Antifeds

We all know speeding tickets are a pain in our collective asses, and they usually end up costing quite a bit of money (which we all know money saved is almost as good as money earned), so I thought I would go into the technical aspects of how to get out of a speeding ticket.

Everyone has heard of the ways one can possibly get out of a ticket:

-Going to court and hoping the cop doesnt show up
-Asking the cop to show you the radar/laser in hopes he was just making a number up
-And finally, checking the FCC certification number on the radar gun to make sure it is a) certified, and b) calibrated. If it isn’t, there is a good chance you can argue in court that the radar gun is wrong.

However, the not often spoke of way to beat a ticket is to get technical on the court and make them show YOU that they are abiding by the law.

First lets take a look at how speed limits are decided.

When states wish to determine a speed limit, they must do so under the guidelines of the Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices . This manual outlines the requirements for speed limit and other traffic control signs and lights.

The section of this manual that we want to pay particular attention to is Section 2b.13. The very first sentence in this section is the key: ” After an engineering study has been made in accordance with established traffic engineering practice”.

Now, typically an engineering traffic study is done on a certain stretch of road, and they use the 85th percentile as the number. For those mathematically challenged, they gauge the speed that 85% of the motorists are driving as their starting number. Most localities will reduce that number by 5 or 10mph so that their local PD can write revenue raising tickets (I wont get into the Constitutionality of such an act).

The next paragraph we want to look at is the 2nd one:

” At least once every 5 years, States and local agencies should reevaluate non-statutory speed limits on segments of their roadways that have undergone a significant change in roadway characteristics or surrounding land use since the last review.”

Ok, that helps your case too. Now, how to beat the ticket:

If you get pulled over always be respectful and polite to the cop for 2 reasons:

1. You may get off with a warning, thereby saving you a trip to court.

2. Given the number of people getting tasered lately, ya never know, you could be the next

If you cant weasel your way out of a ticket, and are forced to go to court, do so with knowledge on your side. First, contact your local Dept. of Transportation office and request a copy of the Traffic Engineering Study for the road you received your ticket on. You may luck out right there, as a large number of roads in this nation have never had a TES study done on them!! Most localities just pick a number and stick with it.

If you run into the unfortunate circumstance of actually getting a ticket on a road that has had a TES study done on it, make sure to request the as-mandated- 5 year update. If no updates were done, and the TES was done more than 5 years ago, you can argue that the speed limit is no longer valid, and the state wouldnt have anyway to justify that it was.

Now, for the disclaimer:

This argument has been used successfully, but given the proclivity of the courts to cover their own asses, you may not win. In most jurisdictions, courts receive a portion of the revenue generated by traffic citations. Therefore, even if you know you are right, you may end up paying, because some judges simply wont allow their budget to be reduced by a citizen who actually knows the law. Good luck.