traffic ticket, need advice, improper use of headlights

[kyro]

To be perfectly honest, I had no idea this was illegal. This definitely wasn't covered in my Driver's Ed Class. Glad I know now though.

[kurosh]

please... i need htis song. th elrycsi go like "i took a look around my life and without you i ain't got nothing" or something close to that. the only thing i remember exactly is ain't. it is a guitar type song. please help kurosh. he will be eternally gratefuul

[d10]

I don't have any experience with tickets in NJ. I do have lots of experience with tickets in other states, enough to know that what works in one state has nothing to do with what works in another state. So any advice from anyone other than someone who claims to know NJ traffic laws very well should only hope to point you in the right direction.

One thing that I have noticed that changes very little from state to state is that when people fight their own traffic tickets, they aren't thrown out unless there is clear evidence that the ticket should never have been written in the first place. That's not the case here. Also these judges listen to maybe 100 cases each day, they won't have a lot of patience. Unless it's a lawyer speaking or you're confident that you know courtroom procedures at least as well as the judge, any attempt to put up a defense beyond "I'm sorry, I have no priors, please reduce the fines/points/whatever" will not be effective. Since you're asking OOT for advice, I'm going to assume you don't fall into either one of those categories. I'm 95% sure that if you don't get a lawyer, this ticket will stand. Whether it's worth the cost of that is up to you.

[radek2166]

No worries. Goto court. use same story burden of proff on the cop

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

[ QUOTE ]
No worries. Goto court. use same story burden of proff on the cop

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I would be thinking. Just go to court, say, "I didn't do that". Let the cop give proof that you did. Is there some kind of decree that says a cop's word is better than yours?

EDIT: I think it's important here to make sure you say you didn't even flash your headlights. Don't say, I flashed them because...(other excuse). Just say you didn't flash them. Same as when you're speeding and get pulled over, never ever admit to doing anything over the speed limit.

[MrMon]

This pretty much proves that a lot of cops are jerks.

Ask-A-Cop

One cop did have the point that there's not a darn thing they can do about you flashing headlights in the daytime.

Bottom line is, if it's you vs. the cop, the cop will win because traffic court is there to collect fines, especially in small towns. Yes it's crooked, but what are you going to do? If you can get a lawyer who is a friend or relative to fight it for free, then you might have a chance because odds are, the cops violated some procedure and traffic court judges hardly want to be seen as granting leeway to cops on procedure if they have any hopes of moving up to something like criminal court. (But don't count on even that, chances are, if they're in traffic court it's not because they're legal geniuses.)

It's like as $44 fine, is it really worth all the effort to fight it, even if you know it's unjust?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
No worries. Goto court. use same story burden of proff on the cop

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I would be thinking. Just go to court, say, "I didn't do that". Let the cop give proof that you did. Is there some kind of decree that says a cop's word is better than yours?

EDIT: I think it's important here to make sure you say you didn't even flash your headlights. Don't say, I flashed them because...(other excuse). Just say you didn't flash them. Same as when you're speeding and get pulled over, never ever admit to doing anything over the speed limit.

[/ QUOTE ]

More and more police departments are using video and audio these days. My brother is cop, and he is miked, so the entire conversation is on tape. If he acknowledged to the cop that he flashed his lights to warn of a deer (and it's on tape), your idea won't work at all.

[Lloyd]

[ QUOTE ]
Just go to court, say, "I didn't do that". Let the cop give proof that you did. Is there some kind of decree that says a cop's word is better than yours?

EDIT: I think it's important here to make sure you say you didn't even flash your headlights. Don't say, I flashed them because...(other excuse). Just say you didn't flash them. Same as when you're speeding and get pulled over, never ever admit to doing anything over the speed limit.

[/ QUOTE ]
A judge will take the word of a cop over the defendant any day of the week. Defendants rarely admit their guilt. All the cop needs to do is say what he saw and that's enough proof. And the last thing you want to do is lie about what you told the cop. As soon as you admit what you did to him it will (or at least should) be recorded in his notes that will come out at trial. He'll say something like "When I asked the defendant why he flashed his high beams you said 'I thought I saw a deer'". The only point that can be made is that the very brief use of the headlights because of the possible deer in the road posed less of a risk then any possibility that they obstructed the other driver's view. So in the "interest of justice" the violation should be dismissed.

[mrkilla]

ahhh Troopers gotta love NJ

Well the fines like 50 bucks if you want to be a dick and tell them you were mistaken and saw a Pig in the road and wanted to warn everyone...

[samjjones]

Its certainly a BS ticket, but I think you'll do better by just paying the fine and trying to forget about it. Do you really want to get worked up over trying to contest this? This won't result in any points or insurance surcharge, right?