Fighting a Speed Trap Violation

Most state laws require drivers to obey the speed limit on interstate, state and local roads. Drivers who drive over the speed limit may be ticketed if the police have legally admissible evidence that the driver was speeding. For example, some police departments use a method of a determining a vehicle's speed known as speed traps. Speed traps have several different definitions including:

• Speed traps may be defined as areas where the police time how long it takes a vehicle to travel a measured distance and determine the vehicle's speed from that data.
• Speed traps can be defined as areas where police purposely try to find speeding drivers for the purposes of raising revenue and not for the purpose of public safety. Often, this happens in places where the speed limit is not well posted or is inappropriately low for the road.

Some states have speed trap laws that make these types of speed determinations illegal bases for a speeding ticket. Yet, local police in states with speed trap laws continue to issue tickets based on the data obtained from speed traps.

How a Lawyer May be Able to Fight a Speed Trap Ticket

If you have received a speeding ticket in violation of state speed trap laws then you need the assistance of an experienced attorney to help you defend your claim. Your lawyer will present specific evidence that describes why the police officer's evidence of your speeding violates your state speed trap laws. For example, depending on the laws in your state and the circumstances of your speeding ticket, your lawyer may argue that the police officer's human error was responsible for determining the speed at which you were traveling and that you were not, in fact, traveling at that speed. Or, your attorney may argue that you were not in violation of state speeding laws and that you were ticketed primarily for the purpose of raising municipal revenue.

Why Legal Help is Important

Speeding tickets can have a profound effect on you. They can cause your motor vehicle insurance rates to rise significantly and they can lead to points being put on your driver's license. If you reach the maximum number of points allowed under your state law then you could lose your driver's license. For these reasons, and to hold police accountable for abiding by speed trap laws, it is important to work with experienced lawyers who can help you challenge your ticket on the basis of speed trap laws.