Cop never saw me but gave me a ticket!

**Girlie** · 5th February 2006, 08:50

Hows about this one guys - while on holiday near the sleepy SI town of Palmerston (nr Oamaru)

Car overtakes me doing 120, then gets stuck behind a slow vehicle, I overtake him, he gets miffed at losing his place so he calls 555 and reports me. Cop stops me 2 minutes later, says 'Someone has reported you were driving dangerously' and hands me a ticket for not being able to see 100m of clear road!
I'm flabbergasted - surely the cops haven't got that bad yet - this is a Nazi state!

**onearmedbandit** · 5th February 2006, 08:56

Welcome to the site.

That to me just seems out of order. You say the officer did not see you at all, did he claim to have witnessed the infringement? No? Then how can he determine that 'you could not see 100m of clear road'? Or is the road that you passed the cage driver on short (ie around or less than 100m)?

**Patrick** · 5th February 2006, 09:03

More to this story me thinks...probably something like overtook the car on a blind corner or crest of hill perhaps? (Hence the 100metre clear viz throughout the entire overtaking move?).

**pritch** · 5th February 2006, 09:08

At work we recently received a letter from the Police as a result of such a call. We identified the driver of the vehicle concerned and her supervisor presented her with the letter and a homily on safer driving. I thought that was reasonable in the circumstances.

Yours sounds a bit rugged.

**Patrick** · 5th February 2006, 09:14

Hi Pritch... fair call, but when these driving complaints do come in, they will ask if anyone is near there in the first...if not, then they send out a traffic complaint form and subsequent letter. Unsure if this was a case of a cop in the right place at the time or wrong place at the time... more to the story?

**Scouse** · 5th February 2006, 09:23

Originally Posted by Girlie

Hows about this one guys - while on holiday near the sleepy SI town of Palmerston (nr Oamaru)

Car overtakes me doing 120, then gets stuck behind a slow vehicle, I overtake him, he gets miffed at losing his place so he calls 555 and reports me. Cop stops me 2 minutes later, says 'Someone has reported you were driving dangerously' and hands me a ticket for not being able to see 100m of clear road!
I'm flabbergasted - surely the cops haven't got that bad yet - this is a Nazi state!

Welcome to the site Girlie If you were to get yourself a good Lawyer and fight this you would probably get of as what is the cop using as evidence if its just the cage driver then its a case of your word against his and any good lawyer will rip a civilian to peices in court

**thealmightytaco** · 5th February 2006, 09:24

Welcome...

And it does sound very disturbing, Judge Dread like almost. A bit of a warning would have been more appropriate, but without proof of anything any old putz could call in anyone and get them a ticket. I'd write a letter to somebody.

**Girlie** · 5th February 2006, 09:25

Went back to the cop to ask him to show me where it was so I could take a photo. He refused - 'it's not my job'
I went back and looked. It was definitely not a blind corner and I could see 4 or 500 metres - been driving 30 years no accidents, and I'm not that stupid. But it's my word against cage driver's.
Cop just smirked - obviously needed the ticket for his quota but it seems real dodgy to me - wonder if the driver was his buddy?

**Ixion** · 5th February 2006, 09:30

Tis a try on. Write in, dispute, flatly deny. Point out that bikes have enormously better visibility than a car (higher, better placed on road,no pillars etc), and that no cage driver could possibly know how far *you* could see, and that just because the cage driver couldn't see 100m ahead doesn't mean that you, with your visibility advantages, couldn't. Make it plain you'll dispute the charge in court (even if you don't intend to). I doubt they'll go through with it, too easy for a lawyer to tear the only civilian witnesses to shreds (" Have you ever actually *ridden* a motorcycle , Mrs OldHag ?")

**kels** · 5th February 2006, 09:31

Hi and welcome to the site

Write in and dispute the ticket....believe it or not they do take notice when you write in ...all the best.

**Macktheknife** · 5th February 2006, 09:55

Hi Girlie, Definitely write in, this ticket is bogus. Just the letter should do it but take it to court if you have to, no judge in his right mind would uphold it.
BTW welcome to the madness that is KB

**inlinefour** · 5th February 2006, 10:17

Contest it, deny it and say there is not a chance in hell of it actually happening. Don't worry about the lawyer as you just need to tell the judge these things. Its up to the Police to proove that you did it next and its that pathetic that they are even trying it on in the first place. Any Police officer who tries this sort of shyte should be repremanded by his/her superiors.

**merv** · 5th February 2006, 10:20

Where is Spud when we need him to explain this? I didn't think the cops gave out ticket based purely on *555 calls and before they even write to people I thought they expected the complainant to fill out a complaint form. That is other than taking a call and looking out for you and if you break the law in front of their eyes then they can do something.

**JMemonic** · 5th February 2006, 10:23

Ahh Pamerston, had a couple of tickets in that area one in a cage and one on the bike, the local cops really do seem to have attitude, the one in the cage was because I was passing a car doing variable speed with a huge build up of traffic behind it max speed of 80K's so I overtake as I do this clown speeds up so I hit the gas to complete overtaking and hit 120 get in front and start to reduce bang theres the cop, he gives me a ticket for 111k in 100k zone.

During my conversation I told him what had happened, he informs me well the reason he was the was because someone did 555 thing from a cell and complained about the driver I passed actions and driving to that point. He told me he figgured that people would pass this clown and it would be an easy way for him to get a few infringments in. Great, nice guy.

When I asked him two pertinant questions he got really defensive and basicly told me to f*$% off, what were the questions, 1 was he going to persue the driver that the inital complaint was made about given he now had two complaints about dangerious driving by this person and 2 could I please see his certificate of accuracy on the radar.

The other ticket the cop actually asked me what would happen if I hit a lampost at the speed I was going, this question raised an eyebrow, there were no lamposts in sight, to my left was a sandy beach to my right train tracks, sorry but I do think this area is where they send the rejects.