Autoblog

A pair of Pittsburgh Revenue Officers misunderstood the rules surrounding the use of some LIDAR gear loaned to the department for testing and issued a raft of tickets that the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police now has to retract. Apparently LIDAR is only approved for use when teamed with other systems like VASCAR and ENRADD, which measure speed in different ways, and these boys in blue were using it solo. Their mistake instantly invalidates about 650 speeding fines that were issued on account of the loaned LIDAR equipment.

Pittsburgh police chief Nate Harper has apologized for the erroneous tickets, and motorists with LIDAR-only tickets were encouraged to request a court hearing. If the citation has already been paid, the unlawfully caught speeders will be reimbursed. A full refund for a speeding ticket is novel, but our sarcastic side wants to make a crack about the payouts being funded by shortening yellow lights at intersections with camera-bots. Thanks for the tip, Eddy!

[Source: WTAE, Photo: nist.gov]

Most of us have gotten speeding tickets before, and it's usually not a pleasant experience. It's "Yes sir" and "No, sir" and "Thank you" while the officer is chastising us for whatever minor infraction we've incurred. All the while, you're thinking to yourself, "I was doing 8 mph over the speed limit. Shouldn't he be out chasing terrorists or something?"

So this video is for all of us who would have so very much enjoyed telling off the guy or gal about to make us pay potentially hundreds of dollars in fines and insurance costs just because we were in a little bit of a hurry to get to the house/work/that big sale at Autozone/etc. We held our tongues, took our punishment and probably avoided higher fines or, worse, jail time.

How the alleged offender in this video manages to keep his freedom is a complete mystery. That is one patient cop, and I hope he got a raise for putting up with this driver's degrading diatribe. The man's choice of adjectives earns it a NSFW, btw.

If you like this sort of thing, be sure to check out our source, Bluetube, for more .

[Source: Bluetube]

For years it seems there was an unwritten code among law enforcement officers stating that you didn't give a shield-wearing brother a speeding ticket unless his offense was really bad. Beyond bad, even. That doesn't appear to be the case in the UK, as the chief constable of South Yorkshire has been cold busted going 90 in a 60 mph zone. Britain's Med Hughes stepped down after the court hearing, but he states that his decision to walk away from his post of top traffic cop had nothing to do with his lead foot. To that we give a hearty, "Right-o, chap." Of course as the chief constable, Mr. Hughes preached stringent speed enforcement. The now-defunct top traffic cop even lobbied for hidden speed cameras, which would keep speeds down while racking up big fine money for the department. If Mr. Hughes feels slighted or embarrassed, we'd like to welcome him to our club. As members, when we get tickets we pay the fine, collect the points, and generally suck it up. We're sure he'll find it all to be very novel.

[Source: Top Gear]

Many of us have tried to evade those pesky speeding fines, more often than not, unsuccessfully. Not so for Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson who managed to have a case against him dropped despite the publicity and string of copy-cat defenses we're sure will ensue.

The story goes like this: A V6 Alfa Romeo Brera was clocked doing 82mph in a 50mph zone by a speed camera in west London. A ticket was then issued to the car's legal owner, Alfa Romeo, which then forwarded it to Clarkson because the car was on loan to him at the time.

Instead of coming clean, Clarkson took the matter to court and with the help of celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman managed to convince a Magistrate that since it couldn't be proven he was in fact behind the wheel he shouldn't have to pay the ticket. Clarkson, who wasn't present at the hearing, was awarded full costs.

We wonder if this defense will work for anyone else caught speeding by a camera in a car that doesn't belong to them.

Thanks for the tip, Thom!

[Source: BBC]

An old friend of mine used to have a trick for getting out of tickets. She would flick her long blonde hair back over her shoulder, blink a lot and emphasize the ending of any word that concluded with a long "e" sound. "Sorryyyyyyy," she would say, and the cop's pen would never touch pad. Unfortunately, my bag of tricks is missing a few of those tools, so I've gotten a ticket for every time my car has been motioned to the shoulder.

Perhaps, however, there are strategies to get out of a ticket for those of us who are not blessed with long blond hair and a cute voice. Our brand new sister site, DIY Life, has somewhat of an ex-cop on staff who offers his own How To on getting out of a ticket by being respectful. Yes, respectful. If you've been pulled over, you should suck it up and own your mistake, then go about seeing how the officer's attitude towards you can be improved. Among DIY Life's best pieces of advice is submitting to the cop's authority by having both hands on the wheel before he or she arrives at your window. That gesture alone will make the cop feel much more comfortable approaching the situation, and a comfortable cop that sees you don't intend to be confrontational may be more lenient. There's plenty more good advice available by clicking the Read link below, but let us know in the comments some of your own tips that have proven successful.

[Source: DIY Life]

Among the writers here at Autoblog, we could probably put together a meaty album full of our most memorable speeding tickets. Something about a bunch of gearheads in high-powered, tire-shredding, plate-glass-shattering muscle cars. Mmmmm. But I digress.

Apparently the best way to get out of a ticket is not to blame the manufacturer for putting too many damn ponies under the hood. Nor should you ask the officer how much over the speed limit he had to go to catch you doing 95 mph. Whoops, my bad. That one was expensive. Oh, and altering speed limit signs has been proven to be hazardous to your court case.

No, according to John Draneas, attorney at law and car collector, the best way to get out of a speeding ticket is just be a nice guy. Don't make excuses, don't beg for a break, and above all, don't get belligerent.

Oh and apparently the first thing you should do after being stopped is immediately throw that fuzzbuster under the seat. Looking like you were trying to avoid a tick to begin with has been scientifically proven to significantly improve your chances of getting a ticket.

So get your speed demon butt over to Sports Car Market Magazine for more tips on beating the Smokies. And remember, 55 saves lives.

[Source: Sports Car Market Magazine]

Remember the Canadian automotive journalist who was caught driving a Dodge Charger at 222 km/h (approximately 138 mph) on a public road in Quebec? Apparently Dodge does and they think alluding to the story might be a nifty way to market the car he was driving at the time, the Charger SRT8. The story received a ton of press attention in Canada, so making a reference to the incident shouldn't be lost on consumers. The new ad campaign shows a black Hemi-powered Dodge Charger SRT8 and the following text: "A roulé trop vite, vite, vite. À vendre vite, vite, vite. SRT8-88-8888"

Roughly translated it means, "Drove fast, fast, fast. Sell fast, fast, fast," followed by a telephone number that will get you more info. Dodge has also wisely added a disclaimer telling readers they should only drive that fast on a track. Of course, the Canadian auto journalist in question, Philippe Laguë, had been testing the Dodge Charger SRT-8 on highway 132 in Longueuil, near Montreal. His fine was $958 CDN ($845 US), and enough points on his license to have it suspended. Laguë brought up an interesting point, explaining that car manufacturers will warn journalists to watch out for police, but they usually will also discourage them from testing on closed tracks.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

"Do you know how fast you were going?"

"No officer, but I'm guessing it wasn't what was posted."

That didn't work for us and the "I'm not driving, I'm qualifying" t-shirt certainly didn't help either. We've all heard some great excuses for speeding that worked in getting some scofflaw off the hook and kept them out of the local hoosegow. Well, here's a story about a recent contest to find the best excuses out there.

The Car Connection has finished tabulating votes and awarding prizes, and has released the stories of the winners for its Speeding Excuses contest. After receiving and judging nearly 2,000 stories, the winners were given GPS systems or XM radios. The top three cover a funeral director, someone married to the law and a case of mistaken identity. Read them for yourself through the link.

We'd love to hear some of your favorites as well, whether from firsthand experience or through a friend of a coworker's uncle in-law. No prizes besides seeing your name in pixels.

[Source: The Car Connection]

A man accused of driving at speeds up to 147 mph is about to get his day in court -- and many are looking at the case to challenge the freeway photo enforcement program in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Lawrence Pargo of Goodyear was supposedly running late for work and was caught by speeding cameras on Loop 101 going 102, 105, 128 and 147 mph between 5:47 and 6:20 a.m. The city of Scottsdale and its speeding camera vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems, both say that the readings were accurate; however, an unmodified Sonata is speed limited in accordance with federal regulations to 137 mph. If found guilty, Pargo could face jail time and get his license suspended.

Steve Spence, managing editor of Car and Driver magazine, said that the cameras were likely wrong -- the Hyundai Sonata, he said, topped out at 137 in a test drive for the magazine. And for those who think Pargo may have modified his Hyundai to reach speeds higher than intended, the car wasn't even his, it was a rental.

[Source: East Valley Tribune]

Can't say the guys and gals over at TheCarConnection don't have a collective sense of humor. Whereas a few months back the website was looking for the best street names, now they're working up something we can all use -- the best speeding excuses. For its third annual contest to that effect, TCC is offering up a Garmin StreetPilot 2730 with XM NavTraffic and XM Radio capability. Last year's top excuse went like this, if we might be so bold as to borrow it from TCC's site:

"...I was doing 85 in a 55, down a six-lane divided highway. There was little traffic that day, but I really didn't notice. The State Police were following me what seemed like forever. I saw them, but really didn't care. You see, the TRUTH was, the tavern I owned had an apartment above it. One of my tenants had been found dead in his bed. However, when my bartender called me on my cell phone (I was out shopping), she just said, "dropped dead." I had this vision of someone sitting at my barstool just falling over dead. I was VERY upset, and frightened of the repercussions. When the State Police pulled me over, I just screamed... 'I gotta go.... there's a dead guy in my bar!' He checked his records, and sure enough, word had just got out about this man so he let me go! He just said, "Now listen, he's already dead, you can't do anything for him, drive safe." 

Come on, Autoblog readers, we're sure you can do better than that. Entries for TCC's contest are due by midnight on August 1, 2006, with winners to be announced on September 1.

[Source: TheCarConnection]