🚀 go-pugleaf

>  So, I think I should get a lawyer to deal with it. Do you guys know of a good
>  lawyer in that county? It is somewhere near Asheville.

It is really worth it.  Wouldn't a lawyer cost close to as much as the
fine?  And would you have to travel to Asheville?  Plus, they'll just tell
you that if you KNEW that you're speedometer was 10% off, why didn't you
drive 10% slower.  Anyways, speeding is speeding.

Just my 2 cents.

-- 
Michael Hoeffner                          Duke University
mrh2@acpub.duke.edu                       School of Engineering '98

Michael Hoeffner (mrh2@acpub.duke.edu) wrote:
: >  So, I think I should get a lawyer to deal with it. Do you guys know of a good
: >  lawyer in that county? It is somewhere near Asheville.

: It is really worth it.  Wouldn't a lawyer cost close to as much as the
: fine?  And would you have to travel to Asheville?  Plus, they'll just tell
: you that if you KNEW that you're speedometer was 10% off, why didn't you
: drive 10% slower.  Anyways, speeding is speeding.

actually, a lawyer probably would be worth the cost.  for example 
(unfortunately), i recently got a speeding ticket for 62 in a 45 (well, i 
honestly thought it was 55).  now, the court cost, fine, etc. would be 
$85.  i retained a lawyer to handle it for me for $260, which includes 
the court costs and fines.  the great thing is, i will only get improper 
equipment, which will not put any points on my lisence or insurance.  so, 
imho, the lawyer's fees are well worth the insurance money saved 
($300-400 per year).

i'd definitely at least go talk to a lawyer, and see what they think 
about it.  at the very least, call the law office--they probably handle 
so many speeding tickets that the secretary can tell you how it will go.

good luck,

david

*************************************************************************
*  David Marshburn		 |				 	* 
*  marshdt3@wfu.edu	         |         *NEW* and *IMPROVED*		*
*  Box 8691	            	 |   	       SUMMER .SIG 		*
*  Winston-Salem, N.C.  27109    | 	      				*
*  (910) 759-7044	         |	(Especially Wednesdays!)	*
*************************************************************************

In article <3rdjj9$r7n@eis.wfunet.wfu.edu>, marshdt3@wfu.edu (david theon
marshburn ii) wrote:

>  so, imho, the lawyer's fees are well worth the insurance money saved 
> ($300-400 per year).

Good point.  I had forgotten about the insurance.  But they're are still
going to say, "If you knew that the speedometer was showing speeds 10%
lower than the actual speed, then why didn't you just go 10% slower?"  You
could always just lie though.

-- 
Michael Hoeffner                          Duke University
mrh2@acpub.duke.edu                       School of Engineering '98

McDowell County.
Bobby Hunter is a state representative from there and is a lawyer.  He 
might be able to help you.  I have no interest in his career, I just know 
him from the legislature and he's a nice guy.

Point about lawyer costing as much as the fine.  Yep, but if you just pay 
the fine and plead guilty (his original post is not here so I don't know 
the charge), if it's 10-miles an hour over the limit, you'll get points 
that will run your auto insurance up.... and it will stay up for three 
years.  That's the cost of pleading guilty and paying the fine.  In most 
cases, if you don't have a rap sheet four blocks long, the lawyer can 
negotiate a lower charge that would end up showing no points on your 
driver's license or insurance.

Also there was something about a speedometer being 10% off.  If you've 
got proof, send it to the attorney.

Dave Boliek



On Fri, 9 Jun 1995, Michael Hoeffner wrote:

> >  So, I think I should get a lawyer to deal with it. Do you guys know of a good
> >  lawyer in that county? It is somewhere near Asheville.
> 
> It is really worth it.  Wouldn't a lawyer cost close to as much as the
> fine?  And would you have to travel to Asheville?  Plus, they'll just tell
> you that if you KNEW that you're speedometer was 10% off, why didn't you
> drive 10% slower.  Anyways, speeding is speeding.
> 
> Just my 2 cents.
> 
> -- 
> Michael Hoeffner                          Duke University
> mrh2@acpub.duke.edu                       School of Engineering '98
> 
> 

Michael Hoeffner (mrh2@acpub.duke.edu) wrote:
: >  So, I think I should get a lawyer to deal with it. Do you guys know of a good
: >  lawyer in that county? It is somewhere near Asheville.

: It is really worth it.  Wouldn't a lawyer cost close to as much as the
: fine?  And would you have to travel to Asheville?  Plus, they'll just tell
: you that if you KNEW that you're speedometer was 10% off, why didn't you
: drive 10% slower.  Anyways, speeding is speeding.

Oops, forgot to mention it correctly. I DID not know that my speedometer
was broken. I said with a very straight face that I was doing 74 to the 
ticketing officer. She must have thought that I was a liar when she gave me 
the ticket for 80. I noticed afterwards that the mile markers on high ways 
are consistently about 10% off from my odometer, which makes me believe
that my speedometer might be off too, which seems to coincide with my observation. 
Unfortunately, I am right now in CA for the summer to plead this personally.

Thanks,
-S

--
Surendar Chandra (<A HREF="http://www.cs.duke.edu/cgi-bin/finger?surendar@tamil.cs.duke.edu">surendar@tamil.cs.duke.edu </A>)
<A HREF="http://www.cs.duke.edu/cgi-bin/userinfo?surendar">Home Page for Surendar</A>

Okay, I was wrong. Got my speedometer checked and it was right 
on the dot. Guess I was really doing 80 on a 65 zone, though 
I would swear otherwise. :-(

Anyway, I still talked to a lawyer in Mcdonnel county and he said that
15 over the limit is chance for a license revocation and he will try
and get it down. He says it will cost me $500 (fees) and $150 court
fee. Compared to the states $10 fine and $60 court fee, this seems 
terribly high. Is he charging this because he knows I am not around
in NC and so have no choice? 

How much do insurance companies increase their premium
for traffic violations? Do they increase the liability or comprehensive
part. I have an old car and so if they are gonna increase 
comprehensive, I might as well just drop it. The lawyer sounded as if
there is 10-90 chance that anything good will come out of the $650
that he wants. Is this $650 worth it at all? 

Any help on this is REALLY appreciated.

Thanks much,
-S

--
Surendar Chandra (<A HREF="http://www.cs.duke.edu/cgi-bin/finger?surendar@tamil.cs.duke.edu">surendar@tamil.cs.duke.edu </A>)
<A HREF="http://www.cs.duke.edu/cgi-bin/userinfo?surendar">Home Page for Surendar</A>

Surendar Chandra (surendar@duke.cs.duke.edu) wrote:

: Anyway, I still talked to a lawyer in Mcdonnel county and he said that
: 15 over the limit is chance for a license revocation and he will try
: and get it down. He says it will cost me $500 (fees) and $150 court
: fee. Compared to the states $10 fine and $60 court fee, this seems 
: terribly high. Is he charging this because he knows I am not around
: in NC and so have no choice? 

that could be the case.  that certainly is an awfully high fee.  my 
fine/court costs will be $85, which leaves $175 for the attorney, which 
is considerabley different from $500!  i might talk to another attorney 
or two if i were you, before i made any commitments.  and you should 
probably call your insurance company to make sure how much your premiums 
will go up if XXXXX happens or if YYYYYY happens.  for a case like yours 
( >15 mph over), i've heard that insurance companies increase the rates 
about $300-400 a year, tho' that depends on the company....

good luck!

david

*************************************************************************
*  David Marshburn		 |				 	* 
*  marshdt3@wfu.edu	         |         *NEW* and *IMPROVED*		*
*  Box 8691	            	 |   	       SUMMER .SIG 		*
*  Winston-Salem, N.C.  27109    | 	      				*
*  (910) 759-7044	         |	(Especially Wednesdays!)	*
*************************************************************************

Surendar Chandra (surendar@duke.cs.duke.edu) wrote:
: Okay, I was wrong. Got my speedometer checked and it was right 
: on the dot. Guess I was really doing 80 on a 65 zone, though 
: I would swear otherwise. :-(

: Anyway, I still talked to a lawyer in Mcdonnel county and he said that
: 15 over the limit is chance for a license revocation and he will try

You can get your license revoked for speeding only by 15 mph?
This is crazy.
Are you sure he wasn't lying to you?

In article <3rnp33$hm0@news.duke.edu>, bcook@acpub.duke.edu (Brian Cook) wrote:
 
> You can get your license revoked for speeding only by 15 mph?
> This is crazy.
> Are you sure he wasn't lying to you?

Why is it crazy?  I recently started using a bike as my main means of
transportation (being a poor college student and all), and have realized
just how crazy all of the drivers out there are.  I probably won't drive a
car for at least another two years, but when I do, it will be at the
proper speed.

P.S.  Maybe I'm biased.  A car (out of state, with a mother, father, and 3
young children) ran a stop sign in front of me and I couldn't stop in
time.  It ended up upside down.  Luckily no one was killed.

P.P.S.  It was because every person in the wreck had a seatbelt on.

-- 
Michael Hoeffner                          Duke University
mrh2@acpub.duke.edu                       School of Engineering '98

Surendar Chandra (surendar@duke.cs.duke.edu) wrote:

: Anyway, I still talked to a lawyer in Mcdonnel county and he said that
: 15 over the limit is chance for a license revocation and he will try
: and get it down. He says it will cost me $500 (fees) and $150 court
: fee. Compared to the states $10 fine and $60 court fee, this seems 
: terribly high. Is he charging this because he knows I am not around
: in NC and so have no choice? 

Why don't you just drive up there and talk to the District Attorney? Ask 
him if he will let you plead guilty to 69 in a 55. If he lets you, you 
pay the costs, any fine, and take the insurance hit. If not, then you 
can hire a weasel. If you do need an attorney, though, look up Gary 
Triggs in Morganton. The guy is a monster in a courtroom. If he can't 
slime his way out of something, no one can.

Steve Crisp

In article <mrh2-1406951929560001@macsrule.dorm.duke.edu>,
Michael Hoeffner <mrh2@acpub.duke.edu> wrote:
>In article <3rnp33$hm0@news.duke.edu>, bcook@acpub.duke.edu (Brian Cook) wrote:
>> You can get your license revoked for speeding only by 15 mph?
>> This is crazy.
>> Are you sure he wasn't lying to you?
>
>Why is it crazy?  

At least in reference to interstate highways (which is where I think
the original poster got his ticket), its pretty crazy alright.  These
highways were designed 30 years ago to safely move cars of that era
(two-ton monsters with easy-lock drum brakes, pitiful suspensions, no
radial tires, no shoulder belts, let alone air-bags, etc) around at
speeds of 75 mph.  Now we have entry level cars that are perfectly
capable of safely cruising at 80 mph or more and we still have to
stick to 65 mph (still 55 mph in some states).

In regard to the stop-light incedent, I find that people tend to drive
too fast in residential/commercial areas because more than 20 years of
ridiculously low highway speed limits have conditioned people to
always drive 5-10 mph over the speed limit.  This is very unfortunate;
I'd agree that speeding 15 mph over a 15 mph speed limit in a school
zone is a doubling of the limit, very unsafe, and should be grounds
for a license revocation. However, doing 80 in a 65 is a speed that
the road is designed to carry, and only 23% over the limit..

Drew

##############################################################################
#		Andrew Gallatin, Computer Project Manager                    #
#	    Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences		     #
#	  Box 90251, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0251		     #
##############################################################################

Brian Cook (bcook@acpub.duke.edu) wrote:

: : Anyway, I still talked to a lawyer in Mcdonnel county and he said that
: : 15 over the limit is chance for a license revocation and he will try

: You can get your license revoked for speeding only by 15 mph?
: This is crazy.
: Are you sure he wasn't lying to you?

yes, this is correct.  or so said the ticketing officer when i got my 
ticket...

--
*************************************************************************
*  David Marshburn		 |				 	* 
*  marshdt3@wfu.edu	         |         *NEW* and *IMPROVED*		*
*  Box 8691	            	 |   	       SUMMER .SIG 		*
*  Winston-Salem, N.C.  27109    | 	      				*
*  (910) 759-7044	         |	(Especially Wednesdays!)	*
*************************************************************************

Call some other lawyers... the NC Bar Assoc. in Raleigh can give you all 
the numbers.

Dave