3rd Time’s A Charm

The best way to avoid a 118 mph speeding ticket is by traveling at or below the posted speed limit. There’s numerous ways to acquire the ticket, I’ll share one of them with you in a minute but what happens after that? ‘Traffic School’ isn’t an option at that rate of speed. It’s not your typical speeding ticket where you arrive on time to your court date, plead guilty, pay a fine and go back where you came from. Once you hit triple digits on the roads in the U.S., you’re looking at fines and/or jail time and your driving privileges will be revoked for a minimum 30 days. This is traffic court, not criminal court, it’s just you against the arresting officer who, by the way, has the same authorization signature on their paycheck as the presiding judge. Add a uniformed passenger witness, the police vehicle dash-cam, a calibrated radar gun and the chances of getting out of it are grim. I know one way that works - I’ve used it twice.

Interstate 15 runs north and south between the borders of Canada and Mexico in the western United States connecting major cities and states such as San Diego, California, Salt Lake City, Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada. I received this particular speeding violation just outside Las Vegas, in the state of California, in the middle of the day time with very few vehicles on the road. It’s a picturesque stretch of two-lane interstate with wide open desert as far as you can see, decorated in Joshua Trees on both sides of the road with nothing in front of, nor behind you for extended periods of time. Idyllic conditions for 113 cubic inch, 158 horse power to the rear tire, custom softail I told you about last week.

I wasn’t paying attention to the speedometer, the amount of vehicles on the road were few and they were really spaced out - Nobody was in danger. At one point, in my rear view mirror, I realized there’s sirens flashing way back there. I assumed they were coming for me. That was the first time I’d seen them so I wasn’t sure how long they were back there but I slowed down so they could catch me and when they did, I pulled over and shut the bike off.

I pleaded my case with them and explained I was just enjoying the bike and didn’t mean any harm. They weren’t having it. There were two arresting officers and they were both pretty irritated with me, they told me they were minutes away from radioing a helicopter to pursue me and they had been trying to catch me for several miles.

I was told they clocked me at 118 miles per hour (190 km) but they lost it as I split vehicle traffic. I was shown the radar gun with my documented rate of speed which was clocked at 110 mph (177 km). Naturally, they informed me of the list of violations at that rate of speed which included the possibility of a felony crime, impound the bike, take me to jail and suspend my license. I told them I was headed home from Las Vegas and I’m not running from anything, I’ll slow down and whatever else they wanted to hear. I was issued a citation for 110 mph in a 70 mph zone and released.

I did some research over the next couple of days and learned the fines alone with this citation were going to be upwards of $900. I had received a traffic violation earlier that year which meant there was also a possibility of having my driving privileges suspended for up to six months. I began searching for a way out of it.

I called C.W. - The No.2 man in my life behind only my Grandfather. He left back in 2013 (another reason I love #13). C.W. knew a woman who owned and operated a traffic school in Ventura, California. A school you’re permitted to attend when your traffic violation is manageable, between 5-15 mph’ish over the posted speed limit. She explained to him which he explained to me; “you can legally extend your traffic court hearing date two times.” I was told my best chance to get out of this ticket is to call the courthouse my arraignment is scheduled at the morning of my hearing and request an extension due to “unforeseen circumstances.” The objective here is to frustrate the arresting officer’s appearing against me in court, two times, and hope they’ve given up testifying against me by the time the third court date arrives. That’s what I did.

The first date arrived and I called the county clerks office as soon as they opened. I explained to the woman on the phone that I couldn’t make my court date due to unforeseen circumstances and she issued me a new date that was about six weeks away. Six weeks later I called them again, the morning of my hearing, I told the woman on the phone I couldn’t make my court date again and I needed an extension. She informed me this is my second and final extension and if I don’t make my third court date a bench warrant will me issued for my arrest. I told her I understood the consequences and she issued me a new date the following month. That was it, I couldn’t extend the date anymore, I had to appear in court when the day arrived.

That courthouse was packed that day - Standing room only. A lot of arresting officers were in the building along with approximately 150 of us law breaking humans. I heard several really good stories as people were defending themselves and the judge didn’t care. Every.single.person who appeared before that judge was found guilty that day, I knew my chances of beating this case rested on the absence of the arresting officers. After about an hour of waiting, the judge called my name. I walked to the front of the court and appeared before him, he asked me how I plea, “not guilty your honor.” He called out both arresting officers by name to testify against me and the court room was silent. He called each of their names again and nobody responded. I was told to return to my seat and my case would be recalled after he was finished hearing everyone else.

Again, I heard a handful of stories out of those 150’ish people that sounded like a not guilty verdict to me. The judge didn’t think so, everyone before me exited the building with a guilty verdict. By the time the court room was cleared out and everyone accepted their penalty, there was only two of us left inside that court room - He called my name first.

I approached the front of the room again and stood at the podium before him. He called out the names of the arresting officers and, once again, he didn’t receive a response. The only other people in the court room other than myself and the judge is the other gentlemen who’s arresting officer was also absent, the stenographer and the court-room bailiff.

That judge was furious! His voice raised and his demeanor changed, he let me have it with his words as he continued repeating “110!! One hundred and ten?!” He informed me of everything that ‘could have’ and ‘would have’ happened had either of my arresting officers appeared against me. It was pretty serious including jail time and he wanted to suspend my driving privileges for an entire year. I just stood before him in silence as he exhausted all of his energy on me. By the time he finally finished exclaiming to me what he ‘could’ do, he explained what will happen should I ever appear in his courtroom again and told me I was free to go. “Enjoy the rest of your day your honor!”

I was stopped on that bike a handful of times and that’s the only time I was issued a citation, I was able to talk myself out of the others. It took me a little longer than normal but after a couple of phone calls to the county clerks office I was able to talk myself out of this one too.

The second time I used the same tactics wasn’t nearly as costly. It was several years later and I was driving a car when I got a minimal speeding ticket - something like 77 mph in a 70 mph. I called the county clerks office the morning of my hearing for that one too - Twice! Both dates were extended and by the time I arrived to the third date, I was the only one there again, the charges were dismissed. Again.