I have received 2 tickets in the last 4 years which I thought were unfair. I guess everyone does, but both I believe were "speed traps" which the AAA defines as "traffic enforcement measures and practices which are designed to raise revenue rather than prevent crashes or where there is evidence that enforcement is not justified by sound engineering principles."
I now wish I had had the CarChip in both cases.
One was for supposedly not coming to a full stop in the middle of an Indian reservation in the Everglades. The kids needed a rest break and two cops were waiting at this obscure stop which averages a car every few minutes. I called the AAA and they recommended I fight it because it had all the symptoms of a speed trap. I took a day off, drove back to the spot, took pictures and went fully prepared to explain to the judge in Naples the physics of my full stop. The judge flipped through the photos with little enthusiasm and told me something to the effect of "The cop is a professional whose version I trust more". If I had a CarChip, I suspect this particular judge would have had the same bored look if he had flipped through its data. But then again, it would have told me for sure if I just slowed down to 2 mph and rolled through the stop.
The other one I had just accelerated from a stop sign. Again 2 cops. One stopped me and told me I was going 35 in a 25 zone. I told him I could physically not done that given the distance from the stop and asked to see the radar gun. He refused. As I tried to comment on the citation his refusal to show me evidence he threatened to arrest me if I wrote anything beyond just signing it. With my son in the seat behind me getting traumatized I just agreed. I thought about calling Orlando's mayor about his finest, but figured it would just be another waste of time. I wished again I had a CarChip. May be the cop was right all along.
If cops knew we had our own "speed guns" would they issue fewer questionable tickets? Would we dispute fewer? I think so - what do my readers think?
