I live in bloomsburg, pa. One of the roads I frequent, Light Street Road, is right outside of bloomsburg, in an area called scott township. I have to take this road to get into town. One of the nightshift locals of this township seems to hate my guts because he can never nail me with anything the last two times I was pulled over by him. He has nailed a lot of my friends and arrested a couple of them. Well I went out for a drive because I was bored. I ended up on this particular road that he loves to patrol. I was behind a couple of cars who were driving five to ten under the posted limit of 40 and I was becoming impatient and so was the driver behind me because he was driving pretty close to me. This entire time I was about two car-lengths behind the car in front of me. So while going down this hill I slipped it into neutral and revved my engine a couple of times to let them know to speed it up a bit. Next thing I know I see the red and blues in my rear-view, the cop was behind the car that was behind me. So I didn't think anything of it and pulled to the side to let him pass but he stopped behind me instead. I didn't say anything disrespectful to him or anything. He told me I am becoming a hassle and he wrote me a citation for following too closely and charging me 108 dollars. I realize this is long winded and all but I need to know if I actually did anything illegal and if I have any chance of winning if I decide to fight it.

 

Wait a minute, cops dont know the amount of the fine you are going to get, he cant just fine you $108 on the spot. So on the ticket it should say what you did wrong. Only things i can think of are tailgating, which can land you a ticket for unsafe driving, and reving your engine could possibly deemed unsafe driving. He can't just give you a ticket because you are a hassle...lol We need more details!!!

 

If I had more details I would have given them. The ticket just said, "Following too closely." That is all he hit me for, I mean he went to his car to see if my license and registration checked out, but that's it. I wasn't even tailgating though. I never do that in case the driver in front of me has to stomp on his brakes for whatever reason. Let's see, he asked me where I was headed. I told him I was just out for a drive because I was bored. I try my best to be honest with the fuzz because that way it is usually less trouble. Depending on the circumstances of course. He hates me because I wouldn't let him search my car the first time he pulled me over.

 

there should be a court date on the ticket somewhere. go and fight it.

 

I want to but I don't have the required fifty dollar fee, then I have to pay court costs. There were no witnesses so it's my word against his and they always side with the cop. So that is why I am in such a jam with this thing. Not only do I not have the money to do that, but I don't have the money to pay it instead of fighting it. Normally I would but I am unemployed and jobs are hard to come by with the ten thousand college students grabbing them up before you can blink your eyes.

 

not all the time, sometimes it will come in the mail


Also, I'm glad to see that you arent a jackass to cops and try your hardest to make it easy for them, that doesnt happen a lot these days so telling the truth is always a plus. Anyways, seeing that he is out to get you, you will probably lose this battle. O and btw following to closely is dangerous driving whether you where doing it or not, but the cop can give you a ticket for it. And the fact that you said you didnt have any where to go and that you were just driving around, that isnt always good cause it makes it look like your up to no good, but atleast you were honest. Anyways sucks bro, I just got a ticket on Christmas for riding in the back of my friends truck. Thats illegal in CA. I could go try and fight it, but since i wasnt in operation of the "motorcar" as he said it wont go on my record and wont increase my insurance. Its also my first ticket so i will be able to get it reduced. Do you have previous violations? If not you will be able to go into court and ask for a reduced fine, and just take drives ED and it will be like nuthing happened.

 

I was once pulled over for going twenty over the limit, but when I explained my situation the guy lowered it to something like failure to obey a traffic sign, and that was a statey that time. I payed the fine and whatnot, no points added or anything, but this one is going to add three points to my license. I'm probably going to end up sitting in jail for this because I don't have the money to pay it, nor do I have the means to get the money to pay it. Jobs are scarce where I live. The only thing I have to go on is my tax return, and I won't see that for a couple months yet. Normally I would just pay it, but these are the reasons I am asking for other peoples opinions.

 

you have a lot of time to pay, you have 3 chances to appear at court, so drag it out as long as you can. Also if you dont have a lot of spare money, driving around wasting gas doesnt seem like the best idea. Getting out of tickets doesnt happen a lot, so you usually have to pay it unless you really have some evidence that you werent at fault, also your driving record will come into play, so having points really isnt going to help your situation, imo your not going to get out of it.

 

i dont kno how it is where you live, but in MA...half the time the cops dont show up to the hearing...if he doesnt then they drop the ticket...and when u do fight it..you have to send in the ticket and then they send you a court hearing...this process alone takes like a month or 2 before you even go to court...and another thing..they usualy drop the ticket if its your first time ever getting a ticket...so ide say fight it...that way you have time to save the money if you do lose..and also you have the chance of winning..

 

In PA, a standard traffic ticket is $107.xx, so the cop would know what it's going to be if it's a minor infraction.

Anyway, following too close would be tailgating, which is a moving violation; how close is "too close" would be entirely up to the officer's discretion. And filing a court date to fight it usually takes a few months, which would give you more time to come up with the $114 (ticket + $6 court fee).

(And thanks for not turning this into a cop-bashing thread guys )