How can I beat my speeding ticket?

Question

Hello.

Yesterday I got pulled over by a police officer in a clearly un marked car. She said I was going 45 in a 30. Then later on when I looked over the ticket, under method, she put an x on H.H. does anyone know what that means?

Here's what happened, I was in the left lane, 2 cars where ahead of me, one was going to turn so the one ahead of me was slowing down, so I decided to pass and I saw that there was a car parked in the right lane, so I got back into the left lane and as I was passing, I also saw a plain white car. As I was passing, I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed that white car had flashing lights on the inside so I knew it was a police officer, so I pulled off that busy street that I was on and a lady got out and after she gave me the ticket, I said to her that I didn't know she was a police officer and she replied "yeah I'm in an unmarked car".

I'm going to court to plead not guilty. I feel that when police officers trick people like that, it's wrong and should be illegal.

Can anybody give me some advice as to how I should go about this?

Thank You..

Cece

Answer 1

there is actually a lot of controversy about unmarked cars. Some people believe it is entrapment which is against your rights. I don't know how far that argument will go in court but just letting you know, you aren't alone. Also if you go to court there is also a chance of the officer not even showing up which will automatically get you a not guilty verdict. Just go and if luck is on your side, you might get out of the ticket. its better than just having the ticket because you are proactive which may pay off. good luck in court and drive safely. ;-)

Answer 2

I can empathize with your being "tricked' by an unmarked car. However, that defense won't fly in court. There are other defenses that might work, as on the blog spot below. Admitting guilt definitely won't work in court either. See your other options below.

Answer 3

Hello Cece. Unfortunately, going into court and saying you were tricked by an Officer using an unmarked car is going to give the Judge a REALLY good laugh, but you will be found guilty.

When a person contests a moving violation, the court will accept a valid reason that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that you did not commit the offense.

The HH on  the ticket means a hand held radar device. You were clocked and that is what the Officer is going to state in court.

The only defense you could possibly use would be to ask the court for the Officer to show the last calibration date of the hand held device and the Officer's certificate showing she was properly trained in how to use it. I will just add here that this has been used in the past to the point where most Officers will automatically bring these to court with them. The only chance you might stand is if she is relatively new or has not yet been properly trained.

Best of luck and I hope this is useful to you

Answer 4

Your proposed defence seems to rest on your belief that if there are no police around, it's OK to break the speed limit, and by concealing herself, the police officer was tricking people into believing it was OK to drive at unsafe speeds. It's the "I didn't think I would get caught" defence.

Good luck with that!

Fixed & temporary unmanned speed cameras (in the UK at least) have to have signs to let drivers know they are going to be passing a speed camera soon. The purpose of this is safety because otherwise you'd have a lot of hard braking when drivers see the speed cameras and calibration lines on the road surface, which would then potentially lead to an increase in traffic incidents.

I don't think this applies to traffic police with hand-held cameras, though, because the safety aspect isn't relevant. (You can't see the camera, so there isn't the same risk of drivers hard-braking).

But in any case, compare with this story of mine:

I was in a store, stealing electronic goods from the shelves and putting them inside my jacket. When I got outside the store, the alarms went off and a security guard flashed a badge and told me I'd have to come back inside while they called the police. I said to him that I didn't know he was a security guard, and he replied "yeah, I'm a plain-clothes security guard". I'm going to plead not guilty. I feel that when security guards trick people like that, it's wrong and should be illegal.

Answer 5

"I feel that when police officers trick people like that, it's wrong and should be illegal."

How did she trick you into speeding?????

There was no trickery involved. The only question is whether or not you were actually speeding.

If you don't believe you were speeding, go to court and plead not guilty and explain it to the judge.

If you were speeding, stop whining, pay the fine, and don't drive so recklessly any more.

Answer 6

I answered this Q at great length on a previous question about speeding tickets..

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

The "I don't think it's fair cause I was caught by an unmarked car" defense won't work for you in any court in the USA. I can guarantee that much.

additional links below

Answer 7

HH generally refers to hand held radar unit, and that's probably the method used to measure your speed.I'm not sure what trick you mean. I norice that nowhere in your question do you deny the speed, so I'm not sure whast your defense would be.

Answer 8

stop speeding