Location: portland oregon
On 11/09/08 I was stopped coming home from dropping my girlfriend off... I am 27 years old ... I was stopped for speeding by method of pacing, the officer wrote me a ticket for 75 in a 55, and a citation for not waiting 100 feet before changing lanes (he said i signaled but didnt wait long enough to get over) ...
So that happened, then on 11/23/08, the same thing, on my way home from dropping off my girl and was followed by an unmarked mustang GT, he followed me on two insterstates, I-84 and I-5. He wrote me citations for Carelesss Driving and speeding 75 in a 55 on I-84, then he gave me another speeding citation for 78 in a 50 once I was on I-5.
Both of these citations occurred at about 11:30pm on a Sunday night. I feel like a complete mornon that I didnt learn after the first ticket I received on the 9th, its just too easy to go fast on I-5 late and night and with hardly any traffic. But I wasn't driving carelessly, just going fast. I honestly felt the mustang was toying with me and wanting me to race or something, there were three or four times when the mustang zoomed over and was ahead of me, so I had a weird feeling....
The cop lectured me about having a radar and told me that on I-84 he turned on his radar and saw me brake so he turned it off... So all of the speeding infractions are by way of pacing. The one of the 23rd says "video evidence" all over the ticket, and the first incident was just a normal car...
I've had some speeding tikcets when I was a few years younger, but its been 3 or 4 years since I've had ticket.
So here are my questions:
1. I was going to plead not guilty to the lane changing ticket but now dont know if its even worth it since i have the other ticket pending which my court date is for later this month (my first court date is tomorrow the 4th) ...
2. I've tried contacting lawyers but they all want $200 just to talk with me and I cant spend that type of $$ without having any idea if I am completely screwed or not.
3. Is traffic school an option at all for the first ticket since I am waiting for another court date on the second ticket??
4. Is it worth pleady not guily to anything or just sucking it up and telling the judge that I am sorry and should've known by now? I'm 27 and already understand that my insurance is going to be through the roof.
5. Is there any way that I can out without losing my license? I raed on the DMV's website that 3 or 4 citations in a 24 month period is a 30 daay license suspension, is that madatory or is the only way out of it if they drop some of the citations.
6. The fact that the officer wrote me for Careless driving and speeding, and then wrote another speeding infraction is strange to me, its like seeing someone walk down the street and assault someone and then saying "Hey i'm going to wait and see if he assaults someone else before I stop him" .... That seems really weird that he wouldn't stop me right away when he thought I was "careless driving" ....
Anyway any help / advice would be greatly appreciated, I dont know what to say when I go to court for my first meeting tomorrow...
Thank you
On 11/09/08 I was stopped coming home from dropping my girlfriend off... I am 27 years old ... I was stopped for speeding by method of pacing, the officer wrote me a ticket for 75 in a 55, and a citation for not waiting 100 feet before changing lanes (he said i signaled but didnt wait long enough to get over) ...
So that happened, then on 11/23/08, the same thing, on my way home from dropping off my girl and was followed by an unmarked mustang GT, he followed me on two insterstates, I-84 and I-5. He wrote me citations for Carelesss Driving and speeding 75 in a 55 on I-84, then he gave me another speeding citation for 78 in a 50 once I was on I-5.
Both of these citations occurred at about 11:30pm on a Sunday night. I feel like a complete mornon that I didnt learn after the first ticket I received on the 9th, its just too easy to go fast on I-5 late and night and with hardly any traffic. But I wasn't driving carelessly, just going fast. I honestly felt the mustang was toying with me and wanting me to race or something, there were three or four times when the mustang zoomed over and was ahead of me, so I had a weird feeling....
The cop lectured me about having a radar and told me that on I-84 he turned on his radar and saw me brake so he turned it off... So all of the speeding infractions are by way of pacing. The one of the 23rd says "video evidence" all over the ticket, and the first incident was just a normal car...
I've had some speeding tikcets when I was a few years younger, but its been 3 or 4 years since I've had ticket.
So here are my questions:
1. I was going to plead not guilty to the lane changing ticket but now dont know if its even worth it since i have the other ticket pending which my court date is for later this month (my first court date is tomorrow the 4th) ...
2. I've tried contacting lawyers but they all want $200 just to talk with me and I cant spend that type of $$ without having any idea if I am completely screwed or not.
3. Is traffic school an option at all for the first ticket since I am waiting for another court date on the second ticket??
4. Is it worth pleady not guily to anything or just sucking it up and telling the judge that I am sorry and should've known by now? I'm 27 and already understand that my insurance is going to be through the roof.
5. Is there any way that I can out without losing my license? I raed on the DMV's website that 3 or 4 citations in a 24 month period is a 30 daay license suspension, is that madatory or is the only way out of it if they drop some of the citations.
6. The fact that the officer wrote me for Careless driving and speeding, and then wrote another speeding infraction is strange to me, its like seeing someone walk down the street and assault someone and then saying "Hey i'm going to wait and see if he assaults someone else before I stop him" .... That seems really weird that he wouldn't stop me right away when he thought I was "careless driving" ....
Anyway any help / advice would be greatly appreciated, I dont know what to say when I go to court for my first meeting tomorrow...
Thank you
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