How to speed and avoid getting ticketed

Just last week I was driving on a Minneapolis highway in a 2009 Mazda3 and was perhaps a bit over the speed limit and suddenly my radar beeps signaling a cop using a radar gun. Immediately I slammed on my brakes and slow down to a speed to the car next to me. Seconds later I notice a cop behind me and was sweating over if I would get ticketed. In Minnesota a speeding ticket is a minimum of close to $100, and not to mention Insurance Premiums that would increase dramatically too.

The cop did notice that I slammed on my brakes but he probably did not get my actual speed as he may not have been able to get a lock due to the presense of several cars or he may noticed I slowed down and decided to be nice. Either way I am happy to get out of that situation unharmed. Although I should say that an interesting this is the cop raced ahead of me and a few minutes later I notice him hiding with his Laser gun and my radar detector beeps again signaling a laser. Ofcourse after the first incident I wised up and was making sure I was driving at the speed limit.

The next day, I decided to do some of my own research into this and this is what I found from another blog. It has a lot of useful information that can save you a lot of money.

Tips to help you avoid getting a ticket.

1. Use common sense. It’s your first line of defense. I recommend that you practice thinking like a police officer. If you were an officer, how would you catch people? Who would you target? Learn to not stand out as one of those people.

2. Buy a very good radar detector and use it. The Escort (www.escortradar.com) is an excellent detector for many reasons and the one I recommend. The newest version is the ESCORT Passport 9500ix. It’s GPS enabled and is pre-loaded with a database of known red light and speed camera locations. The price is $499.95. That’s much less than a bad speeding ticket and years of insurance premium increases. But remember, technology is no substitute for being smart.
3. Read the manual of the radar detector and learn how to use it. Learn what the different sounds and lights mean and how to interpret them. Keep the detection setting on “Highway” at all times. This is the most sensitive setting and you will get false alarms. Learn to live with them.
4. If your radar detector goes off, don’t ignore it, even if you cannot see a police vehicle.
5. Get on the Internet and study police radar and laser/lidar technology. Learn how they work and how they are used. They have limitations. Learn what they are and how to use them to your advantage.
6. Don’t speed if you are the lead or only vehicle on the road. You’re a sitting duck. It is much safer to speed in light-medium traffic than to speed in light, heavy, or no traffic.
7. Notice things about police. What kind of vehicles do the police drive? What kind of cars (or motorcycles) are they driving? What colors? Windows tinted? Types of antennas? What do their license plates look like? What do the tires look like? (They ARE different.) How is his vehicle positioned? Can you pick out an unmarked car? With a little study, you will get surprisingly good at this and you’ll be able to pick out police vehicles with ease, even at a distance.
8. Notice where police have people pulled over and do a little forensic analysis. How do you think that person might have been caught? Where was their speed diagnosed? How was it done? Vehicular clocking? Radar? Laser? Police have favorite places, tactics, and times of day.
9. Police Radar comes in three flavors: X band, K band, and KA band. Each is a different frequency and has different strengths and weaknesses. Each will trigger a different alarm on your radar detector. X and K band are also used for motion detector equipment such as automatic door openers at grocery stores. KA band is usually police only.
10. Radar is primarily reflected by hard, flat surfaces, especially metal. How flat is your vehicle, front and rear. Your State supplied license plate is covered with a reflective material designed to reflect both radar and laser. You can get on the Internet and buy spray-on materials that will dampen this reflectivity.
11. Police radar can’t “see” you over a hill or around a corner, because there’s no way for the beam to hit your car and bounce back. But your radar detector can pick up reflections from the microwave beam well before it hits you directly. You can “see” it before it “sees” you.
12. Radar is different than laser in that it is not a coherent beam of radiation. Instead, it is somewhat like a light bulb. Its power fades quickly with the inverse of the square of the distance (1 / distance^2). This means that as the radar beam goes from the officer’s site to your vehicle and back (a long way) its signal fades rapidly. Often, your radar detector will go off with a detection signal before the signal is strong enough to be read by the officer’s radar gun.
13. Other must-knows about police radar: a) Although X-band radar is not widely used by police anymore, it is still used.

    b) Police radar units can be set to automatically cycle through band frequencies, from X, to K, to KA band, and back again. This is designed to confuse cheap radar detectors, which it does.

    c) Police radar can be set to automatically cycle on and off. This is why your radar detector will sometimes go off, then go silent for a while, then go off again.

    d) Police radar can be used by the officer as an instant-on device. He/she will wait until you are very close to trigger the radar gun. It is hard to evade this situation but it can be done. (See Tactics section)

    e) Police radar can be set to a very low power setting so that your radar detector will not detect it until you are almost “on top of” the officer. It is hard to evade this situation but it can be done. I will give specifics in the Tactics section.

14. Laser may not be detected by your detector. Laser is a small, narrow beam of infrared (invisible) radiation. The officer will usually aim for your license plate, not your laser detector. If you get a laser signal warning, you must take immediate evasive action since you may not get another warning. (See Tactics section)

Tactics For Evasion

These tactics have worked very well for me. I have beat hundreds, maybe thousands of radar traps, and 5 laser traps. Unknowledgeable people will tell you that laser cannot be beaten. They are incorrect.

This is what is happening at the site of the police officer who is trying to clock you (information obtained from Internet research and from speed enforcement officers):

Radar

The officer has a radar emitting and detection device pointed at traffic. The radar detection unit is looking for a reflection from vehicles in that traffic. The unit’s computer is designed to display the speed of the fastest vehicle. However, it will not tell the officer which vehicle is the fastest. The officer must visually determine this. Additionally, the radar gun’s computer, although extremely fast, has to get a good “lock” on the approaching vehicle to give a correct display of its speed. This process is not instantaneous. It can take a second or two.

Laser/Lidar

The officer will be holding a device that emits and detects laser and must be aimed very carefully with approximately the precision of a military sniper rifle. The officer must pick a reflective spot on your vehicle, place the sighting cross hairs on that spot, hold very still, and press the beam activating trigger. Then, he must hold still while the laser unit emits a beam of infrared (invisible) radiation which will, hopefully for him, hit your vehicle’s license plate, then reflect back to the laser unit’s sensor. This process requires that the officer be almost directly ahead of or behind you, that he hold perfectly still, and that the computer gets a lock on the returned laser beam. Although the laser unit’s computer is very fast, the process of getting a lock on your vehicle can take 2-3 seconds.

Some of these tactics have worked for me when I was less than 200 feet from a police officer, going over 100 mph in a big car, and when my detector was not just beeping, it was screaming from an instant-on attack:

Tactic #1 – Always try to keep another vehicle in front of and behind you. This makes it very difficult for a speed enforcement officer to detect your speed.

Tactic #2 – Always keep an eye on your rear view mirrors. If you suddenly see a vehicle speed up and start to match your speed, immediately let off the gas and let your vehicle slow to near the speed limit. Do not use your brakes unless you must; if you do, your brake lights will mark you as a speeder.

Tactic #3 – For both radar and laser: Slam on your brakes as hard as you can, just short of locking your wheels. This extremely rapid deceleration has the effect of confusing the police officer’s detection unit. Its computer is attempting to get a lock on your vehicle, a specific speed, that it can verify. It must take several readings to do this. If your vehicle is rapidly decelerating, the computer cannot get a single, verifiable speed. If you are in a group of other vehicles, you will not be perceived to be in the fastest vehicle, since other vehicles may pass you as you decelerate. I have seen officers pull over other vehicles near me, simply because the officer thought someone else besides me was speeding. (I may go to hell for that.)

Tactic #4 – For laser only. The laser beam is about as thin as a pencil. If you can break the beam’s precise contact with your vehicle, you will thwart speed detection. Very rapidly swerve your vehicle into another lane. The officer is using a device that must be aimed like a sniper rifle. If you move quickly from side-to-side (as a motorcycle can do quickly), he cannot keep you in his sights.

Remember, if you immediately slam on your brakes to reduce your speed to the speed limit, you stand a very good chance of avoiding a speeding ticket. With every fraction of a second you keep driving at your current speed, you are getting closer to the radar/laser source and the beam reflecting off your vehicle is being received more strongly by the officer’s detection unit.

article cited from- http://www.away-from-the-maddening-crowd.com/avoid-speeding-tickets.html

How to beat Debt Collectors and not have to pay a dollar.

Ever have debt collectors harrasing you ? It sucks. If you really do owe the debt, I encourage you to be ethical but if not you should not just lie down and ignore the problems. The debt will not just magically dissapear.

Instead, fight back those evil slimy crooks. Read on………

This article is written with the assumption that the debt for which you are being sued is a valid debt and that it is your debt.

If not, then the difficult moment of truth has finally arrived; you’ve been sued by a debt collection attorney. So, what do you do now, assuming you simply cannot pay the debt?

STEP ONE
The very first thing you do is request a Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act debt VALIDATION pursuant to 15 USC Section 1692(g) See Validation of Debts. NOTE: Some refer to Validation as Verification. In my humble opinion there is no difference so don’t let the language confuse you. As far as I’m concerned, for purposes of this article, Validation and Verification are the same thing.

The United States Congress has given us help pursuant to 15 USC Sec. 1692(g). See Validation of Debts. This statute requires a collector to cease collection activities pending the debt’s verification or validation. In addition, any credit collector found in violation of 1692(g) is subject to suit and penalties pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC section 1692(k). See Civil liability

What is validation or verification? Simply put, proper validation of a debt depends on the specific nature of the dispute. At a minimum, the debt collector is required to confirm with the creditor that the amount being claimed is correct and that the person he is attempting to collect the debt from is the person who owes it. The most basic response to a validation/verification request would be for the collector to provide the name of the original creditor and some simple statement regarding the alleged amount owed.

The United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has opined that validation can be nothing more complicated than this: “Verification of a debt involves nothing more than the debt collector confirming in writing that the amount being demanded is what the creditor is claiming is owed; the debt collector is not required to keep detailed files of the alleged debt.” See, Chaudhry v. Gallerizzo, 174 F.3d 394 (1999).

All that having been said, requesting validation of the debt works for two reasons: First and most importantly, it buys you some time. Under the FDCPA, all collection activity must cease until the attorney puts that verification in the mail to you. The verification is usually a simple statement signed by the creditor, and it will not take the collection attorney long to obtain it or mail it, but it does “stay” collection activities, including law suits, until answered. Secondly, it sends a signal to the collection attorney that you are not going to be a rollover debtor. He knows you will be active in the defense of the suit.

The last point is very critical because a high percentage of collection suits simply proceed to default judgment without any response from the debtor. Default judgment is a collection attorney’s dream. He loves consumers who don’t answer law suits and, believe it or not, a majority of law suits filed by collection attorneys go unanswered because the debtors feel like they can’t fight the debt in court, usually because they feel they owe the money so they have no point in fighting.

However, by filing a validation request, you send a very strong message to the collection attorney that you aren’t going to give up. He might actually have to go to court himself and you may force him to prove the debt.

Also, by filing the validation request, you actually stay the collection proceedings. Thus, if a collection attorney cannot move forward against you in a collection suit, the chance of your having a default judgment against you is greatly diminished. They don’t like that one bit.

HOW DO I FILE A VALIDATION NOTICE?

Validation of a debt is very simple and the response is also very simple. The statute requires the collector to give the debtor the name and address of the original creditor. Some courts have also required the collector to give a simple accounting of the debt, i.e. the principal, interest, and other added fees such as attorney’s fees. Again, I have seen a lot of “on-line” verification/validation form letters asking for information and documentation the FDCPA doesn’t require the collection attorney to give you. Such far reaching requests immediately tell the collection attorney you really have no idea what you are doing. The form letters also make threats which simply irritate the collection attorney. And perhaps simply enough, they are wrong.

The FDCPA operates on the least sophisticated debtor standard so you don’t have to be fancy. Just make sure you do it in writing and send it certified mail. Simply ask the attorney to verify the debt in accordance with the FDCPA.
See this sample validation letter:

REMEMBER: ALWAYS SEND LETTERS TO COLLECTION AGENTS VIA CERTIFIED MAIL.

It’s very important not to be antagonistic. Don’t threaten the collector and don’t lie. Don’t threaten to sue him or report him to the Bar or say you have an attorney if you don’t. These tactics don’t intimidate collection lawyers and simply mark your file for extra special attention. Finally, a certified mail written request for an FDCPA verification may end the collection process. That is true in a very small percentage of cases, but it is worth taking as a first step.

STEP TWO
The second step is to file a SWORN DENIAL. This step is vital, especially if you don’t owe all the money for which you are being sued. Don’t lie to the court; if you owe the amount in question, you cannot deny the debt. However, seldom does the collection attorney sue for a correct amount. I’ll explain why in another article, but for now take it on faith that seldom can the collection lawyer justify in an accounting the complete debt sued for.

The sworn denial is a simple statement filed with the court once you are sued. This needs to be a statement in WRITING that you FILE with the court where you have been sued. It can be a simple statement, but it needs to be typed, signed, notarized, filed with the clerk of the court, and a copy sent to the collection lawyer. It needs to be a graduated denial. In other words, it needs to say, “I deny that this is my debt and if it is my debt, I deny that it is still a valid debt and if it is a valid debt, I deny the amount sued for is the correct amount”.

The sworn denial is a powerful tool! It eliminates the Sworn Affidavit of Account that the collection attorney has. The vast majority of collection suits proceed without a witness for the creditor. The collection attorney enters an affidavit, signed by the creditor, that the debtor owes the debt and that this is the amount. With that affidavit in hand, the court gives the creditor a judgment. When a sworn denial is filed, the debt collection attorney cannot rely upon a sworn affidavit of account, but must instead produce a live witness to testify about the debt. The requirement of a live witness changes the dynamic of the collection action considerably. The likelihood that the action will go no further now increases again.

STEP THREE
The third step is to file DISCOVERY. This is more difficult than simply filing the sworn denial. You need to file a written Request for Production of Documents asking for a copy of the contract or agreement upon which the debt is based. If the debt is a credit card debt, it is likely that the debt collection attorney will not be able to secure a copy of the original agreement, or if he is, he will not be able to do so timely. Most credit card signature agreements are scanned, or if older, microfilmed and stored away in electronic archives. If it is an old debt which has been sold to a debt purchaser, the likelihood of retrieving the original signed agreement decreases dramatically. If you are being sued in a small claims type court where discovery is not permissible, ask for the agreement at trial.

FOURTH STEP
The fourth step is TRIAL. SHOW UP! I can’t stress that enough. As I’ve said repeatedly, the vast majority of debt collection suits proceed to default judgment because no one shows up to dispute them. Show up and ask for a trial. And remember, the worst thing that can happen is the same thing that would have happened if you hadn’t appeared at all; a judgment. You can’t make it worse. If the attorney doesn’t have his live witness available, oppose the case being continued. Tell the judge you’ve taken off work to be there and are ready to go forward. If the judge does continue the case to a new trial date, show up again.

You will need to educate yourself. You won’t be able to equip yourself to spar with an attorney, but knowing a little is better than knowing nothing. You will need to read the Rules of Procedure that govern the court and the Rules of Evidence for that jurisdiction. Look them up online. The Rules of Civil Procedure will govern how the trial is conducted. The Rules of Evidence will govern what the Judge is allowed to see and hear.

If you do have a trial and the creditor produces a live witness, attack the witness first and the debt second. The witness can only testify from personal knowledge. Generally, the witness has no personal knowledge about you or your account, but only knows what’s in the file he got from the collection department. If he is going to testify without personal knowledge, but from the records and documents of the business, then he has to have a basis to do so. He needs to be the regular keeper of those books and records and be familiar with how they are kept and their contents.

Don’t simply accept his answer when the debt collection lawyer asks him if he is the regular keeper of those books and records and is familiar with how they are kept and their contents and he says yes. Ask him how long he has been with the company, in that job, what he does on a daily basis, when he first saw your file, if he knows from personal knowledge if it’s a complete file, etc. You must destroy his credibility and ability to testify about the papers he has in front of him. If you can do that, then the debt collection attorney has no case. If the witness is actually a good witness and you can’t prevent him from testifying about your file, then you need to know your defenses to the debt.

The best defense is the Statute of Limitations. The Statute of Limitations is the time limit that an aggrieved party has in which to file a lawsuit. It is a drop dead deadline. Find out what your state’s is and whether the creditor is beyond that date. If it is, ask the court to dismiss the suit. See Statute of Limitations

LAST STEP. Okay, I promised that this would be a four step process but we also assumed you would win at trial, or, better yet, get the case dismissed. Should you lose at trial there is one Last Step.

The last step, should you lose at trial, is to APPEAL. Appeals can take a long time to work through the system; from months to years. That time is valuable and no collection action such as garnishments can occur during the pendency of the appeal (unless you live a jurisdiction that requires that you post an appeal bond to stop collection during an appeal). At each step in the process, you increase your chances that the debt collection attorney will give in and simply put your file away. But remember, always be polite, never cuss and don’t hang up on him. You simply don’t want to make your case personal.

DISCLAIMER: This article comes with a giant, very real DISCLAIMER. This article does not and is not meant to give legal advice. I am not YOUR attorney and we have no attorney client relationship. If you use any of the information imparted by this article, you do so at your own risk and I strongly urge you to consult your own attorney.

source- http://www.attorney-in-alabama.com/not-pay-debt.html

Passing the INS21 certification

Weeks of studying finally paid off when I took the INS21 Property and Casualty exam and passed it on my first attempt.

It was difficult studying for the test as I was also working fulltime at the same time.

I was quite nervous as I took the practise test and scored just passing with 70%

On the test day I reached the prometric testing center and took the test with a heavy heart.

I started the exam poorly with first few questions but later picked up the momentum and finished 30 minutes ahead of the total time. I was sitting in front of the computer with a blank face and atlast I saw the result – Grade “Pass“

and successfully passed even though the real test was much difficult than the sample exams.

Many thanks to Varun for his help with studying.

Save Money and only take this test once. My Secret to passing is these links for Course Material, sample tests, flashcards and ofcourse Varuns blog. Before taking the actual test, take the sample test and if you score 70% or higher you are ready for the real test and you should be fine.

I scored 65% on my first sample test but on the actual test i scored close to 90%. My mistake was taking the sample test 1 day before the actual test. Learn from my mistake and take the sample test early so you have more time to prepare. The real test resembles very much the sample.

Course Material:-

http://googlestepper.blogspot.com/2009/06/ins-21-questions-answers-materials.html

http://www.flashcardmachine.com/ins-21.html

Registration:-

You need to first create an account using the link https://www.aicpcu.org/www/webcontact.newcontact

Then login to http://www.aicpcu.org. and register with the account details.Later login to http://www.prometric.com/default.htm and register for the exam.