[Well Marbled]

Passed these transit cops in a marked car yesterday 'cos they were slowing down to gawk at some girls and they pulled me over and wrote me a ticket for speeding in a municipality and dangerous lane change. Basically they were just being goofs cos their egos were hurt when I laughed at them as I went by. Bear in mind this was 830 in the morning downtown vancouver and they were in a marked car. How radically could I have been driving.

I asked them "how fast was I going then?" and was told "too fast".
"But you dont have a radar gun"
"Dont need one. I have a calibrated speedo"
"how fast then?"
"I already told you. too fast - this isnt a race track"


On the ticket it makes no mention of what speed I was doing or should be doing. The most annoying thing is they have to call for back up from VPD and then they took 26 minutes to write the ticket - 4 cops x 26 minutes = 2 hrs of wasted police time cos they got their feelings hurt.

I told them they should stick to picking up litter on the skytrain.

WHat are the keys to beating this nuisance ticket?

[alanchan]

hey hey, WTF?

transit cops are not real cops, as far as I am concern, they can only ticket you if you don't buy a transit ticket.
what rights do they have to issue traffic tickets, are they stepping into the real cops' duties now?

base on the fact its too fast........
what does too fast mean?
even the VPD will tell you the accurate reading.

I would call BC Transit and find out.

[dkvby]

basically transit cops reported u and VPD gave u a ticket. i would dispute it for sure and challenge the transit cop who isnt professional trained to determine ur speed.

[jpsum]

it should say how fast you were going on the ticket; at least in the states it does. Also, it is normal for cops to ticket people without a radar gun. They call it "estimated speed".

[Lotus99]

Unless he was tailing you to establish you were speeding, I don't see how having a calibrated speedo means anything in this case. If they were following you, for how long I wonder? Regardless, if they don't even say what speed you were at least doing, I can't see how they could give you a ticket. Should be an easy win, IF they show up at court.

[KkSc]

that is just pure stupid, just dispute it!

[veightkiller]

Dispute!

[Well Marbled]

Originally Posted by dkvby

basically transit cops reported u and VPD gave u a ticket. i would dispute it for sure and challenge the transit cop who isnt professional trained to determine ur speed.

Nope. Under the cop id it says that hes a transit cop. VPD did NOT write the ticket.

[driftdriven]

That does not sound right. I would dispute as it sounds like another power trip incident

[samej]

not sure about BC law but in Ontario cops need to follow you for 400 meters to establish speed if they don't radar you.

[samchoi604]

dispute it and win. Even the judge will find this absurd.

[DinoMite]

Man this is getting nuts, every day i'm driving and seeing a few people being pulled over by these money hungry cops.

The worst is when they set a trap going downhill in a non school or residential area... i mean WTF? why should people go 50km/h for 2km, when there isn't a soul in sight that could walk across the street and get hit by a car going 70km/h.

[grn.eyed.bandit]

simple answer is dispute it and you'll most likely win.

but...i wasnt there, so i cant judge, but you most likely were speeding...i mean, honestly, how often do we actually drive at 50km/hr? just think about all the times you actually are speeding and havent gotten caught...

[GuyOh]

D I S P U T E ! ! ! !

[Blackout335i]

Use to live in Vancouver and had friends in the RCMP. These cops would have to be certified for traffic enforcement, and don't think some rent a cop transit guys is going to be put through that type of training. Think you've got a good chance on the speeding case, not sure about the dangerous lane change piece.

Also there are a ton of ways to dispute the accuracy of the speedo in the cop car. How long since it was last calibrated, cop car could have been in a chase and damaged the car, pot hole damage, etc. Lots of things can put the speedo out of line.

[ims]

I would have just burnt out and scrammed... technically you dont know who they are unless they are wearing police uniform and badge... could be imitators... so for your safety you fled unless the police question you you dont have to answer to anybody, and you can ask the police office to prove he is a real police officer questioning you under his jurisdiction..

oh and one time Campus Security real convincing looking wanted to pull me over for i dont know what maybe having too nice of a car on campus and maybe not slowing down enough on turns... but i didnt stop for him .. see I dont know who he is so I dont have to stop or obey anyone unless Im being placed under citizens arrest or being instructed by a police officer who has satisfied me of his authenticity and legitimacy... DONT STOP CANT STOP....

[335ifanatic]

This is beyond stupid, like everyone else said DISPUTE the ticket and also tell the judge how much time this dink wasted. You should have also written down the pricks name and plate # and made a formal complaint for abusing his rent-a-cop powers.

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by ims

oh and one time Campus Security real convincing looking wanted to pull me over for i dont know what maybe having too nice of a car on campus and maybe not slowing down enough on turns... but i didnt stop for him .. see I dont know who he is so I dont have to stop or obey anyone unless Im being placed under citizens arrest or being instructed by a police officer who has satisfied me of his authenticity and legitimacy... DONT STOP CANT STOP....

What if the campus is on the private property (e.g. York)?

[Well Marbled]

I AM definitely disputing this ticket. REceived a great PM from another member who told me the things to to ask in court and such. I'm going to respect his privacy and not post his name but if he says its OK I'll cut and paste his response here.

[ims]

Originally Posted by MrZ

What if the campus is on the private property (e.g. York)?

same thing... there are there for security of the people not really there to enforce traffic laws,, unless they are smart enough to contest that by saying speeding is a safety issue - however i would recommend fleeing if you can safely and discretely otherwise once they get the chance to call in the real cops your pretty much done...

[ims]

Originally Posted by Well Marbled

I AM definitely disputing this ticket. REceived a great PM from another member who told me the things to to ask in court and such. I'm going to respect his privacy and not post his name but if he says its OK I'll cut and paste his response here.

Dispute no doubt and take it all the way... power trips are just evil.

I passed a cop on the freeway @ 110 kph while he was 100 and the speed limit is 100... i was young and in my dads S-Class just buzzin around...
officer pulls me over and said "You either have a lot of balls or your plain stupid for over taking a police officer.." i just looked at him straight in the eye no expression and said well im sorry officer if I offended you in anyway Ill take the ticket... took it to court and quoted the officer to the crown the crown then confirmed the quote with the officer and within 10 mins I walked out clean. Basically all dialogue most of the time is recorded with the officers if they are training which in my case the officer was training a younger lady cop. So he couldnt say he didnt say that and me being a minor (at the time) there is no way you can talk to me like that (as per the crown).

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by ims

same thing... there are there for security of the people not really there to enforce traffic laws,, unless they are smart enough to contest that by saying speeding is a safety issue - however i would recommend fleeing if you can safely and discretely otherwise once they get the chance to call in the real cops your pretty much done...

Well yes, I've never seen York Security enforcing traffic laws, but still thought they have every right to pull you over.