I got a speeding ticket about a week ago and I have a question for anyone who has gotten one.

Best way to get the case thrown out or way to cast doubt on prosecution when using a moving radar reading? I've looked at several websites and stuff. I just dont feel like giving $120 to the county, then paying a couple hundred extra a year on my insurance.

So, here's some details:

Divided highway, night, light traffic, overcast

I was going fast. Cop on other side of highway, U-turns, about a second later his lights come on and I'm pulled over.

My defense would be that he didnt have time to get an accurate radar reading. For an accurate reading on a moving vehicle it takes 3 - 5 seconds. The distance from where he pulled a U Turn to where I actually pulled to the side is maybe 200 ft.

Could you get an accurate reading while pulling an extreme J-turn and then say that the radar didnt splash off one of four highway signs that would have been directly across the street while the cop was turning?

I'm pleading Not Guilty, and I'm praying the cop doesnt show up for the trial.

Wait... was the cop initially stopped?

If you've already gotten the ticket, you've missed your best chance to get away. If you had cast doubt that you had exceeded the speed limit, such as saying "I wasn't try at all to go above the limit, perhaps there's a problem with my car...", has, on many occasions, resulted in the officer letting the accused speeder go, though usually with a warning, but no record whatsoever.

nottheking.. um.. you can get it thrown out if you go to trial and the cop doesn't show up. It happens all the time in the united states..

Were you actually speeding? Your post doesnt really make that clear.

If you were, you should just save yourself the trouble of trying to get it thrown out, and try to get it reduced instead. If its your first ticket, you can probably get it reduced to a parking violation or something similar that doesnt give you any points on your license and carries a minimal fee.

I realize that everyone speeds, but it always amazes me how many people do it without realizing that there are risks involved, one of those being the potential to be issued a speeding ticket. If you speed, you've broken the law, it is as simple of as that. Regardless of whether or not the law is wrong, and regardless of whether or not everyone else does it, you still broke it, and should've realized that by doing so, you could have to face the consequences.

I know that, but it's more of random chance than work that the person charged does. Also, if you didn't notice, I live in the United States, (check my profile), so I'd know what my country is like.


That's another good point. We don't really know if Schming actually speeded. If he did, I do think the best way would be to try to get it reduced to a violation (instead of the misdemeanor that speeding is). If it was reduced to a violation, your insurance company doesn't find out about it, because violations never go on a person's record. As for the fine, if you speeded, just pay it. Speeding is against the law, as well as a dangeous activity. You should try to stay an honest citizen: if you did the crime, admit it, and change for the better.

Maybe it's different over there, but a divided highway down here is one with with a median strip (or similar) down the middle of the road. So how did the cop do a u-turn on a divided highway? :p

Most medians are just.. well.. grass. True, some have those raised bump things, but even that's not anything to be scared of driving over.

Very large majority seem to have some sort of barrier, or trees, or something.

Every few miles or so, there is a strip of pavement bridging the median, allowing police cars, as well as other official vehicles like construction vehicles and snowplows in the winter, to make a u-turn without having to get off the highway.

Also, some police officers will just drive across the grass if there arent any ditches or other obstructions.

There was a break in the divider for turn lanes, that's where the cop swung it around.

It's kind of obvious that I was speeding. I have no problem paying a fine, but I'd rather do everything I can in order to not pay it. I also dont see how posting links to websites talking about methods of getting out of speeding tickets is breaking the law. You're innocent until you're proven guilty so you technically havent broken any laws until the judge says so.

The first thing I'm going to do is talk to the prosecutor/solicitor or whatever it is that presents the case to the judge on my first court date and ask him about dropping it to a different violation (like parking) since it's my first offense. Something like that.

Otherwise, I think I could build a pretty good defense with what I've posted above. If I can cast enough doubt in the mind of the judge that the officer could've been wrong I'm off the hook.

The point is not whether I broke the law or not but about getting a reduction in my fine. It really doesnt concern you if I did break the law or not, like I said, at this point I'm innocent.

.. Yeah, you just go ahead and keep telling yourself that, Schming. :p

The link Page posted did not only contain tips on getting out of tickets... it had suggestions on how to speed and not get caught.

Oh... nerrmind.

It all depends on what state you are in, but if it comes down to your word against the cops (even if his is in the form of a sworn statement), you will lose. You have to subpeona him to the court, if he's not required by law to be there in the first place. If he doesn't show up, you have to "MOVE TO GET THE TICKET DISMISSED" - if you don't say that, they don't have to dismiss it. If you just say, "the cop isn't here!" The judge will ask you what you want to do (or perhaps not even respond). You have to specifically tell them you want the ticket dismissed.

Second, you have a right to get the radar/laser certification (it's a piece of paper). GET IT! I've seen it happen dozens of times where these "professional" police officers are using radars that haven't been properly certified in over two years, and some states require they be recertified every year.

Also, you can get the officer's license and training history regarding SMDs (speed measuring devices) as well. This is harder to get, you may have to subpeona them too (the cops don't like to give this out even though it's supposedly PUBLIC RECORD). You can also ask for the certification of the tuning fork that the cop was required by law to use to test the radar gun before and after each stop.

It's up to you to find out how, in your state, to get this information. But I guarantee you, if you just go in there and give them some excuse, you'll definitely be judged guilty, simply because the judges are in league with the cops and you have to PROVE yourself innocent or you are guilty. They get away with this because it's not "innocent until proven guilty" in traffic court, because it's simply an infraction and you can't go to jail for it.

Also, don't listen when people tell you to try to get your fine reduced. If you just go in there, plead guilty, try to get your fine reduced, the bulk of the negative concequences will still be on you: higher insurance premiums.

The other thing you can do is ask to have your trial delayed. The longer it is from the stop the less likely it is the cop will show up. However, if you do this, you can't move to have your ticket dismissed on the grounds that it's not within the timeline of a "speedy trial" - so you have to do some research in your state and see what the laws are.

Good luck. I've seen so many dirty, lying, crappy, ahole cops that I don't have any problem helping people get out of a simple speeding ticket.

On the other hand, you shouldn't have been speeding in the first place.

Perhaps, GoY, but then again, the normal flow of traffic is usually 5 mph above the speed limit. Just about everyone who drives a car speeds every day. Besides, speed limit is a highly subjective law. If you raise it by 5 mph, you aren't necessarily going to see more accidents.

to be fair, I did not advocate people to speed by posting this, I posted it so people would be court-savvy enough to win their case. What's wrong with that? I got out of my last ticket by using what was in that guide.

I just forgot that other stuff was in there, i upped it to my server about a year ago.

Your best shot is probably changing your court date in hopes that the officer won't show up. If he doesn't you're free and clear. If he dos, you might still have a shot at getting the ticket reduced.

nein

Then you shouldn't have exceeded the speed limit.

I say you should be getting another fine for trying to commit fraud in order to evade it. It's a real shame that this thread wouldn't stand up in court.

It wouldn't!? [clever remark incriminating self]

Also, I'm a pedestrian. Those laws are there mainly to protect me. Frankly I think you should go to jail.

Speed limits on highways are not there to protect pedestrians

Secretary: He knocked over another ATM. This time at knife point. He needs your legal advice.
Fletcher : [picking up phone and shouting] Stop breaking the law, *******!

Surely if you were speeding, you should take the blame. Something could've happened by pure chance and caused something fatal. I think you should simply reflect on this incident, and learn from it!

Losing 120 sucks but you can't say you don't deserve it if you do

You obviously have no idea how the legal system works in the US. Okay, so he admits he was speeding, but was he speeding the exact amount the cop said? Does the cop even have the authority to pull him over (IE: is his badge, license, record, etc., current?)? Is the radar gun properly certified? There are a zillion things that could cause a mis-reading on the radar gun, but as an average citizen, YOU CAN'T FIND OUT ABOUT THEM UNLESS YOU PLEAD INNOCENT AND THEN REQUEST THE INFORMATION. They force you to make a plea BEFORE they show you the evidence they have against you. Infraction court is the only court in which they're allowed to do this. The reason they can get away with it is because most people are like you and they just pay the ticket, even if the cop was wrong, or the radar gun was busted, simply because it's cheaper to pay it than miss a day of work. That's why the system is so screwed up.

Guess what? If you miss a day of work, go in there, prove yourself innocent, you are STILL out a days pay. Do you think they reimburse you for false charges? Nope. Is the cop *ever* held accountable for writing too many bogus tickets? Nope. Unless he shows up, he has no idea the case was even dismissed.

Further, at least in WA, all money from traffic tickets goes into the general fund, which is used to fund everything from the cops getting new cop cars, christmas bonuses, quota bonuses, the JUDGE'S salaries, the court clerk's salaries, etc. So the deck is so stacked against you because the judge gets paid based on how many traffic fines are issued and paid. Thus, it's *really* hard to get out of a ticket unless you know exactly what you're doing.

If the system was even remotely fair, I'd have no problem paying tickets. If you only knew how many dirty cops I've had contact with, you wouldn't even believe it. And no, I don't get a lot of speeding tickets. In fact, I think I only have one on my record and I've had two dismissed due to crappy cops who don't know how to do their jobs.

You can have an accident and cause something fatal going slower than the speed limit, or going exactly the speed limit. An accident is an accident, just because someone is speeding doesn't make that the CAUSE of the accident. Current speed limits were adopted decades ago when cars were less safe, had crappier braking, crappier handling, etc. If anything, we should be raising the speed limit as technology gets better.

Brian, that's your opinion, not fact. Speed limits are given to limit the speed, gasp. You can't just decide what laws you want to follow. Lieing is lieing, speeding is speeding, trying to weasle your way out of a ticket is just that.

I hope your insurance does go up and you have to pay for speeding, especially because I don't like liars.

Yes you can, But....
Say the cause of the accident was by going that little bit faster

defending yourself is not weaseling your way out of a ticket. Just b/c some dude has a badge doesn't make him infallible. The government is not always right, and they are going to f*** you over as hard as they can if they have the chance. They get the money, so its a conflict of interest.

Not always right? WTF He admitted to speeding!

"Going faster" doesn't 'cause' more accidents, but it makes the accidents far more likely to be fatal.

E = 1/2 m v^2

The energy of the collision is proportional to the square of the velocity, so if you're going three times as fast, you'll have nine times the energy. You'll do (approximately) nine times as much damage to the pedestrian.

I imagine cars being more curvy might help, but not much. The development of plastic deformation ('crumple zones') aims to protect the driver, but that too might have some effect on the pedestrian.

I imagine that the mass of a vehicle has, if anything, increased over time, so they have more kinetic energy, so accidents are more likely to be fatal.

Technology doesn't really help here.

Try to use the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (Impossible to measure a system without causing changes in it). I know it doesn't apply to cars, but the judge doesn't.

Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle has no relevance whatsoever.

It doesn't apply to cars, or judges.

You're one of those "apply morality to science" type people, and it really doesn't convey or prove any point whatsoever. Though it is amusing!
As when Heisenburg was driving down the road, and he's pulled over by a traffic policeman. The policeman asks "Do know how fast you were going?" and Heisenburg replies "No! But I know where I am!"

It's not lying. He's not going to say, "I wasn't speeding, your honor." He's going to indict the police officer's method of radar detection. It's a protection built into the system and it's legit.

Also, why do you assume a law is an end in itself? We don't live to follow the law at all times. Laws exist for the citizens. No one was injured. Why does he have an obligation to submit himself to a law?


My friend got a speeding ticket. He negotiated it down to a parking ticket and it did not affect his insurance. You might try that.

Break the law, suffer the consequences.

There are no ifs, ands, or buts to that.