Let me ask you this? Did they provide all the certifications for all the radar they had? Or maybe they only had a copy of their daily log?They may have only had one out of say 20 radar units in compliance. You have to know what your looking for and take the time to read their documentation very carefully! I've seen them use this trick before where they just show up with their daily log and try to pass it off as the 3rd party yearly cert. That is why you request their daily log because it will have the car they were in and the radar number. Then you will have something to check the paperwork they show up with against. Just a little food for thought for next time.

 

BB, not sure why you say paying $500-$1k for a lawyer. Every ticket I've had, and I've had quite a few, I paid $300-$350 and the ticket was gone. Looks like you have your own way around it, but it definitely didn't work for the OP. And he's gonna pay WAY more than a measily $300-$400 for it.

 

Ouch man you could have paid $150 for a lawyer and gotten 0 points and no hike in your insurance rates. Definitely agree with 98LS1 that you should have listened to us

 

I'm not saying your wrong. I'm just saying from past experience the lawyers in my area (philly Area) are that $500 to $1000 cost. I've also found that I can plead Probation Before Judgement all by myself. Or I can plea bargin the charges down for myself. Or I've come up with my own defense that has worked for me several times in the past few years without incuring the extra cost of a lawyer. I mean think about it. You pay a lawyer so that fee to him is gone no matter what the outcome is at court. He's not going to give you your $300 (your area) to $1000 (My area) back! Even if the judge or Prosecutor is in a sh!tty mood that day and doesn't want to play let's make a deal. All the lawyer will do is say sorry about your luck and pocket your $300 bucks and roll off in his BMW. Then in the OPs case he still got a 2 point violation and a fine of $150 dollars. He could and sounds like he did, make that deal on his own with out a lawyers help. But I'd be willing to bet a weeks pay that the OP was in court for the first time and the prosecutor offered him a deal and he jumped all over it without even putting up a fight or even looking at the documentation the police office brought along with him. I garentee the officer didn't walk into court with calabration certificates for every car at his station. Most likely he didn't even bring a calabration cert. he just brought his daily log showing that he did his own personal calabration before his shift started. So again I'm not saying my methods are better that yours. The only right thing is to drive the speed limit and avoid going to court in the first place. But where's the fun in that???

 

Werd....just wondering about the cost in your area, seems terribly high.

Besides, it's worth a few hundred to me to not have to waste a day to go to court with all the other outstanding members of society sitting next to me.

 

No doubt. You do see some unsavory characters.

 

I bet the two of you fit right in........

 

I would never get a lawyer for a regular speeding ticket.

If I got one for driving reckless or over 100 mph then I may get one, depending on what the fine was etc.

Alot of these tactics have a very hit and miss success rate. I have seen the discovery requests work, 1-2 times.

The "I'm a first time violator thing", never seen it dimissed but it's common practice.

Going over the radar records with a fine touth comb is the best way to get out of a radar ticket. If the agency has good records then it won't work. Also, if an office shows up in court who has shown up in front of judge say 1000 times and testified. He can darn near just say, "I saw him going down the road and I estimated his speed to be 80 in a 55 so I gave him a ticket." I've actually done this, because I wasn't able to get someone on radar or LIDAR for whatever reason, but based on training, experience, court certifications etc., the judge knows I have nothing to gain and I'm not going to stop and cite someone unless I'm 100% positive this person did what I saw them do.

The best way to get out of the ticket is to just show up to court. May be your lucky day and the officer got drunk on donuts on his lunch break.

 

This kind of cracks me up. Say the speed limit is 70 and you get cited for 100. At 101 the law changes and it's not applicable to this situation. If you went to court and said, "Judge, I was only going (anything over the speed limit)." The judge will declare you guilty and fine you. Depending on where you are and your record, the fine could be reduced.

All the officer HAS to prove is you exceeded 70 mph. He doesn't have to prove you went 100, just over 70 mph. That's it. Period.

So keep that in mind if you ever testify in court. Never admit to going over the speed limit. In fact, don't make a statement unless you absolutely have to. There's no reason to tell your side of the story. The judge depends almost 100% on the evidence the officer shows up with.

 

Most common people who go to a court because of a ticket have absolutely no sway with the DA whatsoever. It's really a toss up at that point. I have gone to court for tickets where I KNEW THE JUDGE (she was the mother of a schoolmate of mine) and I still got the whole penalty. Lawyers are paid to deal with these guys every day and unless like you said it's something serious then usually you don't even need to show up to court.

In my area it was $150 to have the lawyer show up in court FOR ME. I didn't even need to get out of bed. I got a call later that day that the ticket was thrown out. Even if that was 2 or 3 times the cost it would be worth it to know that I wouldn't get an insurance hike.

I mean if you feel confident you can defend yourself in court (which I've also done and partially won) by all means give it a shot, but experience has taught me to leave it to the professionals if you want a clean driving record. You can try talking radar certs, etc etc....but a good lawyer will meet with the DA before the case is even heard and get it thrown out. Traffic courts are so busy, they're mostly concerned with the big ticket items.