When you are unlucky enought to get a speeding ticket - and it is luck - you can either pay up or you can plead ';not guilty'; and appear in court. As a general rule it is best to seek advice and plead 'not guilty'. Of course if you were clocked at 80 mph in a 30 mph speed limit then don't try that one unless you are absolutely certain you were doing 40 mph, or there has obviously been some other mistake. But you can beat a speeding ticket in court.

There are two ways you can do this:

Either defend yourself, which may be successful if you were only just over the limit;

Or consult a traffic ticket specialist.

If you were only just over the limit, you can save yourself money by handling the case yourself, and start off by pleading "not guilty;. Most people are scared with the idea of going to court when they could be found guilty - they feel in the wrong straight away. Don't do that.

To defend yourself, you need to research the traffic laws and go to court with any information that might help you. Of course, never admit guilt - this is just as important when charged as when you have an accident with another car.

Don't admit your guilt

Obviously, if you admitted your guilt, and the police officer remembers that, you are in trouble. So you would be better to pay up - unless you think that you were made to admit to guilt under duress. If that is the case then you probably need to consult a specialist. Or if there were special circumstances. For example, you may have had to accelerate hard to avoid an accident or a close shave, or you were rushing your wife who was in labor to the hospital.



In that case, explain the situation, and if you have a clean licence you might get away with it. But judges tend to be sceptical because they have heard it all before. So if you a story, make it a good one.

If you are defending yourself, don't forget that the police officer who decided to charge you will be in court, and will pull out his notebook to give evidence. Anything you said will be written down, together with your record. But also remember this: this officer spends a lot of time booking plenty of people so unless you behaved in an unusual manner he probably will not remember much about it.

But you do remember it, because this event made a big impression on you. So anythying you can remember that is helpful to you or ubnhelpful to him should be brought up. There are other cases where you may escape a fine owing to the unusual circumstances. For example, if the sign showing the speed limit was covered by the branch of a tree or by an advertising hoarding, or had been knocked down, you can escape. In that case, though, you must go back to the scene and photograph the sign.

Whatever your defense, when you plead "not guilty" to your speeding ticket in court iyou must be prepared. Bring any notes or pictures that you have taken since that day. Be ready to take the witness stand and tell the truth in regard to what transpired when you received your speeding ticket. Also, although you've put time and effort into your own defense, you might still have to pay the fine. With an expert's advive or an expert system to help you, you may be able to either get the fine reduced or thrown out.


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