Unnecessary acceleration ticket

[PianoAl]

My computer fixed up the policeman's report:

DIVIDED-HIGHWAY-MEDIAN-STRIP-WITHOUT-TRAFFIC-BARRIER CLEAR IN MARKED SQUAD 272.

I was stopped at a red traffic signal in the right lane of eastbound moreland blvd, west of costello/swenson, city of waukesha. As the traffic signal turned green, I observed the defendant vehicle two lanes to my left, accelerate extremely quickly and unnecessarily from the intersection. I attempted to keep pace with the defendant vehicle was forced to accelerate my squad using 100% throttle to do so. After approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile, the defendant vehicle appeared to stop accelerating heavily and proceeded at normal speeds.

It is unknown whether or not the operator of the defendant vehicle stopped accelerating heavily due to my police presence. There was no apparent safety reason for the defendant vehicle to accelerate so quickly, given the fact that all traffic behind it was stopped at the red traffic signal as well. My only conclusion was that the defendant vehicle accelerated unnecessarily quickly for recreational purposes.

It is known that tesla vehicles typically offer much faster acceleration and performance than gasoline powered vehicles. In my professional experience, I have found that some operators of tesla vehicles purposely take advantage of the performance of the vehicles to drive at an especially accelerate to high speeds. A traffic stop of the defendant vehicle was conducted on eastbound bluemound road near high st., town of brookfield. The defendant vehicle subsequently pulled into the parking lot of the melting pot restaurant. The defendant was identified using wisconsin dl and alleged he did not realize he was accelerating that quickly a citation was issued for unnecessary acceleration.
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[Let's Drive]

I have an insurance discount by using a phone app that spys on my driving. The insurance app now says almost every acceleration is too fast and marks it on the map of the drive. The app flags a fast acceleration as anything faster than 5 mph per second. Way too sensitive when you drive a car that can do 0-60 in 3.7 sec.

Yeah, one of my buddies uses this and it's entirely too willing to mark false-positives, lol. They aren't calibrated well enough for real-world driving and certainly not well enough for an EV.

The other part, is yes, Tesla's can do quick 0-60s, but so can other cars-- the difference is the instant response, which even if you take your time, will still put you ahead of other vehicles which have to rev things out and shift gears, even at the same throttle position. All this means is the world is changing and cars will have less lag-- doesn't mean they're "unnecessarily accelerating", because they pull away from a minivan (of all vehicles), lol.

Abuccanero,

Do you know what the speed limit was on that road? I'd find it hard to believe a 3AWD wouldn't have exceeded it over the course of 1/4th mile (the car traps in excess of 110mph, over that distance)...1/3rd of a mile would've produced even greater speeds. Hell, if the cop literally states he was on it 100% throttle, I'd find it hard to believe that he didn't exceed the limit, at which point he'd have just given you a proper speeding ticket. His story reads like a petty stop, with the most arbitrary reason to penalize you. Usually I see that from State Troopers, but this guy has a thing for Teslas.

 

[Sophias_dad]

I have an insurance discount by using a phone app that spys on my driving.

I looked into that(or something like that) out of curiosity, and found that without a doubt the dismal potential savings were not worth the loss of privacy.

 

[Abuccanero]

Yeah, one of my buddies uses this and it's entirely too willing to mark false-positives, lol. They aren't calibrated well enough for real-world driving and certainly not well enough for an EV.

The other part, is yes, Tesla's can do quick 0-60s, but so can other cars-- the difference is the instant response, which even if you take your time, will still put you ahead of other vehicles which have to rev things out and shift gears, even at the same throttle position. All this means is the world is changing and cars will have less lag-- doesn't mean they're "unnecessarily accelerating", because they pull away from a minivan (of all vehicles), lol.

Abuccanero,

Do you know what the speed limit was on that road? I'd find it hard to believe a 3AWD wouldn't have exceeded it over the course of 1/4th mile (the car traps in excess of 110mph, over that distance)...1/3rd of a mile would've produced even greater speeds. Hell, if the cop literally states he was on it 100% throttle, I'd find it hard to believe that he didn't exceed the limit, at which point he'd have just given you a proper speeding ticket. His story reads like a petty stop, with the most arbitrary reason to penalize you. Usually I see that from State Troopers, but this guy has a thing for Teslas.

it was a sheriff. And yes his description is BS because I would have been in handcuffs if I was accelerating for 1/4 to 1/3 mile. In the footage you can see I stop accelerating right after leaving the opposite side of the intersection. And cruise at 45. Which is the speed limit.

 

[yerEVan]

Funny you say that. The officers note says the same thing.

So from reading the WI law Unnecessary Acceleration, it states something interesting:

“as to cause, by excessive and unnecessary acceleration, the tires of such vehicle or cycle to spin or emit loud noises or to unnecessarily throw stones or gravel; nor shall such driver cause to be made by excessive and unnecessary acceleration any loud noise as would disturb the peace”

So you technically are allowed to accelerate, for no reason, only if you do not cause noise, tire squealing, or kicking rocks up.
Maybe someone already mentioned this point already, so sorry if it’s repetitive. But what is important is that they are not saying you were speeding, in reading the picture of the citation taken on your nice granite countertop. They are not specifying which of the parts of that rule above you are violating.

They need to specify that you were screeching tires, or kicking up rocks. I did not read that. I only read that you were accelerating for 1/3 of a mile or so. But if you were, you would have been speeding and you’d think he would cite you for that.

If you were going for 1/3 or a mile at full throttle, with AWD, you’d be at 100Mph. You said you never went above 40Mph. You should try it again somewhere safe, and see how far you go and tell the judge, there is no way i could have been full throttle for that long of a time and maintain speeds under 45Mph.

I’m not saying you were driving safely, I’m merely pointing to the BS rule that the cop is trying to, weakly, say you broke.

 

[LACALawyer]

They tried to tag me with a misdemeanor for the same violation in Los Angeles in my old Benz 550.

Damn good thing I went to law school. I think I made the Prosecutor cry.

 

[Tiger]

I got an unnecessary acceleration ticket in my model 3 AWD. I am struggling to find proof of traction control and how well it works.

Create a GoFundMe NOW, I'm IN! Let's slay this dragon down ... !

 

[Tiger]

I have an insurance discount by using a phone app that spys on my driving.

Haha ... just leave that phone home!

 

[SageBrush]

I attempted to keep pace with the defendant vehicle was forced to accelerate my squad using 100% throttle to do so. After approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile, the defendant vehicle appeared to stop accelerating heavily and proceeded at normal speeds.

OK, let's take him at his professional opinion and add some physics:
Halfway between 1/4 and 1/3 is 7/24 of a mile = 470 meters
40 mph (final velocity) = 17.88 meters/second

(D)istance = 0.5 * a * t * t
A(cceleration) = Vf(elocity)/(T)ime

So D = 0.5 *V * T
470 = 0.5*17.88*T
And T = 52.5 seconds

The cop has witnessed that it took his car 52 seconds at WOT to reach 40 mph.
Either the cop stayed in first gear, or he is lying and FOS

---
But fine, let the cop state under oath that acceleration* was constant for 7/24 of a mile
V = A * T
When V = 17.88 and T = 52.5 seconds
Then A = 17.88/52.55 = 0.341 meters per second per second. This is 0.03479591837 G.
A Tesla can accelerate at ~ 1 G, and by the Cop's testimony it was using about 3.5% of its power.

*Power actually, but at this snail's pace I use acceleration

 

[dmurphy]

The lawyer would be significant less than a few thousand for a simple traffic ticket. Free hundred bucks most likely.
Worth doing ...

Doh. I meant a FEW hundred bucks, not free. Can’t edit the post now anyway.

point still stands - won’t be thousands. Couple hundred at most.

 

[Sam1]

I never made it over 40. The speed limit is 45. The cop even said I didn’t speed.

There should be some engineers on here that could do the math for you. Those cruisers can usually do 6 second 0-60’s and mid 13 second 1/4 mile times. If you can do a 1/4 mile faster than that, there’s no way he caught up with you in a 1/4 to 1/3 mile if you were driving crazy...

personally I’d recommend just paying a local lawyer to have it downgraded to a non moving violation, pay the extortion... err I mean court fees and be done with it, but it would be interesting to hear details of you going to court just for the fsck of it

looks like @SageBrush did that for you partially... think you could add in the part about how fast he had to go to catch up if a Dodge Charger was going full throttle for 1/4 mile?

 

[Spacep0d]

What do you mean by a hostile witness?

Cops are considered 'witnesses' to your alleged infraction. They are not prosecutors or attorneys. You can cross-examine them like any other witness in a court of law, just as they will be required to answer the TBD if you file that first (or defendant wins by default). In other words, don't be intimated.

They are hostile in the sense that their claims about your lack of safety may be more narrative than fact because the city or county generates revenue through traffic citations, especially where the citation seems unreasonable or is based on invalid grounds, such as an illegally low speed limit or where the infraction leaves room for interpretation (basic speed law).

Cops, to you the defendant, are hostile witnesses, especially of they show up up to make a 'bad' ticket stick. This is why you don't reveal your strategy or intent to fight your ticket to the witness whilst stopped. You want them to forget while you remember every detail. Always save your case or statement of facts for your TBD or trial date.

 

[dave999z]

“(6) ACCELERATING VEHICLES. No driver of any motor vehicle shall cause by excessive and unnecessary acceleration, the tires of such vehicle to spin and emit loud noises or throw stone or gravel, nor shall such driver cause to be made by excessive and unnecessary acceleration any loud noise such as would disturb the public peace.”

This drives me nuts; sorry it happened to you. That statute does not prohibit all fast acceleration (it doesn't even prohibit all excessive and unnecessary acceleration!). Unless (1) your wheels spun and made a loud noise or spun and threw up stone or gravel, or (2) your car made some other loud noise from accelerating (which electric cars don't do), you didn't violate this statute. You say neither thing happened.

Now I'm not saying this is worth your time or that it will even work (the system is complete b.s.). But your option would be to plead not guilty, request a trial, put the cop on the stand, and ask him under oath whether he saw your tires spin, saw stone or gravel kicked up, heard your tires spin, or heard your motor. He may decide to lie and perjure himself (then he'll never know when/how that will come back to bite him in the ass). Or maybe he will tell the truth and admit none of those things happened (and will be educated that he cited you for a statute you didn't actually violate). Best of luck, I hope you fight it and win, but I'm not optimistic.

 

[Pianewman]

Lots of advice from several different states, may or may not be pertinent to Wisconsin law.

I grew up in the 60s, when muscle cars (from a manufacturer, not a modified "hot rod") were new. Whether you made noise or smoked tires was totally irrelevant.

Reckless driving was the charge for excessive acceleration, always at the discretion of the policeman. If he (uh...this was the 60s, there were no "she" cops) said it was reckless, it was.

 

[Saturday]

A lot of opinions here on how you should handle this. While they might be good advice, don’t take the chance you’ll lose- get a lawyer. Talk to him about some of the better ideas here if you want. But don’t make final decisions without one.

kick this guy’s ass

 

[cwerdna]

There is something called “exhibition of speed”. It doesn’t mean you’re speeding. Hypothetically they can give it for “chirping” tires.

Yep. I can't speak to the OP's state laws but in California we have laws against "exhibition of speed". See Law section.

I personally in California as I posted at Cops don't like losing to a Model S! had been pulled over for "taking off too fast" from a stop sign in a ~142 hp V6 FWD minivan w/3-speed automatic transmission. IIRC, the cop asked me "where's the fire?" in reference to my accelerating "too quickly". It was either in the mid to late 1990s or early 2000s when this happened.

The above minivan isn't particularly quick by today's standards and any Tesla will toast it in a straight line.

 

[drdumont]

After you 'splain things, offer the DA and the judge a ride. And give them your Tesla Referral code...

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Yep. I can't speak to the OP's state laws but in California we have laws against "exhibition of speed". See Law section.

I personally in California as I posted at Cops don't like losing to a Model S! had been pulled over for "taking off too fast" from a stop sign in a ~142 hp V6 FWD minivan w/3-speed automatic transmission. IIRC, the cop asked me "where's the fire?" in reference to my accelerating "too quickly". It was either in the mid to late 1990s or early 2000s when this happened.

The above minivan isn't particularly quick by today's standards and any Tesla will toast it in a straight line.

Cops still say "Where's the fire"?

 

[EnrgyNDpndnce]

After reading this entire thread I have reached two conclusions:

1. This is a BS ticket and you should fight it. I would hire an attorney.
2. Dude, you gotta be more aware of your surroundings. If there’s a cop two lanes over you CRAWL off the line.

Good luck!

 

[MichaelP90DL]

After reading this entire thread I have reached two conclusions:

1. This is a BS ticket and you should fight it. I would hire an attorney.
2. Dude, you gotta be more aware of your surroundings. If there’s a cop two lanes over you CRAWL off the line.

Good luck!

Or grovel off the line.