[roy@gambitmotorsport]

A "friend" of mine recently encountered this experience in "The OC":

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He was driving his 335i in the right lane down a large street, preparing to turn onto a freeway onramp. The light immediately prior to the onramp turned red, so he and the econobox in front of him came to a stop.

When the light turned green, they both made the 90 degree turn at about 5 or 10 miles per hour to the onramp, at which point the econobox took the right lane and he took the left. There was a several hundred foot straight shot up to the merge point into the freeway, so he punched it reaching about 75mph as quickly as possible (w/o breaking traction or swerving) and prepared to merge in with the traffic *going the same speed*.

At this point, he noticed what appeared to be a rapidly approaching Christmas tree in the rearview mirror, which he failed to note previously unlit (it being night). The friendly tree made large noises, too, so he pulled over, turned off the car, opened the window, and put his hands on the steering wheel (Authority Etiquette 101). So, now a policeman walked up and said, "Tonight's your lucky night. If I wasn't on another call, I'd book you for Exhibition of Speed!"

My friend glumly apologized and they both went their separate ways.

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My question is could he have really been written up? Would it have likely stuck if fought in court?

I understand the policeman's desire to have everyone move about safely. But there was also no racing, lack of control, or excessive speed taking place.

[ybbiz34]

Yes, "Excessive display of speed" is what it is called. Basically, if you accelerate really fast, and don't even break the speed limit, you could be written up. It is bullshit.

[Couch]

Yep, they can. My dad told me he received a ticket for this in his TR-6 when he was in his 20's.

[Maestro]

Its is the new catch all ticket the police and use when they suspect you to be a street racer or just someone who they think could be up to no good on the public streets.

Yes it stands up in court since there is no way for you to prove or disprove what the officer observed. All the officer has to say is he observed you accelerating quickly, does not even have to say how quickly and nor does he has to show it was above what is considered normal.

The laws does not say anything about being greater than so many feet/sec-sec is consider exhibition of speed.

In the case of your friend the sure fact he passed another car is enough to get one of these tickets, even if the other car was not accelerated and your friend did not break speed limit.

They are trash tickets with no defense since it is all subjective.

[O-cha]

Originally Posted by Maestro

Yes it stands up in court since there is no way for you to prove or disprove what the officer observed. All the officer has to say is he observed you accelerating quickly, does not even have to say how quickly and nor does he has to show it was above what is considered normal.

No it doesn't.

Trial court properly found section 316.191 to be unconstitutional both facially and as applied on vagueness grounds and properly dismissed charge against defendant on that basis -- Definition of racing as use of one or more motor vehicles to outgain or outdistance another motor vehicle, without including an element of competition, encompasses numerous legal maneuvers and makes scope of proscribed conduct vague and the statute facially unconstitutional -- Further, statute was vague as applied because defendant's alleged conduct was not clearly proscribed by statute, as it was unclear whether he was attempting to “outgain or outdistance” the other driver or simply speeding -- Trial court erred in finding statute unconstitutional on overbreadth grounds -- Overbreadth is not implicated where statute does not affect a fundamental constitutional right, and courts h ave held that the right to travel does not encompass a fundamental right to drive