Originally Posted by will2002

Follow the money! It's just a business, another TAX if you will!

Originally Posted by DSnoopy

Simply a failure to control the vehicle ticket. Common with any single car/bike accidents. Does not matter if it was rain, snow, or frogs in the road.

PS - Glad you are okay dude.

Originally Posted by yoacedeuce

Ok, i laid my bike for the first time. It was forecasted to have scattered showers all Labor day weekend all around TX. I ride to Houston to visit my brother for a couple of days, then head out to visit my parents and friends around Ft. Hood. I'm going down US79 westbound, getting ready to take the turn off onto US190. I notice that there is an overturned Ford Explorer on the side of the road, and i slow down from 30 to around 20mph. (speed limit i think is 50 or 55 mph, i was going 45, and the suggested exit speed is 30mph). It had been raining and the roads were wet, but i didn't expect this. I can feel the bike start to lay down to my right and as it does i apply the brakes (i don't think i pulled or pressed too hard on the brakes), but the bike sits up, then slams to the left side. I get up on my knees and i'm only about 4-5 feet away from my bike (I think i did a tuck and roll once i hit the ground). A couple of people run from the first accident (overturned ford) and rush over to see if i'm ok. I'm fine with a few scratches and a bruised ego. They help me get my bike off the road and let me know they already reported the first accident so paremedics and police were already on their way. I look at my bike and it's got a few dings and scratches but still runs. I get checked out and the officer (first on the scene) asks for my license, then a state trooper shows up and gets my insurance and gets my license from the other officer. After some questions he says i can leave on my own accord or have someone pick me up, i tell him my bike still runs i'll go ahead and just ride off. **Now the kick in the nuts** he hands me my license and insurance card and precedes to tell me he's issuing me a citation for driving at an unsafe speed for the condition of the roads. What?! I told the officer i was only going 20 mph, if that, when my bike went down, it didn't even go anywhere. I didn't slide off into another ditch and my bike didn't slide anywhere, how can i have been riding at an "unsafe speed?" It was an accident, it's not like i was hauling *** or anything, the bike just "came out from under me." I wanted to ask him if he suggested i get off my bike and walk it around the exit? Has anyone else received a ticket for something like this? Even my insurance agent questioned why he gave me that ticket. It's gonna be $195 if i pay the ticket straight-up or $110 for the defensive driving class. I'm guessing it's about money or this guy was pissed at something. I know there are a few law enforcement guys here, is this something that you usually do or is it the officer's discretion to issue a citation? I mean i have to pay a deductible to have my bike fixed, plus possibility of insurance premium going up, then i have to pay a ticket? I think i'm done bitching for the moment, let me know what you guys think (although i don't have to tell you, since i posted this on a discussion board).

Originally Posted by MidnitEvil

The logic applied here in Illinois is this;
If you went down going 20 mph, you were going too fast for conditions (as evidenced by the fact you went down), therefore, you should have been going 15 or 10, or whatever speed necessary to negotiate the turn *without* going down.

Originally Posted by MidnitEvil

The logic applied here in Illinois is this;
If you went down going 20 mph, you were going too fast for conditions (as evidenced by the fact you went down), therefore, you should have been going 15 or 10, or whatever speed necessary to negotiate the turn *without* going down.

Originally Posted by harleydavis

I agree.....go fight the ticket. An accident is just that and not necessarily a situation where you were driving at an unsafe speed for the conditions. Particularly at 20 mph!!

Originally Posted by boogaloodude

Ipso Facto. These tickets can be almost impossible to beat. I slid off a very icy road in a cage one winter. There was no damage to the car, but as I waited for a wrecker to pull me out of the ditch, a patrol car happened by. I was given the same ticket and was told in court that it didn't matter how slow or fast I was going (I was about 15 under the limit), the fact that I went into the ditch was evidence enough that I was driving too fast for conditions. If that ever happens to me in the future, I'm gonna tell the officer that I put in in the ditch on purpose.

Originally Posted by swestbrook60

Take the online defense driving class and keep it off your record. I went down in a similar incident as yours in the same area and was not issued a ticket. The officer even said he could tell I wasn't going too fast. However, a week later I get a phone call from the officer and he said his boss said he had to issue a ticket so I got the same "unsafe speed" ticket as you did. Personally I think they have used some asphalt sealant that is deadly slick whenever any liquid is on it in that area. My accident was in Milano, TX.

Mr brother is a lawyer and said he would handle it for me if I wanted, but he lives 150 miles away in the other direction and the expenses would have been as much as the ticket.