Is it legal for a police officer to pull over a suspected drunk driver based solely on a caller’s tip?

The Supreme Court recently let stand a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that held a police officer can follow but cannot stop a suspected drunk driver’s car until the officer sees the driver do something suspicious, such as swerve in a lane.

Justice Roberts strongly dissented. “The effect of [this] rule will be to grant drunk drivers ‘one free swerve’ before they can be pulled over by the police,” Roberts said. “It will be difficult for an officer to explain to the family of a motorist killed by that swerve that the police had a tip that the driver of the other car was drunk, but that they were powerless to pull him over, even for a quick check.”

The Supreme Court’s action is not a formal ruling. Other states are not bound to follow the Virginia ruling. However, with that apparent support of the Supreme Court behind the Virginia ruling, it’s likely there will be more legal challenges in states that allow police stops based on anonymous tips.

Most state courts have upheld car searches based on a tip from a caller in situations where the vehicle matches the description given.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices turned down without comment an appeal from Virginia prosecutors, which was backed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Their argument was simple. More than 12,000 Americans die each year in alcohol-related crashes and drunk drivers need to be stopped and taken off the road as soon as possible.

For as long as there has been speed enforcement, there have been efforts by motorists to use whatever methods were available to avoid speeding tickets.

it probably started with simple conversation between neighbors and friends. “Bill, keep an eye out as you’re approaching exit 12 on the highway because this one officer always hides there…”.

Then headlight flashing became common among drivers in the mid 1960s when cars began to come with headlight beam selectors located on the steering column—typically activated by pulling the turn signal stalk—rather than the previous foot-operated switches. Once activation was moved to the signal stalk, drivers could momentarily activate their high beams regardless of whether their headlights were turned on or off. Drivers now had a readily available means to attempt communication with one another by flashing their headlamps.

Next came the radar detector in the 1970s. The first model–the “fuzzbuster”–was introduced as a result of the 1974 National Maximum Speed Law. This law was a provision of the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act and it prohibited speed limits higher than 55 mph. This cap was intended to reduce gasoline consumption in response to the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

Note that in 1987 the national speed limit was raised to 65 mph limits on certain roads and in 1995 the law was repealed altogether, returning the power of setting speed limits to the states. That lower speed limit of 55mph across the board never decreased consumption to the extent lawmakers thought it would.

However, the use of technology to avoid speeding tickets continues today. The “fuzzbuster” gave way to increasingly advanced radar and laser detectors and a game of cat and mouse radar enforcement and detection between enforcement officers and drivers was on.

Now GPS, readily available to motorists either via a navigation system or their cell phone, is in the mix.

Trapster is one such service which uses GPS based technology and enables your mobile phone or navigation device to alert you as you approach police “speed traps”.

I’ve been asked a few times whether it works. I can’t say too much because I’ve never personally tried it, but the GPS based process is simple enough and I’m sure it does exactly what the service claims to do. If person A presses a button on their device or calls a number when they are passing what they perceive to be a speed enforcement officer, other users of the service will get an alert as they approach that location.

Will that help people avoid speeding tickets? If a driver who otherwise is continually driving above the speed limit now slows down on occasion when an alert sounds, I imagine this person must be decreasing the odds of receiving a speeding ticket. In that respect, yes–it must help. Perhaps it is a tool worth incorporating, along with careful driving and keeping your eyes open, that can reduce the chances of getting a speeding ticket.

However, consider the following before employing technology like this:

• If widely used, the system will eventually be packed with every location anyone has every seen an officer actually enforcing speed OR responding to an accident OR taking a nap OR eating lunch…   My point is there is a danger in the long run that this device that cries “police” won’t be any more effective than the boy who cried “wolf” was at getting his message across.

• Where radar detectors forced enforcement to invent new technologies and improve the radar guns to negate the radar detection technology, all enforcement needs to do to thwart this type of early warning is vary the location of their enforcement.  Seems like a relatively easy fix to me.

• “Distracted driving” is currently, for good reason, a very hot national topic.  Do we need more distractions, alerts and things to look at while we are driving?

People want to avoid speeding tickets.  I get that–we’ve built a law firm based on the concept that no one wants to be issued a speeding ticket or convicted of a speeding violation.  At the end of the day, the rules for avoiding tickets really haven’t changed much since the earliest days of speed enforcement.  Drive safe and obey the rules of the road are first and foremost.  However, if you are tempted to break a rule here or there (such as speeding or rolling through a stop sign at an empty intersection or failing to use your signal), then you’ll need to keep your eyes open for enforcement officers.  If new technology can help you with that, go for it.  Just don’t forget that the best way to avoid a speeding ticket will always be driving within the posted speed limit.

Submitted by Scott Feifer

A former employee of the Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency has been arrested and charged with 20 felony counts for illegally fixing 10 tickets for her daughter and one other relative.

Angela Petty was arrested Tuesday morning by investigators from the Nassau County DA’s office and charged with 10 counts of second degree tampering with public records, 10 counts of first degree falsifying business records and 10 misdemeanor counts of official misconduct. She could end up in prison for up to 20 years if convicted.

From August 2007 to July 2008, Petty allegedly helped her daughter and one other relative avoid convictions or making any payment on 10 traffic and parking tickets by making entries in the NCTPVA computer indicating that the tickets had been dismissed. Prosecutors say she actually made entries setting forth that specific judges had dismissed the tickets on specific dates, when in fact no judge ever reviewed any of the tickets in question.

Petty was employed by the agency as a clerk since 2005 and was terminated on Aug. 11. Her duties included entering case results into the agency computer after the motorists appeared in court. She is not the only former employee of the agency under investigation.

The Fire Chief in Jericho, Arkansas got a traffic ticket.  He told the judge what he thought of the police force that issued the ticket and their speed traps.  The entire police force of seven was there in court to hear what he had to say.

The police response?  They shot him. Right there in court.

The recent shooting brought national attention to this small, former cotton city.   On a local level, drivers have been well aware for some time of the ticketing machine that is Jericho.

You probably didn’t have any success if you tried to call the police force to complain about the excessive ticketing.  You can’t get someone to pick up the phone “because normally they’re writing tickets,” according to the chief investigator for the Crittenden County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force.  Police often camped out in the department’s two cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 45 mph zone ringing Jericho.

Residents say the ticketing got out of hand.  One resident complained he got a speeding ticket in his own driveway.  Other residents actually resorted to vandalization of the police cruisers to the extent that the department had to start parking the cars overnight at the sheriff’s office eight miles away.

It was anger about all these traffic tickets that brought the Fire Chief to court last week.  He fought one ticket on August 27th and failed to get it dismissed.  He was then issued another ticket the same day and returned to court to vent his anger.  It’s unclear exactly what happened next, but apparently and argument between Chief Payne and the seven police officers who attended the hearing apparently escalated to a scuffle and ultimately a shooting from behind.

Fire Chief Payne was unarmed at the time.

The Police Chief is temporarily disbanding the police force and the sheriff’s department has been patrolling the town in the meantime.

The judge has voided all the tickets written by the department both inside the city and others written outside of its jurisdiction — citations that the department apparently had no power to write.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies want to know where the money from the traffic fines went because the city is struggling financially.   Sheriff’s deputies once had to repossess one of the town’s police cruisers for failure to pay on a lease, and the state Forestry Commission recently repossessed one of the city’s fire trucks because of nonpayment.

One resident complained that “You can’t even buy a loaf of bread, but we’ve got seven police officers.”

The story unfolding in this small southern town makes two things clear.  First, the emotions surrounding ticketing and the push/pull of drivers and enforcement officers is real and can be explosive.  No one likes to be unfairly accused of something and potentially punished for it.  Second, this shows the slippery slope that is the safety vs. revenue generation conversation.  This town obviously lived on the extreme end of that slope but what ended up happening may serve as a warning for others to work harder to find the right balance.  It’s ok to generate revenue via traffic enforcement but it is NOT ok to abuse that power.  Bad things can, maybe even will, happen.

Submitted by Scott Feifer

1.   There are no right turns on a red light in NYC.  If there is a sign there specifically stating that such a turn is allowed, then it’s allowed.  Otherwise, it is prohibited in all five boroughs.  “I didn’t know” won’t cut it in court should it come to that.

2.  A red light camera ticket is not a moving violation.  The camera cannot identify a particular driver and a moving violation summons cannot therefore be issued against a particular person’s driver license.  Red light camera tickets are treated as parking violations and are issued to the registrant.  If you are the registered owner, you are officially on the hook if a camera snaps a picture of your car disobeying a red light regardless of who was driving just like you’d be responsible for a parking ticket regardless of who actually parked the car.

3.  There is no standard with respect to the length of time a yellow light phase lasts.  Some are shorter and some are longer.  It’s a product of engineering work done at each intersection which considers a number of factors including the traffic flow, the average speed of traffic and the typical visibility a motorist has when approaching the intersection.  The idea with setting the yellow phase is to minimize the number of drivers who enter the “dilemma zone” which is the point on the roadway, while approaching the intersection, where a driver is just not sure what to do and has to decide whether to stop at the intersection or continue through as the light is in the process of changing to red.

4.  Red arrows mean you cannot proceed in the direction the arrow is facing regardless of what other signals (such as an ordinary green disc) are facing you as well.  A flashing red light is the same as a stop sign.

5.  You are permitted to enter an intersection at any point prior to the light entering it’s red phase.  “Entering” the intersection means passing whatever is deemed to be the stopping point at the intersection.  A stopping point is usually a crosswalk or stop line but in some cases is simply the curb lines of the intersecting roadways.  Note that if you were issued a traffic ticket for disobeying a red light, the officer does not feel the light was anything other than red at the time you entered the intersection.

We know traffic tickets can be damaging. Insurance, fine, surcharges and potential suspension are always concerns and bring hundreds of potential clients to our office each month. Now, in a sudden and unexpected boon to traffic ticket lawyers throughout New York, you can add felony larceny and robbery charges to the list.

Police in upstate NY recently tracked down a bank robbery suspect using a traffic ticket that was actually used during the robbery. Irondequoit police said Damien Ponder, 27, of Rochester, N.Y., allegedly used the back of the traffic ticket Saturday to write a note demanding money from a teller at the First Niagara Bank.

Mr. Ponder was given an undisclosed amount of cash, which he dropped along with the note while leaving. He allegedly retrieved most of the cash, but left behind the traffic ticket. The ticket had his name and address which in turn led to his arrest and the felony charges of third-degree robbery and fourth-degree grand larceny.

This is why we advise everyone to handle their traffic tickets responsibly. Make informed decisions, adhere to deadlines and never use it to write a note that says something like “I have a gun. Give me all your money. If you have any further questions concerning this armed robbery I can be reached at…”

Traffic tickets are frustrating, expensive and time consuming…and hopefully the most serious legal problem the majority of us ever have to deal with.

Submitted by Scott Feifer

Getting a traffic ticket in New York can be a lot like buying jewelry or antiques.  Unless you have a trained eye, it’s almost impossible to know what to expect to pay.  Drivers should never assume they know what a traffic ticket will cost in fines, surcharges and other penalties without a full analysis from a traffic ticket professional any more than you’d agree to pay a price for a piece of jewelry or antique furniture without an evaluation by a trusted expert.

Let’s use a six point speeding ticket as an example.  Call it 52mph in a 30mph zone.  A relatively basic ticket with no major complications surrounding it.  If a potential client were to ask me how much this ticket may cost, here’s a rambling version of some of the issues and considerations I’d have:

I’d first ask which court it was in because in the NYS TVB (NYC mostly) there is no plea bargaining so I’d know that we couldn’t reduce the charge.  A reduction is important because at 6 points there is an additional $300 state surcharge (the DRP-Driver Responsibility Program) and if we stay below that there is no surcharge.  Of course that all changes depending on if the person has prior convictions, what the convictions were for and the date the prior traffic tickets in question were issued.  Anyway, in the TVB there are no reductions and in thelocal county, town and village courts a reduction is generally a possibility.  An exception at the TVB is sometimes a judge will find you guilty only of a lower category speed if you are just a few miles per hour into a higher category so a TVB judge may consider turning this into a 50/30 which would save two points and potentially $300 in state surcharges.  However, there are no set rules for this so some judges will move as much as 5mph and others won’t move at all so then it just depends on which judge you are randomly assigned to.  In a local court that is willing to negotiate, it’s important to know whether the ticket was issued by a NYS Trooper or a local officer because NYS Troopers are banned from negotiating on tickets due to an ongoing situation regarding their overtime pay.  However, most (not all) courts have found a way to work around this.  If the ticket is reduced, what about the fine?  Some judges/prosecutors will lower the fine as the severity of the charge is lowered but others may raise it as part of the quid pro quo for the reduction.  In any case, at least you are protected by some statutory maximum fines–good luck locating them by the way–unless the judge imposing the fine chooses to ignore these statutes or simply doesn’t know what the maximum fines are as was the case with a NY judge who recently admitted as much after a complaint was made against him.

Confused yet? We could go on for quite some time…

I know it’s rambling, but it’s not much of an exaggeration.  For a person coming into this 52/30 with one prior conviction for two points, he might expect to pay approximately anywhere from $125 in fines and surcharges to $700 in fines and surcharges.  Note that we haven’t even mentioned automobile insurance, arguably the biggest factor when traffic ticket costs are considered.

The moral here is to never assume the cost of a traffic ticket.  Whatever you base the assumption on—personal experience, articles on the Internet, discussing with friends—it is likely to be different than anticipated.  Talk with an experienced traffic ticket attorney who can help go through the analysis with you and figure out what your potential liability may be and how much time, effort and money you may want to put towards contesting the charges. Always remember that during an initial consultation, your attorney should not be there to convince you that you need an attorney. He’s there to review with you and rationally analyze your situation and help you make informed decisions moving forward.

Submitted by Scott Feifer

Megan Mullally, in an episode of Will and Grace, explains that she had a couple of good reasons for speeding.

No driver or officer can deny the fact that there are inherent differences between men and women.  However, a recent study shows that these differences are unlikely to alter the chances of simply receiving a warning instead of a ticket when pulled over.

At least as far as Wisconsin is concerned, women and men actually receive the same proportion of tickets compared with warnings when pulled over by State Patrol officers.

While it may not pay to be a woman when it comes to getting pulled over in Wisconsin, it does seem to pay to be an actual resident of Wisconsin itself.  The study revealed that Wisconsin drivers are given some consideration that out of state drivers are not.  Illinois drivers got slapped with tickets a higher percentage of the time than Wisconsin drivers.

This information is all according to an analysis of more than 150,000 citations and warnings issued by the Wisconsin State Patrol in 2008.

We don’t know if these patterns would hold for New Yorkers under a similar study, but it’s food for thought in the event you are driving in another state or you are planning to rely on certain “assets” if you happen to get pulled over.

Yesterday the Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency fired six employees for fixing more than 100 tickets. News reports didn’t mention that they were actually selling their “fixing” services. It seems the tickets in question were for themselves, friends and family.

The investigation apparently started with an individual who was issued several Nassau County traffic tickets.  Some of the charges, including a driving on the sidewalk, driving the wrong way on a one-way street and a speeding ticket were dismissed outright. Other charges were delayed longer than a case typically would be within the court rules and some fines and surcharges imposed on other cases were simply removed from the computer system.

Turns out this man had a relative working in the court and this relative was one of the six employees fired.

The ticket fixing cost Nassau County an estimated $25,000 in revenue. Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice is investigating the possibility of criminal charges against them.

Nothing has been proven yet, according to the Civil Service Employees Association representing the employees. The President of the Association believes the employees will be vindicated. He claims that in most cases, a judge signed off on the dismissals of the tickets in question.

The NCTPVA is one of the better courts in the state to deal with and, based on my observations and those of my colleagues, the staff there (including some of those involved in this unfortunate incident) have been professional and helpful in the past.  I’m hoping that these individuals are indeed vindicated in the long run.

We’ll follow the story as it develops.

NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who led virtually the entire race this weekend at the Brickyard, was penalized for speeding on his final pit stop.

The speed limit in the pits is 55 mph, but NASCAR gives drivers a 4.99-mph cushion.  Hit 60 mph, and a penalty is imposed.

Montoya was clocked at 60.06 mph in the second segment of the eight-segment pit road sequence and 60.11 in the fourth.  Apparently, he was very close to exceeding the speed limit a couple of other times and was over 59 in most other zones.

There’s no human element to the speed monitoring at the race.  It’s a simple computation of the time it takes for the vehicles in the pit to travel certain known distances.  A transponder records the time and does the mph calculations.

Clocks are a pretty reliable technology, but that didn’t stop Montoya from sounding like many people who are issued more traditional speeding tickets.  Understandably upset, his quotes:

“We had this in the bag and they screwed us,” he told his crew. “I wasn’t speeding. I swear on my wife and children.”

And:

“It’s an absolute rip-off. (NASCAR chairman) Mike Helton is listening to this, you better double check what happened because I got robbed. . . . Thank you, NASCAR, for screwing my day.”

He mentioned “screwed” twice.  The penalty dropped him from first place and $448,001 in prize money to 12th place and $224,048 in prize money.  Thus, a $223,953 penalty for speeding 60 in a 50 zone.

In case you are interested in how common this is, so far this season, 74 speeding penalties have been called by NASCAR.

In a race with an average speed of just under 146 mph, Montoya’s downfall was doing 60.11 mph.