I'm sorry but I forgot to mention in the original post that this took place in Detroit, MI. I live in Houston, TX but go to school in MI. Its different in MI then it was in TX for me. Here, there are no court costs and the ticket is around $110-$130 I think so hiring a lawyer wouldn't exactly be worth it. Also in MI, they don't do the whole defensive driving thing to clear your record. Its just different here. Im not 100% sure how it all works here since I've only lived here for about a year.

As far as the pacing, yes I know it is a legal form but a strong argument against that method in my favor is whether or not his speedometer was calibrated and if so, when was the last time it was. That is something that I have heard about before. I think that argument alone will hold up pretty well in court as who is to say that his speedometer is not off by 10-20 mph. Yes it may be accurate, but then again it may not be, if it has not been calibrated at all. That is one of the other arguments that I will push in court, along with the two clerical mistakes.

My other argument will be that against what he said on the ticket that he used "visual" as a method of detection. I will raise the question of whether or not he has tested his perceptual ability to judge a vehicle's speed against a radar gun, and if so, how was his accuracy. It is easy to say that a car "looks" like its going fast from far away, but it is not the same as saying the car was traveling precisely at 60mph as he said on my ticket. It shocked me that when I asked him what speed he cited me for going that he said "45-60". THAT'S NOT EVEN A SPECIFIC SPEED! That's just a BS range that he gave to give the ticket. I think the whole ticket was BS.

 

I'd guess that the 45-60 is a range that determines the amount of a fine. Depending on location, a plea to a reduced offense is often acceptable to both you, the cop and the court/county/township, etc... If the lowest speeding offense in MI is 1-15 over, or 45-60, a reduction to a lesser, usually no-point offense is easily handled between you and the prosecutor.

I'd speculate that the difference is address between your documentation and their computer systems is a timing issue, particularly if you've changed addresses recently with your move to school. (You didn't say if you've got a MI or TX license btw.). That could impact the transferability of points between the states. i.e. I have received several 0 point offenses in other states besides NJ. Unfortunately, when transferred to NJ, they show as OUT OF STATE VIOLATION, 2 POINTS on my NJ record. That's crap! but a different discusssion.

Lastly, I'd personally question your story/recollection. Right in the first post, No other cars were around as this was around 930pm. To my surprise, there was an unmarked SUV police car behind me that decided to pull me over after seeing this. and we all have S2Ks. You don't want to hear your exhaust note and play around at 5000 RPMs, you want to hear it at 8 or 9000. As stated, AP1, 8-9000 puts you near or just above 60 MPH.

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do and whatever the outcome is.

 

I have a TX license and the officer took it and posted it in lieu of bond since I'm out of state. The address was changed with the TX DPS almost a year and a half ago. The new address is clearly on the license and this wasn't a recent change. I didn't say that I did speed or that I didn't speed, but I don't believe that I was going 60 and I don't believe that the methods of detection that he used were accurate enough to honestly get me for speeding.

 

Oh and another question, on the ticket, under the subheading of "deny responsibility" there are two options: 1) appear in person in court for an INFORMAL hearing before a magistrate, referee, or judge or 2) appear in court for a FORMAL hearing before a judge. I'm thinking that I'm supposed to do the informal one right? It says that with a formal hearing, there will be an attorney present with the officer.

 

Call the court house where you got the ticket. You can ask if they give driving school. If they do you can ask to have it moved to your local district. My dad did that we he got a ticket in Arkansas when he lived in Alabama. They get there money, you don't have to drive back, and it doesn't go on your record. They also don't have to see you in court. It should be a win win, and they will probably take you up on it.