Speeding Citation Search

What a Speeding Citation Means

A speeding citation should be pretty straight forward, you were exceeding the speed limit while operating a motor vehicle. Speeding citations can vary greatly depending on how fast over the speed limit you were going. A speeding citation search, which is typically part of a person’s driving record, can tell a lot about a person. If someone has more than one speeding citation then there is a good chance this a pattern. It’s also good to verify if you have any speeding citations on your driving record, inaccuracies with traffic citations on your driver’s record can dramatically increase your auto insurance rates.

Can You Challenge Radar Gun Speeding Ticket?

When you get a speeding ticket, it’s always a good idea to challenge it in court. While paying the ticket is easy, it can result in high insurance costs, which is why many people fight the speeding ticket in court. But, what if the police have radar gun evidence? Can it be challenged in court? Although radar gun evidence is hard to contest, it’s not impossible. All you need is a good lawyer and some ideas. Here is how you can do it.

Radar Gun Calibration Record

Radar guns must regularly be calibrated to make sure they are working fine. You can request a calibration record for the radar gun. Law enforcement must provide this document within 30 to 60 days. If they are unable to do so within the given time, you can contest that the radar gun was unreliable. According to the operation manual, users must check the radar gun for calibration with a tuning fork. If the officer did not check it after logging your speed, there are chances that the instrument wasn’t calibrated. In most cases, a radar gun is the only proof, and the judge will probably dismiss the case due to the lack of evidence.

Keep in mind that radars are devices of measurement and are prone to errors. While they need a tuning fork for testing, it’s true that if the tuning fork isn’t well-maintained, it would not be able to test the calibration of the radar gun.

Officer’s Radar Gun Training

The officer who booked you for speeding must have had some training with the radar gun. Just like the calibration evidence, the police have to prove that the officer who took the reading received the proper radar gun training to do so. If the police cannot prove that the officer who clocked the speed was not qualified to use the gun, the judge will probably let you go without a fine. While there’s no guarantee that this technicality you will get out free, it’s always worth a try. It’s normal for a poorly trained police officer to make mistakes while operating the device, so there are chances that the ticket was a mistake.

Fighting a Speeding Citation

If there is no other proof of your speeding, or driving at an unsafe speed, you can refute the radar gun evidence as pure hearsay. A hearsay evidence for a digital device means that the device was unreliable. The US Constitution allows you to cross-examine the witnesses that are against you. So, if a police technician claims that they calibrated the radar gun, you can cross-examine the witnesses. This defense can be a good option to help you get out of the ticket.

All the arguments against a speeding ticket presume that the police clocked you wrong and that you weren’t speeding. And if you indeed were not speeding, there is no need to be intimidated by the police. If you have been framed wrongly for speeding, it’s a good idea to contest it in court instead of simply paying the fine. Paying the fine means you admit to your guilt. If you think you are in such a situation, make sure you talk to an expert lawyer and get things sorted out. If you are not guilty, you should not have to pay the hefty penalties.