Good luck with that theory...

 

There ya go. Contact your local ABATE folks and offer to be a test case if they have an attorney repping them. Don't know if Ohio has a Confederation of Clubs and Independents, but if they have, or have something similar, there is an attorney that works for them, usually through the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM). These COC & IR orgs exist to bring clubs and independents together to raise motorcycle awareness and fight unjust laws and enforcement, including profiling.

If you want to see how they work, do a search for NCOM and/or CoC in Texas. We work together and get stuff done. We get bad cops pulled from the street, cities and counties slapped for illegal searches, laws passed that help motorcycle safety, laws modified to remove unjust crap against bikers, and BS laws defeated. We fill the state capital with bikers on Legislative Day in January. We make sure judges don't play patty-cake with idiots who run down bikers.

If any of ya'll bitching about this type of crap-law, and are not members of whatever motorcycle rights organization (MRO) is in your area, get off your fat lazy azzes and join. Then participate. Otherwise, shut your pie-hole and go sit in the corner, one thumb in your mouth and the other where the sun don't shine. You are the enemy as much as the politicians and regulators who think this type of BS law up, and as much as the LEOs who cherry-pick the enforcement.

 

I didn't read all the posts so if this was mentioned before, sorry. But this is not correct. Whenever you pass over the border between states, or city, or county, or township for that matter, you are subject to that areas laws. In Arizona we have laws that allow a truck to be lifted to freakish heights, but drive it into California and you are in a for a world of hurt. I was with a friend awhile back when we were pulled over in Ohio. It seems the window tint that was perfectly legal in Minnesota was not in that wonderful state. The Highway Patrol Officer gave him a razor tool and had him remove $150 tint job right there on the side of the road. Oh, and don't get me started about carrying a firearm across country.

 

I would fight the ticket. Since there are too many variables like not having a level to take the measurement even the slightest movement up or down will make inches of difference when you carry it the distance from the handlebars to the seat. You are innocent until proven guilty so without definite proof the case must be dismissed. Eyeballing it is not proof.

 

Take it to court. Even if you lose, you at least got the trooper off the road for a few hours so he cant harass other bikers.

 

That cop is a total dick for wasting ink on a ticket like that. Police state USA. It's here.

 

Damn, I read 3 pages before I realized how old this thread is. Well did he pay or fight it and what was the result?

If LEOs really wanted to be a pain, they could be writing speeding tickets for 1mph over.

 

For future reference:

[See following paragraph amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.168,SB 114, §1 ] No bicycle or motorcycle shall be used to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it is designed and equipped, nor shall any motorcycle be operated on a highway when the handle bars or grips are more than fifteen inches higher than the seat or saddle for the operator.
[See 129th General AssemblyFile No.168,SB 114, §3 for effective date]No bicycle or motorcycle shall be used to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it is designed and equipped . No motorcycle shall be operated on a highway when the handlebars rise higher than the shoulders of the operator when the operator is seated in the operator's seat or saddle .

It's a pretty grey law without specific details about how to measure. It looks like it's going to change according to the 129th General assembly reference. Measure it yourself with a level and a ruler. If you are in spec, have someone take a measured picture for court. I'd at least want the trooper to explain how he measured and whether his method is stated by law or just policy or if he just decided on his own what reference points to use. It's possible he may testify that he just knows from experience.
Is it the reference point on the seat the highest, the center, or the lowest?
Highest point of bars, the middle of the grip, top of the grip, bottom of the grip, or the bar ends?
Bars at rest or centered? Level ground, on an incline or decline?

The trooper can't just presume or make stuff up. If you can convince the judge that the law is unclear (no legal definition), he may toss the citation.

 

deleted.

 

Were you guilty? I'm not saying you were! Did you indeed break the speed law? Again I'm not saying you did! But, If you were guilty, and if you did lawfully get caught for breaking the speed limit, then I'm saying you should have been a real man and stood tall and held your self accountable for your actions. No doubt about it! To me a mans integrity is priceless. One should go to bed each night and wake up tomorrow knowing that people can count on their integrity. It doesn't matter how much money one makes or how important one things they are, with out integrity everything else they accomplish is worthless. When one looks in the mirror and and refuses to hold themselves accountable for their decissions,They have no integrity!!!!!! With out integrity one has little value. I hope that you never find yourself in the kind of trouble that money can not buy you out of. Integrity may have kept you from being in that situaiton.
No need to respond. This is simply a life lesson that most of us already understand. You get it, or you don't.