Legal Matters

 by: Brandon C. Hall

So you find yourself with a slip of paper that contains both a dollar amount and a date. It's the dreaded speeding ticket. You look at it and realize that you have two choices. You can pay the fine and subject yourself to the possibility of higher insurance premiums or you can plead "not guilty" and appear in court.

Depending on how fast you were going over the legal, posted speed limit, it might be wise to consult with a traffic ticket specialist. However, many people are ticketed when their speed is over the limit, but not dramatically. These people would do well to save the money associated with an expert and take the matter into their own hands.

It seems daunting to imagine going into court without a lawyer or someone familiar with the ins and outs of speeding tickets. All the average citizen needs to do is research traffic laws and come prepared with whatever materials they feel will help them fight the citation.

It's important to note that when you do have a court appearance often the officer who issued the ticket will be there to testify as well. If you admitted speeding to him or her, your defense becomes that much more difficult. Admitting guilt of speeding is accepting the guilt. If you've done that your best remedy will probably be to pay the fine. You could try and explain your speeding a couple of different ways. One is that you have to increase your speed because of someone else's careless driving. For instance, if someone is right behind you driving fast and you become concerned that they are going to hit you, you might increase your speed to avoid that. This defense is probably not going to work but if it what happened, than sharing it with the judge is important. Another could be road conditions. If there was something on the road, you might have sped up to pass it, or to avoid it. Again, this is difficult to prove and a judge might be skeptical.

If you weren't able to see the posted speed because the sign was either covered by some foliage or perhaps knocked over, there are important steps you need to take before you go to court. As soon as possible after you have been ticketed, you need to take pictures of the sign in the same condition you saw it in. It's crucial that this be done quickly. Having that type of evidence to show the judge, will allow him or her to see that although you were going over the posted limit, not having knowledge of that limit might have played a role in your infraction.

Taking the issue of your speeding ticket to court involves being prepared. Bring any notes or pictures that you have taken since that day. Be ready to take the witness stand and tell the truth in regard to what transpired when you received your speeding ticket. Also, be of the mind that although you've put time and effort into your own defense, you might still have to pay the fine as it was administered to you initially.