I just wanted to share an incident with you guys on the forum, and get some opinions. On Friday night, I was driving my F-car around 9pm in Richmond. Weather was clear, and it was already dark. I was cruising along slowly for about 1km on Russ Baker Way in Richmond, and I travelled over the Arthur Laing bridge into Vancouver. Half way on the bridge, I sped up to, I guess, around 90km to pass some cars and I see sirens in my rear view mirror. After we stop and the officer approaches, he asks me who the car is registered to, and I state politely that it is registered in my name. As the RCMP officer hands me my ticket (in Vancouver), he says that he could impound my car for 7 days for excessive speeding (the speed limit is 50km), but he's only giving me a regular speeding ticket at half the penalty ($196) because "I didn't give him attitude like all the other people who drive these kinds of cars." I'm assuming he meant the other 20 year old Asian street racers that have been in the news, and I'm not even close to 20 years old (unfortunately). And as I thank him for giving me my papers back with the speeding ticket, he grins and asks me, "Didn't you see me following you in Richmond and all the way over the bridge?" I answered no, and we departed. As I got home, I looked at the ticket and it states I was speeding in Richmond on Russ Baker Way, to which I was not. Admittedly, I did speed up aggressively on the bridge to pass other cars, but this was much later. I was driving fast, but not recklessly. I don't know why the officer didn't state the correct location on the ticket. Secondly, by the way he asked his last question, he clearly saw my F-car and thought I was another street racer who's dad handed him a nice car. So he decided to follow me for 2km until he caught me for something. Hence, the grin on his face during his last question to me. Is it me, or does it look like I've been singled out and followed in Richmond just because I drive an F-car? I'm now kind of paranoid of driving my car because I'm afraid other police may start following me as well in order to get me for a rolling stop or more speeding tickets. I feel picked on for driving a nice car and was thinking of disputing the technicality of the ticket. I wasn't speeding on the street mentioned on the ticket. There is also no speed mentioned on the ticket. Or should I just let it go and not risk the officer escalating it back up to an excessive speeding charge (if he's allowed to do that)? Thanks for reading my story, and let me know your thoughts. As an F-car driver, I wouldn't get any sympathy in public, but other exotic owners probably know what I mean.
Hire a lawyer who specializes in traffic tickets. It will probably cost more then the ticket is for but you'll save the points on your lisence. From the sounds of it you shouldn't have a problem getting the ticket squashed due to the mistakes on it. You are lucky he didn't impound it.
Yes , you were singled out. Welcome to the downside of F Car ownership. If you have the time, I would dispute the ticket, you don't need to hire a lawyer. The cop probably won't show in which case the ticket will be dismissed. If he does show you will have a strong case for dismissal. Good luck.
If he does show up what is his defense ? He was singled out cause he had a fancy car? Doubt the judge will take that into consideration. He will however take into consideration he was doing 90 in a 50 zone regardless of the type of car he was driving. If you don't hire someone at the very least make an appoitment with the prosecutor to see if he will reduce the ticket and ask for the discoveries from the court. Maybe you could get the prosecutor to agree that the ticket was written wrong as you were in a different city than what was written down.
The defense would be that yes the ticket was written for an offence which didnt occur which should give suspicions to the validity of the actual offence. I'm not a lawyer however so may be completely wrong. If it were me I would just write a cheque and be done with it rather than pay a lawyer for this.
I'm not a lawyer either but I would hire one, if only to not lose points on my license. My insurance company doesn't like those things.
Based on the information that I know, the officer does not need to appear in court and can appear via phone conference, which would eliminate the possibility of dismissal.
I would definitely go fight it in court, but a good lawyer will find some small technicality to get you off like "I am a vigilant driver your honor, if I couldn't see the officer in my mirrors then he surely couldn't have sen me either"...or something along that line. The point is to plant reasonable doubt in the judges mind in order to get off. I've fought and won a fe tickets that way... Good luck!
I read this as .............you were speeding and got a ticket you deserved, nothing more, nothing less.
Correct. I will likely pay the fine. I was just annoyed by the officer's attitude towards exotic drivers. Maybe we just all have a bad rep and deserve to be followed for 2km. I guess I was just naive thinking I could drive the F car as I normally drive my other cars. Instead, I realize driving an F car makes me a cop magnet.
Is this new ? Or are you just thinking this might be the case. This never used to be the case. If the cop is allowed to call in to the court date - then so should be the accused. Although if they did allow this, you could have a hay day with the cop on cross examination.
Do not waste your time or money - the cop's attitude has nothing to do with whether or not the fine was legitimate. You were speeding, you were caught, end of story....the cop's behaviour is a side point...and it is your word vs his, all he has to do is deny whatever you accused him of, and whose side do you think the judge will take? My advice is ask for a reduction to the absolute minimum fee and pay it.
I was in a similar situation and I don't have an F-car. got a ticket for "speeding in municipality" no other details. came around this corner I boot the car, 6 blocks later this ghost car pulls me over saying he was doing 110 and couldn't catch me. no evidence from him, just verbal statement. he didn't impound the car but i'm sure he wasn't close to me coming around the corner, plus if i can take that corner around 35 km/h im sure his enormous Tahoe had to slow down more. end of the day, i disputed the ticket and not going to bother thinking about until the court date which should be in about a year. I simply don't want points on my license. I don't think your case really has anything to do with the car. There are quite a few nice cars out and about in Vancouver. cops usually go after the guys who go for cruises in group of 5 or 6 cars.
I own and drive several exotics. I live in Richmond. I'm in my 40's, a responsible dad and a professional. I get followed all the time so yes, you will get the cops follow you because of the type of car you drive if for no reason other than to run a plate check on you. As to being singled out, I have gotten tickets before for doing 68. A couple of you said just deal with it because you were caught speeding. Well I guess at that speed, most of Vancouver should be dealing with their speeding ticket but I do agree I was technically speeding. It all depends on the particular cop and their attitude just like it depends on the driver of exotic cars. Some cops are *******s and some are not. Some drivers of exotic cars are irresponsible and have an attitude and others do not.
You were just unlucky. Hey, you're the one driving a Ferrari, not him! Just write the check and get on with the good life behind a F-steering! Life is just too d@mn short to fret over these things! JMHO
Thanks to you and Echo for the support. Just a little ticked with the situation at the time, but I've paid up and moved on.
