One of my friends recently told me about how he gets out of speeding tickets. He referred me to a website called World Law Direct, which had a huge section about ways to fight a speeding ticket. Since this seems like a very useful piece of information for many people, I thought I would summarize the details and highlight some of the key information in a series of three posts. I realize this doesn’t have too much to do with personal finance, but it can help you save money, so I’m going to write about it. Please keep in mind that I am only reiterating the information from the World Law Direct website and am not attempting to give legal advice.

Personally, I think the best way to get out of a speeding ticket is not to get one! I have never received a ticket for a moving traffic violation (*knock on wood*), but if I ever do, I’ll definitely be using these techniques.

When you are pulled over, the officer usually asks you a standard question like, “Do you know why I stopped you” or “Do you know how fast you were going?” The proper response to this is one that does not admit guilt. Always keep your answer short and do not try to make any excuses. A simple “No officer, I do not” or “I’m not really sure” is good enough. Hopefully, the officer will let you off with a warning, but if not, do not try to argue with him or plead your case as it will not help. Just keep a low profile.

As the officer writes your ticket in his car, start to take notice of your surroundings. This information is going to come into play when you build your case for court. When you cross examine the officer who gave you a ticket, you want to be able to discredit him by asking him questions about details he does not remember. Take note of the smallest details such as:
1. Make, model and license plate number of the officer’s car
2. Exact location and the distance between where you stopped and where the violation occurred
3. Every passenger in your car
4. The color of your shirt/coat
5. Any distinctive characteristics of your car (color, dents, etc)
6. If the officer talks into his radio (sometimes the officer who stops you is not the one who was running the radar)
7. The weather conditions (was it windy, rainy, sunny, hot, cold, etc)

It is important to remember that during the entire traffic stop, you should not do anything to make yourself memorable. Before he drives off, the officer will probably take notes on the back of his copy of the citation, but he most likely won’t remember the minor details that you have already taken note of. This is the beginning of your case and the next step is to enter your plea. I will investigate this in the next post.

*Disclaimer: I have no law expertise and am merely summarizing information from another website. This information does not constitute legal advice.