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Fighting a Speeding Ticket

Finally, an enjoyable role reversal

On August 23, 2004, I received a traffic ticket on Orange Grove Blvd for supposedly going 50 on a 35 mph road. The officer used a radar gun to clock my speed and tried to give me another ticket as I was pulling away... This bastard had more attitude than a guerilla stuck with a chimpanzee's johnson. I decided to fight this ticket.

Since the ticket itself wasn't too expensive, I really didn't care about the money aspect of this and because I had no points on my records or a traffic violation within the last 18 months, I wasn't worrying about having this infraction tarnish my driving record. It was more about principle and I was confident I wasn't going as fast as this cop said I was.

To make a long story short, I took all the normal procedural steps and everything came to an end just two weeks ago. The police officer didn't show and my case was dismissed. The lesson to be learned? Although it might be more bothersome and time consuming, it's always better to try to fight than to just roll over and pay. I decided to share my experiences for those who might need it.

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First, read up so that you are familiar with the system and the chances you have with your particular case. After perusing several online forums, I bought two books that came highly recommended:

1) An Educated Guide to Speeding Tickets by Richard Wallace II
2) Fight Your Ticket in California by David W. Brown

In all honesty, Fight Your Ticket in California is more than sufficient to help you be prepared but if you want to play it safe, you can purchase both books like me.

Next, be sure to act within the given period of time and make sure the court responds in a timely manner. You can sometimes get a case dismissal if the court fails to act within a certain amount of days.

Lastly, when you have exhausted all measures and followed all steps and you know you are guilty, go to court anyway because the officer might be absent. Even if the officer shows up (the clerk will tell you) and you know you'll lose, you can still tell the clerk you prefer to plead guilty and take traffic school. If you are not eligible for traffic school, that is even more of a reason why you should try to fight your ticket because you have nothing to lose in the first place.

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Here is what I did in my particular case: (This is long so if you aren't interested in this or if your ticket wasn't given in California, get ready to read a lot of possibly irrelevant crap)

NOTE: If you decide to appear in court and fight this, you automatically waive your right to attend traffic school. You might be able to request traffic school if the judge finds you guilty, but that will be completely under the judge's discretion and mood that day.

After I received the notice to appear to court, I requested for a Trial by Written Declaration. Because police departments actually pay their officers to appear in court, many officers actually do end up going to court. However, with a Trial by Written Declaration, you are actually pleading your case in writing and the officer will have to respond to you in writing. Since most CHP officers do not want to take time away from Krispy Kreme, your chances of getting off this way is high. Note: A Written Declaration is considered a formal trial and if submitted, you waive your option to attend traffic school.

Included with my version of the facts, I also took pictures of the event and furnished a copy of the Traffic Engineering Survey, which can be obtained at the City Hall. (The Survey was completed within 10 years of the date of my ticket. If there was no survey completed within 10 years, [some places limit it to 5-7 years] or if the road did not qualify as a road in which a survey could be completed for, you may be able to declare an illegal speed trap argument.) My Written Declaration ended up being approximately 12 pages long with all the attachments.

Option 1: You can also request an Informal Discovery Request. If requested,the prosecuting agency or police department will have to produce and hand over any notes the officer may have taken in regards to your particular case. If it takes longer than 15 days for them to respond to this, you may make a motion to dismiss the case or to preclude the officer who cited you from testifying. Note:Be aware that if you choose this option, you are responsible for mailing out your notes as well within 15 days. Also, be sure to request the informal discovery from the district attorney of your case and the police department of the officer that pulled you over so that they have no excuse if they fail to produce the requested information.

Going back to my story, the officer provided his side of the story and the judge found me guilty. I'm not too sure how many states allow you to do this, but California is one, if not the only, state that allows you to request a new trial if you are found guilty using the Written Declaration method. You have another chance at fighting your ticket! This process is called Trial de Novo and you have 20 days to request this AFTER you are found guilty by the judge via Written Declaration. If the court does not grant or respond to you within 45 days of the day you requested a new trial, you may request that the case be dismissed due to lack of a speedy trial.

The court who handled my request was on top of their game and they unfortunately responded to me well within the 45 day mark and I was scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. trial.

Option 2: If you are requesting a Trial de Novo, you have the right to see a copy of the officer's response to your Written Declaration. Get this if you can. I thought I would be able to obtain this copy by simply going to the courthouse, but I was wrong. They ended up telling me to go to the police station, who ended up telling me to go back to the courthouse, who then told that I had to request this in writing to the judge. Since I went to the court 5 days before my case, I was denied this request.

Option 3: If you wish to delay matters even further, after you are assigned a day to appear in court for your new trial, you may request a change in date but be sure to do this 10 days before your court date. This is not written anywhere on the documents the court sends you in response to your Trial de Novo request but it is strictly enforced.

In my preparation for the trial, I drew a large diagram and I prepared a lengthy set of questions for the officer.


My Masterpiece

The truth of the matter is that most judges will be biased towards the officer's word because if the judge must choose one side, they will naturally lean towards the word of the law enforcement. However, your main objective is to cast doubt on the officer's testimony or show that indeed you were not guilty of the violation the officer accused you of. I wasn't sure how high my chances were of winning this case, but I made it this far and if I was going to go down, I wanted to make sure I made it difficult for the CHP officer to have complete autonomy of this situation.

I was charged for violating California Vehicle Code 22350, which is commonly given to speeding motorists. If you are charged with this violation, the key is to try to make the officer admit in court that you were not indeed guilty of violating this vehicle code.

Here are the questions that I was prepared to ask the officer in court. Questions 1-14 apply to my case so you need to find some kind of similar logic and combine it with your argument that you also were NOT guilty of violated VC 22350.

1) How did you identify my car as the automobile to target?

2) How far back was I when your radar first picked me up?

3) Approximately how many seconds were you tracking my car before you decided to pull me over?

4) Were you aware of the surroundings near my car?

5) Were there any other cars in front of me?

6) Were there any cars around me?

7) In order to receive an accurate reading, does the operator of the radar gun have to concentrate and focus on the target or is it more or less an effortless process?

8) Once you identify a car to target, is it safe to say that all of your concentration goes to maintaining the aim of the radar gun in order to get an accurate reading?

9) Did all of your concentration directed towards aiming your radar gun towards my car after you identified my car as a viable target that morning?

10) Were you targeting the North bound or the Sound bound traffic on Orange Grove the morning you pulled me over?

11) After you identified my car as the target, were you aware of the traffic traveling opposite of me, in other words, traffic heading North bound?

12) Is there any possibility that one of the cars traveling North bound might have crossed the path of your radar gun?

--- If officer says No: I thought you placed all of your concentration towards the act of aiming the radar gun to get an accurate reading. So do you now mean to state that not all of your concentration was directed towards aiming your radar gun at my vehicle?

13) Is it correct to say that you are claiming to have basically been able to target my car, fully focus and concentrate with the aiming of your radar gun AND be aware of the traffic traveling North bound on Orange Grove Blvd that morning within ___ seconds?

14) Is there ANY possibility WHATSOEVER that your aim might have been off when you targeted my car or that a car traveling in the opposite direction may have interfered with the reading of your radar gun?

15) What was the traffic like that morning?

16) Was I in danger of hitting any car?

17) As I recall, there were no pedestrians in the roadway; is that correct?

18) Did it look at any time like my car was out of control and about to leave the road?

19) What was the weather like?

20) What was the visibility?

--- (As marked on the ticket) When you say cloudy, does that mean there might have been some problems with the visibility?

21) Considering the weather that morning, did you consider it unsafe at the speed I was going?

22) Considering the visibility that morning, did you consider it unsafe at the speed I was going?

23) What was the surface of the road?

24) What was the width of the road?

25) Considering the surface and width of the road, did you consider it unsafe at the speed I was going?

26) You cited me with violation of Vehicle Code Section 22350, correct?

27) Vehicle Code Section 22350 states Â?No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.Â? Is this accurate?

28) Is there any mention of a posted speed limit in Vehicle Code Section 22350?

29) A part of Vehicle Code Section 22351(b) states Â?The speed of any vehicle upon a highway in excess of the prima facie unlawful unless the defendant establishes by competent evidence that the speed in excess of said limits did not constitute a violation of the basic speed law at the time, place, and under the conditions then existingÂ? Is this statement accurate?

30) Was I in your opinion truly in violation of Vehicle Code Section 22350?

Based upon the OfficerÂ?s testimony and the information exchanged today in court, I would like to maintain my innocence and plead not guilty because there are too many variable factors involved to truly prove without a reasonable doubt that I was indeed traveling at a speed of 50 mph, as the Officer contends. Furthermore, I would like to use Vehicle Code Section 22351(b) to show at the given speed on the morning of August 23, 2004, I was not in violation of Vehicle Code Section 22350.

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More tips: Do NOT try to argue with the judge and do NOT be condescending to the officer. This will ultimately hurt your chances of winning.

I really can't advise how one should proceed after this step because my officer didn't show up. One part of me wishes he did so that I could test the effectiveness of my questions and make him seem like a fool in front of his peers. The other part of me is glad that he didn't show because the court ruled automatically in my favor.

In summary, I still believe that everyone should fight their tickets because they have a good chance of getting their case dismissed. If you follow some of the formalities listed above, chances are your case will be dismissed before it has a chance to proceed to the court level. If you do need to make a court appearance, there is still a good chance that the officer will not appear. Some people who know they are completely in the wrong go hoping that the officer will not appear. The court clerk will tell you if your officer is present and if the officer is there, you still have a chance to tell the court clerk what you plead.

Additional Tip:You can request as much relevant information from the officer as you want. This will actually make it troublesome for the CHP to comply and you will have more chances of winning due to technicalities. For instance, you can subpoena the officers's calibration log, ticket log, the radar gun manufacturer's guide, etc. Also, always remember to send all mail correspondences with Proof of Service and Certificates of Mailing so that you have concrete proof that you mailed the documents and requests in time if the court loses your paperwork somehow.

Good luck with your battle with the CHP.

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Eating Indian Food in Chino
In Westwood
Charles' last day of work
You will be missed man
Memorial Day bash at Avalon
Chick Pic