Charged with Dangerous Driving - You got to be kiddin me?

[HenryDorsetCase]

Yeah gotta agree there Oakie. Makes it an even playing field for all.. even the wealthy. Other wise all the rich buggers could speed everywhere and just keep paying fines.

ah, how is that a bad thing? "Rich" people will have better cars and bikes which can go faster safer, surely?

[MSTRS:Me]

The cop wasn't (the son of?) a cop by the name of Hunt, by any chance? I heard he was an officious little shitbag in NP some years ago. He was so disliked by the community that someone saw their chance when this prick walked between his patrolcar & the someone's car that he had stopped. Figure out the rest.

[gamgee]

ah, how is that a bad thing? "Rich" people will have better cars and bikes which can go faster safer, surely?

that doesn't mean they are better drivers, what it sounds like your saying is, 'who cares about everyone else, as long as my car is safe, it doesn't matter if i crash and kill a family, at least i'll be safe!'

[Hoon]

i was dumb struck. Has anyone else been thru this crap! I plan to go to court, I dont intend on getting done for this rubbish!

You need to ask yourself how much you are prepared to spend defending this. If your answer is "whatever it takes" then go for it but if it is "as little as possible" then you may be better off taking it on the chin.

From only hearing one side of the story it sounds like at best you were speeding at 121kph, but I suspect that the cops version of events will be very different to yours.

His summary of the facts will no doubt be very detailed and totally damning. You say you didn't know he was there, he may say something like he "pursued you for 3 kms at speeds over 180kph during which time you crossed the centreline 9 times and passed 3 vehicles on the wrong side of the road with less than 100m of clear lane visible and failed to indicate 2 of those times".

You could possible get the 180kph speeding ticket reduced but I think you will have a hard time with the Dangerous driving but don't take my word on it. You are best off getting a lawyer (and your cheque book!).

[Lou Girardin]

HUH???? Does this mean V8 nitrous powered and boy racer types can also do 190 because they can do so easily???

What if farmer Joe pulls out of his slightly hidden drive with the tractor and bailer forks sticking out front because he "didn't see you" doing your 120???

Good point, let's drop the limit to 4 mph (red flag optional) then every blind prick in the world won't have an excuse.

[Lou Girardin]

This is all good stuff, but i have spent the last 2 hours on phones and got nothing.

I called the PCA (0800 503 728) and the lady said they dont give out any information, all she could give me was the P.O Box to write too with my complaint and they would consider it. I would have to talk to the police, not the complaint auth

I then found out the officers names and called his supeior officer (Hamilton), he said i cant get anything (officers notes or audio) until the court summons and that would be about 8 weeks!

Its like im getting the brush off!

If I recall correctly the suspension can be appealed immediately.

[Blackbird]

REMOVED BY THE "REAL" BLACKBIRD. SEE POST BELOW AND THREAD ON BREACH OF ETIQUETTE

[Blackbird]

THE POST ABOVE IS NOT MINE - PEOPLE WHO KNOW ME KNOW I WOULD NEVER MAKE SUCH A POST - WILL BE STRAIGHT ONTO SPANKME TO SEE IF THERE'S A WAY OF TRACKING DOWN HOW THIS CAN BE DONE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. SUCH A BREACH IS BLOODY SERIOUS AND I'LL BE FOLLOWING THIS UP.
Geoff

[XP@]

Looks like you were exceptionally lucky!

Motorcyclist Convicted In Trooper's Death
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGB78DCW4FE.html

[marty]

If I recall correctly the suspension can be appealed immediately.

it can - it's already happening. it takes a few days to get it to court though (appeal is heard in the district court nearest to where the offence happened)

[sefer]

The first thing I'd be doing is writing in to the place written on your ticket, explain the situation and ask for all charges to be withdrawn (assuming you don't want to take the issues further). Won't cost you a thing bar a stamp to start with, and you can make an requst for all the documents pertaining to the charges at the same time (officer notes ect). Make sure you send in any witness statements you can get hold of too.

Two words of advice however,
1. Ask someone in the know what info to ask for (for starters, officer notes, speedo tests, laser/radar tests). They will provide you with all this provided you ask in writing, but don't expect to recieve anything you didn't specificly ask for (they tend to be bastards that way).

2. Do it now, you have 56 days (or it might be 60, check that out on your ticket. It's 28 initally and another 28 after the warning notice) to request a hearing, after that it goes to the courts and there is jack-shit you can do. They won't be speedy in their reply, so start things off asap.

Hope you manage to sort it out.

[froggyfrenchman]

My God! that is some seriously wrong police work there! fight it with all you got! Wish you the best of luck mate

[Trow]

Hey mate, the same thing happened to me 3 years ago back in scotland, I was heading to work at 10 in the morning (called out the night before so had a lie in) on my bike and according to the cop that stopped me, he had been chasing me for 18 miles! when I asked him about the fact he never had his blue light on he told me that he wanted to see how far I would go! he then did me for dangerous driving.. I thought it was the job of the police to stop people driving dangerously asap!!! then in court the procurator fiscle said the conditions were wet there was traffic around and that he was doing 130+ MPH and he couldn't catch me !!!! he was in a 1.7 turbo Diesel car and I was on the Bandit 1200, o.k so I was able to do that kind of speed but he certainly wasn't!! the judge even questioned that!
They were going to send me to prison for 6 months (with no evidence of speed) but I got away with it by seeing a physciatrist, handing my license over and paying a 800 pound fine!! he then told me I had to re sit my license at the end of the year!!! what got me with that is drink drivers get a ban for a year then get there license handed back to them! totaly crazy.

At the end of the day the police will always win due to the bullshit they pad there story out with!

sorry to hear you are going through another BS police problem, I have no time for British police whatsoever now, I do however have time for the New Zealand police, so far they have been polite and correct each time I have been stopped. although I am yet to meet the black sheep!!

p.s.
sorry for the long post

[SuperDave]

That sucks the big one man. As you said you were going under 130kph the whole time so if I was you I would most certainly argue this. You have that independent witness like you said which will only do you good in court. The details which you have shared with us all lie in your favour the way I see it. The difference between your situation and Speedmedic's is that although the cop in his case lied, he was going over 150kph.

Hope this works out for you man.

[k14]

that would be my advice too.

how far from where he pinged you til where he stopped you?

at 180km/h (that's 3km/min), someone catching you would have to be travelling at 240km/h (4km/min) for about 10kms, before they caught up. 1, that's impossible; 2, that does lend weight to the 111 callers story (which may or may not be in your favour.)

what is in your favour is the 120-odd speed you were tracked at (2km/min), taking a patrol car at 180 (3km/min) about 8 to 10 k to catch you.

and i'd be appealing the 28 day suspension asap. you have to go to court for that though.

Yeah definately work that one out. Find out the distance from when he first spotted you and when he caught you. Then work out the speeds he would have had to be doing to catch up in that amount of time. Specially if you can get the transcripts of him calling in the speed then you will be able to work out your average speed (assuming he is calling in the actual speed he was doing). That will be a sure fire way to determine your average speed from point of contact to where he stopped you.

Oh yeah, did you get a name? I know one of the hp guys from np.