How do you fight a speeding ticket?

self

[Diva Betsy Ross]

DOes anyone remember the post form a few days ago on how to fight a speeding ticket? Thanks!

[karebare]

I didn't see it but if you cry,and say you are late for work because you stayed too long at an AA meeting.That one works!!

[pubmom]

Apologise profusely?

[JeanLM]

It was the old urban legend about paying the ticket slightly over the amount indicated, so that the wheels of the motor vehicle bureacracy grind to a halt and you don't get points. It's bogus. Pops up every couple of months.

[razorback-bert]

With a (gag) shyster lawyer.

[Henry F. Bowman]

In all seriousness, the best approach is to visot the website of the only organization that is truly advocating the rights of motorists, the National Motorists Association (www.motorists.org).

Then, pay your $29 for a membership.

Then, rent the Legal Defense Kit for your state and learn all you need to know.

This is not an internet spam or fly-by-night operation. The NMA is a long-standing lobbying organization that deserves all the credit for getting the feds to raise freeway limits to 65 in 1987, and eliminating the federal maximum more recently.

Your membership has other benefits, like remimbursemnt for speeding tickets you fight, after you have been a member for one year (I have benefited from that once or twice.)

[SGCOS]

try this in your browser search:...

+fight +speeding +ticket

[Basil314]

1) Be willing to dedicate a lot of time to research

2)Observe traffic courts in your area

3)Plead not guilty

4)At your pre trial hearing the judge will try to work out a plea deal with you or ask you if you would like to request a trial date. At my hearing the judge was obviously in a good mood and was making deals left and right. Most everyone got half the required fine and no points. I was going to trial but I felt that it required to much of my time and worry so I took the deal.

[Ole Okie]

With a (gag) shyster lawyer.

Shyster lawyer is a complete and total redundancy.

Like unto DamnYankee.

[Darth Reagan]

Hire a lawyer, it is the best way to keep points off of your license. They way traffic plea bargains are handled in my state, North Carolina, varies from county to county. I once got an 84 in a 55 reduced to "improper equipment" which is a non-moving violation. We had a speedometer calibration (which didn't even show anything wrong) and said that is what we wanted to plea to. The DA said "OK". That was Greensboro, in Raleigh, the best you can do is getting the speed reduced to 9 miles over the limit, which doesn't result in points, unless you get caught again within a few years.

Point is, it varies what you can do.

[DoughtyOne]

When I was a kid, I got more traffic tickets than anyone I know. The officer's comments on one of three tickets I recieved in one week stated, "I was going 120+ mph and he was leaving me." About that time it dawned on me that I needed a different strategy, and I adopted one.

I've been fighting speeding tickets successfully for over 30 years.  During that time I haven't paid one fine for speeding.  I haven't had to pay one dollar to an attorney to represent me.  And I haven't had to take off one day to appear in court.  I just quit speeding and never looked back. (in my rear-view mirror or otherwise)

[bmwcyle]

Get a good lawyer.

[ho-hum]

Try this little trick it works all the time, drive the posted speed limit. Unless of course your a liberal then the law is only for others. Good luck Bill.

[Quilla]

I heard this story just today - it was prefaced by "this is the truth".

A gent was pulled over for speeding. The policeman asked to see his license and he replied it had been confiscated as a result of drunken driving. He was then asked for his registration. The driver stated it was in the glove compartment along with his gun. He further explained it was not registered and he had just used it to kill his wife. He went on matter of factly that his wife's body was in the trunk. Flabbergasted, the policeman called in for assistance and soon his supervisor appeared at the scene.

The supervising officer asked to see the gent's driver's licence which he promply provided. When asked for his registration he reached for the glove box. The first officer drew his gun, pointed it at the man, and explained to his supervisor that there was a gun in the compartment. He went on to explain that the perp had shot his wife and her body was in the trunk. The man simply replied, "And next I bet he's going to tell you I was speeding."

[truth_eagle]

You go here and read/study your brains out.

Ticket Fighting Information And Strategies

[HEFFERNAN2]

Exactly. I tried it and didn't work. They sent me a check for the difference.

[sinkspur]

Response varies by jurisdiction. If you live in a suburb, they may NOT have a municipal court. That's a good thing for you.

If you contest the ticket, the officer will have to travel some distance to appear. Most don't.

Here in the Metroplex, there are several law firms that advertise "traffic tickets" as their specialty. They charge a flat $40 per violation. They simply send a junior lawyer to appear in traffic court and request continuances until the officer fails to appear. The violation is then thrown out.

I've used them twice in the past for my wife. No ticket, no fine, no record.

[2Trievers]

It sounds like it's too late to bat your eyelashes ... so go to traffic court. If you have a clean record, you're home free. Don't worry about it ... you'll be fine.

[Cagey]

Don't worry about it ... you'll be fine.

Don't worry about it ... you'll be fined.
Or, she could try the eyelash thing on the judge?

[DainBramage]

Assume the speeding ticket will try to cut you with its edges, so stay on your toes watching for paper cuts.

If you can somehow fold it and stick it in your wallet or pocket you will win, if it gets out of the ring

and gets away from you, will receive a warrant for your arrest so try to fold it.

[Helix]

If you have a clean (last few years) record, and weren't belligerent to the cop, then you can ask for a prayer for judgement. In NC this usually works. You'll still have to pay court costs, but it won't go on your record and no fine unless you get caught again within so many months. If you do then you'll have to pay both tickets if you're found guilty.

[2Trievers]

THAT eyelash thing works ... haven't you seen Perry Mason? ... she says, "Judge may I approach the bench with some research/evidence, please?" That's the moment you hit 'em with the eyelash thang ... ahhhhhhh! The American justice system ... works every time.

[2Trievers]

A related thread ... for what it's worth

Radar love -- and hate / Pennyslvanians simply don't trust their local police

[aimhigh]

Quit being a jackass, and obey the law. Pay the ticket. Lawlessness is for liberals.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I would say you are the jackass... following the fist of law although it is plain extortion is for liberals like you.

I did not say I was actually speeding did I ? Jumping to conclusions is also for liberals like you. Then there is pointing the finger ,liberals do a great deal of that dont they?.. oh sure you always perfectly follow the posted speed limit and never go over, right? You never jay walk or park at an expired meter.. just for a moment, right? Tell it to the hand sir.. That is what I say to to oher liberals that remind me of you.

[Publius6961]

BUMP

[Publius6961]

I work with a fellow who is to the left of Hilary, and endlessly complaining about the hypocrisy of “conservatives”.
He was ticketed for speeding today; the cop used radar. Of course he claims to be innocent, he might have been speeding but not as much as the cop says he was.

This lead to a discussion and a bet. I bet him that Free Republic was the best resource to get real and useful information on how successfully to challenge the results of a radar ticket.
He maintains that his liberal web sites would have better advice.

What say the Freepers?
Anyone successfully challenged a radar speeding ticket?

[yarddog]

I suspect if you want to fight it hard enough you can beat most speeding tickets.

I have only had three in my life and I simply paid them. BTW one of the three was simply a false claim by a Georgia State Trooper. The other two, I was doing exactly what they said.

I used to have a desk right next to a government lawyer. One day he got a speeding ticket. Around a month later he explained how he had beaten it. I later talked to another person in the office who had been there a lot longer than me. He said the lawyer had beaten every ticket he ever got and he had gotten several. From that, I suspect a good lawyer can generally beat them.

[slimer]

Pay the fine and on the bottom of the check write "Extortion Payment"

[brewcrew]

If you weren't speeding, get a lawyer. But if you were speeding, why do you want to fight it? Own up to the fact that you were breaking the law, pay your fine and take your lumps.

I thought conservatives were supposed to be big on taking personal responsibility for one's own actions....

[bert]

After you lose and have to pay the fine and court costs, go to www.speedtrap.com and post the name of the judge and the cop who did you in.

You are out the money and perhaps the points, but there is satisfaction that will let you sleep.

[Crusher138]

Both times I have gotten a ticket I hired a "ticket attorney."

The first time it was a lawyer friend of my who, because he owed me a favor, said he would do it for free. Unfortunately, before he could finish, he took a job in another city. He gave it to a friend of his to finish. She was nine months pregnant and took maternity leave before it was settled. She passed it on to a friend of hers who finished it, got it tossed entirely, but sent me a bill for $100.

The second time I paid a firm $69 to handle it. About a month later I got all the paperwork saying it was done.

My advice, call a "Ticket Clinic" and get it taken care of.

[Darnright]

I like your ticket avoidance tactics. The most valuable option on a car is cruise control, imho. Haven't we all been driving along, and looked down to find ourselves going way faster than we had thought? With the cruise set, the car is less likely to fool its owner.

[mewzilla]

Just out of curiosity, were you speeding?

[Axenolith]

First off, actually set a court date. ~10-20% of the time the ticketing officer is a no show and its dropped (I got off an 83 in a 55 zone that way). At the worst, you can get traffic school and\or have it reduced.

[RightWhale]

Probably the easiest way is to obey those rules they spoonfed in driver's ed. Things like not exceeding the posted speed limit.

[BJungNan]

1. Don't admit anything when the officer pulls you over.
2. Give the officer your Hong Kong International drivers license. When he asks for your current address, give him the Engrish spelling of your Chinese address. Help him spell it making sure he writes "l" and not "r"
3. Insist you would never turn left from the right lane.
4. Go to the hearing. The police officer might not show up.
5. If the police officer shows up, blame the automaker. Explain that if they made the steering wheel bigger you could look through it more easily and would have seen the sign. Or...
6. Blame the street department for incorrect placement of the signs. Explain to the judge that the signs are too low, that the dash board gets in the way, they need to make the poles higher. Suggest the street department needs cultural sensitivity training.
7. Go to the post that someone else linked to if these don't help.

[mewzilla]

I'll add one more suggestion: Don't speed :)

[Axenolith]

That cruise control does work. I had mine set on 115 coming up I-5 one day and passed a CHP who had a tanker pulled over southbound. While he eventually caught up, I was going 70 by then and, as they were only allowed to pace at the time, I got a mean ass look :)

I drove fast as snot for 15 years and never got as much as pulled over in a 70 1/2 Camaro and 84 Trans Am. I traded the latter in on a 92 Saturn SL2 and got bagged about 5 times in 4 years!

Now that I have an SUV I keep it under ~85, fuel economy you know...

[yarddog]

I guess some speeding tickets are richly deserved but a lot, perhaps most driving laws are put there to raise revenue.

Every person in the country who drives also breaks some traffic law. It is absolutely impossible to not do so. I doubt if one person in 10,000 slows to 45 during all those places in which you are driving along on a rural two lane in the middle of nowhere and because a farm or county road intersects, there is the mandatory 45 sign. I have never seen a cop slow down for these signs.

There are still some real honest to goodness speed traps. Waldo and Lawtey Florida are two of them. I remember Ludowici and Jesup Georgia when they were absolutely robbing the public under cover of law. Ludowici was so bad that Governor Maddox literally told them they could quit or the city was going to be abolished.

[M. Peach]

Yes I have and I've won the 3 times in the last 7 years for speeding and another for a rolling stop - and I don't feel a bit of guilt or remorse for having done so.

Go to nolo.com - and get a book called "Fight Your Ticket" by Brown - it has great advice and easy to follow examples. I suppose aimhigh also pays every bit of taxes he owes too, right?

[M. Peach]

Can you give me a good example for requesting a continuance? I must admit I actually feel a bit awkward asking you for advice, since when we reply to each other it's generally about differences of opinions - and I know you didn't take seriously those frivolous, misguided comments I made about you on the other threads- but I guess that's whats so great about FR - is that we can disagree but still be friends, right? Right?

Ahem - about that example for a continuance.... ;-)

[M. Peach]

I recently saw an episode of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" where the Mexicans in a newly formed Asian community actually started getting car insurance because of the Asian drivers....

[sinkspur]

Get an attorney that handles traffic tickets. Until we got a municipal court in our city, the police had to drive 30 minutes to Ft. Worth to appear if a ticket was challenged. They rarely did that, so the judge would simply dismiss the citation.

If you've got a municipal court, depending on the laws of your state, the most you might hope for is to have the citation kept off your record in return for probation....and a fee for court costs. But a civil attorney specializing in this stuff could tell you.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, that cruise control is great. I use mine all the time. I like to set it at two miles under the speed limit, sit back and relax. Unfortunately trafic moves at 4-10 miles over the speed limit.

I drive in the number 2 lane and allow those who wish to go faster, to do so unimpeded. When I used to speed, I never every expected anyone to get out of my way. Folks that speed today honk their horn, flash their lights and get within 3 feet of my bumper. What a bunch of maroons!!!

[RightWhale]

most driving laws are put there to raise revenue

Not around here. They don't even field a trooper anywhere in town and city police show up only for stalled vehicles and accidents. Revenues could be raised if any traffic laws were enforced, but mainly the laws are used to establish fault in case of automotive collision.

[yarddog]

Actually that is pretty much the way it is here too. The cops don't bother you unless you are really doing something bad, but I have seen towns where they literally lived off the traffic fines.

[spodefly]

The last speeding ticket I got was for going 66 in a 35 ... I was on my way to work on a very wide state highway with no other traffic and no houses adjacent. Unfortunately, that particular stretch of road passed just within the city limits where there is a maximum 35MPH speed limit. I passed over a hill and boom ... radar ... caught ... ticketed.

I knew that a ticket for going more than 30 MPH over the speed limit (4 points) would reek havoc with my insurance rates, so I decided to fight it. I looked for a lawyer that had previously been employed by that counties district attorney's office. He was surprised that I was coming to him for a speeding ticket instead of something more serious, but I explained to him that I had not had a ticket in several years, and my insurance rate had finally dropped to a level that I thought was somewhat reasonable, that the stretch of highway that I was on was wide and sparsely populated and I had no idea that I was 30+ over the speed limit, and that I just wanted the ticket to dissappear so as not to screw up my insurance rates.

He took the case. When the first trial date showed up, he called me and said that he had asked for a delay to the next month. That date approached and again he called and said that the date had been postponed. On the 3rd court date, we both went to court and after every other case was heard, the court reporter called my name and we went up to the bench. They had my name on the docket but could not find the ticket! It had dissappeared! The judge asked if I was speeding and I said yes. He asked about how much over the speed limit I thought I was going and I replied that all things considered I felt that I was maybe a few MPH over. He fined me for going 42 in a 35, I paid the $50 fine. The attorney cost $250. The insurance company never heard about any of this so my rates did not change.

I recognize the clintonian ethics of the preceeding story, but that is the game. I broke the law and I paid the fine, but it was not nearly as bad as it might have been had I not played the system. My shame is offset by not having to pay an extra $1000 per year for 3 years for insurance because of one goof up.

[RightWhale]

Unfortunately trafic moves at 4-10 miles over the speed limit.

There are places where speed limits mean what they say. Not "Posted Plus 9 MPH." Military bases. When they say 20, they mean 20, not 21.