Can I get out of this speeding ticket in court?

Just pay it and move on. A lot of states allow you to pay it while filing "no contest".

There's too many people playing Perry Mason trying to save a couple hundred bucks when they were in the wrong. This crap clogs up our judicial system. Nut up and pay. And slow down.

Challenge it in court.

I'd go to court. They will most likely change the violation. You may still have to pay a fine, but may get fewer points on your license.

If he used a radar gun, you have some options. For one, question the last time the radar gun was calibrated, and at what error was it showing at last calibration. Take a picture of where you were pulled over. Was it around a curve? Speeds can show faster on a gun for a car going around a curve. Anyway, here is a site to give you more information.

http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article/903/fighting-speeding-ticket.html

Plead insanity.

If that doesn't work, claim you were drunk, and couldn't form the necessary intent to operate the vehicle in excess of the speed limit.

If that doesn't work, blame it on the manufacturer for not labeling the gas pedal with a warning that applying excessive pressure with the foot could result in criminal offenses in certain jurisdictions.

Ole Timer wrote: This crap clogs up our judicial system. .

Actually what clogs up the judicial system is the use of police officers as revenue agents. The fact that a speed trap was set up isn't in the interest of public safety at all. It is a spiderweb designed to catch flies. Cops have quotas, which mean it is predetermined what and how many violators they will catch.

The only way for the public to combat these abuses IS to clog up the legal system.

Plead not guilty. Depending on the jurisdiction you may not even receive a court date for a year or more. Time in your favor. Cop gets a new job, he doesn't show, case thrown out.

Most likely it will go to hearing first, where the assistant prosecutor will be sent to get you to plead down to a lessor charge, usually the equivalent of a parking ticket. You pay a small fine.

Deal or no deal is your choice. If you decide to fight it they will give you a trial date. If the cop doesn't show then you're off. Even so, the assistant prosecutor will probably offer you a deal again. Deal or no deal is your choice again. did the prosecutor offer the deal because she knows the cop didn't show? Who knows.

Anyway it's in the interest of the court to get those pesky cases resolved.

Remember...THEY drew first blood. May them work for it.

You really have two choices:

1) Pay the ticket up front (by mail or online)

2) Take the time to go to court and pay then when you can't prove your innocence.

You can't beat this.

First Blood wrote:

Deal or no deal is your choice. If you decide to fight it they will give you a trial date.

Thank you all, some good information here.

One additional thing. Ticket says pay within 30 days, and ticket says court date will be sent within 45 days. IS paying the ticket an omission of guilt? I want to comply, but I also want to give myself a chance. What if they don't send the court date until day 35 after payment is due?

This is not true. People beat speeding tickets all the time.

* wrote:

You really have two choices:

1) Pay the ticket up front (by mail or online)

2) Take the time to go to court and pay then when you can't prove your innocence.

You can't beat this.

Own your crime. If you know you're guilty, pay it. Move on. And don't speed or text or put lipstick on in the mirror or admire your companion's hot bod for too long while driving. And don't tailgate. I hate tailgaters. Dangerous as hell.

S. Gonzales (allegedly) wrote:

One additional thing. Ticket says pay within 30 days, and ticket says court date will be sent within 45 days. IS paying the ticket an omission of guilt? I want to comply, but I also want to give myself a chance. What if they don't send the court date until day 35 after payment is due?

You need to read the instructions carefully. Payment is an admission of guilt. There should be instructions that says pay OR plead not guilty.

Jarbanius wrote:

Own your crime.

Well I don't really know if it is my crime. I didn't think I was speeding, it is his word against my uncertainty. What makes me think that I wasn't speeding was his eagerness to pull over so many vehicles which I witnessed.

My guess is this won't hold up in court, but there is a chance he doesn't show.

People don't beat speeding tickets when the situation is "I don't really have an argument, because the truth is I don't know how fast I was going."

They will beat a ticket if the officer doesn't show up, but the court dates are scheduled for the officer, so that is unlikely.

Or they will beat a ticket if they can clearly show the officer was in error. That's not happening here.

Or maybe plea down to some lesser charge that still requires a fine, tough to do.

Or you can request to take a driving course to expunge the violation.

In this situation, the OP is not going to "beat" this.

To the OP, yes, paying the fine is an omission of guilt in that it will go on your driving record.

I've been to traffic court a few times and haven't seen someone just talk there way out of it, especially by saying they didn't realize they were speeding.

Please list the scenarios where someone has beaten a ticket.

I'll give one example:

A guy said it wasn't him. (He was from out of state)

He said his brother knows his social and probably gave it to the officer.

The officer's records showed that the offender did not have his license on him at the time and the height and weight was different that the guy in court.

The judge threw the case out and said he never wanted to see him in there again.

It was awesome!

Read the Nolo Press book on fighting your ticket. Very good stuff.

If you knew you were blatantly speeding, you should just pay it, but if you think it was a speed trap or a mistaken cop, by all means fight it. Cops makes mistakes all the time, and the system is stacked against the defendant (you).

Let us know how it turns out.

Winners include:

-Officer not showing up for court.

-Defendant driving from an extremely long way away to contest the ticket, and the prosecutor feeling sorry for him.

-Defendant dying before trial.

-Defendant being federally incarcerated before trial.

You will not win on any of that "calibrated radar gun, speed trap, officer is trained on the equipment, I was never read my Miranda rights" crap. Choose one of the four above scenarios.

hotel california wrote:

Read the Nolo Press book on fighting your ticket. Very good stuff.

If you knew you were blatantly speeding, you should just pay it, but if you think it was a speed trap or a mistaken cop, by all means fight it. Cops makes mistakes all the time, and the system is stacked against the defendant (you).

Let us know how it turns out.

I would generally agree, but if the cop was pulling over multiple people, I would assume he 1) knows he's got a radar gun that works and 2) is busting people for exceeding the speed limit, even if it's only by a few MPH.

People act like if they prepare maps and diagrams beforehand and if they grill the officer about radar gun calibration, sight lines, etc. they will get off. I always laugh when the officer has all of the necessary documentation and can prove that the driver was speeding.

In my opinion, better to just pay and be done with it.

So I just paid the ticket. Tomorrow is the 30th day since the violation and I still haven't gotten notice of a court date. Work next month is very complex, and I cant miss any days, so I didn't want to take the chance that the court date is on a day I don't need to be at work. My odds weren't great at winning anyways. Thanks for all the advice though! NRR threads are some of my favorites.

get real, ok? wrote:

This is not true. People beat speeding tickets all the time.

* wrote:

You really have two choices:

1) Pay the ticket up front (by mail or online)

2) Take the time to go to court and pay then when you can't prove your innocence.

You can't beat this.

I worked as a bailiff in a municipal court for a while and I rarely saw anyone beat a simple speeding ticket.

I saw people question the calibration of the radar gun and everything else under the sun. The judge will have an inherent faith in the police officer and that will be hard to overcome.

get real, ok? wrote:

This is not true. People beat speeding tickets all the time.

Not really. I have been a prosecutor for about 6 years. I cannot think of any case where a person won a speeding ticket at trial. None.