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Speeding ticket defense, anyone ever use one of those attorneys/in MA?
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Speeding ticket defense, anyone ever use one of those attorneys/in MA?
I wonder if anyone has ever used any attorney who specializes in speeding ticket defenses?
I ask because, well, you know, but the question/issue is that the fee(s) start at $1,500, however, I do know that while the cost of the ticket is really nothing, it is the surcharges/points that go on for 3 years, and while I am not exactly sure what a point(s) is worth, I wonder if the attorney fee is worth it if in fact they can help. Anyone?
$1500 !??! Go with an hourly rate. Even at $300 an hour, you'll come out ahead, probably by $900. I have always seen people with lawyers get to go first in traffic court because the judge doesnt want to make the lawyer sit there all day. There is no possible way it could be worth 1500$
how many tickets do you have over the past 3 years? (i think that's about how long your insurance company will hold it against you)
any chance you could do a safe drivers course to waive the ticket? (some states allow this with stipulations on how many tickets and how often you can take the course)
I had not had a ticket since about 2000, then this August I got one so it is not good with 2 in 3 months.
There are 2 lawyers here in MA who advertise on the web, one charges $1,500 for the entire case, another charges $1,000.
No other way to take classes here in MA though I think the first ticket is a freebie/no points towards insurance. 3 and I lose the license for 30-days, I sure don't want that.
Around here, if you show up in court, with or without a lawyer, they will knock an ordinary speeding ticket down to a no points violation. Last time I got a ticket I showed up in court and there were about 25 people in the room. The judge said, "Ok, you are all here for either fialure to stop or speeding. For those with failure to stop, we are going to reduce it to X. For those with speeding, we are going to reduce it to Y. Anyone have a problem with that?" Took about 5 minutes and they cleared the room.
Find out what the usual procedure is in your area. I have had speeding tickets in both NJ and PA and in both places they reduced them to no point violations without a lawyer and without batting an eyelash.
Does not matter how fast, I got one on 95 in Newbury for driving in excess of 120, the fine was $500, the ticket also had following too close and merging lanes, total was $735.
If I had just paid it I would have lost my license as it was 3 points at once.
Went to court by myself and they dropped everything but the speeding which they would not reduce, it only showed as 1 point on my driving record. 1 point = loss of safe driver credit on insurance.
I would contact the prosecutor and see if he/she is amicable to communicate. You might be able to accomplish something favorable for yourself without hiring an attorney. You will quickly get a feel if the prosecutor is willing to help you out or not.
I had not had a ticket since about 2000, then this August I got one so it is not good with 2 in 3 months.
There are 2 lawyers here in MA who advertise on the web, one charges $1,500 for the entire case, another charges $1,000.
No other way to take classes here in MA though I think the first ticket is a freebie/no points towards insurance. 3 and I lose the license for 30-days, I sure don't want that.
Most ins. co. have their own rating system and go by actually driving record and not your DMV points. You may want to call your agent to see if or how this could effect your ins. I do know for a fact that some Ins. Co's. after you become a customer do not pull driving records if you don't have claim issues. The reason for this is it cost them around $8 per record and X that by the number of customers and it adds up to alot of money.
How fast were you going? What time of day was it? Was he/she hiding or in plain sight? Did they use radar or was it a visual observation?
Now your lawyer may just want to plead down to a lesser offense.
If you want to win I suggest you put the officer on trial. And you'll want a jury trial.
You'll get to examine the officer and his duty logs by asking some questions. How many others did the officer stop and give tickets to that day? If the speed limit is 65 and know one else that got a ticket was doing 70 or 75 bring that up. Gee know one goes 70 MPH? If he says they do then you want to know why they didn't get a ticket. Does he discriminate? Takes the law into his own hands and decides who should and should not get a ticket?
You want to see his lic. to operate radar or certificate whatever they have. When was he last trained? When was the unit last calibrated? How accurate is this unit?
Drive down the same stretch of road at the speed limit. See how many cars pass you in 10 minutes. Then bring up the fact that people tent to routinely speed on this stretch of road, why are sooo few tickets issued? (Assuming you were one of only a few that day).
If he was not in plain sight you can argue that it is nothing but a speed trap knowing that people routinely speed in the area and he was hiding or around a bend. They have a duty to prevent dangerous driving.
Ask if they ever use a pass car. An officer driving on the road with a sign attached to the rear of the car stating "I'm driving at the speed limit (65MPH) anyone that passes me is speeding". That would count as an effort to prevent speeding.
Giving tickets does nothing to stop speeding; if it did we would no longer have speeders.
Someone on that jury is going to agree with you. Any police officers out there want to help out?
Oh and yes, SLOW down I drive these roads too.
Best of luck! Let us know what happens.
The best defense is not speeding, the 2nd. best is a good offense!
How fast were you going? What time of day was it? Was he/she hiding or in plain sight? Did they use radar or was it a visual observation?
Now your lawyer may just want to plead down to a lesser offense.
If you want to win I suggest you put the officer on trial. And you'll want a jury trial.
You'll get to examine the officer and his duty logs by asking some questions. How many others did the officer stop and give tickets to that day? If the speed limit is 65 and know one else that got a ticket was doing 70 or 75 bring that up. Gee know one goes 70 MPH? If he says they do then you want to know why they didn't get a ticket. Does he discriminate? Takes the law into his own hands and decides who should and should not get a ticket?
You want to see his lic. to operate radar or certificate whatever they have. When was he last trained? When was the unit last calibrated? How accurate is this unit?
Drive down the same stretch of road at the speed limit. See how many cars pass you in 10 minutes. Then bring up the fact that people tent to routinely speed on this stretch of road, why are sooo few tickets issued? (Assuming you were one of only a few that day).
If he was not in plain sight you can argue that it is nothing but a speed trap knowing that people routinely speed in the area and he was hiding or around a bend. They have a duty to prevent dangerous driving.
Ask if they ever use a pass car. An officer driving on the road with a sign attached to the rear of the car stating "I'm driving at the speed limit (65MPH) anyone that passes me is speeding". That would count as an effort to prevent speeding.
Giving tickets does nothing to stop speeding; if it did we would no longer have speeders.
Someone on that jury is going to agree with you. Any police officers out there want to help out?
Oh and yes, SLOW down I drive these roads too.
Best of luck! Let us know what happens.
The best defense is not speeding, the 2nd. best is a good offense!
This sounds like good advice, but anytime I have ever asked for any information about the officer or his equipment the Judge basically just ignored me. I have also been told you by the court magistrate that the officer's assesment is what it is, the judge will not question it or allow it to be brought into question.
I have been a few times,
Have you ever actually used these methods and been given a response?
How fast were you going? What time of day was it? Was he/she hiding or in plain sight? Did they use radar or was it a visual observation?
Now your lawyer may just want to plead down to a lesser offense.
If you want to win I suggest you put the officer on trial. And you'll want a jury trial.
You'll get to examine the officer and his duty logs by asking some questions. How many others did the officer stop and give tickets to that day? If the speed limit is 65 and know one else that got a ticket was doing 70 or 75 bring that up. Gee know one goes 70 MPH? If he says they do then you want to know why they didn't get a ticket. Does he discriminate? Takes the law into his own hands and decides who should and should not get a ticket?
You want to see his lic. to operate radar or certificate whatever they have. When was he last trained? When was the unit last calibrated? How accurate is this unit?
Drive down the same stretch of road at the speed limit. See how many cars pass you in 10 minutes. Then bring up the fact that people tent to routinely speed on this stretch of road, why are sooo few tickets issued? (Assuming you were one of only a few that day).
If he was not in plain sight you can argue that it is nothing but a speed trap knowing that people routinely speed in the area and he was hiding or around a bend. They have a duty to prevent dangerous driving.
Ask if they ever use a pass car. An officer driving on the road with a sign attached to the rear of the car stating "I'm driving at the speed limit (65MPH) anyone that passes me is speeding". That would count as an effort to prevent speeding.
Giving tickets does nothing to stop speeding; if it did we would no longer have speeders.
Someone on that jury is going to agree with you. Any police officers out there want to help out?
Oh and yes, SLOW down I drive these roads too.
Best of luck! Let us know what happens.
The best defense is not speeding, the 2nd. best is a good offense!
And when all else fails turn to the jury and say "The truth! You Can't Handle The Truth".
How fast were you going? What time of day was it? Was he/she hiding or in plain sight? Did they use radar or was it a visual observation?
Now your lawyer may just want to plead down to a lesser offense.
If you want to win I suggest you put the officer on trial. And you'll want a jury trial.
You'll get to examine the officer and his duty logs by asking some questions. How many others did the officer stop and give tickets to that day? If the speed limit is 65 and know one else that got a ticket was doing 70 or 75 bring that up. Gee know one goes 70 MPH? If he says they do then you want to know why they didn't get a ticket. Does he discriminate? Takes the law into his own hands and decides who should and should not get a ticket?
You want to see his lic. to operate radar or certificate whatever they have. When was he last trained? When was the unit last calibrated? How accurate is this unit?
Drive down the same stretch of road at the speed limit. See how many cars pass you in 10 minutes. Then bring up the fact that people tent to routinely speed on this stretch of road, why are sooo few tickets issued? (Assuming you were one of only a few that day).
If he was not in plain sight you can argue that it is nothing but a speed trap knowing that people routinely speed in the area and he was hiding or around a bend. They have a duty to prevent dangerous driving.
Ask if they ever use a pass car. An officer driving on the road with a sign attached to the rear of the car stating "I'm driving at the speed limit (65MPH) anyone that passes me is speeding". That would count as an effort to prevent speeding.
Giving tickets does nothing to stop speeding; if it did we would no longer have speeders.
Someone on that jury is going to agree with you. Any police officers out there want to help out?
Oh and yes, SLOW down I drive these roads too.
Best of luck! Let us know what happens.
The best defense is not speeding, the 2nd. best is a good offense!
How fast were you going? What time of day was it? Was he/she hiding or in plain sight? Did they use radar or was it a visual observation?
Now your lawyer may just want to plead down to a lesser offense.
If you want to win I suggest you put the officer on trial. And you'll want a jury trial.
You'll get to examine the officer and his duty logs by asking some questions. How many others did the officer stop and give tickets to that day? If the speed limit is 65 and know one else that got a ticket was doing 70 or 75 bring that up. Gee know one goes 70 MPH? If he says they do then you want to know why they didn't get a ticket. Does he discriminate? Takes the law into his own hands and decides who should and should not get a ticket?
You want to see his lic. to operate radar or certificate whatever they have. When was he last trained? When was the unit last calibrated? How accurate is this unit?
Drive down the same stretch of road at the speed limit. See how many cars pass you in 10 minutes. Then bring up the fact that people tent to routinely speed on this stretch of road, why are sooo few tickets issued? (Assuming you were one of only a few that day).
If he was not in plain sight you can argue that it is nothing but a speed trap knowing that people routinely speed in the area and he was hiding or around a bend. They have a duty to prevent dangerous driving.
Ask if they ever use a pass car. An officer driving on the road with a sign attached to the rear of the car stating "I'm driving at the speed limit (65MPH) anyone that passes me is speeding". That would count as an effort to prevent speeding.
Giving tickets does nothing to stop speeding; if it did we would no longer have speeders.
Someone on that jury is going to agree with you. Any police officers out there want to help out?
Oh and yes, SLOW down I drive these roads too.
Best of luck! Let us know what happens.
The best defense is not speeding, the 2nd. best is a good offense!
I think you would have a better chance by wearing a tight tank top and pink shorts and hoping the judge was actively gay than trying that lot!
Points don't "cost" money, they add up to revocation. Depending on how many points you have it might be worth the fight even if they have radar, video, stop-watch and Timmy & Lassie on their side. If you hire a lawyer take the flat rate. The hourly rates can add up and apply to more than just time in court.
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Speeding ticket defense, anyone ever use one of those attorneys/in MA? 
