Well somebody was looking out for me today

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It was a cheap ticket, considering the bodily damage, property damage and ensuing litigation that could have easily resulted. Looks like everyone made out really well.
Any time that you lose control of your vehicle (barring a mechanical failure, etc.), it is your fault and you absolutely should be cited. That's a 1-2 ton piece of metal you're barreling down the highway in. Safety is always first.

Glad you're ok, pal!

[BrokenLinkage]

I'm gonna guess your buddy's vehicle didn't have TN plates, thus assuring the officer that he would be unlikely to contest the ticket.
What could be better than charging an uncontested fee to support the local officers retirement fund, charged to someone who doesn't vote in your jurisdiction, conveniently on the 31st of the month, while claiming the moral high ground of promoting safety.
But I'm sure it is the extra few hundred dollars of ticket cost + insurance points that are going to sway his future judgement and behavior, rather than the loss of his vehicle, deductible, travel plans, and nearly his own and his friends life.
No, this is ********************ty policing - that serves only the officer's interest. And this comment comes from someone whose has 2 siblings that are retired LEOs, and in general I respect the hell out of those guys.
And jd, maybe you guys hold to a higher standard in the Emerald City, but aroud these parts quotas merely transitioned from "mandatory" to a "closely fol
lowed performance metric" some yrs ago.
Dwight- glad your ok. Remind your friend to cool it on unfamiliar roads in the rain.
It seems most hydroplaning occurs in the same spots over and over.

[jdraupp]

Brokenlinkage, I think you are slightly misguided. Are there quotas for certain agencies? Yep. Mostly local agencies where towns adopt ordinances that mirror state laws. These local ordinance tickets allow those local municipalities to collect all of the money from that ticket. The police agency gets about 50 percent. On a state citation (because I don't work for a municipal agency) all of that money goes to the prosecutor. You know how much goes to my agency? 2 percent. 2. And it goes to the general fund, which never makes its way back to the road guys who earn it anyway. The idea that this ticket, written by THP, was a revenue generator is total crap.

Do I write tickets on crashes? You bet. That person that crashed just forced me to drive in the same terrible weather conditions and stop on the side of the road with them to take a report. I've been rear ended while dealing with crash reports and fellow officers have been killed. Meanwhile, if the person that had crashed hadn't driven too fast for conditions or if they had stayed off the roads until they improved neither one of us would be in this situation. Tickets also assign fault in a crash. You'd think a report stating what happened would be enough, but insurance companies are great at being snakes. Especially in a two vehicle crash, I write a ticket to the at fault driver. This assists in documenting what happened.

We don't write the laws. We just enforce them and honor the decisions that folks have made.

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by jdraupp

Brokenlinkage, I think you are slightly misguided. Are there quotas for certain agencies? Yep. Mostly local agencies where towns adopt ordinances that mirror state laws. These local ordinance tickets allow those local municipalities to collect all of the money from that ticket. The police agency gets about 50 percent. On a state citation (because I don't work for a municipal agency) all of that money goes to the prosecutor. You know how much goes to my agency? 2 percent. 2. And it goes to the general fund, which never makes its way back to the road guys who earn it anyway. The idea that this ticket, written by THP, was a revenue generator is total crap.

Do I write tickets on crashes? You bet. That person that crashed just forced me to drive in the same terrible weather conditions and stop on the side of the road with them to take a report. I've been rear ended while dealing with crash reports and fellow officers have been killed. Meanwhile, if the person that had crashed hadn't driven too fast for conditions or if they had stayed off the roads until they improved neither one of us would be in this situation. Tickets also assign fault in a crash. You'd think a report stating what happened would be enough, but insurance companies are great at being snakes. Especially in a two vehicle crash, I write a ticket to the at fault driver. This assists in documenting what happened.

We don't write the laws. We just enforce them and honor the decisions that folks have made.

I would think the fine partially offsets the expenses of the "service call".

[jdraupp]

Originally Posted by BYprodriver

I would think the fine partially offsets the expenses of the "service call".

Yes and no. Mostly our general fund is used for gas. But a lot of it the state directs elsewhere to other agencies as it isn't just for us specifically. Salaries and cars and the like are budgeted from the main budget, which comes from the states budget. I think in our state the state police is about 2 percent of the entire budget. I'd love to know what the prosecutors do with the rest of the money as it mostly goes to thone individual counties. Sometimes they do give back to us in the form of purchasing light bars or in car cameras or sending us to specialized training. But mostly they keep it to their programs and we don't see a dime.

To the op, your best bet for your buddy is to call the prosecutors office direct and see if they'll make him a deal. They usually will work with you on the fine and points associated with the ticket if you call and ask. You really don't even need a lawyer to do this, just be polite and ask. Actually anyone can use this advice. It's way better than contesting a traffic ticket in court, which unless you have a lawyer you're really wasting your time.