NFB: tickets

[lt14mla]

recently my town has established a strict "click it or ticket" law. Today when i left school to drop my friend off cops had a section of the road blocked off and were issuing tickets. I was told to pull over in the parking lot where other cops were . I park and wait. The officer approaches me and tells me i wasn't wearing my seat belt when I am 100% certain I was. The girl however in the back seat was not, so as i was driving before i saw the cops i turned around to tell her to put on her belt. The cop says anotehr cop raidoed to him that he saw me put my belt on which is bull. Then he also goes on to harass me about no front plate. I was hit a while back and i told him that the bracket was damaged and i was for a new one to come in. He says it looks like it was neevr there and wrote me a ticket for it. I then again tell him i was wearing my seat belt politely and says "well then fight it and ill see you in court."

Is this complete bull or what. Im so maddd. It's $100 for the two, but i shouldn't have to pay this at all. Is tehre anything i can do, or am i just better off paying the money and forgetting about the situation. sorry for the rant, i have a feeling it was because of my car. Cops around here are little punks who hide behind their badges.

[N20LT4Bird]

First off, the ticket is BS. The cop acnnot write you a ticket if he did not witness the infraction.....I mean, he can, and probably gets away with it......but its not a valid ticket.

Your mistake was not having the front plate, cause now they have a legit ticket. Put the front plate on the car and the judge will likely drop it, if you plead to the no seat-belt. If you push the seatbelt ticket to trial, and you do some research on how a trial works, you can beat that.....but you will wind up paying the front plate ticket.

If it were me, I would talk to the D.A. NEVER ADMIT ANYTHING to ANYBODY. Tell the D.A. that you want at least one of the charges dropped.....and pay the other. If he refuses to drop either one. Tell the D.A. you will see him in court. Just about guaranteed he drops it on the day of the trial.

If it goes to trial, call in and cancel at least twice (a week in advance). THen go to the trial.....the chances of both cops being there are slim to . Oh......and NEVER take the stand in a trial. Remember you have the constitutional right to NOT testify.

Ive fought more of these bullshi.....tickets than I care to recall. I always get them dropped or reduced. You just have to know the system and be willing to put the time in and fight for what is right. If we keep heading this way, in 20 years, there will be some jackass cop at your front door to give you a ticket whenever you leave your house. Its not right.

[TraceZ]

We have that in Wi also. The problem I see is the the seatbelt is a secondary offense. It is not legal for an officer to pull you over strictly for the seatbelt. They have to find some other primary violation, then they can ticket you for the seatbelt as a sidenote. It sounds like they used your missing front plate as a primary offence, they nailed you with the seatbelt as a secondary. That sucks. Just tell them you had to remove your seatbelt to get out your drivers license when you saw you were getting pulled over.

If they were running a sting just to find seatbelt violations that would be illegal in Wisconsin. They are not allowed to pull you over specifically for that.

Sucks, man.

[Steel2686]

N20LT4Bird is right...

If they did not witness the infraction, no dice on the ticket. BOTH officers that had a part in the ticket will have to appear in court, and as posted above, those chances are slim to . The front plate, however, is something you may have to end up paying.

[lt14mla]

TraceZ-believe it or not they are actually pulling people over for the seat belts and then they are going from there. Its really weak. Especially considering the situation.

Also is it vaild to put my plate up in my dash cuz i aint gonna be putting the bracket on my car.

also if i go to court and say the whole thing about a cop writin me a ticket for something he didnt witness am i gonna get screwed over because im 18 and they dont think i know anything or will they actually listen to it.

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

maybe you can make a L shaped bracket that mounts underneath the front bumper cover and angles up in front of the bumper. You might even be able to make a detachable one using velcro or some other device. Anyway, you could put it on there and take a picture of it for court.

[97LT1Z28]

maybe you can make a L shaped bracket that mounts underneath the front bumper cover and angles up in front of the bumper. You might even be able to make a detachable one using velcro or some other device. Anyway, you could put it on there and take a picture of it for court.

That velcro thing for the front plates is a damn good idea! The cops and state troopers are doing the same thing here in Texas. Even though they don't have much to stand on when it comes to issuing the seatbelt tickets as the only offense, they are mainly trying to create awareness (or fear) so that more people buckle up. It's a pain to show up for court and get out of the tickets so their thinking is that people will see it as less trouble to just buckle up.

[fastTa]

A cop can pull you over for no other reason than not wearing your seat belt. "Probable Cause" is a very loose Penal Code terminology, and it is at the discretion of the officer. Which means a cop can pull you over for anything, at anytime, just because he feels like it. BUT...it is bullshi! that he lied that another cop radioed in to him that you had just put on your seat belt.

Fight it if you really had it on.

[Trash man]

i got my front plate tucked inbetween my front seat and the center consol. never had a problem. cop ask(here in ct) i just say that the bracket is on back order and no1 else has it and they leave me be

[CamaromanZ28]

I feel ya

Here in maryland they bust down on that crap. They were sitting at my old high school doing that crap. Ya like they have said never admit anything . Also the cop cannot write you a ticket unless they witnessed it . I have been threw alot of that crap to . Court , the only thing out of my 1,100 dollars in tickets was a 275 one . You can fight it and you will have a good chance to win. But that license plate thing . ummm need to handle that another way ...

[Dave M]

The Click it or Ticket campaign is a national campaign right now with law enforcement everywhere.

Different states have different laws when it comes to seatbelts. As TraceZ pointed out, in Wisconsin it's a secondary offense only, same here in PA. But in many states you can be pulled over simply for not wearing your seatbelt.

If you take it to court and say you had your seat belt on, and the cop says you didn't, who do you think is going to win that argument? Is there any chance you can get the girl to testify that you had it on?

Here's your best bet: Use your state's website to reserach your motor vehicle laws. I've printed a copy of PA's vehicle code out and I carry it with me in the car. NJ's website should be www.state.nj.us Look for your department of transportation's page and search for "vehicle code". You should find in there if seat belts are a primary or secondary offense. Try to get the girl to go to court with you to swear you had it on. Chances are the cops won't even show up if they were ticketing a bunch of people that day. If you can produce any evidence of your accident, such as receipts or an invoice for that bracket, that would help prove why the front plate wasn't on there. You get the idea. The point is to be well researched and well prepared. They won't expect it from an 18 year old, and as I said, there's a good chance the cops won't show. try this website, I did a quick search on NJ's page and came up with this: http://www.nj.gov/mvc/cit_violations/d_violations.html

If you can't find what you're looking for on there, retry the search I mentioned above.

EDIT: I just found that in NJ a seatbelt offense is a primary offense. In this case, both the officer who actually witnessed you without the belt and the officer who wrote the ticket should have to be present to testify as to what they saw/did. There's not much you can do to fight their testimony, except offer your witness, or hope they don't show up.

[Rhode Island Red]

Move to Vermont .. No seat belt laws

[N20LT4Bird]

Move to Vermont .. No seat belt laws

Thats the way it should be....same with helmet laws. If someone wants to go out and splatter his brains on the pavement, thats their business...not johnny law's. Now, I guess the problem comes in when that person is vegetable for life and my tax dollars go towards their medicaid ....socialism

[Steel2686]

As 88bird5spd pointed out, here in CT, they ticket for that stuff all the time. Connecticut has become a nanny state. They love to tell us what's best for us instead of letting us decide on our own.

I wear my seatbelt only because I was involved in an accident that threw me to the back of a station wagon in a roll-over when I was 16. Although I only had minor injuries, it could have been a lot worse. But that's my choice. Other's may have a different situation.

As far as the front plate goes, I guess you can't do this on 3rd gens, but on my '02, I have a front plate on behind the factory plate filler. If I ever get pulled over, I'll tell the cop I was taking pics of the car and forgot to remove the plate filler when I was done. If he needs me to prove it, at least I have the plate behind it.

[lt14mla]

so do u guys think its worth it to fight the seat belt ticket ill prlly jsut pay the the liscense plate one.