10 Defenses That May Hurt Your Case When Challenging a Speeding Ticket

You may decide to challenge your speeding ticket if you have defenses you can raise. This could be a smart choice given the high costs of a speeding ticket, such as points on your driving record and increased insurance costs. Some defenses—such as the defense that the police mistook your vehicle for another similar one or that the police committed errors in using the device that determined your speed—can result in a speeding ticket being dismissed. However, there are some bad defenses that you do not want to raise.

What You Don’t Want to Say When Fighting a Speeding Ticket

You may have what you think is a good reason for speeding when you got your ticket. However, there are some defenses that may not be successful when fighting your ticket. Defenses you should not raise include:

• “I was keeping up with traffic, and everyone else was speeding.” While this may be true, it is not a legal defense challenging a speeding ticket.
• “My car could not possibly go that fast.” This defense would only apply in rare conditions, and you would need an experienced criminal defense attorney to pursue it.
• “I was rushing because I had an emergency.” If you had to go to the bathroom or had some other non-emergency, it is not a legitimate reason to speed. If you needed to get to the hospital and it was a true emergency, you would need medical documentation to support your defense.
• “The police officer was speeding, too.”
• “The police officer was rude to me.”
• “My speedometer was broken, and I did not know I was going that fast.” Again, you would need expert testimony to support this defense if it was really true.
• “I was in a new vehicle and did not realize how fast I was going.”
• “I did not know what the speed limit was.”
• “I was speeding because I was really ill or sleepy.”
• “I was speeding because I was low on gas and needed to get to a gas station quickly.”
   

If you are considering fighting your speeding ticket, you want to use defenses that will work. Contact the Easley Law Firm at 888-386-3898 to schedule a free consultation to learn how we can successfully help you challenge your speeding ticket.