help w/speeding ticket in Ontario
 

Hey guys and gals. I just bought my first bike, mint 2000 F4 on the last day of July. I was riding yesterday, pretty much end of the season here. I was riding along, about 100km/h in an 80 zone. There's a car way ahead of me going about 40. It's hunting week here, and I can see an orange hat on him as I come up. I pull out to pass, and a signal comes on and he starts turning left. I basically s&*t my pants and came onto the brakes so hard that I thought I was going over the handlebars. I get out of it, unhurt, and he pulls to the side of the road and waves me by. I'm scared, mad, and need a new pair of shorts. I'm about a kilometer from my house on my way home. I come to the stop sign, a little mad, and give it a little rip (I'm out in the country, no houses/kids). My luck, come over a little hill, and 2 cops. I get a nice ticket, 128 in an 80, and 2km/h away from having bike impounded, no license for a week, minimum $2000 fine, etc. I tell him I can see my house, tell him what just happened, and I'm just trying to get home. I get NO break on the fine, full pop, and a big speech about scraping guys like me off the road. I tell him it's probably mostly because of the 20 times I've been cut off or almost run off the road in the last 3 months. Sorry, long story short, but I can't afford what this is going to do to my insurance. Anyone know who the best people to call are? POINTTS? One of the other ones? Someone please help.

not sure what to tell ya. 128 in a 80 zone? you just got unlucky m8

Your best bet would to get a lawyer and see what kind of deal they can get you on the ticket. Can you really blame the cop for giving you the full thing? No. You said it yourself. You were pissed off because you had been cut off and gave the right wrist a little exercise. There is nobody to blame for the speed but yourself. I'm not trying to preach, but when a person gets a ticket for excessive speed, you can't blame the officer.

I plead to all members of this forum, please no rants on how the officer was an a-hole for not giving him a break, he / she was just doing their job. Remember 48km/h over the speed limit is like 30mp/h over the limit in the US.

And yes as you have guessed, I am a Police Officer, as a matter of fact in Ontario.

So tempting to crack the obvious joke ;)

cwmc29 is right about the no rants part. When you do something wrong, know you did something wrong and get caught at it you can only really grin sheepishly while you swallow the bitter pill. The cop was only doing his job. And doing 30 mph above the limit in any vehicle here is gonna earn every syllable of the speed speech.

Dunno if Canada has anything like the driver's ed option here, where you can take a course top lower a ticket's consequences (or eliminate it). Might not be a whole hella a lawyer can do either. Perhaps argue technicalities (last radar gun calibration, if one wasn't used how'd the officer clock you)

About the only way you can get out of it is on technicality. If the officer made a mistake on the ticket, wasn't certified to be operating the radar gun, etc.. my best recommendation is go talk to a lawyer about your options, although I don't think there is much you'll be able to do about it.

Good Luck!!
Ride Safe!

Lex

There are a couple of ways to look at this.
First you sped, you earned the ticket. Pay it and move on. Keep speeding and the law of averages will draw you a good one about every two years or so.
Second you could fight the ticket. Deny, deny deny. It wasn't your fault, the throttle stuck, the sun was reflecting off the instrument cluster, he clocked a different speeder, there was a meteor shower, a starburst,... Go to court and force the policeman to attend court, maybe on his day off...miss a day of work for the court day, pay a lawyer, and court costs if you lose plus the fine and points. You will stand out in that officers mind. He may see you more often.
Your call.