Do the police cars have to have dimmed lights if they are on the shoulder of a highway for safety reasons?
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Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
Have to have dimmed lights? As far as I know, the police cruiser could be completely obscured by a sign or embankment as they lay in wait for a lead-footed driver to whip past. I suspect they don't even have to be on duty or have their blue light on to nab you.
A few months back, I was driving east on the H-1 airport viaduct. I was passed by a cop in an SUV, his dome light off. As he approached a lowrider Acura ahead of me, lo and behold, the Acura driver saw the approaching SUV as some challenge to his manhood, and failing to notice the bump on its roof, basically took off to prevent the cop from passing. The cop accellerated, and so did the Acura, until both were neck and neck at some ridiculous speed. I could just imagine the cop waiting for the guy to catch on and give up, but clearly he wasn't thinking with his upper brain.
Finally the cop dropped back, lit his light, and pulled the idiot over. I'm pretty sure he wasn't planning on making a traffic stop that night, but the guy was just asking for it. The Acura driver might've won the race, but he lost the war!
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
I highly doubt that Brandon...
They are trying to be as sneaky as they can... why would they want to alert a pending speeder that there is a cop on the side of the road?
If you got a ticket or something like that...
I have found the judges to be more lenient if you just apologize and tell them it won't happen again.... Maybe they will lessen the penalty instead of sticking you with the original fine.
Good luck..
Manoa
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
I can plea guilty, argue my reason, and show my evidence. Case is up to judge then to decide if the ticket is really worth the courts time.
Or I could talk to the DA first to save time to see if this is worth the Judges word. Hehehe, I have it planned
Just wanted to see if anyone knew about Hawaii Law.
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
Originally posted by pzarquon View PostHow did he mess up your ticket? How is it related to the brightness of his lights on the shoulder of the road?
Dimmed lights can be an arguement to the ticket. Depending on the laws here, which I dont know.
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
His ticket had my information mixed up...he is at fault, no?
You can't assume that, even if the ticket had all kinds of mistakes on it, that you can just throw it out and pretend it was never handed to you.
Also... IANAL, but depending on how bored the issuing officer is, he could (but probably won't) show up for the court date and affirm orally that you were the driver and that car was your car, even though the information on the ticket was wrong, and could very well result in a judgement against you.
Which makes sense to me, since you're not denying so far that you were speeding. Just that the cop can't fill out a form.
I still don't understand the "dimmed lights" part of your initial question, though. Are you planning to complain that the cop did or didn't have "dimmed lights" as part of contesting the ticket? How about explaining a scenario where this would be a legitimate counterclaim in a Mainland jurisdiction?
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
When I went to traffic court recently, every citation where the defendant pointed out a clerical error (and there were about half a dozen that morning, out of the ~40 cases on the docket) resulted in the judge dismissing his or her case. Proseuctors never said a peep about it, and the police were not even there (they don't show up unless you plead not guilty and ask for a trial).
I also saw a non-English-speaking woman get her ticket dismissed using an alibi (?!) that she was at work and presented a note from her employer. Seemed totally bogus to me (the employer was not even present---she could have done the note herself!), but I don't wear a black robe...
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
Originally posted by poinographer View PostWhen I went to traffic court recently, every citation where the defendant pointed out a clerical error (and there were about half a dozen that morning, out of the ~40 cases on the docket) resulted in the judge dismissing his or her case. Proseuctors never said a peep about it, and the police were not even there (they don't show up unless you plead not guilty and ask for a trial).
I also saw a non-English-speaking woman get her ticket dismissed using an alibi (?!) that she was at work and presented a note from her employer. Seemed totally bogus to me (the employer was not even present---she could have done the note herself!), but I don't wear a black robe...
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
You had better have something more than "blue light too dim" if you ask for a trial. They make it clear that granting you a trial is a major annoyance for them, and you can imagine what that means for you if you are found guilty... plus, you'd have to wait around until after lunch (or come back another day) to actually get your trial started.
Is it worth it? Dim blue light or not, you were probably speeding, right? [You can invoke the Fifth Amendment on that last question, haha]
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Re: Hawaii Speed Law (trap)
The only time I ever got a speeding ticket (many years ago when I was young and reckless ), I decided to go to court instead of just paying the fine. I plead guilty, but with extenuating circumstances (i.e., there was no speed limit sign anywhere near where I was, but it was a 35 mph zone and I was going about 45 mph). So the judge reduced the fine by 1/2 and it didn't affect my insurance at all.
It's more of a pain in the tochus for the police when you decide to appeal your ticket, and lots of times, the police are too busy to show up for court, so the judge will just reduce your fine and let you go on your merry way. And in the worse case, if the cop does show up, the judge will just make you pay the face value of the ticket and, if it's a real gross infraction (like going 30 miles over the speed limit) might make you attend driver ed school.
Miulang"Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain
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