LEGAL ADVICE NEEDED

[CVC2NV]

this is how the story goes...

was cruising from manukau to pakuranga on te irirangi drive, doing between 90 and 100kmh at the most, idicated to switched lanes with one car infront of me, and no cars behind, when all of a sudden i get pulled over by a cop... he comes up to me, and tells me that that was "unsafe lane changing, and i was "speeding" "... so he went off and wrote me a fine, and when he came back i said can i ask how that was unsafe lane changing if there were no cars behind me and i indicated, and he faild to explain by saying "it was unsafe", and i looked at the fine and saw 110kmh on it when there was was no way i was doing that for a fact... so i told him i was doin about 95, and that i wanted to have a look at his radar cos i knew for sure i wasnt doing that, and he said that he didnt have a radar he was jst following me... i told him that that was unfair and ruthless, and he replied with "i dont give a rat's ass, you can take it to court if you want" and gave me the fine a jst left...

i dont know how he came up with 110, maybe thats how fast he was goin to catch up with me, but anyway here i go with my questions...

* is there anything i can do to go agaist this cop?
* if i do take it to court, or write a letter or whatever? how do i go about it? and would it be a waste of time knowing its gonna be my word agaist his, and with all the power the cops have these days i'll end up paying even more...

cheers?

[GecKo]

It's your word against his.

You could just pay the fine, or you could write away a letter, get instantly denyed, then pay 5 times the fine in lawyers fees dragging it through the courts, and then still be made to pay it.

It's a stupid system, but meh, what can you do.

[CVC2NV]

thats what i thought.... :evil:

[Locust2000]

I've had the same problem. Caught for doing "69 in a 50" nevermind that I was 3 driveways away from my own which I had just pulled out of, the cop was on the side of the road leaning against his car and wasn't anywhere near his radar, and my car couldn't accelerate that fast if I had wanted to (Was a 4AGE Toyota). Ended up fighting it, going to court, and everything. They kept saying too bad. Never paid it and eventually got taken straight from wages. I can't use enough words to exaplin how little I think of the whole thing without risking being permamently banned.

[Ebola_One]

Originally Posted by GecKo

It's your word against his.

You could just pay the fine, or you could write away a letter, get instantly denyed, then pay 5 times the fine in lawyers fees dragging it through the courts, and then still be made to pay it.

It's a stupid system, but meh, what can you do.

But, when you spend max of an hour & $0.45 to write & send a letter, it's not worth just sweeping under the carpet straight away.

How long ago did this happen? if it wasn't that long ago, call *555 and make a complaint (you'll have the officers badge number on the ticket).
Maybe try & talk to his OC as well. (you might not be able to do this, as you'll get told to follow the correct procedures for making a complaint - but that starts with a letter regarding the ticket)

[CVC2NV]

happened on friday night...

[mick]

perhaps go talk to a lawyer at the citizens advice bureau

[Bluetech]

He needs to have followed you for at least a kilometer at the same speed as you to have a valid case (no radar rule). Find out when he first started following you untill the place he pulled you over. How long was he behind you? follow up on the report etc etc etc..............

[VTAKYO]

Police aren't allowed to speed (like he would have had to do, to do 110)unless they are authorised to, eg: they get a call from head office that a bank robbery is goin down and they need to get there asap. Following at the same apparent speed is also inaccurate and most likely would make circumstancial evidence in court (and be ignored), as 10kmh difference in the two vehicles may seem the same. It is generally out of the cops jurisdiction to ping for speeding by such small amounts unless they have some form of an accurate measurement tool like a radar... it is fair for them to do it without a radar when someone guns past and into the sunrise in a 50kmh zone... but not 110 in a 100. The cop was just being a perdantic fag.

Get a lawyer and take the fruitcake cop to court man...

[CVC2NV]

Originally Posted by Bluetech

He needs to have followed you for at least a kilometer at the same speed as you to have a valid case (no radar rule). Find out when he first started following you untill the place he pulled you over. How long was he behind you? follow up on the report etc etc etc..............

he told me that he had been following me for 300 meters

[CVC2NV]

This is what i've come up with so far...

Could someone itelligent out there edit it and give it a good conlusion as I was not born for writing letters of complaint (obviously)

cheers...


New Zealand Police
P.O. Box 6641
Wellington


Re: Infringement Notice Number 4812828


To Whom It May Concern:


On April 1st, after switching lanes on Te Irirangi Drive, doing approximately 95kms, I was pulled over by officer number W419, who approached me and told me that what I did was “unsafe changing of lanes”, and that I was doing 110kms. When I asked the officer to explain how the changing of lanes was unsafe, knowing there were no cars behind me and having indicated, he failed to explain by just saying “it was unsafe”, and when I asked to have a look at his radar as I was sure that I was doing no more than 95kmh, he said that he didn’t have a radar, but he had been following me for 300 meters.
I found the officer very rude, and his judgement was unfair, and told him that he was “unfair and ruthless” to which he replied “I don’t give a rat’s arse, you can take it to court if you like.”. He handed the infringement notice to me, and left.
I will be more than happy to pay the fine for exceeding the speed limit by 10kms, but paying a fine for “unsafe changing of lanes” and “exceeding the limit by 20kms” isn’t reasonable, and don’t see a reason for paying it.

[Spanky69r]

same thing happened to me to a couple of yrs ago

i was driving along ellerslie panmure highway and the cop reakons i was speeding
i ask to see the radar and waht do u know he doesnt have one

wrote a letter saying the situation and it was a pretty good letter if i do say so myself but obviously not good enough
i didnt get off haahah

[dohca]

I will be more than happy to pay the fine for exceeding the speed limit by 10kms, but paying a fine for “unsafe changing of lanes” and “exceeding the limit by 20kms” isn’t reasonable, and don’t see a reason for paying it.

remove that.

replace it with, nothing.

after all, you wherent braking the law where you?
:wink:

[Sarge]

Originally Posted by Bluetech

He needs to have followed you for at least a kilometer at the same speed as you to have a valid case (no radar rule). Find out when he first started following you untill the place he pulled you over. How long was he behind you? follow up on the report etc etc etc..............

I dont know where you got this from but it certainly is not the case. And I have not heard of the "No Radar Rule" before. There is by law, no minimum distance that an officer is required to follow you in order to asertain speed.

[Sarge]

Originally Posted by Red Sleeper

Police aren't allowed to speed (like he would have had to do, to do 110)unless they are authorised to, eg: they get a call from head office that a bank robbery is goin down and they need to get there asap. Following at the same apparent speed is also inaccurate and most likely would make circumstancial evidence in court (and be ignored), as 10kmh difference in the two vehicles may seem the same. It is generally out of the cops jurisdiction to ping for speeding by such small amounts unless they have some form of an accurate measurement tool like a radar... it is fair for them to do it without a radar when someone guns past and into the sunrise in a 50kmh zone... but not 110 in a 100. The cop was just being a perdantic fag.

Get a lawyer and take the fruitcake cop to court man...

Crikey, I hope you are not a lawyer or studying to be one because your advice there is all wrong.

[dohca]

im locking this.

its just gunna be another one of those i know better threads.

ring and ask your local law enforcement agency, lawyer.

[Woody]

Te Irirangi Drive is an 80km Zone anyway. 95 is speeding :twisted: