Okay, here's what happened...I was driving along Lee Byrd around 2:30pm a couple of weeks ago, when to my horror, I was pulled over by Loganville's finest by the Marathon station at the end of Lee Byrd and 78. The last speeding ticket I received was over 10 years ago, on Lee Byrd, right after the fire station. Since then, I have been religiously setting my cruise control on that stretch of road.
On this particular day, I had set my cruise control as usual, but didn't resume with it after the stop sign. Now, as we all know, the speed limit changes after that stop sign (due to the elementary school) from 35 to 25 between the hours of 2pm and 4pm. The officer told me I was traveling 45 mph! I guess it's possible, but I would have had to have practically floored my 11 year old van to be cruising at that speed immediately after the stop sign, over the short distance to where the speed limit resumes to 35 mph, right after the driveway to the elementary school. But even if I had been traveling that fast, he was really far away from me, around Perry Street. If anything I was traveling 45mph in a 35 mph zone (and please don't bother scolding me, I try really hard to be a conscientious driver, but we all have our moments-I was on my way to pick up my kids at the middle school, the elementary school hadn't even let out yet).
My question to you all is...should I bother fighting it? I found it odd that right after telling me I was speeding, he asked if it was okay for him to go and verify that his equipment was working properly. I said, "sure." He came back and said it was working properly. Is that normal? I mean he could have been doing anything in the car. Shouldn't he have to prove to me that the equipment was working properly? Also, how far can his equipment reach, and how accurate is it really? He was pretty far away (a block away from 78) and he didn't seem to even notice me until after I had passed the 35mph sign after the school driveway. I'm thinking there is a possibility that it's 10mph over and not 20mph over. Could mean a significant savings. By the way....my fine is $170.00! The horror! That's a lot of money!
Any suggestions???
On this particular day, I had set my cruise control as usual, but didn't resume with it after the stop sign. Now, as we all know, the speed limit changes after that stop sign (due to the elementary school) from 35 to 25 between the hours of 2pm and 4pm. The officer told me I was traveling 45 mph! I guess it's possible, but I would have had to have practically floored my 11 year old van to be cruising at that speed immediately after the stop sign, over the short distance to where the speed limit resumes to 35 mph, right after the driveway to the elementary school. But even if I had been traveling that fast, he was really far away from me, around Perry Street. If anything I was traveling 45mph in a 35 mph zone (and please don't bother scolding me, I try really hard to be a conscientious driver, but we all have our moments-I was on my way to pick up my kids at the middle school, the elementary school hadn't even let out yet).
My question to you all is...should I bother fighting it? I found it odd that right after telling me I was speeding, he asked if it was okay for him to go and verify that his equipment was working properly. I said, "sure." He came back and said it was working properly. Is that normal? I mean he could have been doing anything in the car. Shouldn't he have to prove to me that the equipment was working properly? Also, how far can his equipment reach, and how accurate is it really? He was pretty far away (a block away from 78) and he didn't seem to even notice me until after I had passed the 35mph sign after the school driveway. I'm thinking there is a possibility that it's 10mph over and not 20mph over. Could mean a significant savings. By the way....my fine is $170.00! The horror! That's a lot of money!
Any suggestions???
