Defend Yourself Against Speeding Tickets
Speeding ticket is a notice issued by law enforcement official to a motorist or road user indicating that the user has violated traffic laws. In US, Traffic tickets come in two ways. One for citing moving violation like over-speeding, and another for non-moving violation such as parking violation. Speeding ticket is for moving violation. If police officer feels that you were driving above speed limit, you will be issued a speeding ticket. It’s a paper ticket also known as citation. After getting the ticket, you can either pay the required fine or challenge the speeding ticket. Simply paying speeding ticket is the easiest route but it will appear on your record. If you prefer to avoid the consequences, you can fight the ticket or seek mitigation. At first, you have to decide whether just to pay the fine or fight the traffic attorney in court. If you want to fight the ticket, you can appoint a traffic attorney or represent yourself in court. For doing valid arguments to get defence, it’s essential to know the speed limits. There are three types of speed limits. ‘Absolute, ’presumed’ and ‘basic’ speed limit. Exceeding ‘absolute’ limit means driving at speed of more than posted speed limit. For instance, if the sign board says limit of 60 mph and you are driving even at 61 mph, you have violated the law. Being charged with
‘Presumed’ speed limit means that you were driving at an unsafe speed considering the conditions at the time you were being ticketed. You can also be ticketed when you are driving under speed limit if an officer concludes your speed was unsafe. This is when you exceed ‘Basic’ speed. If you have exceeded the absolute speed limit, there are only a few defences available: ● To challenge the officer’s determination about your speed. But before doing this you must find out the method used to determine your speed like radar laser etc. ● To claim that an emergency forced you to exceed the speed limit so as to avoid any injury to you or others. ● Claiming that the officer misunderstood your car as another car. With many similar looking cars and models it’s possible for a cop to see speeding car and then wrongly picking up your car as that one. When you have exceeded the presumed limits, you can defend yourself by claiming that: ● You were not exceeding the posted speed limit. ● Even if you were exceeding speed limit, you were driving safely given specific road, weather and traffic conditions at the time. When you have exceeded basic speed limits, you can only prove that your speed was safe for your defence. If you are ticketed for the first time, mitigation is also an option that keeps violation off your records. To obtain mitigation, you admit the violation and explain the circumstances that can lead the judge towards leniency. Not having to challenge ticket, you will have: ● Reduced fine ● Extra time to pay the fine ● An alternative on the part of penalty.
It is not difficult to defend yourself against the speeding ticket as long as you can prove that you have not really exceeded speed or exceeded speed for safety. It’s easy to fight against the speeding ticket but if you don’t, you should simply pay the fine. Ignoring the speeding tickets can lead you to face more difficult consequences. Feel free to look for the best Criminal Law Attorney on Ilexapp. One of them can help you fight your ticket without losing any points. Source: http://ilexapp.com/criminal-law/blog/defend-yourself-against-speeding-tickets