I dont know if any of you remember but I got pulled over in late July and cited for a "Modified/Loud exhaust". It took nearly two months but I finally got a ticket for $181.00?!?!!? After gapping at it for a good 5 minutes I promptly checked the Contest box and sent it off. If any of you have to go though this let me clairify some rumors that will not help you at all in court:
1. "Fixing" the problem after the fact is not an auto throw out. If your midigating it you will most likey have a reduced fine but you will be charged something for admitting the infraction.
2. THE ISSUING OFFICER DOES NOT HAVE TO APPEAR IN COURT IF YOUR CONTESTING! This one almost fooked me, was kind of counting on it getting thrown out because of this. They can make a writen statement under oath and thats just as good as them being there.
3. Most vehicular infractions are not criminal cases. Which meens that you do not get the advantage of "Proving guilt beyond a resonable doubt". Basically unless you have hard evidence the arresting officer's word is law.
I got extreamly lucky. From all the advice I got I was just going to go in with reciepts for the new muffler install, invoice for the mufflers, and a printout of the decible rating for said mufflers and just tell them I fixed it. Also I topped it off with a few snapshots of the mufflers on the car. Well luckly there was someone there midigating his loud exhaust ticket. He walked up there with the same stuff I did and walked out with an $80 ticket. Before that I had almost decited to change my Contested plee to Midigation. Well after I saw this I quietly tucked the repair slip into my pocket and walked up with just the Decible rating, an invoice, and a few pics of the car. The judge read the officers statement and apparently I said (I dont remember this) that I had had the mufflers replaced already and was told they were fine? Well this worked out to my advantage. No questions about reciepts for the install (Which occured AFTER the citation) because I "obviously" had tryed to deal with the situation before I was pulled over. From there all I had to do was show her that the decible rating was well below the 95db limit and that was what was installed on the car. She asked me if I had taken it to the state patrol for testing and I told her the car had been out of commission for two months...a little strech...just a little though
1. "Fixing" the problem after the fact is not an auto throw out. If your midigating it you will most likey have a reduced fine but you will be charged something for admitting the infraction.
2. THE ISSUING OFFICER DOES NOT HAVE TO APPEAR IN COURT IF YOUR CONTESTING! This one almost fooked me, was kind of counting on it getting thrown out because of this. They can make a writen statement under oath and thats just as good as them being there.
3. Most vehicular infractions are not criminal cases. Which meens that you do not get the advantage of "Proving guilt beyond a resonable doubt". Basically unless you have hard evidence the arresting officer's word is law.
I got extreamly lucky. From all the advice I got I was just going to go in with reciepts for the new muffler install, invoice for the mufflers, and a printout of the decible rating for said mufflers and just tell them I fixed it. Also I topped it off with a few snapshots of the mufflers on the car. Well luckly there was someone there midigating his loud exhaust ticket. He walked up there with the same stuff I did and walked out with an $80 ticket. Before that I had almost decited to change my Contested plee to Midigation. Well after I saw this I quietly tucked the repair slip into my pocket and walked up with just the Decible rating, an invoice, and a few pics of the car. The judge read the officers statement and apparently I said (I dont remember this) that I had had the mufflers replaced already and was told they were fine? Well this worked out to my advantage. No questions about reciepts for the install (Which occured AFTER the citation) because I "obviously" had tryed to deal with the situation before I was pulled over. From there all I had to do was show her that the decible rating was well below the 95db limit and that was what was installed on the car. She asked me if I had taken it to the state patrol for testing and I told her the car had been out of commission for two months...a little strech...just a little though