Help with speeding ticket

[Nysty]

Just pay it. I'm not sure what the consequences in your state are if you contest it in court and lose but I know personally I'd get stuck with court costs for trying and going in with the defense of 'My speedo gives faulty readings plus everyone knows the cops here are corrupt so be nice and let me off' isn't likely to fly very well. Get a judge in a bad mood or who just outright dislikes your argument and you'll run the risk of them declaring your vehicle non-roadworthy until it's been thoroughly tested and you'll have to fit the bill for that because hey, if your speedo is broken what else in the car doesn't work?

[AeneasBK]

pay the fucking ticket, stop whining and don't speed next time.

Anything more than this isn't worth the infraction. Drive safely within the limit or not at all.

[Stefanja]

What country are we talking about?

[KeirAdish]

Show up in court, plead your case, admit to speeding, but challenge the claimed speed on the ticket.

You mentioned "super speeder ticket" so I'm guessing Georgia, unless some other state has started this practice as well. You have a couple of additional avenues to pursue as well if that is the case. Under Georgia State Code, section 40-14-5 the unit must be calibrated at the start of the officer's shift and records must be maintained, you could request to enter said records into evidence to see if he actually did follow the instructions. If he didn't you could get it tossed out that way.

Additionally unless it was a State Trooper, the officer is required by law to notify you that you have the right to request he/she test the device for accuracy before he/she writes you the ticket. Now the request has to be made before the ticket is written, but if you were not informed that you had the right to request such test you might get it tossed out/lowered in court. Although it is a matter of your word against theirs as to whether or not he notified you of said right.

http://law.onecle.com/georgia/40/40-14-5.html

Thank you, He never asked however he marked on the ticket that I declined.
They have their car video that has audio that can prove that he never asked as well.
So I guess I should go and start requesting those records, just have to find out how.


Thank you everyone that was constructive to the question I posed.

The country was the US, in the state of GA, just inside the perimeter of Atlanta, it was Dekalb County that ticketed me.

[Blueobelisk]

LOL good luck getting out of southern speeding tickets.

But seriously, on the ticket itself it should have info of where to go or how to go to court if you want to defend. Just do it.

[drwelfare]

You will have to pay the county ticket first, after that you will get the super speeder fine in a letter from the state.

I expect your pretty much screwed

[Zoranon]

Thank you, He never asked however he marked on the ticket that I declined.
They have their car video that has audio that can prove that he never asked as well.
So I guess I should go and start requesting those records, just have to find out how.


Thank you everyone that was constructive to the question I posed.

The country was the US, in the state of GA, just inside the perimeter of Atlanta, it was Dekalb County that ticketed me.

Good luck then, you will need it. Keep in mind that the system is very much biased against you and that it will take a lot of time and even then your chances are pretty poor.

[Laila]

Speedometers are far more likely to be inaccurate than radar guns.

Pretty much your only chance of getting out of it is if you can show that the radar wasn't handled correctly, and good luck with that.

[Fang7986]

Unless you have proof that you just had your speedometer calibrated and have proof somehow that you were "only" going 80 that isn't just your word man up and just pay the ticket. If you are going to knowingly go over the speed limit be man enough to accept the consequences if you get caught.

[Asmekiel]

Is there any real proof that speedometers read higher than you're actually going? I get the idea that's just something people made up to try and get out of tickets, why would car manufacturers deliberately make faulty instruments?

I haven't seen a single car where the speedometer was showing the correct speed. My 2 family's cars are ~8km/h slower than on the meter when above 80km/h. Closest I've personally seen in over a dozen cars was 2km/h difference at that speed.

[Sunnydruid]

pay the fucking ticket, stop whining and don't speed next time.

Wow! Damn man what helpful feedback for the OP! holy shit you're great.


OT- You can try to fight it to reduce the clocked time. How did you get clocked? Stop watch or radar? Radar is almost impossible to fight, some weather conditions may prove to make a radar less accurate due to glares and other disturbances but that's rare.

Now a stop watch can be fought and rightfully so. Human error is something that is pretty common when doing anything and it can definitely be the case when going through a speed trap. They aren't the most accurate things in the world and there is a ton the officer can do up your time, such as starting the clock late by a millisecond ect. You can fight them and you may get the fine knocked down.

[Kioshi]

Pay it

Cops are all corrupted, your not going to win a case unless you have hard evident, and even then you will still lose. Watch the new lately? there always a cop that is getting away with murder or beating up people who are defenseless.

[Tasttey]

I haven't seen a single car where the speedometer was showing the correct speed. My 2 family's cars are ~8km/h slower than on the meter when above 80km/h. Closest I've personally seen in over a dozen cars was 2km/h difference at that speed.

That is because the speedometer in a vehicle is calibrated to the drive shaft and the wheel circumference as it should be when it left the factory. Essentially it measures how quickly the drive shaft spins and applies that rate to the factory specified wheel circumference, a little math and you get mph/kph. However changing the outer dimension of the wheel (including tire) will change the your actual speed compared to the measured speed on the speedometer. Under/over inflated tires can cause the difference to be minor (the 1-3 mph range) actually changing the dimensions of the wheel and tire (jacked up truck with large swampers) can cause significant variations unless the speedometer was calibrated for the new overall dimensions.

[Spraxle]

You need to go to the place they want you to pay to and talk to them. The main thing you will want to talk about is that you want the radar evidence brought to court if you wish to fight it. The radar should also come with dash cam if I'm not mistaken as this would be 'vital' to show you were alone and possibly not getting someone elses ticket.

I dunno really, but the best you can do is just go and talk to the ticket people. I mean I got a ticket in Highschool from some jack off cop sitting outside his house when I coasted down a hill and the car went 1 over the limit. So I went to the traffic court and explained all the stuff. I still had to pay a fine, but it didn't go on my record. Really communication is the best thing you can do and all you can do for the most part.

[dementedlogic]

Appeal your ticket in court and submit a discovery request for a copy of the last calibration test conducted on the officer's radar gun (if assigned), or all of the radar guns if they are not. They are required to be calibrated every 30-60 days and, in my personal experience, they are regularly not. There is also generally a third party quality inspection required every 6-12 months (most tuning is done by the officers with a pair of tuning forks).

It's pretty rare that department equipment is assigned to specific officers/squad cars, so make sure when you submit your discovery request to ask for *all* models/makes/serial numbers of *all* the radar guns the department has and their calibration/certification records. It's pretty much impossible to get the actual serial model of the gun used at the time unless you force the officer to give it to you at the time of the ticket.

An example would be if a department had 30 radar guns, but you found that only 10 or 15 of them had been sent out for their annual/semi-annual tuning. This increases the likelihood that the officer in question may have used one of the devices that was not tuned and creates reasonable doubt.

Never give a sob story, try to use your word against the officer(s), or admit you were speeding in any capacity (it's an admission of guilt and they will likely still side with the officer). Always be polite and respectful to both the officer and the judge.