1st Street Crash and Ticket Question

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First, sympathies on the spill.

Second, insult to injury, sympathies on getting an outrageous ticket.

Lastly, What an asshat cop, who probably gleefully agreed with the anonymous caller, that: "some crazed biker, riding way too fast, probably a druggie and a murderer, just crashed in front of me whilst stunting. My god, think of the children he could have killed!"

How on earth a cop can give someone a ticket for taking a spill on a motorcycle without having witnessed it himself, or having credible witnesses (an oxymoron in itself) all tell the same tale with exacting and damning accounts of wrong doing, is beyond me.

Nothing more than a corrupt system and cash grabbing at it's disgusting best.

Those are my thoughts. I apologize that I do not have anything helpful to offer, other than a jaundiced view of, IMHO, a severly broken system.

I'd pay an attorney $2K to beat that before I'd pay the $200 fine.

But I'm a dickhead. YMMV

I'd definitely fight it on the grounds that the cop didn't witness it. The person that called was probably worried about your safety and had already made the call before you got up and saw that you were fine.

Sounds like he wrote you a ticket for riding a motorcycle. Dick move.

Not sure how they would prove it, unless they call the "Witness" who called it in. What is that witness going to say they saw? Was it some careless activity on your part? Being in FL, not sure you can win over the idoicrasy, but yeah, I'd fight it.

Wonder if the AMA would want to know as well?

Did you check the road surface when you picked yourself up? Odd that you went down with that much experience on those tires. Maybe gas or diesel spilled from a previous vehicle?

Bullshit ticket IMO.

Fight that ticket! You may want to contact the AMA about this, maybe they can send a regional rep to help you out in court. That is certainly an anti-motorcyclist ticket right there.!

plea not guilty, cop would have to bring witness to to his hear say third party account of the "accident". both cop and witness would have to appear, if not they case would be dismissed.

Fight It.

Fight it, make them dredge up the "witness".

Why didn't you tell the cop that you didn't crash...and that it must have been someone else?

You didn't admit to it, did you?

Fight it. Not sure how Florida's laws are, but reckless driving is subjective and hard to prove.

Step 1: Go and look up the statute law for the section written on the citation.
Step 2: Read the language of that statute very carefully and critically. Don't read it with a chip on your shoulder.
Step 3: Do online research for the judicial interpretation of that statute and, again, critically and carefully.
Step 4: Ask yourself some questions. Does the language require a witness to testify to satisfy the requirements of the law? Did you give, inadvertently, testimony to the cop that satisfied the requirements of the law? Did the cop witness any portion of the accident OR you driving afterward that could be interpreted as a violation?
Then decide what you're going to do. Instead of out of ignorance, make your decision using knowledge. Following one sentence advice from this forum is usually a bad move.

Same thing happened to me in NJ a few years ago, cold tires sand and salt. Damaged pride and some plastic. Cops helped me lift up bike, they did not see the fall, but mailed me a ticket weeks later. Fought it and won.

Just go to court and tell your store to the judge they are much fairer, more knowledgeable and busier than cops. He'll throw it out and move on. Never had and issue with a judge,....... cops many.

I would have just told the Leo I didn't fall, I dropped it trying to turn around. You arnt hurt, bike isn't hurt. Their word against yours. As another poster stated, these days it's all about revenue.

Did the LEO's see the crash if no then go to court and it will get tossed. No matar what you said to the officer!

What town in Florida if you don't mind my asking? I would definitely fight it as everyone else has advised. You could have simply dropped your bike which does not constitute reckless driving....good luck!

Hmm.....I don't see you listed.


The 2014 Florida Statutes


Title XXIII
MOTOR VEHICLES
Chapter 316
STATE UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL
View Entire Chapter
316.192 Reckless driving.—
(1)(a) Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.
(b) Fleeing a law enforcement officer in a motor vehicle is reckless driving per se.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (3), any person convicted of reckless driving shall be punished:
(a) Upon a first conviction, by imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days or by fine of not less than $25 nor more than $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) On a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 6 months or by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(3) Any person:
(a) Who is in violation of subsection (1);
(b) Who operates a vehicle; and
(c) Who, by reason of such operation, causes:
1. Damage to the property or person of another commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
2. Serious bodily injury to another commits a felony of the third degree blah' blah' blah'.....

Yep, there was a real easy way out of this that you did not take... I always say, if you go looking for trouble, you can find always find it Personally, such an experienced rider with that many years of riding just falling over in a normal turn ??? I just don't buy the tire pressure thing, something was on the road, maybe oil you did not see, etc, etc.

People give WAY to much credit to tire pressure. Your tires should grip pavement just fine at their maximum rated pressure. You can gain just a few % traction by lowering pressure, but its MINIMAL. Unless you are racing, and pushing traction to the very limit, it was not pressure, something was on the road.

What kid of gear were you using ? Did you hit the ground pretty hard when you fell ? I am just curious what saved you from any kind of injury at all.

Mike

That. While the initial knee-jerk is to of course fight the ticket, you may well have sunk your own boat by what you said.

Even so, I'd still be inclined to fight it. This is one I'd likely go to court over. But I'd still do the above and read up on the law to make sure I knew how to fight it. Being traffic court, which arguably isn't real court, you can still make hay with general silliness.

I'll add a Step 5. Go into the court early and watch the judge to learn his/her disposition.