres no way around it

[91CRXsiR]

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

www.ticketassassin.com

[AutoDestruct]

Don't be scared and water it down. Cops are F*cking pigs. I don't care what the P.C. Mentality is. They think their sh*t doesn't stink. man, F*ck the Police:hammer:

[PooPoo240]

thanks for the useful advices... I plan on contesting the charges. I don't remember the other cops, but I do remember what the main cop looked like. I plan on having some of my own evidences for the day at court.

[PooPoo240]

This website is very very useful... but do you know if there is one like it for Illinois residents? I'm not sure if the california rules apply the same way as the Illinois residents... thanks!

[91CRXsiR]

im not sure, but cali is the worst so if it works in cali you should be able to get off in IL, cops are dikks

[WIshb0ne]

**** you little ricer kids... if you took off you took off dosen't matter if it was full acceleration.. you were still racing... Whining about it on the forum isn't going to help you at all.. And for you exuast.. yea its legal.. but for off road use only.... read the disclaimer on the ****en box..:boink:

[Apparition]

Originally posted by twitchy
feel lucky

your still driving right?

2 good friends of mine got busted for "drag racing" although neither had exceeded the speed limit of 90 Kms yet. 5 grand of tickets each, lisence suspensions, impounding of your car, etc.

up here its not even an option, its like a parking ticket, theres no way around it

They have the riced out look? That seems to get the cops attention pretty fast, even if you're doing the speed limit.

[PooPoo240]

I'm not whining about this...I'm just trying to figure out what the best way to go about this whole issue is....I don't feel as if I should have gotten the ticket, that's why. If you're saying that just accelerating is racing...then there should be a whole lot more tickets being written out for this SH*T!!!!

[muskrat]

Sounds a little like what happened to me. In '96 I was out cruising my my '89 Mustang GT 5.0 with a friend in the car. At a light a Cavalier beside us took off fast trying to race, I just drove normal, but at the next light, I didn't stop beside him, I knew better. There was a police officer at the same intersection and when the light turned green I took off as I normally would but this kid beside me gunned it to try to keep up and pass me. Speed limit was 40 and I didn't go any faster than that and the Cavalier blew by me. Police pulled us both over and gave us wreckless driving tickets (for racing), but the kid in the Cavalier was on a suspended license and had his car impounded, I guess he wanted to take someone down with him so he told the cop we had been racing at every light on the strip.

Anyway, we contacted the officer and my dad talked with him (I was 19 at the time, home from college for the summer) and the officer agreed that when he was in court he would just state the facts and not try to sway the judge in the direction that I was racing.

In court I represented myself and it went like this:

Judge- calls case asks officer to give account
Officer- I saw Mr. Fender leave the stop light quickly with another car beside him I pulled him over and gave him a ticket for racing (there was more, but I've forgotten much of it over the years).
Judge- asks me for my side
Me- Everything the officer said is correct I would just like to add that I did not break traction and I did not go over the speed limit, as told to me by the officer. I probably took off from the light quicker than I should have, but when I got pulled I didn't even know what I was getting pulled over for.
Judge- Did you know the other driver?
Me- No, I haven't met him yet.
Judge- Case Dismissed.

The part that sealed it for me was that I didn't know the guy in the Cavalier.

[WIshb0ne]

http://www.raceworx.com/funnypics/judge_gay.jpg

[RedlineRacer]

I would advice getting an attorney. One of my friend's got pulled over a few months back and was slammed with a DUI, MIP, possession of alcohol, possession of liquour, and possession of marijuana. He got an attorney, to get the officer to drop all charges except DUI. It still sucks, but all the other charges make you do PTI. He could try to fight it in court, but he would rather take the settlement from the officer. Attorney's really help.

[RedlineRacer]

Originally posted by WIshb0ne
**** you little ricer kids... if you took off you took off dosen't matter if it was full acceleration.. you were still racing... Whining about it on the forum isn't going to help you at all.. And for you exuast.. yea its legal.. but for off road use only.... read the disclaimer on the ****en box..:boink:

Certain exhaust are street legal.

[S15 Powered]

Originally posted by WIshb0ne
**** you little ricer kids... if you took off you took off dosen't matter if it was full acceleration.. you were still racing... Whining about it on the forum isn't going to help you at all.. And for you exuast.. yea its legal.. but for off road use only.... read the disclaimer on the ****en box..:boink:
Wow, what an a$$hole. People like you just never help with anything. Posting your worthless opinion, as entitled to it as you may be, is not going to help the guy who got screwed over by the cops. You weren't there and you have no idea what happened, so essentially you're being a bigger dumba$$ than the cop. I'm just gonna assume you were having a bad day and you're not always like this, for your sake.

[RedlineRacer]

Originally posted by WIshb0ne
**** you little ricer kids... if you took off you took off dosen't matter if it was full acceleration.. you were still racing... Whining about it on the forum isn't going to help you at all.. And for you exuast.. yea its legal.. but for off road use only.... read the disclaimer on the ****en box..:boink:

I know one time in your life you have had to get on the gas hard to "show off" or just play around with someone beside you. If you say no, you are lying. Everyone on this forum has done this atleast once in their life. Don't be a d*ck and post something like that and be a hypocrit. Also, there is no law saying that you can't accelerate to the speed limit at a certain rate. As long as you don't go over the speed limit or break traction you can accelerate as fast as you want.

[WIshb0ne]

NEW kids.. i am a cop

[S15 Powered]

Originally posted by WIshb0ne
NEW kids.. i am a cop
And this is exactly why people hate cops. You come up here on this board with a vendetta against people with modified cars and act like a complete douche bag. I really hope you're not actually a cop and are just bullsh*tting.

[DoriftoSlut]

Originally posted by RedlineRacer
I know one time in your life you have had to get on the gas hard to "show off" or just play around with someone beside you. If you say no, you are lying. Everyone on this forum has done this atleast once in their life. Don't be a d*ck and post something like that and be a hypocrit. Also, there is no law saying that you can't accelerate to the speed limit at a certain rate. As long as you don't go over the speed limit or break traction you can accelerate as fast as you want.
Ok, the original poster clearly stated that hewas going roughly 40 in a 30. With hard acceleration, 2 "import" cars side by side and loud exhaust. THEN, the officer pulls him over, he can't figure out why. While I wish him the best of luck in court (we all know we have done this type of thing), I do thin he is slightly moronic for not understanding why the cop pulled him over, and why he got a citation. IMO, it is poor taste to be accelerating hard with a loud exhaust, and then yo go over the limit.... well that in itself is a speeding ticket if you wanna be technical.

As for the 2 lanes into 1... ummm simple, NO police officer or judge will be sympathetic with your story. "well officer I was accelerating, and he was next to me, and the lanes were merging soon... see, so instead of slowing down and yeilding to him, i kept accelerating to try and pass him. Then he kept accelerating. Can you believe that. What a jerk. So we BOTh are going over the limit at hard acceleration vying for a merging lane, and shoot, if one of us didn't concede the lane to the other, we would have gotten in an accident. So basically, though it looked dangerous and similar to street racing to YOU, that wasn't the case whatsoever. So can ya drop the ticket?":rolleyes: :doh: :bash:

Anyway, best of luck to ya.

[WIshb0ne]

Exactly...

[transient]

Ok, if you want to beat this, then stick to the law. Get online, find out your local statutes and study your *** off. Opinions don't matter for **** when it comes to court and neither does common sense. Find out what constitutes a speed contest and prove that your situation did not fall under that criteria. If, on the other hand, it matches, then you're SOL.

Btw, Wishbone, I can understand you being offended by his statement about police officers, but please, don't sink to that level and resort to name calling etc. That never wins an arguement.

[Bill Roberts]

**** you little ricer kids... if you took off you took off dosen't matter if it was full acceleration.. you were still racing... Whining about it on the forum isn't going to help you at all.. And for you exuast.. yea its legal.. but for off road use only.... read the disclaimer on the ****en box..


Yep transient, No officer of the law would post that rubbish on a public forum and then admit being a "cop"...BTW, Public servants usually don't like the word "cop" but rather, Law officer, Policeman, Public servant, peace officer, or Deputy, or The sheriff.

I find it amusing, nevertheless.

In all due respect WB, Good examples dictate good reponses.

I, in my line of work, work with local law enforcement agencies in audio forensics. None of them would approve of this behaviour. As a matter of fact, they would call you out on this.

It is shameful and disgraceful...even in the heat of the moment, showing reserve and professionalism is PARAMOUNT....or you will not be taken seriously by citizens, Judges or a Jury.

To wear a badge means to be in a leadership role, not a rogue role. I think your superiors would agree. I actually know they would.


Sorry, but the kettle is black and a spade is a spade. I mean no disrespect. It just seems non-condusive, for a law enforcement officer to come here and speak that way instead of teaching and setting a proper example.

BTW, cops are a dime a dozen, Law enforcement officials uphold the law and are tolarent of ingnorance, but not of stupidity....agreed?

Think about it.

[zion]

I dont know about there but in GA you can get a ticket for agressive driving, Up to the cop's discression. Those kinds of tickets are the worst b/c it is almost impossible to have a rebuttle to them...

[old_s13]

"read the disclaimer on the ****en box.."

Yeah well, if only your mom read the disclaimer when she agreed to give birth to you! Where do you come up with this crap, who says exhausts are illegal? If that was the case, EVERY car on the road would have OEM exhausts. Fortunately, thats not the case.. and thats why companies like MIDAS are in business.. because they sell aftermarket parts, just like HKS. OF COURSE, the difference in quality is obvious -- just like the difference between our two characters is obvious: you are an idiot, I am superior. You are the MIDAS of exhausts, while I am the TUBE of exhausts.


Originally posted by WIshb0ne
**** you little ricer kids... if you took off you took off dosen't matter if it was full acceleration.. you were still (I dont feel like quoting the rest of the garbage that this dilznack said

Yeah well, ironically enough.. I got pulled over last night for that EXACT violation.. I was next to a car with 2 dumb punk kids who wanted to take off at a light, they were in a ****ty Mirage. I let them go at one interestion. At the next light, I didnt feel like being behind them anymore.. so I just passed them. I didnt dump the clutch, I just gave it a bit of gas. They floored it.. so then I said "oh yeah?" and I rev'ed it up and dumped it.. spun a bit, not too much.. but I roasted them.

I ended up getting pulled over, cop wasnt pleased.. but he got me for a front license plate ticket. He said he could impound my car, blah blah.. but he didnt do any of that. Luckily, he didnt even get me with the exhibition of speed OR speeding. Oddly enough, I have no clue where he popped out from, because I always keep an eye on my mirrors.

Anyway, I did everything you are supposed to do when you get pulled over.

1) I pulled over immediately
2) I turned off the lights, car, and had my head down and hands on wheel
3) I became the officer's bitch for the session and didnt say much, simply answered whatever questions he asked.


So, do yourself the favor and just try to get somewhat of a case going for yourself.. be prepared SHOULD the cop show. If he doesnt, well then.. lucky you, because thats what happened to me last time. Cops would rather NOT be in court, they'de rather be writing tickets.

Good luck!

- Mike

[exitspeed]

Hey join the club. I got 2 racing tickets. Oh well life goes on. **** happens and all that stuff. Way I see some times you get away with it somestimes not. What are you gonna do but NOT RACE. I've given up street racing and only keep it on the track. Worst part about it is the fisrt one I didnt fight and my insurance lady said its WORSE than a DWI on my record. So luckily the second on I had a lawyer and its gaurenteed to be dropped to a lesser charge. Well you live and you learn. BOTTOM LINE.

Just my .02;)