Big mistake or no?

[Jason]

allow me to drop some inside knowledge on you, señor reaver.

i'm a 911 dispatcher. in addition to handling fire and ems, i also dispatch for several local police departments. i guarantee you, when you were pulled over your plate was ran. this checks to see if the car was stolen. it also allows the cop to know the status of the registration as well as who the vehicle is registered to. and it often will even let the officer know if there are any pending wants/warrants out for the registered owner of the vehicle.

after running your plate, the cop will have had your driver's license number checked out. this gives him the status of your license and will also check you against any known wants/warrants.

being that he did actually go ahead and issue you a ticket, i would imagine he also had his dispatch center obtain a certified driving record. and even if he didn't, he will if it goes to court. this record will show any traffic violations whatsoever that have yet to expire and be expunged from your record. in most states, violations stay with you for around 3 to 5 years.

lastly, as others have stated, it's highly (very highly) likely that the cop had a camera mounted on his car. the tv show cops wouldn't be such a hit if it weren't for those lovely little cams, now would it? ;]

bottom line. pay the fine and be done with it. your permanent address is in the hands of "the system" and you will continue to receive notices of ever-increasing fines.

government's just dandy like that.

[Doc Flabby]

My Advice: Just pay the fine. Better to keep your head down and stay under the radar like a good little sheeple :fear: Its just another tax really. I know people like to get all self-rightous on this bs that gets pulled by cops all the time, but the system is now so skewed in the favour of the cops/state/goverment you're end up hurting yourself substancially more trying to contest it.

If you are in the right or not it doesn't matter.

[Sube]

What you have to do is pay the fine and then fight it in court, done it plenty of times and it works! :P

EDIT: what u need to have though is a witness, no witness no case. The law owns all, unless u can get the cop to admit.

[Pandagirl!]

Agreed. Pay the fine and wear the seatbelt next time.

I find it odd that he pulled you over for not wearing a seatbelt though. In Ohio, that's just a secondary offense. They aren't allowed to pull people over just because they aren't wearing a seatbelt. I'm sure it's not hard to find another excuse to pull someone over though. Usually if you're speeding, in my experience, the cop will give you the seatbelt fine (if you aren't wearing it) instead of the speeding ticket (which is more expensive).

[pascone]

live free or die

[Xog]

live free or die

softly

[Squeezer]

get shotgun

block front door

sit in kitchen

wait

[Fit of Rage]

If you weren't actually wearing your seatbelt, quit being a sissy and just pay it. If you were truthfully wearing a seatbelt, go contest it. Although I agree with Mattey that it is kind of silly to have a seatbelt law in the first place (natural selection anyone?), it's kind of common sense to wear a seatbelt. If you were in the wrong, just pay it. I don't really see how $55 is a financial burden.

[Ara]

Pay the fine even if you did wear a seat-belt, it's too late to start bitching now.
If there's any way send a complaint about the officer to his superior and that'll do.

[Ilya]

[Reaver]

Alright, this is kinda sad but I thought I made it pretty clear that I was wearing my seat-belt, if I wasn't wearing my seat-belt I would've just manned up and paid it right away. Also, for the guy threatening me about faxing everyone in Illinois, please do it, I'm gonna be moving to a different state in about 5 months anyways and I'm willing to wager that you don't have the balls nor the resources.

Conclusion: Innocent until proven guilty is a facade in America, at least in some cases.

Edit: Fit, $55 is nothing. It's the principle that I'm not going to pay up for something I didn't do, I don't care if it's $5

[404 Not Found]

You have a good chance that if you fight this the officer will not even show and then the fine is dismissed & even if the cop shows, most likely they will drop the fine and make note that it is a warning.

They tried to get me in NJ on a seat belt violation a few yrs back, but it was a dropped case noting that the car was a 1964 model that was factory made w/o belts. Made the cop eat crow on that.

[Izor]

Alright, this is kinda sad but I thought I made it pretty clear that I was wearing my seat-belt, if I wasn't wearing my seat-belt I would've just manned up and paid it right away. Also, for the guy threatening me about faxing everyone in Illinois, please do it, I'm gonna be moving to a different state in about 5 months anyways and I'm willing to wager that you don't have the balls nor the resources.

Conclusion: Innocent until proven guilty is a facade in America, at least in some cases.

Edit: Fit, $55 is nothing. It's the principle that I'm not going to pay up for something I didn't do, I don't care if it's $5

ROFL. Innocent until proven guilty is a facade??? You got pulled over cause some cop thought you werent wearing a seatbelt...thats 'proven guilty' in the court of law i dont know where you draw that conclusion. Even if you were wearing it, which i have no reason to believe you werent, his word vs yours wins almost every time since hes a cop

[kthx]

If you guys weren't poor, you would have a car that beeped at you really obnoxiously until you put on your seat belt.

[Sube]

LOL kthx, too right :P