Fighting the Speeding Ticket
If you receive a speeding ticket, you should plead not guilty and ask for a trial. In some situations the prosecutors will plea bargain the matter and agree to give you a lesser ticket that involves less points on your license and a smaller fine. This is usually a good approach. Insurance companies often raise the rates for car insurance for those individuals convicted of speeding tickets. If you cannot plea bargain the speeding ticket, you can challenge the application of the radar, the laser or the use of the camera. Unfortunately these challenges are a bit complicated and the best way to deal with these types of challenges would be to hire a lawyer who handles speeding ticket defense cases.
Signage
There are very specific requirements municipalities must meet with regard to posting signs regarding the speed motorists can travel at on a particular roadway. You can check the uniform traffic control devices rules (MUTCD) with regard to the location and size of signs necessary to be posted with regard to providing motorists with information concerning how fast they can travel on a given roadway.
The Trial of the Speeding Ticket
There are a number of things you can do with regard to trying a speeding ticket. You can serve requests pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) on the police department. You can ask for the calibration specs with regard to radar guns. You can look into how often tuning forks are utilized by the radar gun manufacturer to test the radar guns. You can look into how old the radar device is and the last time it was tested for accuracy.
When the police officer testifies, you can ask him where he was in relation to your vehicle at the time you were stopped. If he paced your car with his vehicle, you can ask him how long he paced your car for. The police officer needs to establish how long a distance he paced your car for before it is appropriate for him to come to the conclusion you were speeding.
Driver Rehabilitation Courses
In the State of New York, in the event you receive points on your license, you can take a course that will remove up to four points from you driver’s license. These motor vehicle safety courses are highly recommended should you get convicted of a speeding ticket.