Uncle Erik
Uncle Exotic
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2006
- Posts
- 22,596
- Likes
- 532
For actual speed, I find that my GPS unit does a pretty good job of telling me how fast I'm going.
As for tickets, well, I think you should just pay them and deal with them responsibly. In April, I got a ticket for making a U-turn in a business district. No traffic coming the other direction, I was slow and careful, etc. etc. First ticket I'd gotten in nine years. Oh well. I paid it and went to traffic school.
Fighting tickets is usually unsuccessful. Judges don't care. At all. The only strategy I've seen work is scheduling multiple continuances. Sometimes, the cop doesn't get the new date and fails to show.
The other tactic I used once on a speeding ticket was setting it for trial and then serving the DA with full, formal discovery. I was a poor public defender at the time, so I couldn't afford the $200 or so fine. But an armload of discovery had the DA on the phone, whining, within five minutes of getting it. He was more than happy to drop the fine to $35 as long as he didn't have to spend several hours on my discovery requests.
Formal discovery isn't exactly a DIY prospect unless you know what you're doing, but you can always try scheduling the ticket for a full trial. Request a jury if one is available. The DA will be very, very, very unhappy at the prospect of prepping for a jury trial over a speeding ticket. They're usually open to lowering the fine and might give you some other options, as well.
As for tickets, well, I think you should just pay them and deal with them responsibly. In April, I got a ticket for making a U-turn in a business district. No traffic coming the other direction, I was slow and careful, etc. etc. First ticket I'd gotten in nine years. Oh well. I paid it and went to traffic school.
Fighting tickets is usually unsuccessful. Judges don't care. At all. The only strategy I've seen work is scheduling multiple continuances. Sometimes, the cop doesn't get the new date and fails to show.
The other tactic I used once on a speeding ticket was setting it for trial and then serving the DA with full, formal discovery. I was a poor public defender at the time, so I couldn't afford the $200 or so fine. But an armload of discovery had the DA on the phone, whining, within five minutes of getting it. He was more than happy to drop the fine to $35 as long as he didn't have to spend several hours on my discovery requests.
Formal discovery isn't exactly a DIY prospect unless you know what you're doing, but you can always try scheduling the ticket for a full trial. Request a jury if one is available. The DA will be very, very, very unhappy at the prospect of prepping for a jury trial over a speeding ticket. They're usually open to lowering the fine and might give you some other options, as well.