Speeding/Disobeyed traffic control device ticket in NYS

April 25, 2017 8:39 AM

I received a ticket in Westchester county, New York, a couple of weeks ago. The cop told me instead of a speeding ticket, he was writing it up as 'Disobeyed traffic control device'. I'm not sure whether to try to fight this or not.

I was definitely speeding - I think I was going about 85 in a 65 zone on the interstate. The cop said I was going 96, which I am 100% positive I was not doing; I had been going between 75 and 85.

He said he'd change the ticket to a 'Disobeyed traffic control device' offence, which I'm not familiar with. Under additional information, the ticket says 'Defendant disobeyed posted speed limit signs of 65MPH (96/65) 1307FT - left lane - lidar'.

I'm registered in CT, so I'm not worried about the points on my license. However, I'm not sure how the fee is levied. My brief googling made it look like the fee for 'disobeying a traffic control device' is a set fee and not impacted by how fast you're going. Does anyone know if this is correct? For speeding tickets, it looks like there's a significant jump between 29mph over limit and 30mph over the limit, and the ticket says 31mph over the limit.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth fighting this ticket or not. I would rather not take the time off work to go to court, but if I have to I will. If you have any experience with this type of ticket, I'd really appreciate your input.

posted by widdershins to Law & Government (11 answers total)

The cop did you a favor. I suspect. I got a similar ticket years ago in VA. It just shows you exceeded the speed limit. If he had given the radar speed you would face a bigger fine.
posted by JayRwv at 9:02 AM on April 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

Seconding JayRwv: My first/only speeding ticket was on the PA turnpike and was written up the same way. Cop was doing me a favor about it.
posted by k5.user at 9:07 AM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just to note, lidar is "light radar" - the laser device. I know you think you weren't going 96 but the device thinks you were. Based on that I'd agree that he did you a small favor.
posted by epanalepsis at 9:27 AM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Cop did you a large favor. Pay up and move on.
posted by fixedgear at 10:02 AM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also if you are sure your car showed a max of 85 you should get your speedo calibrated; a 10% under reading is fairly significant and these adjustments are easy to make on electronically controlled cars
posted by Mitheral at 10:06 AM on April 25, 2017

Yup, the cop did you a favor -- that ticket means a lower fine and fewer points. Unless you've got more solid evidence than "I'm 100% positive I was speeding but not by quite that much," then you should probably just quit while you're ahead.
posted by ourobouros at 10:43 AM on April 25, 2017

Response by poster: OK, clearly consensus is to pay up. Thank you everyone!
posted by widdershins at 11:28 AM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

if you're interested in your speedometer accuracy, Waze (among other apps) will give you your ground speed using GPS, and it's going to be pretty accurate. At 85 mph you could easily be off at least 5 mph, if not more.
posted by randomkeystrike at 2:09 PM on April 25, 2017

Just for the record, it's just as possible that the lidar is out of adjustment as the speedometer. The police have some sort of calibration protocol and about the only way to beat the ticket is if the PD's documentation shows that the device has not been re-calibrated recently enough. That's difficult to do with out a lot of expense, e.g. lawyer's fees.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:40 PM on April 25, 2017

Best answer: For speeding tickets, it looks like there's a significant jump between 29mph over limit and 30mph over the limit, and the ticket says 31mph over the limit.
...
The cop did you a favor.

It's possible you were going faster than you realized, and/or that your speedometer is out of whack. You should get that checked.

Alternately, it is possible the cop jumped up your speed so it just happened to be 1mph over the line for the bigger fine, then did you the "favor" of making it a traffic control device ticket so you would be less likely to contest it.
posted by mikepop at 6:32 AM on April 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: mikepop, I think that's exactly what happened. I know my speedometer isn't off, or at least, not off by much, by times that I've driven past the 'you're going at XX speed' digital signs. That would explain why the number was so much higher than I feel it actually was. Good catch.
posted by widdershins at 8:19 AM on April 28, 2017