Ok, this happend March 31st I forgot it's quota day for Cops.... I am driving off 610 and I head underneath the underpass and I see this Cop walking in the middle of the street pulling people over, well he signals me and I am like officer what did I do.... He tells me "is their any reason why your seatbelt is not on properly" I am like what do you mean I have it buckled, I had the seatbelt strap underneath my arm. My question is this The Ticket does not state I was not wearing my seatbelt properly it states what he checked I was not wearing a seatbelt period.... This is false and crap....Technically I had my seatbelt on and buckled...... Can I fight this?
of course you can fight it. doesn't mean you'll win. it becomes a he said-she said thing and they prooobably won't bite on your story. you were probably just the victim of quota fulfilling. newsflash - justice is a joke in this country!!
I don't see why you can't fight this... But let me preface my opinion with - I am no lawyer, nor am I well versed in local law enforcement practice. However, I have had a ticket or two and the thing that I would ask is if you signed the ticket? Correct me if I am wrong, but when you get a ticket, you sign the ticket and you and the cop each get a copy. Well, if you signed the receipt (ticket), that has the cop's description that you weren't wearing your belt, then that looks incriminating because you signed something that described why you got the ticket. If you didn't sign the ticket, then that could be your argument to the judge, i.e. - "Judge I didn't sign because I DID have my belt on!" Or if you did/didn't sign, but you had someone in the car that can vouche that you were in fact wearing your belt, that may help your argument. Other-wise it sounds like the cop may have gotten the better of you. Damn quotas
FWIW, as far as I can remember, when they ask you to sign the ticket they also tell you that signing the ticket is NOT an admission of guilt...
its not admission of guilt it just to let you know you have to go to court on that date, also if you dont sign they can take you to jail
I got pulled over by a cop for a seatbelt infraction once. I was driving normally wearing my seatbelt. He pulled me over for no reason. I made the mistake of partially unbuckling my seatbelt when he pulled me over not knowing he was going to come walking up, peer inside my car, and smother me looking to see if my seatbelt was on. He said the reason he pulled me over was he saw the shiny buckle hanging indicating I wasn't wearing a seatbelt which was a total lie. From the time he pulled me over to the time he peered in at me through my window, I had made no movements whatsoever other than clicking the button on my seatbelt to release it. It was still hanging over me. I unbuckled it because I was about to exit my car because I thought I was leaking something or else why would he be pulling me over if I did nothing wrong...which I didn't? Of course, he used that crap against me, lied straight up about his version of what prompted him to pull me over in the first place, ignored my truthful conversation completely, and wrote me his ticket. Yes, it was end of month and he was obviously just looking to meet a quota as well. Just another reason why I hate cops. Also, the motorcycle cops have been parking their bikes off the major intersection everyone goes through to get to work walking up and down cars stuck in traffic looking for infractions. I think they even went as far as to change the timing of the light changes so they could create a traffic jam. So, they just point at cars and make them pull over to write them tickets. It's a total bunch of BS how cops operate to meet ticket quotas. I swear they had the light changes switched to give them longer times to walk up and down the four lane traffic jams they created to pick cars out to write tickets. They can't just write tickets in the normal course of their jobs. They have to set up shop and make everyone suffer in traffic so they can write their tickets to meet their quotas.
You're right Jeeber, the minute I read your comment, I remembered a cop telling me that. But EMAN34, I had no idea that not signing meant a trip to jail. Do you know what the "official" charges would be? Or is it simply, "failue to sign for ticket."
If it's he said vs she said... Aren't you innocent until proven guilty? So how could the cop prove you weren't wearing it? More than likely, he won't even show up for the court date.
Heh, saw one of the google ads at the bottom of this thread... http://www.buckleoff.com/?referrer=gosbl I started avoiding those underpass u-turns in the daytime, especially the southwest freeway ones, when I got waved over one time there. If I have to make a u-turn, I just go the long way and wait for the lights to go on the other side of the freeway.
why not just wear the seatbelt (or wear it the right way) and avoid the hassle of having to go the long way and wait for the lights to go on on the other side of the freeway? (like i should talk though... two tickets within a three week span last year.)
cant remember the exact charge, but its something along the lines of failure to sign, this and hit and run are the moving violations that can get you arrested. Speeding, seatbelts, no insurance , stuff like this they can only give you tickets. Unless you refused to sign.
I had a cop give me a ticket for no seatbelt in Austin. I was wearing it, but after he pulled me over I took it off to get my wallet out for my license and registration. Big mistake. I went to court to fight it, and I didn't even get to say a word. The cop didn't show so they dismissed the ticket.
this has nothing to do with seatbelts, but with a cop. Holy **** did this cop piss me off. Does anybody know where the Library is downtown? Anyhoo, next door at city hall is the Houston Childrens Festival. So some streets are blocked off and stuff. Lamar is where the ramp to the Librarys parking garage is, and that is where we park on the weekends. So I pull into Lamar from Smith street, and this cop stops me. He goes this road is blocked. I go great, I work here. So he goes again. Do you work here? I say yes, and show my badge. He again asks if I work here. So I show the damn thing in his face, and he finally lets me go. I tell my coworkers about this cop, and how he pissed me off. So about 9:30 or or so he comes walks into the Library lobby and wants to pee in our restroom. I go absolutely ape****. Seriously. And I quote. "Thastha motherfugger that gave me a hard time this morning." I said that loudly. What pisses me off is that, just because you are a cop means you get to do ****, and hide behind a badge. Yeah, I like police people. They have a tough job to do, but when they pull of **** like this, that pisses me and in general, people off.
I have been given one traffic ticket in my entire life. For "failure to yield right of way." According to this cop I made someone slam on their breaks and swerve out of my way as I was turning out of a turn lane into a parking lot. So bad that their tires squeeled, according to the cop. He was so full of crap. I think I would have noticed that one. I am pretty sure the only reason he gave me a ticket is because there was a long line of cars trying to get out of this parking lot and he wanted to cut in front of me but I didn't let him in. What a jerk.
Only ticket I got was for an expired inspection sticker. Got that taken care of the same day and went to court later tha week and had the price brought down from $130 to $80 which was the price of the court.
Perhaps you should consider wearing your seatbelt. I don't agree with the ticket, but have had accidents where I could have been killed had I not wore the seatbelt.
