Did you catch the part where even the cop who wrote the ticket testified FOR the defendant? I don't doubt some judge had a problem with the "85 miles per hour" part. That just goes to show that what is "reasonable" to most people isn't necessarily "reasonable" to any particular judge.
I get the feeling that he got the 85MPH ticket only because he was all alone on the road with the cop who wrote the ticket. I've BEEN in that situation before. A couple of decades ago, I was driving a '76 Cutlbutt Cruiser (350 rocket, quadra-flusher, ha ha) through South Dakota in perfect driving conditions. The car itself was in perfect mechanical condition. I drove for hours without seeing another vehicle on a 4-lane (2 each way) divided highway. I honestly wasn't paying attention AT ALL to how fast I was going at any particular moment, I just knew my approximate average velocity, about 80. The car was comfortable cruising 75-80, sometimes a bit more. That seemed to be the "sweet spot" of that particular engine, so I just let it run. I wasn't in a hurry at all. I started to notice that I was ALL ALONE, and wondered how long I'd have to go before seeing a single other vehicle on the road. I know it had been at least a half hour before I'd seen another vehicle on EITHER SIDE of the highway. Then I noticed a vehicle WAY behind me (a couple of miles, as far as I could see). I noticed it, as it was (OHMYGOD) another vehicle!!! But I didn't give it much thought beyond that. I noticed he was gaining on me pretty quick. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the light bar soon enough. Not sure how I missed that. I got ticketed for 76 in a 65. I know without a doubt that I got the ticket as the cop literally had NOTHING better to do. While we were on the side of the highway for several minutes, not a single vehicle pbutted us in either direction.
Though my speed at the time was unlawful, NOBODY could claim with a straight face that my speed was not reasonable and prudent. I'm lucky I wasn't in a hurry at the time. 80MPH (my average speed that day) was rather SLOW for that particular vehicle. -Dave
Near 2 crashes on 2 consecutive daysI ended up spending close to 3 hours combined stuck on the 2 interstates while the cops were doing their thing. Both crashes involved a driver going the wrong way on the...
