Fighting a Speeding Ticket in Court

In the event that you have been wrongly accused of speeding and given a speeding ticket, you need to fight your case in court. In essence you have to prove that you were not speeding, were not aware of the speed limit because of a justifiable reason, or needed to violate the speed limit restriction because of some life threatening or safety issue.

Not Speeding

If you were not speeding when you were given a speeding ticket, you need to get police records of the maintenance of the laser and radar equipment. If you are able to prove that these were not properly maintained or were used incorrectly, you can get the judge to set aside the speeding ticket. Explore this avenue only if you are very sure that you did not violate the speed limit.

Unaware of the Speed Limit

Sometimes drivers are unaware of the speed limit because a broken branch or something else has obscured the sign. In such cases, you need to prove that the sign was obscured by using either photographs taken of the sign at that time or having witnesses state that the sign was not clearly visible. If you plan to use photographic evidence in your defense take the photos as soon as possible before the obstruction to the sign is cleared up. Witnesses can include other driver or more usually your passengers.

Life Threatening Issue

You can say that you were speeding because you were rushing a sick person to hospital. If the passenger had shown symptoms of life threatening illnesses, then your speeding will be considered justifiable. Again, you need to prove that this was indeed the case by providing hospital records.

Safety Issue

Sometimes a driver has to swerve quickly to avoid hitting another vehicle that either stalled suddenly or violated the traffic rules. In such an event, you need to prove the situation justified your driving conduct by producing reliable witnesses to back your version of the events.

Don’ts

Do not give lame excuses such as a full bladder when you are caught speeding. Judges do to accept this as an excuse. In many cases it is best to accept a speeding ticket if you had indeed been speeding. Do not challenge the officer to recollect the clothes you were wearing or number of passengers you had in the car at the time, as failure to remember these facts will not lead to a dismissal of the case against you.