Bumpy Road Can Cure A Tooth Ache?

A trucker from Kitchener, Ontario, came up with a novel way to cure his achey tooth.  He tied a string around it and attached the other end to the roof of his cab.  He hoped that one good bump would get it out.

His dental “surgery” was aborted when he was pulled over by a police officer who observed his tractor trailer failing to maintain its lane.  He now now facing charges of careless driving.

It could be worse, he could have been charged with reckless driving which is more serious than careless driving.

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Officer Drops Aggravated Unlicensed Ticket In Exchange For Three Pizza Pies

Police officers are often the butt of doughnut jokes but one Gowanda village police officer prefers pizza instead.  The Erie County District Attorney charges that former cop Jason Miller dismissed an aggravated unlicensed traffic ticket (a misdemeanor for driving when you know or should know you are suspended) in exchange for a “bribe” of three pizzas.

The story got even more bizarre when the officer, then, tried to fake his own shooting by hanging his bullet-proof vest on a tree and shooting it twice.  Miller has pled guilty to official misconduct and can be sentenced to up to a one year.

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New Reckless Driving Ticket Imposes Automatic Suspension

NYC Reckless Driving Ticket

Legislators in Albany are close to passing Elle’s Law, a law designed to create a new type of reckless driving ticket by punishing those who recklessly drive and injure pedestrians.

Named after Elle Vandenberghe, a toddler, who was seriously injured by a motorist who was unsafely backing in Manhattan the wrong way on a one-way street.

If enacted, the law would impose an automatic 6-month suspension upon any driver who seriously injures a pedestrian while driving recklessly. The suspension would increase to a year for a second offense within 5 years of one another.

Currently, a motorist convicted of reckless driving ticket is considered a criminal because reckless driving is a misdemeanor.  Also, if convicted of this charge, a motorist gets 5 points added to his or her New York driver’s license.  Under the new law, these items remain the same.

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Update: Man Dons Monkey Mask To Avoid Speeding Ticket

My all-time most read and linked-to post is entitled “Man Dons Monkey Mask To Avoid Speeding Ticket” and discusses how one Arizona resident creatively defeated speeding camera tickets. issued to him.  The speeding camera tickets are issued as a result of mobile and fixed cameras that photograph motorists going 11+ mph over the speed limit.  Our hero motorist defeated these tickets by wearing a monkey mask to prevent the Arizona officials from identifying as the driver.

Well now our favorite “primate” can hang up his monkey mask as Arizona will cease enforcing speeding via cameras.  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer does not like the speeding cameras and is ending the program.  As a result, on July 16, 2010, Arizona will be turning off its 36 fixed speeding cameras and mouth-balling 40 mobile speeding cameras.

Brewer’s predecessor, Janet Napolitano, now the Homeland Security Secretary, introduced these insidious devices and projected that the program would bring in $90 million revenue in its first year.  Actual revenue,  however, was much less as many motorists ignored their speeding camera tickets received in the mail.  Only about 30% of them were paid.

Further, our masked driver was not the only Arizonan to take matters into his own hand.  Silly string, Post-It notes and pick axes were all used to disable speeding cameras.  Indeed, in April 2009, a passing motorist fatally shot a camera-van operator doing paperwork in his marked vehicle.

We can only hope that other municipalities learn the lessons from the Arizona program and do not try and institute similar “Big Brother” programs.

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Two DMV Workers Arrested For Issuing Fraudulent Licenses

Six people were arrested including two DMV employees for allegedly selling more than 200 fake driver’s licenses, learner’s permits and identification cards making more than $1 million.  The New York State DMV employees are Glenda Hinton, 54, of the Harlem DMV and Robin Jones-Woodson, 42, of the Yonkers DMV and the alleged ring leader is Wilch Dewalt, 52.  They were all charged with identity theft, bribery, and conspiracy, and face 30 ore more years in jail if convicted.

Customers of the fraud ring included alleged drug traffickers and dealers, money launderers and sex offenders.  One customer was an undercover officer who posed as a man on the US government’s “no-fly” list.  Fees for the fraudulent documents ranged from $7,000 to $10,000.  The customer would pay the fee and  provide a photograph, and the fraudsters would then obtain and provide a DMV document with a stolen identity.

Having appeared at the Manhattan North Traffic Violations Bureau many, many times fighting New York traffic tickets for clients, I am familiar with many DMV workers.  While there are many helpful and nice employees, there are also a few who are rude, unhelpful and love to wield their “power”.  I suspect the two arrested DMV employees here fall in the latter category.

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Can You Go To Jail For A Speeding Ticket?

Can You Go To Jail For A Speeding Ticket?

Believe it or not, the answer is “yes”.  In New York, you can be sentenced to up to 30 days for speeding.  Of course, imprisonment for speeding is rarely imposed.  Rather, it is relegated to only the most egregious instances.  You can read a funny anecdote about one of our client’s who was faced with this “honor” but today I write about another even more serious situation which recently occurred in Monroe County.

A police officer clocked a 2001 Audi at 110 mph this week in the up-state New York town of Greece.  The motorist tried to get away and a 13-minute, high-speed chase through various residential neighborhoods ensued.  The speeder temporarily lost the officers by turning off his lights but neighbors called 911 to help the police re-locate him.  Eventually the 21-year old motorist was cornered.  Instead of giving up, he made a very poor decision … he backed his Audi into the police car.  The officer tried to arrest this speed demon but he resisted.  You can see photographs and a video report of the incident.

Fortunately, no was hurt but you can bet that this young man will be getting more than a few points and a fine.  He was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and a whopping 56 traffic tickets.

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Rapper Andre 3000 Issued A Speeding Ticket For Going 109 MPH

Rapper Andre 3000 was recently bust for speeding 109 mph in a 65-mph limit.  As part of Outkast, Andre 3000 was a Grammy and mutiple hits.  The traffic offense occurred in Henry County, Georgia.

Andre 3000 of OutKast with his Cadillac Escalade

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