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3 viable speeding ticket defenses
3 viable speeding ticket defenses

3 viable speeding ticket defenses

On Behalf of | May 7, 2018 | Firm News |

No one wants to have to pay the fines for speeding tickets, but there may be circumstances where you have legitimate defenses and choose to fight the tickets in court.

Maybe it is the first ticket you ever got. Even when it’s not, you likely have learned a few things about how the process works. Regardless, you decide that you are going to court to fight the ticket.

Now what? What types of defense strategies actually work in court? These cases can be challenging to win because it may come down to your word against the officer’s. Three defenses that drivers often use include the following:

1. The police officer pulled over the wrong car.

You drive a black pickup truck, and there are thousands of them here in Florida. You see plenty every day during your commute.

The officer set up a speed trap near a rise in the interstate. Your truck went up over the rise, and the officer got behind you and turned on the lights on the police cruiser.

The problem is that there were two other black pickups on the road near you at the same time. The police officer says he clocked you driving 85 mph. You believe he clocked one of the other trucks, but lost sight of all three of you as the trucks crested the rise. He then mistakenly pulled you over while the speeding driver got away.

2. The officer got the speed wrong.

When the officer pulls you over and tells you that you were going 85 mph, you can’t believe it. She must be mistaken. You had your cruise control set, and you never speed.

Then you find out that it is the officer’s first day on the job. You were her first traffic stop. You wonder if she made a mistake with the radar gun and got an inaccurate reading. Does she even have proper training with that device? Does she have enough experience using it to be sure she used it correctly?

3. There was an emergency and you had to speed.

Yes, you were speeding when the police caught you, but you had to speed. Your wife was in the car, pregnant and in labor. You never meant to put people in danger, but you were seriously worried that she might have to deliver the baby on the side of the road if you didn’t get to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Your defense

Of course, every case is different, but these examples show that under some circumstances, speeding defenses can hold up under scrutiny in court. Make sure you know your legal options.

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