I just read a great article on Yahoo about how to beat a traffic ticket. The most amazing part to me is that I haven’t been skeptical/cynical enough to really believe what I’ve suspected all along — tickets are viewed more as a revenue source than a measure to maintain good order in our society.
Yes, I’ve noticed that the cops are generally more aggressive/present near the start & end of the month, and I’m sure they have quotas to fill, but I never put much thought into just how focussed on making money the system truly is. Of particular interest to me is this observation about how ill-prepared the system is to actually convict you:
If that’s not an option, you’ll need to learn a little bit more about the legal process. Carroll recommends going to the courthouse to file a discovery motion or a public records request. You can check the ticketing officer’s notes, calibration records for radar guns and verify that all data was recorded correctly.
“Many times, one of those documents turns up out-of-date, doesn’t exist or is inaccurate and you end up winning by default because they don’t have their paperwork together,” says Carroll.
Scott McCoy, a driver from northern California, recently beat a ticket by filing motions until he found erroneous paperwork.
Now, I’ve never paid a ticket I didn’t think I deserved, so the next tip about refuting your case seem a bit … trifling. I can’t imagine taking the time of an assistant DA to have her listen to me say something like, “I don’t think I deserve a ticket because… well, I’m not really a nice guy, but I don’t really want one, and that should be reason enough.”
If all the paperwork is in order, offenders can then attempt to speak with the assistant district attorney and state their reasons why they should reconsider the charges. Carroll says that many people are successful by simply contesting their ticket through the mail (also known as “trial by declaration”) with a detailed and well-thought-out defense. Defendants can have an advantage with this method because, unless the officer submits his or her own written rebuttal, it’s a one-sided argument.
This next tip, however, makes a lot of sense, and is something I can actually see myself trying. Cops are people, too: they don’t wanna give up their free time, and the court date will be during my work time, so… I don’t mind a break in my routine.
I’m not so certain that a trial by jury is going to help if you truly were just speeding. Your peers aren’t going to side with you if you don’t have some kind of compelling reason for speeding, I think.
When faced with a court date, try to delay or postpone the trial as long as possible. In many courts, it’s not uncommon to have a court date three months after the offense occurred. At the very least, a postponement in the trial is postponing a conviction and the resulting increase in insurance premiums. Quinn also recommends asking for a trial by jury because it places a further burden on crowded courts and increases the chances of dismissal.
Another advantage in postponing the court date is that it can significantly increase the odds that the officer will not be present during the trial. Because a defendant always has the constitutional right to question their accuser, most judges will drop the case if the officer does not show or submit testimony.
“You always want to make it more difficult for them to show up,” Carroll says. “Never go with the date on your ticket. That’s usually a ‘gang date’ for the officer. If you schedule for an extension that falls on a different day, chances are they aren’t going to come in on their day off just for you.”
The camera tickets piece below kind of surprises me. I’ll definitely need to keep this in mind.
Contrary to popular belief, Carroll says that camera-issued tickets are often the easiest to beat because a defendant has a constitutional right to question their accuser. Courthouses will rarely go through the trouble of bringing the video or picture to court, and even if they do, there is no human subject to question other than the officer who viewed the it.
“The minute he opens his mouth, you just object because it’s hearsay and the ticket will be dropped,” Carroll says. “Most people just don’t have the courage to do this though. That’s why some of these cities are making millions of dollars per camera. They know you’re not going to do that.”