Speeding ticket question?

Question

First of all i may have been going a little too fast. I was traveling in the far left lane. There was a line of traffic about 5 cars long, the trooper leading the pack then me behind him. Now I said I may have been going too fast because the light behind my speedometer was out. But i have a good idea on my speed based off the tachometer. So the trooper speeds up, and i try to maintain my speed. He slows down a bit and falls back. He goes into the right lane w/o his signal, brakes, gets behind me in that right lane, and turns on his blue lights. I pull over and wait until he comes out. The first thing he says to me is "how much weed have you been smoking?" I say "Sir I dont smoke marijuana." My clothes did smell like smoke from staying at my mothers house. But anyway he asked me why he pulled me over. I knew nothing was wrong with my car mechanically so I asked "Was I speeding?." He replied with a smart *** coment.-continued

So I try to explain to him my situation with the tach hoping that he would cut me some slack. But he yells over me accusing me of smoking weed, not even giving me a chance to explain myself. Then he asks me what im doing and such. Then he goes back to his cruiser and writes me out the citation. He said that I shouldnt be traveling in that far left lane, and asked me what there teaching me in drivers ed? so I say that I never learned that. When I got home I looked at everything I saved from drivers ed and found nothing about traveling there. But he did not put that on my ticket. He checked off "posted" "estimated" and "clocked" on the ticked and left "radar" blank. Plus he did not add up the total I needed to pay correctly.

I am gong to appeal this. So my question is how good is my chance to have this erased? What can I use in my defense?

Answer 1

Quit whining

Answer 2

First, when you go to court, leave the officer's attitude out of it. From my own experience, the judge has heard it all before and does not care. All teh judge will want to hear is the facts about the case.

In California, measurement of a vehicle's speed through pacing is acceptable as evidence of a vioaltion so long as the officer's speedometer is calibrated according to law. So, if the officer's calibrated speedometer says you were going 80 MPH, that will be sufficient evidence to say that you were.

Second, if your best defense is that your speedometer / speedometer light was not working properly, you have no defense at all. If this is the best you can you should just take traffic school or pay your fine.

Answer 3

I have never heard of a reverse radar. i do know this. if you are keeping up to him speeing, then he cannot use that as proof you are speeding. he MUST tag you with a radar or lazer, i do not believe this is able to be done while the police is moving. i could be wrong, but im pretty sure.

i o believe that you do have a case. call the court and contest the ticket. worst case, you end up paying the ticket, so you are no worse off. best case, teh cop doesent show up and then the ticket will automaticaly be tossed out. no matter what the situation. if the police is not there to defend his actions. the case, and ticket, are gone. u pay nothing. this i know for sure.

being what the cop did, the judge might side on your case.

when you are before the judge sound like a grown up. (i dont knwo how old you are) dont do like the guy that was there b4 me last time i tried to get out of a ticket and talk about a 5 over ticket saying "who gives a ticket for that". that sure didnt help my case that i got a ticket when i got pulled over before the speed limit sign.

Answer 4

In most states you aren't supposed to be in the far left lane unless you are passing. They may not teach that in drivers ed anymore but they used to. If he slowed down to the speed limit and you passed him he can ticket you for speeding, wether it holds up in courtg depends on how long ago his equipment was calibrated. He could have cited you for failure to maintain your vehicle properly.
All the marijuana comments were probably made to make you nervous or defensive, it's unlikley that it will come up in court, even if the officer says he suspected you were impared, without a blood test it's unproovable and unimportant.
Go to court if you're lucky you'll get off, if not just pay the fine or go to traffic school and be more careful in the future.

Answer 5

I don't think that you can get it erased, but the fine might be changed.

He could easily estimate your speed simply by using his speedometer in his car to Gage your speed. Using your tach is okay, but not fool proof. You're lucky he didn't cite you for driving a car that was not street legal. Any lighting that is out on the gages is not street legal. And the posted speed limit is the speed limit - you can be ticketed for going 2 mph over. Most officers don't ticket due to the "waste of time" thing. . .

The only thing I think you could do is state about the officer's attitude, and tell of how he treated you and what he asked you. Other than that, speeding is speeding. Your fine might be reduced, but it will not be gone.

Answer 6

U need to appeal this and be your own lawyer when u get to court.
The cop will be there, u tell the judge u will represent yourself and dont be shy either.
The cop was bullying u and that is not right.
U are young and he took advantage cause he has to write so many tickets to make him look good.
Go to the Clerk of Courts in your county and show them the ticket and tell them u want to appeal this ticket.
U could also write the judge a letter and tell him what happened and he may just throw the whole matter out of court.
U have rights as a citizen and taxpayers pay the salary of that cop that gave u a ticket.
Sorry u were humiliated like this , but hope u learn from this.

Answer 7

Police can clock you while they are moving. If you are going 80, and I am going 80 behind you, you are speeding. A radar is not essential to giving someone a ticket.

I don't know what defense you have. You stated in your first sentance you were going too fast. Defective equipment is not an excuse. so he can't add, if you go to court, the judge will ensure you pay the correct fine, plus court costs.

I would pay it or take defensive driving if they let you.

Answer 8

convinced....you are able to also contest a radar or laser cost tag. notwithstanding, your possibilities of scuffling with it are narrow. even if that's you vs the cop, the decide will bypass on the conception the cop has no reason to lie yet you do. you want to get out of the cost tag, no longer pay the tremendous and under no circumstances get the factors. in case you base your protection on the cop telling a lie for some unknown reason, your possibilities of triumphing are about 0. you've to strive against it on the conception the cop made an blunders in calculating the speed. because you're asking about non-radar/laser methods, convinced there are different methods that would nicely be used. If the cop pulled up in the back of you on your blind spot and then matched your velocity, interpreting his qualified speedometer, and sees that you've been over the reduce (frequently it should be a particular volume, jointly with 5 mph to let for blunders on your uncertified speedometer) he can provide you with cost tag depending upon tracked and talked about velocity over the reduce. you've to provide sensible doubt as to the accuracy of ways he did it. IE: Springtime and they only switched to summer time tires from their wintry climate tires. Did they recertify his speedometer? additionally they can use a timer gadget in some parts. The cop can commence one quit watch as you go a particular mark, then even as he crosses an same mark, he starts a 2d quit watch. Then once you go yet another mark, he stops the first one, or maybe as he crosses an same 2d mark, he stops the 2d. a pc then matches both quit watches and the area traveled and springs up with a velocity on your vehicle. They even enable in some parts the cop to mark out 1 / 4 mile and he then sits with a quit watch and "clocks' you (it truly is the position the time period got here from) as you come and forth the quarter mile. If the speed reduce is 60 mph, he's customary with to bypass one mile could take you more suitable than a million minute, and to bypass 1 / 4 mile, that's going to take you more suitable than 15 seconds. in case you do it in 10 seconds, he's customary with you've been dashing and back can provide you with a cost tag. Pay the cost tag and watch your velocity.

Answer 9

I am assuming there is more.

He can pace you to get speed.

Fight it... the worst that will happen is you have to pay the fine. I wouldn't say anything about the pot. You will just open up a can of worms. Stick to the speeding infraction. Odds are you will get a reduction in the fine at the least.

Good luck.

Answer 10

Screw this man......the bottom line here is it's your word against his word. Doesn't matter if he got you on radar or not. He won't be able to show his reading in court.

Plead not guilty....you might have to go to court a few times but it's better then paying a fine and having the ticket go on your record. Case closed!

Answer 11

He had reverse radar, and clocked you.

Even 1 mph over the speed limit is an infraction and is citable.