Posts Tagged ‘law enforcement’

Your Guide On Ways To Discharge Speeding Infractions

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

This article should give some hope to people who have received speeding tickets because there are ways to fight speeding tickets.

Gather evidence: When fighting speeding tickets, ask the traffic court to see the official documents, like calibration records for either the radar gun or speedometer used to clock your car. File a discovery request with the prosecutor so you can always examine documents in advance for flaws. But note that if you subpoena documents, you’ll remind the officer of the incident, which may prompt him/her to show up in court.

One thing that can help you fight speeding tickets is to know that devices that measure your cars speed such as radar and laser detectors can be subject to human error. Traffic tickets have been dismissed in some instances because the ticketing officer failed to document proper positioning of the speed detecting instrument.

Everybody has heard of cases of all kinds being dismissed because of a technicality. And this does happen. Certain things have to be done correctly for a speeding ticket to be valid. If for instance the officers badge number or signature is illegible you may a valid point to have your speeding ticket 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.

Speeding tickets can raise your insurance, cause accidents and other hazards. The best way to avoid receiving a speeding ticket is not to speed!

Common Sense Ways People Can Get Out Of Non Moving Violation Tickets These normally look just like the other police vehicles in your town, they’re just painted like a civilian car. Common Sense Ways People Can Get Out Of Parking Citations speeding fine

Common Sense Ways To Avoid Speeding Tickets

Monday, September 20th, 2010

The absolute best way to avoid all speeding tickets is to simply not drive. This isn’t possible for the majority of us though since most work for a living. So if you don’t like public transportation, the following tips should be helpful. Unless you like riding the bus.

1. Don’t exceed the speed limit. Sounds obvious buy in reality the only way not to get a speeding ticket is to avoid speeding. If you must speed, save it for the highway.

2. Be prepared. Avoid speeding tickets by not standing out from the crowd. You can help yourself with this by going around your car and making sure all lights are functioning. Your mirrors, blinkers, headlights and tail lights need to all function correctly.

3. Quality of your vehicle. Fix small issues like cracked windows and use some touch up paint if your car needs it. Keeping it clean and up to date will help you avoid the eyes of the law.

4. Don’t sleep and drive. Keep yourself alert by sitting up straight and being aware of your surroundings. Police can be anywhere. Pay particular attention to things such as over passes and bends in the road as these can be magnets for cops and your next speeding ticket.

5. Don’t be suspicious. If you drive a 1987 Olds Cutlass then don’t go driving in nicer neighborhoods as this will definitely spark a cops interest.

6. Don’t draw attention to yourself. High performance cars will always draw the attention of law enforcement before a Ford Taurus will.

7. Watch for curves. Do not exceed the speed limit around curves. You never know who will be waiting to give you a speeding ticket.

8. Stay out of the left lane. A lot of the police officers I personally know and others I’ve talked to admit that they target the left lane for speeding tickets. Its called the fast lane for a reason.

9. Know your territory. Its important to know your town or city and what resources they have for law enforcement. It may seem like there isn’t a cop for miles. But that van or SUV parked on the side of the street could be a photo radar unit. They will automatically give you a speeding ticket, they have no conscious.

10. Pay attention ahead of you for brake lights. This is an easy way to be alerted to the fact that there is an officer gunning people for speeding tickets. On highways drivers rarely hit their brakes unless someone has abruptly pulled in front of them.

11. Be aware of what the police drive. A lot of the time you never know that the car you were just driving next to was an unmarked police cruiser until your pulled over and issued a speeding ticket. The unmarked cars are almost always the same as the marked cars, only they will be painted as the civilian version.

12. Beware of speed traps. Speed traps occur in virtually every part of the country. Knowing where they might be before you get on the road is a wise decision. Find out if the road you will be traveling has any speed traps listed on Speedtrap.org.

Unfortunately you cant avoid all speeding tickets, but you can greatly increase your odds of not getting one by using these tips.

Want to find out more about speeding tickets? Then visit Timothy Williams’s site for information on how to avoid and beat speeding tickets if you or someone you know has received one.

Photo Radar: Why Did It Send Me A Ticket In The Mail?

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

The way cops hand out speeding tickets has its limits. A police officer can pull over only one car at a time. As far as the governments view this is too expensive and slow.

With the rapid development of technology, clever ways have been developed to make the process speedier.

The old system of traffic enforcement simply wasn’t doing the job of making the kinds of money our government wants to make.

This was because there were too many components involved. First they needed to have the police officer to pull you over. This involves the use of an expensive police car. Then there was no guarantee the officer wouldnt let you go with a warning.

And last, in the time it took the officer to pull you over and write a ticket, many more people go speeding by, so there was money lost from not pulling them over!

Introducing photo radar… the government’s latest scheme to generate more money, all in the name of safety. Within minutes, a photo radar machine can catch dozens of drivers on a single stretch of road. These radar cameras literally do the jobs of several cops.

There’s no longer the need to actually pull people over anymore. With traffic cameras, speeding tickets are mailed directly to the home of the offender. Talk about service!

Since it was deployed photo radar has increased revenue for municipalities that employ it, maximized enforcement resources for other duties, and increased conviction rates in traffic court. Also drivers insurance rates went up.

The age of photo radar is still in its infancy. To date, there are only 20 or so states that employ this method of speed detection - California, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio and Washington to name a few.

The photo radar is such a money maker that its popularity is growing fast.

Many cities are beginning to join the growing ranks of municipalities using photo radar because of the automaticity of its revenue generation.

Cash strapped cities are finding out that when they install photo radar it gives them immediate money generation.

Looking at it from the municipalities’ point of view it makes perfect sense. One photo radar can do the work of what would normally take a small army of real officers.

How does a photo radar work you may ask? Think of it as a radar gun and a high quality camera rolled up into one. It gets programmed to take a photo of your license plate at a certain speed.

Say the speeding limit is 55 mph on a stretch of road but it detects a car cruising at 60 mph it will take a picture.

When a car passes the photo radar unit and is traveling faster than the predetermined cut off point it will snap a photo of your license plate. And so it goes 24/7, courtesy of big brother hundreds of people can be cited this way.

When the database of the photo radar is accessed at a later time, they photos will be examined inaccurancies.

The clarity of the license plate will be examined to see if it is readable. If it cant be it will be discarded.

When a clear license plate is found it will be run through the bureau of motor vehicles database to see who it is registered to. If its a male and there is a male behind the wheel of the car, BINGO, a citation will be on its way to the registered owner. Ah the beauty of photo radar.

This process is repeated until all the pictures from the photo radar have been gone through, until the next batch arrives. Photo radar enforcement is on the rise, hopefully this article will give you a heads up about it.

Looking to find the best advice on speeding tickets? Then visit www.Speedingticketdefense.info to find the best advice on traffic violations and other traffic court help.

Incredible Facts About Speeding Tickets!

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

More than 100,000 speeding tickets are issued daily. That comes to more than 36,500,000 traffic tickets yearly.

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

The average speeding ticket costs $150.00.

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

$900 is the average increase a speeding ticket will cause your auto insurance premiums to increase over three years.

Take 36,500,000 and multiply by $900 and you get 3.28 BILLION! Thats the extra money auto insurance companies make in increased premiums.

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.

In the US there are almost 200 million licensed drivers.

A police officer will fail to show up to court between 30 to 50% of the time. This is immediate grounds for a dismissal.

In 1987 Paradise Valley AZ became the first place to use photo radar.

Brooklyn, Ohio became the first city to mandate seat belts while driving back in 1966.

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

Males receive more speeding tickets than their female counter parts.

More women fight their speeding tickets than men.

The age of drivers responsible for the most traffic accidents is 17.

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

Henry Ford’s first motor vehicle, built in 1894, only went forward.

In 1868 horse buggies and also pedestrians in London were the first to use the precursor to the modern day traffic lights.

Since 1999, Washington, D.C. cameras have issued 2,421,841 tickets worth $182 million.

The first known speeding ticket was given to the wife of Canada’s Prime Minister in 1910. She was doing 10 miles an hour over the limit.

Out of all professions, doctors get the most speeding tickets.

In salary and benefits an average police officer will cost a city around $75,000 a year. He will also make the town an average of $150,000 in that same year. Cops are good investments.

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

Learn how to fight your speeding ticket in traffic court. Stop by Steven Swihart’s site where you can find a lot more advice to help you challenge your traffic violations successfully.

How Do You Fight Speeding Tickets?

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Have you been pulled over and received a speeding ticket? Then rest assured there are ways you can fight speeding tickets, without a lawyer.

Gather evidence: When fighting speeding tickets, ask the traffic court to see the official documents, like calibration records for either the radar gun or speedometer used to clock your car. File a discovery request with the prosecutor so you can always examine documents in advance for flaws. But note that if you subpoena documents, you’ll remind the officer of the incident, which may prompt him/her to show up in court.

To fight speeding tickets remember that speed detecting devices such as laser detectors and radar can be subject to human error. And in a lot of instances police officers have neglected to provide proof of proper positioning of these instruments and thus cases have been 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.

Speeding tickets can raise your insurance, cause accidents and other hazards. The best way to avoid receiving a speeding ticket is not to speed!

Want to find out more about how to fight speeding tickets? Then visit Steven Swihart’s site for all things traffic violation related, and learn the in’s and out’s of the traffic court system.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Fighting A Traffic Ticket

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

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.

This article will outline five of the biggest mistakes you can make when battling your traffic ticket in court. Familiarize yourself with them and never use them in traffic court.

Mistake #1- Delaying the traffic court date

The rationale for this, some say, is that the longer you can delay traffic court for your traffic ticket, the likelier the chance the police officer won’t show up at your court date.

Do not try to delay your date with the traffic court. You will not increase the likelihood the officer wont be there and thus having your traffic ticket thrown out.

Lets say that you do get your traffic court date pushed back. What if the police officer still shows at court?

Then what? Police officers get paid overtime to show up to traffic court.

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

You have the right by law to see any information the court plans on using to convict you. The process is called discovery. And it would be useful if you were charged with murder, but this is traffic court. Don’t do this, it can hurt your chances of successfully getting your traffic ticket dismissed.

If you file a motion for discovery this tells the prosecution that you intend to plan a defense. In almost every case the prosecutor will make sure his case is airtight so you have virtually no chance of winning.

Don’t request anything or even contact the courthouse at any time prior to your trial about your traffic ticket. DO NOT let them know you are familiar with the traffic court process.

Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research

Who likes to spend their free time at the courthouse researching boring piles of books pertaining to law? Trust me, there is no need in doing this.

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

If your defense is to go to traffic court and try to make the officer who gave you the traffic ticket look like an idiot, don’t waste your time. Using any number of ridiculous excuses like the police officer singled you out or that he used the radar gun improperly will not work.

Don’t ever go into traffic court with the idea you are going to challenge the police officers training on the use of the radar gun. This will only draw scrutiny from the judge, who will accept the officers testimony that he is properly trained on the use of the equipment.

Lets face it, the officer has been properly trained on the use of the speed detecting device he used to give you a traffic ticket. There is no question about it. Where would you get the evidence the judge will ask for to support this claim?

Mistake #5- Showing up 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.

And then there are those who don’t do any research and think that they can tell there side of the story and the judge will have pity on them. Yeah right!

Look, I know the thought of going to traffic court can be a little scary for some, but this isn’t a murder trial. It’s just a simple traffic ticket. Traffic court is set up to be extremely ‘user friendly’ due to the large amounts of people who go there every day.

Avoid these five mistakes and you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court and getting your traffic ticket dismissed.

Learn more about traffic tickets and hoe to fight them. Stop by Steven Swihart’s site where you can find out all about traffic violations and how to protect yourself against them.

What’s The Difference Between Moving Violations And Non Moving Violations

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

There are differences between traffic tickets. Determining the type of ticket you have is important when evaluating your situation.

A lot of times when you have a minor violation and it wont result in any points on your license its best to go ahead and pay it and avoid trying to challenge it in traffic court.

Traffic tickets fall under one of two categories: non-moving violations and moving violations. Non-moving violations typically involve parking your car illegally or minor ‘fix-it’ tickets. These violations are not as serious as their counter-parts (moving violations) and usually involve much smaller fines.

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.

The fines for non moving violations are normally small, like around $50 or less. So its usually better, just from a hassle stand point, to pay these types of violations and not waste hours in traffic court.

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.

On the other hand, a moving violation is any law broken by the automobile driver while the vehicle is in motion. This type of violation is distinguished by the term ‘motion’. While a non moving violation is charged against the vehicle, a moving violations are charged against the driver of a vehicle. While usually only classifies as infractions or misdemeanors, serious violations can be 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.

You may think we have it bad in the US, and we do, because traffic fines can go all the way up to $500 and more. But in some countries around the world, traffic can be set according to an individuals income, and in some rare cases be more than $100,000!

Some of the more common moving violations include speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign or red light, failure to yield, crossing the median, violating HOV lanes or driving too slow for current road conditions.

More serious moving violations include: racing on a public street, road rage, drunk driving, 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.

Looking to find the best information on the internet about traffic tickets? Then visit www.Paytrafficviolation.com to find the best advice for beating your traffic ticket.