Well, it could have been worse.
I showed up on time, wearing my good suit with driving record and ERC card (what the heck...) in hand. Waited four hours for my case. There were about half a dozen guys (all male) in front of me from Maryland with speeds above > 75 but < 82 (i.e., also speeding/reckless charges) on routes 211 or 340 who pleaded guilty or n/c, said they were sorry, and got reduced to 74 (just speeding).
I was not so lucky. When I got up there, with the fastest speed of the day that didn't involve an accident (86 in a 55 on 211 near Luray, one guy had 130 and got a continuance 'cuz he knew he was going to jail at some point) the prosecutor wanted to suspend my license, and my guess is the judge was going to buy it if I pleaded guilty outright. I did two things that saved my driving privs in VA:
(1) I pleaded n/c instead of guilty. I saw someone do this before me with good results -- it makes the prosecution go through an interview with the patrolman. PT Drake (my arresting ossifer) likes me a little, I think -- I spoke with him during a break earlier in the day. He went out of his way in court to describe the road as empty, my driving as not erratic, just fast, myself as very cooperative, etc.
(2) I kicked up a certified copy of my driving record from the MD MVA (clean). When I showed this to the prosecutor after the testimony he said that in light of the record they weren't going to seek suspension. Thanks to Vas (riding pal) for the good advice to bring that along -- pity it won't work again.
$200 fine, plus costs ($64), no reduction in speed, presumably all of the points (speeding + reckless). I'll be walking funny for a few days, but things are going to get real interesting when the data hits the MVA in 15 or so days (found that out from the clerk). I have decided for the time being not to preemptively contact my insurance agent, even though we're on a first-name basis (lives in College Park) and State Farm has all of our policies. Might change my mind on that, dunno...
Trust me, btw, all of the "where's your calibration certificate?"-type questions weren't going anywhere. When one guy went up earlier and simply said "not guilty -- I didn't do it" to a 65 in a 45, the JUDGE asked the patrolman for all of the paperwork on the gun and the calibration hardware and spent a good ten minutes checking it over -- just to see if he was on his toes, I guess. Requests for continuance were also all matched with the officer's schedule, so there were no mistrials that way either.
Could I have run for it? Dunno...was only a few miles from Thornton's Gap with lots of palces to turn off, but this was the patrolman's home turf, and even though I could've dusted him with one or two twists I could see the state police closing 211 a couple of miles up just to make my acquaintence. I don't think I would have gone far, and I just don't think I'm the "run from the law" type, to be honest. What would you have done, eh?
FWIW, my insurance carrier only polls driving records when there are accidents, and says they only care about the frequency of tickets, not the severity. We'll see...
I showed up on time, wearing my good suit with driving record and ERC card (what the heck...) in hand. Waited four hours for my case. There were about half a dozen guys (all male) in front of me from Maryland with speeds above > 75 but < 82 (i.e., also speeding/reckless charges) on routes 211 or 340 who pleaded guilty or n/c, said they were sorry, and got reduced to 74 (just speeding).
I was not so lucky. When I got up there, with the fastest speed of the day that didn't involve an accident (86 in a 55 on 211 near Luray, one guy had 130 and got a continuance 'cuz he knew he was going to jail at some point) the prosecutor wanted to suspend my license, and my guess is the judge was going to buy it if I pleaded guilty outright. I did two things that saved my driving privs in VA:
(1) I pleaded n/c instead of guilty. I saw someone do this before me with good results -- it makes the prosecution go through an interview with the patrolman. PT Drake (my arresting ossifer) likes me a little, I think -- I spoke with him during a break earlier in the day. He went out of his way in court to describe the road as empty, my driving as not erratic, just fast, myself as very cooperative, etc.
(2) I kicked up a certified copy of my driving record from the MD MVA (clean). When I showed this to the prosecutor after the testimony he said that in light of the record they weren't going to seek suspension. Thanks to Vas (riding pal) for the good advice to bring that along -- pity it won't work again.
$200 fine, plus costs ($64), no reduction in speed, presumably all of the points (speeding + reckless). I'll be walking funny for a few days, but things are going to get real interesting when the data hits the MVA in 15 or so days (found that out from the clerk). I have decided for the time being not to preemptively contact my insurance agent, even though we're on a first-name basis (lives in College Park) and State Farm has all of our policies. Might change my mind on that, dunno...
Trust me, btw, all of the "where's your calibration certificate?"-type questions weren't going anywhere. When one guy went up earlier and simply said "not guilty -- I didn't do it" to a 65 in a 45, the JUDGE asked the patrolman for all of the paperwork on the gun and the calibration hardware and spent a good ten minutes checking it over -- just to see if he was on his toes, I guess. Requests for continuance were also all matched with the officer's schedule, so there were no mistrials that way either.
Could I have run for it? Dunno...was only a few miles from Thornton's Gap with lots of palces to turn off, but this was the patrolman's home turf, and even though I could've dusted him with one or two twists I could see the state police closing 211 a couple of miles up just to make my acquaintence. I don't think I would have gone far, and I just don't think I'm the "run from the law" type, to be honest. What would you have done, eh?
FWIW, my insurance carrier only polls driving records when there are accidents, and says they only care about the frequency of tickets, not the severity. We'll see...
