Deceptive traffic citations

senecal.tony wrote:


#1 As we approached a so called “construction zone” in the city limits of Tullos I noticed several cones and the sign alerting me to reduce speed ahead from 55 mph to 45 mph and immediately began slowing down. Motor Home drivers know that when you hit the brake and have the “Jake Break” on, the vehicle immediately starts to slow by virtue of the engine compression and this was done by me as soon as I seen the notice to reduce speed.

#2 One other important item; Two other vehicles went directly in front of me entering into the reduced speed area going much faster than we were.

#3 The police officer writing the citation for 55 mph in a 45 mph zone stated on the ticket that the speed was determined by radar. I was not going 55 mph. The only explanation I could have is the radar is inaccurate or the the radar was shot or initiated just into the notice to reduce speed.

#4 Also, why were the two vehicles in front of me ignored?

#5 The purpose of the letter is to warn fellow drivers that the city of Tullos and or Parish of Lasalle in Louisiana has a significant campaign going on to fund city budgets via traffic tickets (commonly know as speed traps).There are many reasons for my getting to this conclusion:

#6 Motor Home drivers are some of the safest drivers on the road (we understand our restrictions to maintain safety).

#7 Who gives a ticket for 55 mph and a 45 mph zone? Is there any room for an equipment malfunction by needing to be recalibrated?
Why were two other vehicles allowed to go through the area faster than myself? I can’t be sure but maybe they were locals and not an out of town tag.

#8 My plan moving forward is to share this experience with the many RV clubs and travel organizations we are members of. I hope that my fellow travelers take notice of the unreasonable citation issuing practices and stay clear of Lasalle parish. Below is what I’ll be sharing so there is no confusion.

#9 Fellow travelers: Stay away from this, in my humble opinion, deceitfully run city of Tullos and or Lasalle parish. The local officials obviously can’t think through ligament and reasonable ways to fund and run the city effectively and turn to trickery or worst by trickery and penalizing law abiding out of town people.

#10 Last but certainly not least; I have paid the $241.50 to the city of Tullos, against my better judgement.

Debton

#1 Construction zone WAS "announced" BEFORE you got to it or the restricted construction zone speed.

YOU failed to appropriately take action and prepare to slow down properly by using ALL means including riding your brakes and not relying solely on the "Jake brake" which does not announce to motorists behind you that you are slowing down..

Your failure to obey the laws.

#2 IRRELEVANT. You made a personal choice to "follow" the two vehicles in front of you without taking appropriate action.

Your failure to obey the laws.

#3 Radar detectors used in the Police force ARE required to be properly calibrated AND CERTIFIED against a known good source. These are typically sent out to a third party periodically and recertified as required. That information is typically tracked and traceable.

I could possibly see maybe 1 or 2 MPH error if the unit is near end of calibration period or has suffered some sort of major damage.. But not 10 MPH. Perhaps YOU need to have YOUR MH speedometer calibration tested? Extremely good chance that your Speedo is off and not the Radar gun.

Your failure to obey the laws.

#4 Once again totally IRRELEVANT, what OTHERS ARE DOING IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS and has absolutely nothing to do with your error. YOU got caught, they didn't, still your fault for not obeying the laws.

Your failure to obey the laws.

#5 Warn all you like, but I bet from now on you WILL be obeying the laws and THAT is what counts.

WIN for law enforcement to at least get ONE person to obey.

#6 No, I have seen MH drivers doing things contrary to the law and quite often! I drive a lot of Interstate road for my commute, have seen many shady things pulled by MH drivers.

Just because you drive a MH does not mean you can swerve in and out of traffic like a Indy car..

MH drivers are not above the law nor are any other motorist, the difference here is you got caught and they didn't..

Funny story, at a previous job a co-worker was asked to take a server to the airport for a same day delivery.

Co-worker was being paid OT and had plenty of time to get the server on the plane.

Got pulled over for doing 15 over speed limit.

Company would not pay for the ticket so Co-worker took a day off to go to court. Had a bunch of drawings showing where the speed limit signs were and where the police pulled him over in order to get out of the ticket.

At the end, he made s stupid mistake of saying that the traffic behind him "may" have been "pushing" him..

Judge said something like 1 MPH over?

CoWorker replies yeah.

Judge replies well you admitted to being over, here is your fine plus court costs.. Judge told him that he WAS going to toss the case until the last remark.

1 MPH IS over and that IS the law, there is no "unwritten" law or rule that states they will give you "grace" period over the posted limit.

That leads into #7, ALL Police CAN AND ARE SUPPOSED TO pull you over for being over the limit, that is why there are called limits. They are NOT called "Suggested Retail Speeds".

More often they will let it ride up to 5 MPH provided your not doing something dangerous or any other moving violations have been seen.. However, pretty much any State are very serious about Work zones safety and will fine you at a higher rate (usually posted in the work zones that fines are increased).

#9 Folks often have no choice but to drive through areas, including the area that you are telling folks to avoid.

#10 You got caught, you paid the fine, you did the right thing. Failing to pay the fine could have eventually snowballed into much higher and costly fines and possibility of another court date and that judge may not be so nice to a scofflaw.

Move on. Nothing to see.