Re: Speeding Ticket: Any hope?

[i6941tb@gnn.com]

Alexei M Voloshin wrote:
> 
> Ah, ha - you didn't go a preparitory-driving school, did you??
> One of the things a good school teaches you is how to protect your rights.

Well, I don't even know what that school is, let alone to know my
rights. They are somewhat...hmmm....vague.
I figure, the cohorts of legal servants also need to make a living
somehow. By keeping us, ignorant lot, in the darkness on the issue of
dos and don'ts, for example.

I've been living in the States for only 7 years. I have received my
drivers license on the other side of the Atlantic (you know where,
Alex...) after a course of INTENSE driver's education. No, make it a
RIGOROUS training. For 4.5 mos, 3 times a week, 4 hours a day with an
ex-rally driver as an instructor. City, highway and the Autodrom.
Collision avoidance maneuvers, the "giro" U-turns, double clutching and
heel-n-toeing. Driving RWD in ice and snow (that happened in October
through February). How to drive in emergency, w/o gas or clutch or
brakes or starter or fuel pump or...lots of other essentials. We've
taken 3 series of exams: Theory, Driving and the Mechanicals. After
passing them we received the "Pro- 2nd class" licenses. Up to this day
in my thoughts I bid a deep bow of appreciation to that school and my
instructor for my totally accident-free driving in the style, that my
american friends describe as "maniacal". (I prefere to call it: a
"correct, although fast" style).

The European (international) traffic laws are much much more clear and
specific. Yes, the number of road signs is much greater too, but they
are pictorial and very intuitive in understanding. The best part of
these laws is the almost calligraphical spelling of dos and don'ts. 

A perfect example:

In the US the speed limiting sign governs an unspecified length of the
road. You would probably say: "till the next sign". Correct. But what if
the next sign was blown away/forgotten to be installed etc.? You keep
driving and driving on a perect straitaway, maintaining 35 for 10km
wondering if they just forgot to put a 55 sign and you can accelerate or
is it still a 35 zone, although you have left the narrow twisty part of
the road some 10km ago. Does it sound familiar? All in all, due to this
vagueness in the traffic laws (which themselves are written in a form of
a friendly advice rather than of a set of strict instructions and are
sooo undersized!) I have a constant feeling that I can  be sited for
just about anything anytime.

In Europe the zone governed by a speed limiting sign ends by:
1. Another speed limiting sign
2. A sign that is a cancellation of a said speed limited sign (looks
like the first, but the circle around the number is not red, but grey.
It also has three diagonal stripes, crossing the number of km/h.
3. A sign "the end of all limitations"- my personal favourite.
4. THE NEXT INTERSECTION. This is most the important clause. If there is
no speed limit cancellation sign and you feel that it should've been/was
there at one time but got eaten up by local kettle (washed away by a
tzunami/ gambled away by a poliece chief) you can always wait for the
next intersection. If the sign is present - you better obey it, not
present - nail the right pedal (no ifs, buts or don'ts).

In general the Euro signs are:

-placed in front of the intersection to regulate that particular
intersection.
-placed after the intersection to regulate that paticular part of the
road. They get automatically cancelled by the next intersection.

Plain and simple.

Ahhh, one more thing. The Euro laws are international. Here, when I
travel, I always know that I can be sited for violating some obscure
laws of this particular township, which I have no means of knowing, nor
do I have a desire to learn a gazillion of local traffic codes
throughout THE SAME COUNTRY!

Do I miss driving in Europe!...<a deep sigh>

Thanks, Alex for the tip on how to fight the ticket (the statutory thing
- I never knew it).

Incidently, could anyone tell me where can I get a real book of the
Pensylvania traffic code, the cops go by. I am not talking about the
ridiculously lightweight drivers manual that can bre found in the police
examination points. It contains little more than a friendly advise not
to drink more than 1 drink per hour if one intends to drive. What is
"one drink" anyway? Mine is a 4-shot Vodka Martini dry, my wife's is a
glass of burgundy.

Igor,
Phila, PA
USA
ticket-wise volnerable in any state.