Best way to fight speeding tickets.

[Audi newguy]

Anybody have advice or success stories in fighting speeding tickets?
How are the points against you determined after a speeding ticket is issued?
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.

[swoyekr.]

Sometimes, if you choose to appeal, they'll ask if you want to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Most of the time, the fine remains but they drop points.

[nealRlett]

Only thing that has worked for me is hoping they don't show up in court. I have heard stories of people delaying the court date and somehow finding out the cops work days and scheduling the court date when they are off. Not sure how that happens. I believe they get paid for the court date regardless. I guess you can always fight it and hope to get a reduced fine? I had a ticket for 105mph on I-5 and it was reduced to 80mph. (Good thing bc I was actually doing 120mph at one point).

[2PUTT]

i left my car in the garage for a full week. no tickets.

[akaEsCo01]

Sometimes, if you choose to appeal, they'll ask if you want to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Most of the time, the fine remains but they drop points.

That's exactly what will happen. As long as you are not a repeat offender and the prosecutor is not having a bad day. Go in solo the first time, if you have no luck, tell the judgeyou want to reschedule to seek counsel and find a local traffic lawyer that can work his magic and he will more than likely be able to make the ticket disappear.

[PolishPete]

Only thing that has worked for me is hoping they don't show up in court. I have heard stories of people delaying the court date and somehow finding out the cops work days and scheduling the court date when they are off. Not sure how that happens. I believe they get paid for the court date regardless. I guess you can always fight it and hope to get a reduced fine? I had a ticket for 105mph on I-5 and it was reduced to 80mph. (Good thing bc I was actually doing 120mph at one point).

Cops get paid overtime to show up to court. Not bad to get paid for doing nothing. So, they almost always show up.

I did get 2 tickets on my bike once, lawyer said if they cop showed we'd continued, if not, then we'd get it dropped. He didn't show, the prosection was a total biatch, wanted to continue it, lawyer said no it has to be dropped, judged and prosectution said that's not true and that it can be continued, to which my lawyer grabbed HER law book, flipped to the page, and read out loud the law that states that he has to be there or it gets dropped because we were ready to fight it that day, and that we put in our part, and can't be made to come back becuase of him. Judge turned to the cops sitting on the side, had one of them call him, left him a message, then made us wait 20 minutes to see if the cop would call back and make his way to the courthouse (yeah it was a bunch of bs). After 20 min my lawyer went back up, argued with them, and they dropped it. Overall it was some good lawyering, and he was really pleased to showup the prosecution lady because of her bad attitude.

[mister_tu]

Well, like most people said is to pray the officer doesn't show up. Unfortunately for me, the last time I had a ticket the paperwork said "me vs. the state of massachusetts police", so it didn't matter who showed up as long as someone did (which i tried to call them out on, but they didn't want any of it).

In any event, if you dont win the first hearing, always appeal it. The worst case scenario is they drop the fine by 50% but the surcharge on your insurance will remain. In MA, they have people in the courtroom with some sophisticated speech/voice recognition software on a computer or laptop which makes it virtually impossible to lie. Like I said, virtually. You should practice your story over and over in the case they use this software in your state. If they detect any time of hesitation or possibility of lying than you are pretty much screwed.

Sometimes, if you admit to it and are very apologetic than they let you go. I've seen it happen but more times it has backfired.

[jaykato]

mister_tu, when you get a speeding ticket the prosecution's "chief" witness is the police officer that gave you the speeding ticket. The officer, if it goes to that stage, would be cross examined to the nature of the stop, if his radar was properly calibrated, if there were any large trucks that could affect the result of radar, etc. etc. Without that officer, there is no witness to testify for the prosecution and for the most part the case will fall apart for the state and the result is a dismissal.

In regard to special software that tracks the changes in voice to determine lying, this is totally incorrect. There are many constitutional implications in doing this, and it would definitely violate your constitutional rights. The covert lie detector you speak of does not exist.

I work at a law firm in MA, and currently a law student. In addition, I have received my far share of speeding tickets.

[mister_tu]

mister_tu, when you get a speeding ticket the prosecution's "chief" witness is the police officer that gave you the speeding ticket. The officer, if it goes to that stage, would be cross examined to the nature of the stop, if his radar was properly calibrated, if there were any large trucks that could affect the result of radar, etc. etc. Without that officer, there is no witness to testify for the prosecution and for the most part the case will fall apart for the state and the result is a dismissal.

In regard to special software that tracks the changes in voice to determine lying, this is totally incorrect. There are many constitutional implications in doing this, and it would definitely violate your constitutional rights. The covert lie detector you speak of does not exist.

I work at a law firm in MA, and currently a law student. In addition, I have received my far share of speeding tickets.

There was a witness there, it was some officer. I couldn't remember if it was the same one that pulled me over or not so I couldn't really contest it. The thing was that every person that got a notice had "their name vs. officer" but mine just had a generic MA state police assigned to me. It was weird.

And as far as the voice recognition software, you should check the procedure at the Uxbridge, MA court house. I know it exists, I saw the monitor as I started talking and I could see the application they were using. I'm pretty sure that they don't use it solely based on their decision, but it may play a role.

[rs_fizzy]

www.ticketassassin.com

check it out!!

[pyro]

dont speed

[Audi newguy]

I wasn't speeding. That is the whole point. Per post "Speeding Ticket Bull".

[evil_O]

dont speed

+1 lol

[manhattanprjkt8]

i agree with the appeal comments. i had a situation in the past year which really sucked...

i was literally taking my gf to the hospital with my 4ways on and got pulled over passing illegally and doing 40+ the speed limit in a 45...The cop wrote me for reckless driving which in the state of PA is automatic 6 month suspension no questions asked.

I was found guilt (keep in mind my gf had to leave in an ambulance, and i had all documentation) but the judge and cops have a close relationship at the local level and this cop really wanted to stick it to me.

Regardless i appealed the conviction got it reduced to 'careless driving' which is a very small charge here in pa just a few points on my license. Moral of the story is take it to the next level if you lose and weren't being a total moron.

[pyro]

I wasn't speeding. That is the whole point. Per post "Speeding Ticket Bull".

usually if you speed and a police officer catches you it results in a speeding ticket.

[Teddy M]

just go faster then the cop!

[Audi newguy]

usually if you speed and a police officer catches you it results in a speeding ticket.

Always got have a smarta**.

Let me break it down for you....I was going no faster than 60mph. I am 100% positive. If he had lasered me at 60 maybe even 62 I would have said fine. I really believe he tagged the wrong car. There were other black cars around me at the time and there was quite a bit of traffic. I don't even know why they were even tagging cars. There was that much traffic. Didn't make sense to me. There was actually a black car behind me speeding a bit. I believe he tagged that car jumped on his bike, looked up "oh crap" there are a few Black cars let me pick one. IMO being 18mph over and just 10mph over is a big difference.

[04s4]

If you were traveling the same speed as traffic, then there should be no case. Isn't there a law about going to speed of the traffic around you, going too slow when cars are going fast is dangerous. You have to travel at a reasonable speed to the cars around you. Anyway, there isn't any real place to speed in Hawaii anymore, to many damn cops around, I aint' got recon either, so I dont' really wanna get tagged for all my shit.

[kloover]

The "I was moving with traffic" excuse doesn't work. If everyone on the highway was doing 20 over the speed limit, and the cop decides to pull you over, tough shit...you were still doing 20 over.

[99PanozAIV]

Anybody have advice or success stories in fighting speeding tickets?

Even the Trunk Monkey can't help with that (couldn't resist).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV1zXY1bnuo

[ChronicTeutonic]

If you were traveling the same speed as traffic, then there should be no case. Isn't there a law about going to speed of the traffic around you, going too slow when cars are going fast is dangerous. You have to travel at a reasonable speed to the cars around you. Anyway, there isn't any real place to speed in Hawaii anymore, to many damn cops around, I aint' got recon either, so I dont' really wanna get tagged for all my shit.

Is that why they cancelled Magnum P.I.?

[ne1butu]

This has worked for me twice in Maryland awhile back... When you go to court, if you see the officer in the room, leave. Immediately call and reschedule. For the first court appearance, all of the officer's tickets are scheduled together so that he can attend. When you reschedule, it's not based on the convenience of the officer, it's based on the schedule of the court. If you're the only person he is scheduled with, he'll likely not show up. You can reschedule twice, giving you three opportunities for the officer to fail to show.

[Audi newguy]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep everybody updated with the results.