From: SPaik on Thursday, October 14, 1999

State: New York

Story: Hi,

After reading so many stories of motorists getting screwed by the law, I figure I ought to throw up my 2 cents as well.

I had just finished college in Boston. After living there for six years, I had manged to accumulate a lot of stuff (junk) that needed to come home with me. So, I decided to take a trip and drive from Boston to San Diego in May, 1999.

On my first day of driving, I was going through I-90 in NY. I was out in the middle of nowhere. It was a bright, sunny, Thursday morning and the road conditions were ideal. Coming down a hill, I noticed a cloud of dust in the median. Yup, a state trooper had just pulled a U-turn into the median and conveniently parked his car 1/2 a mile from me.

I was surprised to find out that he was able to stop his car and get a reading on my speed in less than 30 seconds! He clocked me going 76 in a 65 zone, using his new-fangled LASER RADAR toy.

The cop wasn't even there for 30sec. He didn't have time to observe the flow of traffic. Nor did he care. Seems that all the State Troopers were out filling their quotas at the end of the month (I passed about 10 cop cars on I-90 in a hour!).

Now, it's bad enough that I have a CA driver's license, and my car had MA plates. But the real kicker is that I had to leave for a job in Japan three weeks after the violation! If you think it's tough to travel to another state to fight a ticket, try half-way around the world.

I tried to resolve this mess with the DA before leaving. Unfortunately, I couldn't get in touch with him, and had to leave the country. I have been corresponding with him by mail ever since.

For those of you who don't know, the DA is your enemy. He will do everything possible to milk you of as much money as he can. For me, he has offered a plea bargain of $100 and no points on my license, instead of trial.

Now, some of you may think this is a sweet deal. I mean, for just $100, you can forget the mess, have no problems with the insurance, and you're all set, right?

Well, after doing some research on the 'net, it seems that the ticket won't stand up so well in court. There is this thing called "Judicial Recognition". It says that you cannot submit evidence from a LASER reading (for now - may change later) unless it is proven in a court of law by expert testimony. It has to be proven at EACH TRIAL that the LASER works as advertised; the court will not blindly accept this. It's pretty damn expensive to be flying laser experts around the country. If you got a LASER ticket, I highly recommend looking into this defense.

I'd love to go back to NY to kick the DA's ass. He has been using scare tactics and a threatening tone to coerce me into accepting his deal. Unfortunately, because I am so far away and the court makes no exceptions for extenuating circumstances, I'm gonna have to suck up the fine.

Now, this example illustrates exactly how the state run extortion scheme works. By making it so inconvenient for you to go to court, they can name their price and extort money from you. And if you don't comply, you will either get points on your license or go through hell fighting the ticket.

It is a cowardly act for the DA to threaten citizens like this, especially when they cannot fight back on equal footing. And the ironic part about this is that the DA is doing this as a "representative of the people." How many of you actually agree with the DA's actions?

As citizens, we all have a lot of rights and options that the state doesn't want us to know about. Most people would opt to pay the fine instead of educating themselves on how to fight back. If everyone fought their tickets, this would no longer be the cash-cow that the states see it as, and things would change. Court is expensive. The DA wants to avoid this, and collect money in the mail.

The worst part about this whole ordeal, for me, is location. Not only is the court located in the boonies, I get the impression that it's a small "hick" town. The chances of me getting a fair trial, especially without a jury, are very slim. A side note - states have taken away your right to a trial by jury in speeding cases because it was getting too costly.

I am impressed at the degree of persistance displayed by the DA. I wish he'd put his time and energy into convicting rapists and murderers instead of trying to extort a few bucks from a starving student.

Anyway.... I think the best way to fix this problem is education. People need to be educated on their rights, so they can fight the system that is extorting money in their name. Speeding wouldn't be a problem if the speed limits were set REASONABLY and drivers were more responsible.

Governor of New York
New York State Assembly
New York State Senate