How do i beat a speeding ticket?

Question

I was in fresno visiting a friend and i was on shaw on wednesday at about 130 (Busy road during that time of day) . The cop used a radar gun and said he got me at 55 and locked it at 54 in a 40. One thing is i dont even live here. I live about 4 hours south. Im back on leave from the Air Force. I dont want to pay the fine and i dont want to have to go to court. But if i can get out of the fine and the points on my liscense I'll go to court. This is my first speeding ticket and probably not my last. I dont want a lecture. i just want to beat it...

Answer 1

If you were speeding and were caught there is really no way to beat it , the only thing that can happen is if when you go to court if you are fighting the ticket and the officer does not show up then it will be dismissed .

Answer 2

It will be cheaper, less-costly and less time consuming just to pay the fine and get it over with, especially if you are in the military and move around a lot.

In many states, any Court hearing dates and correspondence will go to the address that is listed on your driver's license at the time the ticket is issued, not your current address, and it will not be corrected if you get a new driver's license with your current address or even write the Court via certified mail with a return receipt. If you miss the Court date and don't pay the fine, your driver's license will be suspended and if you get pulled over for any reason, they can take you to jail for driving on a suspended license. You will end up paying the ticket at that point anyway, even if they do drop the charges for driving on a suspended license because you can prove that the Court sent correspondence to the wrong address.

While it is true that if the cop doesn't show up in Court, it can be dismissed, the Court will allow one no-show for just cause (and cop can use the excuse he was busy that day) and reset the Hearing Date. After that, I had the Court pull a stunt called where they said that Court did not have time to hear the matter due to other cases on the docket when the real reason was the cop did not show up for Court, which means you have to try to take time off again yet a third time for a Court hearing. If the cop shows up, they will believe the cop over a citizen everytime, regardless of witnesses or excuses.

Answer 3

Like a previous poster said, your best bet is to show up in court in your Class A Uniform and ask for a break. More than likely either the officer or the judge will be former military and will show some mercy on the points. You will probably have to pay the fine.

If possible, try to talk to the Officer ahead of time (this always works on me). Let him know your situation and that the points will put an undue burden on you, but that you don't mind paying a fine because you realize that you made a mistake. This is your best possible bet because fighting a radar ticket is extremely hard.

Answer 4

You'll have to go to court. You can explain your situation to the judge, who may be sympathetic because you are military, but chances aren't great. You may be able to "argue down" the judge and get a lesser fine or less points but unless you hire a lawyer (which is going to cost you a lot more than the ticket), there isn't a great deal of likelihood you'll have it expunged from your license. Lawyers work with judges and are usually the only people who can eliminate speeding tickets in court. You may not live there but as long as it was clear on the road you were traveling that the speed limit was indeed 40 mph, you've got to take care of that ticket.

However, the good news is that Kansas, Wyoming, Minnesota, Arizona, Iowa, and South Dakota will not put a speeding ticket on record unless it is 10 or more mph over the limit. Georgia will not enter speeding tickets unless they are more than 14 mph over the limit. New York and Colorado will not enter out of state speeding tickets at all unless they are serious violations like reckless. Michigan also has special rules about out of state tickets. I hope you were in CO or NY or at least out west! (Oh, you said Fresno. My mistake The latter doesn't apply to you unless you live in one of the above-mentioned states and not CA). You can hope that the state you are living in doesn't share info with other states but that is a rarity. 48 states (excepting MI and WY) are members of the "Driver's License Compact" which always shares information state to state.

I advise you to plead "not guilty" on your ticket if you are unwilling to pay the lowest possible fine and send it in to the address shown immediately. It sounds like the cop may have given you a break already by not giving you a speeding ticket for 55, which would have been worse. It may be a great deal cheaper just to pay it now and not travel 4 hours all over again. The best thing to do overall would be to go to "traffic school" if this is your first ticket in years - it's just one day and your record will be be clear. Chances are, the charges will be dropped if you attend and pass. Perhaps you can call the town hall in the area you were stopped in and ask them if it's possible to do this in another state and get out going to court in that one altogether. Sometimes you can get a discount on your car insurance by showing them certification of your having been to driver's school (just don't let them know you went for a speeding ticket!=). The class will cost between $35 and $50 and you may incur an additional court fee, but it will be less then the fine on your ticket. Even if it is somewhat expensive, it is still cheaper than your current fine and 8 hours worth of gas round-trip. If the charges are dropped, the points are as well. Call the town court in the city wherein you received your ticket and ask them if you can plea by affadavit (writing). This should most likely be an option. Include a copy of your traffic school certification in your affadavit.

Good luck. Drive safely.

Answer 5

Dont say your speedometer is broken. You are still resonsible. And just pay the ticket. The only chance you have is if the cop doesnt show up in court. And they usually do. and they usually remember you. And they also usually are trained to us the radar, and dont make mistakes.
If you dont want to get speeding tickets, DONT speed.
And being from Out of town isnt a valid defense either, and neither is the military. As a citizen of the US and as a driver, you should have thought about your speeding before you got pullled over and gottena ticket. All of that wont work as a defense, sorry.
The only other vaild reason you could have to be speeding is if you were injured. If you were, then you might get away with it.
Other then that, you are oputta luck Im afraid

Answer 6

Well - beating speeding tickets is not an easy task, especially if it's something that the cop does on a frequent basis.

You would have to hope that 1) the officer doesn't show up in court (a couple of times = fail to prosecute), 2) the officer isn't that good and forgets to testify to certain elements about the ticket (training, how he established your speed, what type of device he used = fail to deliver prima facie case)

Other than that, you might be out of luck. You might wish to consider hiring an attorney, but the downside is if you lose you not only have to pay the ticket but the attorney as well.

If you want to fight the ticket, find out if you can appear by affidavit, which is where you write out your testimony including whatever appropriate defense (don't use the broken speedometer as a defense - it can't be used as a defense for a speeding infraction) you think you have then have the statement notarized and mail it in. Some of the best defenses if they can be proven are: no posted sign informing public of speed limit unless Fresno has an unposted speed limit like NYC does), medical emergency for yourself @ that very moment (not bathroom purposes either), defective equipment (certain radar sets aren't supposed to be used in urban settings & others can't be used with certain types of vehicles).

Answer 7

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Answer 8

1) since its ur first ticket ur in luck, they will lesson the ticket to a parking ticket most likely

2) if you get yourself a lawyer he can prolly show up in court for you

3) there are no points involved with your ticket

4) the only way you will really BEAT the ticket is a lawyer, which is around 800-1k for one that will get the job done. you will have to show up in court if the ticket does not have the price you have to pay on it. the ticket states if you need to appear in court or not

Answer 9

Pay up! An officer shouldn't have to show up at a court room so you can save your self from a $50 ticket. They should be concentrating on keeping themselves alive. 15 over, I believe thats a careless driving charge in Michigan, be grateful he only wrote the ticket for 14 mph over.

Answer 10

you won't get out of it. It takes a damn good case to beat radar as evidence. you would have to prove that the cop was not qualified to operate the radar or that the radar was defective. That would take a lot of time and money. pay the fine and slow down.