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by Pastaman on July 3rd, 2003

Pastaman

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How can I fight a speeding ticket in court?

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Answers. 19 helpful answers below.

  • by Santaanacanyon on August 15th, 2003

    Santaanacanyon

    I'm not sure mzkhadir's gives me confidence. My reasons, point by point:

    1) Your citation has the date you are to appear in court marked right on it. I wasn't aware it could be rescheduled. Can it? Anybody know for certain? And exactly WHO do I call to learn an officer's schedule? The police station? "Hello, I wanted to find out when officer so-and-so's day off next week is. Why? Well, I have to appear in court for a speeding ticket and..." Yeah, right. I wonder if the police are aware of this tactic (I'd bet they are!).

    2) Find a lawyer that KNOWS the judge? Even in large municipalities, there are far fewer judges than attorneys. I would expect any lawyer to know every judge. I do not expect him to know the judge personally. But suppose he does: Will he honestly use that relationship to sway a decision?
    Plus, I would like to know exactly HOW you find such an attorney. Yellow pages? Internet? Do their ads claim "personal friend of Justice so-and-so?" All this for a hundred bucks...same price as traffic school.

    3) Not anymore! Although not widespread just yet, law enforcement is armed with new and improved radar. They no longer have to track you in a straight line. They can do it around corners and over small hills. They can indeed pick you out of a "pack" They can even "clock" you on the freeway with radar while they are moving behind you or even in another lane. Technology has not stood still with radar. Anybody who bothers to read Motor Trend or Car & Driver knows that!

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  • by Anonymous on November 8th, 2005

    Anonymous

    Depends on how you were caught speeding. if you went through laser radar, you can.t fight this in traffic court. the supreme court has ruled that laser is infallable. laser radar is one on one automobiles, meaning if you are in a pack of cars, you can be singled out. the older radar is less accurate, a lot less. and by the way, radar detectors do not work and are illegal in most states. anyway, when you detector sounds the alarm, its too late. you've been had. laser radar operates on a secret frequency. to pace you on the road is also untouchable, since police vehicles all have certified speedometers from the factory. wrong date, wrong time, wrong anything on the citation doesn.t count. if your court date is correct, the officer can correct everything else in court. a point to remember.....if you have different sized wheels or tires other than what came on your vehicle, from the factory, you speedometer will be inaccurate. will show you going slower than your actual speed. fighting a speeding ticket is simple....come to court, plead guilty and go to four hours of defensive driving school. after completation, your ticket will be dismissed and you will have saved marks on your drivers license as well as a surprise in the mail from your auto insurance company. believe me, they know when you have received a moving violation citation. once a year your insurance company checks with the local police on their customers driving record. its public knowledge and they have a right. the best answer is not be a lead-foot and turn on your cruise control. slow down and remember......we are there for your safety and others.

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  • by BleedingMe on December 11th, 2003

    BleedingMe

    1) Yes, it is true that tickets can/will be dismissed if the police officer who issued the ticket does not show up for court. However, it is incorrect to believe that a police officer only shows up to court on the day that he/she is scheduled to work. In fact, it rarely happens when an officer will have court on their scheduled day/time. Don't forget that cops work weekends, and graveyards.

    2) To say that a judge is more likely to dismiss a ticket if he/she knows the lawyer is absolutely ridiculous. I'm sure there are incompetent judges in the system, but for the most part the judges are just concerned with fairness and justice. A traffic ticket is not worth them losing their job or reputation over.

    3) You believe a ticket will be dismissed if you can prove the radar wasn't functioning properly? How would a normal citizen go about proving that? Radar units are tested on a regular basis. And yes....with the new and improved LIDAR, (laser).....a vehicle can be picked out of a crowded street, a curve, bend, hill, or anything else you can think of.

    So....how can you fight a speeding ticket? The best way to do so is with credible witnesses that can attest to you going the speed limit. If it is 1 v 1 (you vs. the officer)....and you can't prove the officer was a moron....then chances are you are going to lose fighting the ticket. Afterall, who has more to lose with the ticket? You or the officer? The judge will see you have more reasons to lie than the officer does.

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  • by supernoob on May 18th, 2006

    supernoob

    While it's obvious all the answers here that give you no hope whatsoever of fighting your ticket, are written by cops, don't believe what they say because some of them don't believe it either. All cops are taught to say the same things- \"We're here for your safety\" is a lie when you consider the facts.

    What fact? If you go to court to fight a speeding ticket and the cop doesn't show, you STILL have to pay. You won't get the point but the government still wants your money. Cops don't pull you over for your safety, they do so because it's partly their job to collect money for the city. If they were truly doing it for our safety, they wouldn't pull over speeders persay- they'd only pull over reckless drivers.

    Whether you're going under the speed limit at 65mph or over the speed limit at 70mph, if you hit something you still might die. So don't give us that \"for your safety\" BS- if the state really wanted you to be safe, they'd require you to take intermediate driving courses instead of the same easy crap test that you took when you first got your license.

    I'm not for breaking the law, but we all know cops are human too. They make mistakes, but they're trained to talk like they're perfect arms of the law and there's nothing you can do about it. There are plenty of cops that are criminals- the difference? It's legal for them to carry guns.

    If you want to fight your ticket, go to this website :

    http://www.ticketassassin.com/fight.html

    There's plenty of information there. Remember, I'm not saying cops are bad people, I'm just saying they're PEOPLE. Like the rest of us, they're subject to error so don't believe you couldn't win in court. That's completely BS.

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  • by mzkhadir on August 13th, 2003

    mzkhadir

    Call and check to see what the schedule of the Cop that arrested you is, and then schedule a date when that cop is not there, you go scott free.

    The other way is to know a lawyer that knows the judge, it will cost you about a 100 bucks or a little more.

    The other way is to prove that he couldn't get an accurate reading from when he used radar on you because you were in a huddle with other cars.

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  • by windian on December 21st, 2008

    windian

    It is a proven fact that trees and houses have been clocked traveling at high rates of speed. IF you throw this at a jury, you will win! I have a friend that did, based on this case.

    http://www.trafficschoolcatalog.com/speeding_ticket/16ApendixB.asp

    State of Florida v. Aquilera (1979). This famous case is known widely as the Miami Radar Trial. After a local television reporter showed a house clocked at 28 mph and a palm tree clocked at 86 mph, the story broke nation wide and radar was quickly shown to be less than accurate. In this particular case the Dade County Court sustained a Motion to Suppress the results of radar units in 80 speeding ticket cases. The court's opinion stated that the reliability of radar speed measuring devices as used in their present modes and particularly in some cases, has not been established beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt, nor has it met the test of reasonable scientific certainty.

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  • by StormEJ on December 23rd, 2008

    StormEJ

    AS a Mother of 3 kids in their 20's you need to have access to lawyers like the wealthy. The BEST way and endorsed by the National Assoc. Attorney Generals:
    for as little as $17 per month, go to my site:
    www.stormbiz.net call if you need help Storm 206-910-1112

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  • by Rebelheart on February 24th, 2009

    Rebelheart

    The best way to fight a speeding ticket, maybe the only way, is to simply be there in court. There is a chance that the policeman who gave the ticket will not be there. If he isn't, the case will likely be dropped.
    It is up to the judge however.

    There are some other ways which vary from state to state and court to court. It is unlikely you can ever be found not guilty if it does come to trial. The Judge and the Police work for the same people. The cards are stacked against you.
    Others may have different experiences but from mine, the judge will ALWAYS believe the police. Best to just avoid the ticket by driving smart. Use a detector, learn where cops are likely to be, and stay in a group together so it is harder to be picked out.

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  • by Anonymous on April 27th, 2009

    Anonymous

    Visit http://www.mothercopper.com/
    It has free samples/docs/forum...everything are FREE.

    Best,
    Steve

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  • by ThorThpot on December 21st, 2008

    ThorThpot

    Getting a lawyer (even your wife's uncle who only does wills) will help. Dress humbly and comb your hair. Don't be a wiseass. Give the judge the impression that you will not be a danger to society if he reduces or throws out the ticket.

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  • by steve0079 on December 21st, 2008

    steve0079

    By being able to prove conclusively to the court that you were not speeding. If you cannot do that then forget about fighting it and just take the consequences. Good luck.

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  • by Jack Scotty on March 3rd, 2005

    Jack Scotty

    If you have had a clean driving record up to that point, tell the judge that you have been driving for X number of years and that good driving is something that you always took seriously. Also include that you admit that by the time you realized that you were speeding and attempted to slow down, the officer was already behind you with the flashing lights. Finally complete your story by offering to pay the fine if you could just keep your driving record clean. I have also seen circumstances where a defendant told the judge that he needed to keep a clean driving record in order to keep his job.

    All in all everyone who drives also speeds. You and I know that and the judge knows that. I think that if you want to get out of a ticket, you are better off just admitting your guilt and asking for consideration. Depending on which city you live in, sometimes the courts are so crowded that you might luck up and get a judge who will offer consideration to everyone who pleads guilty to pay the minimum fine with no effect on the driving record.

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  • by Gayla Rowens on May 31st, 2004

    Gayla Rowens

    First, take note that I live in California, so the answers that I am giving you are based on California law. In addition, there are local rules of court that vary from county to county withing the state.

    It really doesn't matter what the officers day off is because the first court appearance will be your arraignment. You will either admit or deny your guilt. (guilty or not guilty) If you say not guilty you will be given a court date. The date will be set according to the court calender because certain types of cases are heard on specific days. You will not be given a court appointed attorney for an infraction. (An infraction is something that does not carry jail time.) In my county, Shasta County, the court will automatically supoena the officer that gave you the ticket. If he is off duty that day he will appear and if he is on duty, he will be given time off to appear. The judge will ask him questions, you will have the opportunity to ask him questions. The judge will then ask you questions, but the officer generally does not ask you any questions because his side is already given, due to the fact that you received a ticket from him. The judge will then make a decision based on what he or she has heard.

    Radar tickets are the easiest to beat because they are based on a device and a device can be incorrect and/or there are factors that can put an element of doubt about them. If the ticket is based on an officers expert opinion, they are much more difficult to disprove.

    I would suggest that you get the book "How to fight your traffic ticket and win" or another book of the same nature. I have sucessfully beat tickets using the book and have lost some as well. I have spent a lot of hours in traffic court and a lot of hours in the legal assistant program at the local college. It is a lot of work to beat some of them. I guess it just depends on how important it is to you to fight it and how court literate you are. Good Luck

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  • by Anonymous on October 28th, 2003

    Anonymous

    the best resource for all legal questions is a set of books published by Nolo Press. they have books on all legal topics, including "how to fight your ticket" go to barnes and noble or the library.

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  • by RockRchick on July 4th, 2007

    RockRchick

    If you have good grounds and evidence then call up the court before your ticket is due and they will set up a court date. When you go they plea bargain with you (atleast in my state of NJ) and you get lesser points since they amend it. Youll still get the fine tho and depending on how much over the speed limit you were going your insurance will go up! Like if you got a 2 point ticket they can amend it to a no point ticket and you just get fined but if its a 4 point ticket they amend it to a 2 point ticket AND you get to pay more for insurance AND pay the fine. Yippie, isnt our country great! ( not sure what state your in but thats how jersey works, you may wanna ask the court about that when you call to see if its worth even goin)

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  • by Jennifree on August 26th, 2007

    Jennifree

    Check out Ticket Tutor, It was good for me. They have a lot of information there. http://www.tickettutor.com Good luck!

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  • by Zebulon on December 21st, 2008

    Zebulon

    Daggers, to the death.

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  • by tominhouston on December 21st, 2008

    tominhouston

    get a lawyer

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  • by Seanzie is smiling again on December 21st, 2008

    Seanzie is smiling again

    Assault the judge.

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