Deceptive traffic citations

[senecal_tony]

First, let me introduce myself; I am a 69 year old man that has been driving since I was 16 years old and have never received any driving citation or ticket except in Louisiana, specifically the Lasalle Parish. For the past 15 + years we have owned and driven motor homes. Currently, my wife and I are retired and travel extensively. We do most of our travel in a 34 foot motor home pulling a jeep (4 wheels down). Something to keep in mind while reading our story; I follow the traffic laws and do not go beyond speed limits. When you are an experienced driver of an RV and know that length and weight of specifically a motor home while pulling a vehicle have an impact on stopping distance; most of the motor home community knows to go below the posted speed limit.

On September 21, 2019 we were traveling through Lasalle Parish, US 165, back to our home in DeRidder Louisiana. Approaching the city of Tullos, we noticed several speed limit changes (65 mph, 55 mph to 45 mph) and we adhered to each by reducing our speed to below the posted limit each time. It should be noted that the notice of the speed limit reduction and the posted speed limit was short in distance in each instance.

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. 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.

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

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:

Motor Home drivers are some of the safest drivers on the road (we understand our restrictions to maintain safety).
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.
Our home location is 112 miles from the city of Tullos. We could fight this in court with the proverbial “he said she said argument”; may or may not work with the judge. But, why would we travel back for court with an uncertain ending? Could this be part of isolating out of town people for citations know they would more than likely just pay.
I made call to the Tullos mayor’s office on September 24, 2019 to discuss my dissatisfaction with the citation and how the facts and process materialized. The mayor was unavailable but I did speak to a representative in the office. After explaining my displeasure with the citation and requesting the mayor call me back, I was told that the mayor would not call back and that any further objections to the ticket would only be addressed in court. In addition, I have attempted to locate a website or email for the Tullos LA Mayor’s office but could not find anything. That brings me back to the “out of town people receiving citations argument”.
The charge for this citation is $230 (really). They do offer the opportunity to pay the ticket online for an extra $11 and change. There is also an added charge for paying over the phone.

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.

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.

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

Debton

[Hammerboy]

A reason to have dash cam that shows your speed.

Dan

[opnspaces]

senecal.tony wrote:
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.

You said you started slowing down and that with a Jakebrake the motorhome starts slowing immediately. But the question you need to ask yourself is were you going the speed limit or less at the moment you passed the sign? I would say many of us, myself included start slowing down, but don't actually reach the target speed until well after the sign.

senecal.tony wrote:

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.
Debton

If this is true then yep, you got unfairly targeted. Radar comes out it an ever expanding cone from the radar gun. So if two other cars raced past you at the time the gun was active then it recorded the faster speeds of the cars and the PO decided to pull you over. You can't really do much unless you have real proof to back up that the cars were the speeders.

[am1958]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
You will not win a "he said, she said" argument against a radar gun citation. There have been countless tickets written using radar readings as evidence and it is accepted in court after court as fact of speed being traveled. Police radars are frequently calibrated and certified as accurate. I think it is safe to say that you were traveling 55 when the radar recorded your speed. Were you were in or out of the actual speed zone is a different question, yet it is another argument you would almost assuredly lose without some pretty rare video documentation. Seeing that it was a construction zone, your $240.00 fine and court costs is an extreme bargain. In many states those fines are $500 to $1000 at a minimum.

The point you make is right but don't challenge the calibration of the detector request the training record of the officer citing you as well... It's an oft forgotten compliance issue by many police departments.

[ford_truck_guy]

I was just pulled over on the PA Pike outside of Pittsburgh, clocked at 88 in a 70...I WAS NOT TOWING...

As soon as I saw the LEO, I knew I was done so I placed my signal on and puled over... I received a "Turnpike Violation" .. It was a non moving violation, no points, no insurance, just a $120.00 fine....

I thanked the officer, he thanked me for supporting the LEO's ( all in the family ) and off I went.. did the speed limit for the balance of the 350 miles....

[colliehauler]

wing_zealot wrote:
Speed Trap or not; if you are not exceeding the posted speed limit at the prescribed sign, then you will not get a ticket for speeding. The does not however negate the possibility of getting a ticket for not using a turn signal or whatever.

Bull excrement, Dateline had a story on speed traps in Louisiana years ago. They had a Auditorium full of people that have been wrongly charged. Dateline set up a Lincoln with cameras on the speedometer along with several other cameras. Sure enough they were pulled over for speeding.

I have never received a speeding ticket I did not deserve, that does not mean that others have not.

[wing_zealot]

Speed Trap or not; if you are not exceeding the posted speed limit at the prescribed sign, then you will not get a ticket for speeding. The does not however negate the possibility of getting a ticket for not using a turn signal or whatever.

[Tyler0215]

Any time you approach a significantly lower speed limit, ie 55 to 35 SLOW DOWN FAST, Thats a sure sign of a speed trap.

[Lwiddis]

There’s a flip side, Tony, and that’s for the state to take all the traffic ticket revenue away from the cities and counties. Then the local police and sheriffs write very few tickets and many motorists are speeding and running red lights. I wish our state was again like your state.

[ford_truck_guy]

2012Coleman wrote:

2oldman wrote:

senecal.tony wrote:
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).

Wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard that.

You and others on this thread must never have visited the north Florida towns of Waldo and Lawtey.

Waldo and Lawtey were first designated by AAA as speed traps in August 1995, after complaints they were padding their coffers with traffic ticket revenues. Over the years, AAA issued regular warnings and even put up a billboard on the road near the towns. Yet, the tickets continued to be written, and the outcry grew.

In 2015, the Legislature passed a law banning traffic-ticket quotas for law officers, dubbing it the “Waldo Bill.’’

The action came after reports from 2014 that Waldo’s police department was writing speeding tickets based on quotas. The Waldo police later disclose they have ticket quotas and reveal that traffic enforcement accounts for nearly half of the town’s revenue.

The town’s police force was disbanded that year, and now the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office handles traffic enforcement there.

A ban on traffic-ticket quotas was then approved by Fl. lawmakers in 2015. The law also requires a city or county to report to state officials if traffic ticket revenue exceeds a third of the cost of operating its law-enforcement agency.

So what the OP experienced is most likely just as he described it - a speed trap - despite being "schooled" by old timers on here on how to drive. Good grief - maybe you should get caught up in the same situation. It is a real thing.

My advice to the OP is report it to AAA - maybe they will put up similar billboards.

Are they the towns off 301 in Northern Florida? if so, what a mess there... the limits changed faster than you could sneeze and the LEO's sat at the signs... my bro-in-law got a ticket there towing..

[2oldman]

2012Coleman wrote:
The action came after reports from 2014 that Waldo’s police department was writing speeding tickets based on quotas. The Waldo police later disclose they have ticket quotas

A 'quota' would just be a statistical percentage of drivers who are exceeding the limit by a certain amount. If the number of tickets written is significantly below that, then the likelihood is that the police are getting lazy.

It's difficult to believe that each officer is ordered to write X amount of tickets regardless of the speed.

[2012Coleman]

2oldman wrote:

senecal.tony wrote:
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).

Wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard that.

You and others on this thread must never have visited the north Florida towns of Waldo and Lawtey.

Waldo and Lawtey were first designated by AAA as speed traps in August 1995, after complaints they were padding their coffers with traffic ticket revenues. Over the years, AAA issued regular warnings and even put up a billboard on the road near the towns. Yet, the tickets continued to be written, and the outcry grew.

In 2015, the Legislature passed a law banning traffic-ticket quotas for law officers, dubbing it the “Waldo Bill.’’

The action came after reports from 2014 that Waldo’s police department was writing speeding tickets based on quotas. The Waldo police later disclose they have ticket quotas and reveal that traffic enforcement accounts for nearly half of the town’s revenue.

The town’s police force was disbanded that year, and now the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office handles traffic enforcement there.

A ban on traffic-ticket quotas was then approved by Fl. lawmakers in 2015. The law also requires a city or county to report to state officials if traffic ticket revenue exceeds a third of the cost of operating its law-enforcement agency.

So what the OP experienced is most likely just as he described it - a speed trap - despite being "schooled" by old timers on here on how to drive. Good grief - maybe you should get caught up in the same situation. It is a real thing.

My advice to the OP is report it to AAA - maybe they will put up similar billboards.

[2oldman]

senecal.tony wrote:
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).

Wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard that.

[NRALIFR]

A couple of thoughts:

First, for minor tickets like this, many jurisdictions have a means of allowing you to pay your fine, and be put on traffic “probation” so to speak. If you don’t get any more tickets in X months, the ticket doesn’t go on your record. The LEO may be able to tell you how to do it, or whoever answers the phone at the number that’s on the citation.

Second, the very same thing happened to me in some town along the Mississippi River several years ago. I was slowing down as I approached town, and one of the town police officers driving the opposite direction said I didn’t slow down fast enough. He wrote me a ticket, and wanted to hold my drivers license since I was out of state. I didn’t like the sound of that, so I asked if there was any way I could just pay the fine and keep my license. He said sure, follow me to city hall.

I just want to note here that he drove off so dadgum fast that I totally lost sight of him and had to find city hall myself. Fortunately, it was a small town. Anyway, I found him inside, wrote a check for the fine (about $100 IIRC), and he gave me back my license. I gripped about that for weeks afterwards, but you know what? They never cashed that check!

I carried that “Paid” receipt around with me in my wallet for years after that, just in case I ever got stopped in MS again and discover that there’s a bench warrant out on me! That was at least 20 years ago, so I don’t worry about it any more.

:):)

[bgum]

Most tickets I have received were deserved. 2 I should have gotten but I was cut some slack. One I got I didn’t deserve. The only way it could have happened was a crooked trooper. It does happen more so than we would like to see.

[Old-Biscuit]

Life's little lessons cost..........

If that is your first speeding ticket you have been very lucky.
YOU might have just been one of those 'other' vehicles that were ignored while the Popo was culling another one from the herd.

Most fines in 'construction zones' double/triple.