Nobody likes to get speeding tickets. Hopefully, this article will give readers some insight on how to fight speeding tickets.

One thing you could do is file a discovery request with the prosecutor to acquire any documents relating to your case. These documents could include things such as the calibration records of the radar or speedometer of the car that clocked your speed. You would want to do this in advance of your traffic court date so you would have time to go through them for inaccuracies. But the possible downside of this is reminding the officer who gave you the ticket to show up in traffic court.

Beat the beam: When you fight speeding tickets, note that speed-measuring devices such as radar and laser (a.k.a. LIDAR, or Light Detecting and Ranging) are subject to human error. In some instances, officers have failed to give sufficient proof of proper LIDAR positioning, and subsequently the cases were dismissed.

Fight speeding tickets with technicalities. Simple things missing from the ticket can get it thrown out. It may be rare but if something as simple as the lack of the officers signature missing, or if it or the badge ID number is not readable then it could be dismissed.

Make sure to give a brief and concise argument of your side of the case if you go to traffic court to fight speeding tickets. The traffic court judge or magistrate has a very small amount of time to spend on each single ticket. If something blocked you from seeing a traffic sign and as a result you received a ticket then have a photo of that to help bolster your case.

You can sometime fight speeding tickets and win by default. If for instance the officer doesn’t show up in traffic court, and if the court prosecutor asks for a continuance then you should object to this. The ticket should be thrown out if the officer does not have a valid reason for missing traffic court.

Obviously not getting a speeding ticket in the first place is the best way to fight it! Speeding tickets and other traffic violations can increase your car insurance for years to come.

Learn more about how to fight speeding tickets. Stop by Steven Swihart’s site where you can find out all about fighting speeding tickets and other advice on getting prepared for your day in traffic court.

There are two main differences between traffic violations. Knowing which kind you have can be very important when determining how to handle your particular situation.

Sometimes if your ticket is not a serious one that gets reported to your auto insurance company, you may be better off just paying the fine and not challenging it in court.

The two main types of traffic tickets are either moving or non moving violations. Non moving violations usually involve smaller fines and can be a parking ticket or some kind of fix it ticket.

Also these don’t show up on your record, and your auto insurance wont get wind of them either.

Non moving violations can be things such as not wearing your seatbelt, a broken headlight or improperly parking your vehicle.

In most cases these should just be paid. It can be a big hassle to go to traffic court for these kinds of violations. The reason is the fines for these are usually no more than $50 or so, and you could end up being in traffic court for hours. Not worth it in my judgment.

However if the ticket can cleared easily you should certainly try. For example a ticket for a non working tail light can be dismissed if you show proof you fixed it in most cases.

A moving violation on the other hand, is any violation of the law, committed by the driver of a vehicle, while it is in motion. The term “motion” distinguishes it from ‘non-moving’ violations. While parking tickets are charged against a vehicle (which will be towed if violations go unpaid or are frequent), moving violations are charged against the person driving. Moving violations are usually classified as infractions or misdemeanors, but serious violations can be considered felonies.

In most locations moving violations involve both a fine and points being assessed to the record of the driver. As points accumulate harsher punishments can be imposed such as being ordered to take driving classes, or even having your license suspended.

Here in the United States, citation fines are nominal dollar amounts, usually between $50 and $500. In some countries, however, they are proportional to the violator’s income and fines in excess of $100,000 can be assessed to wealthy individuals.

More common moving violations can include speeding (THE most common), failure to secure a load, failure to yield right of way, violating high occupancy vehicle lanes, or not stopping for a pedestrian.

Some of the more serious types of moving violations can include racing, driving under the influence, and vehicular homicide.

Traffic violations are also broken down into either civil or criminal. While they both have points and fines associated with them, only criminal violations can wind up you up in jail.

Sentences imposed in criminal cases are obligations owed to the state for violation of their laws. The term state can be applied to cities, towns, state or federal governments or any other kind of municipality. Obviously these are the moving violations you need to avoid at all costs.

Learn more about different moving violations. Stop by Steven Swihart’s site where you can find out all about fighting traffic tickets for your individual needs.

On average, over 100,000 drivers get speeding tickets every day. Thats 36,500,000 traffic tickets yearly.

That means 1 in 6 people will get a speeding ticket this year.

An average speeding ticket will cost you $150.

Almost 5 and one half BILLION dollars a year are generated just from speeding fines. $150 x 36,500,000= $5,475,000,000!

Auto insurance for just one speeding ticket can cost you around $900 on average over 3 years.

Multiply 900 by 36,500,000 and you get $3,285,000,000 (3.28 BILLION dollars) in extra insurance money the insurance industry makes in a single year just from speeding tickets.

Over 95% of people who receive a speeding ticket never contest it and just pay the fine.

Of the 5% of people who do go to traffic court to contest their ticket, a large percentage will either have the charge reduced or the ticket dropped altogether.

There are almost 200,000,000 licensed drivers currently in the US.

40% of the time the police officer doesn’t show up in traffic court. This is grounds for dismissal.

Paradise Valley, Arizona, in 1987 became the first town in America to use photo radar.

In 1966 Brooklyn Ohio was the first city that mandated the use of seat belts.

The age groups between 17 and 24 years of age receive the most speeding tickets.

More males than females receive speeding citations.

More women than men fight their speeding tickets in traffic court.

17 year olds cause more traffic accidents than any other age.

In 1879 two men in Seattle Washington were ticketed for speeding horses.

Henry Ford’s first automobile in 1894 only went in one direction, forward.

At a London intersection in 1868, pedestrians and horse drawn buggies were the first to use traffic lights. They were lanterns that glowed either red or green.

Photo radar cameras in Washington D.C. since 1999 have issued almost 3 million tickets worth almost $200 million.

The earliest known speeding ticket on file was issued in 1910 to the Prime Minister of Canada’s wife. She was traveling at a whopping 10 mph over the limit.

Speeding tickets are handed out to doctors more than any other type of profession.

The average traffic cop will cost a city about $75,000 per year in salary, bonuses, and benefits. This same police officer will make the city an average of $200,000 per year in traffic ticket fines! That’s one hell of a profit margin.

Top 10 States Notorious for Writing Tickets:

1. Ohio 2. Pennsylvania 3. New York 4. California 5. Texas 6. Georgia 7. Virginia 8. North Carolina 9. Massachusetts 10. Connecticut

Want to learn about fighting speeding tickets? Then visit Steven Swihart’s site for more information on beating traffic tickets in traffic court.

Over the years I have heard of some pretty awful defense strategies people use to try and get out of a traffic ticket. You cant blame them though. A lot of these individuals were simply relying on so called insider information they heard from a friend.

In this article we will go over the 5 most common mistakes used by people when trying to fight their traffic ticket. Use these as a guide of what not to do.

Mistake #1- Delaying the Court Trial

Almost every other book I’ve read on traffic tickets advises you to postpone the trial by asking for a continuance. They claim the longer your traffic court trial is from the original infraction, the greater the chance the officer will fail to show up to court on your traffic ticket.

Simply delaying your traffic court trial will not increase your chances of beating your traffic ticket.

My question is what if you do postpone your traffic court date and the officer still shows up?

Traffic officers get paid overtime to be in traffic court. They don’t bring them off their patrols to be there.

Mistake #2- Request the Prosecution’s Evidence Before Trial.

By law you do have a legal right to see everything the prosecution plans to convict you with. This process is called ‘discovery’ and can be useful in a murder trial. But this isn’t a murder trial and doing so can actually hurt your case.

When you make a motion for discovery and request evidence before your trial, this sends red flags to the prosecution that you are planning a good defense. He’ll take it as a challenge and will prepare his case so efficiently that it becomes almost impossible to win.

Don’t give the prosecution a heads up that you know anything about traffic court proceedings. Do not contact them prior to your traffic court date.

Mistake #3- Doing too much needless research.

There is no need to spend any time reading boring law books. Its pointless.

Only rarely would it be prudent to look up a law so you know how it may be worded, other than that it is needless to do this with most traffic tickets.

Mistake #4- Going after the police officers credibility

Going to traffic court with the sole purpose of making the police officer look like an idiot will backfire on you and any plan you had of getting your traffic ticket thrown out. Claiming things like, “the radar gun was faulty”, or “the officer clocked the wrong vehicle”, or “the officer singled you out”, or “the officer hasn’t had adequate training with the radar/laser gun” are all useless defenses.

Never go into a courtroom with the intent to challenge the officer’s training of the radar/laser gun. This type of defense is always attacked by the judge. He will accept the officer’s testimony as to his training and will tell you to ask your next question.

The officer will NOT have to prove his training qualifications in the courtroom. Let’s face it, the officer has been properly trained and knows how to work the radar/laser gun. No question about it. If you try and go this route you will be disappointed when the judge asks you to provide evidence supporting your claim.

Mistake #5- Going to traffic court unprepared

Probably the mistake most people make is thinking they did a good job doing their homework prior to their day in traffic court, and actually didn’t have a clue as to what they were doing to get prepared. So they lose their case and end up being convicted of the traffic ticket.

Those who did no research go to traffic court with the notion that they can just tell their side of the story and the judge will see things their way and dismiss their traffic ticket. Yeah right!

Its understandable that it can be nerve wracking showing up to traffic court. Just remember you aren’t on trial for your life, its just a traffic ticket. Traffic court is designed to be user friendly because of the volume of people going through there daily.

If you avoid these 5 mistakes you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court, and hopefully getting that traffic ticket thrown out.

Want to find out more about traffic tickets, and how to beat them? Then visit Steven Swihart’s site for the the best advice and information on traffic violations.