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defense, you should still go to court. Your fine can't get any worse, and the judge may knock it down because it's your first offense (even if you don't have a good defense against the ticket). If you pay it, you give up any chance of getting it reduced and you definitely get the points and insurance hike. First thing to do (assuming you can't do traffic school - you should do this first if you can and not have to deal with court) is request a different court date. Make up some excuse (you have a test or something) and have it pushed out. This increases the possibility that the cop won't show. If you're ballsy, you can call his police station and ask what days he's on duty, and then try to request the court date for his off days of the week. Then, go back to the scene, and document all the details in the order they happened, and mark down where every vehicle was before and when you got the ticket. Where was the cop? Was he moving? How did he clock your speed? By pacing you? Then, based on the info you collected, if you think that there's a chance he made a mistake, you can either go yourself and question the cop and try to catch him unprepared, or hire a lawyer to do it for you. It may cost you a few hundy, but it's much better than the extra thousand it will cost you in insurance per year for the next 3 years. If he paced you, he's under burden to prove that his car's speedometer was accurately calibrated. You should definitely pursue that line of defense if you have no other. Good luck and definitely do not just pay it outright. Explore your options. Talk to a lawyer.
My Z at CarDomain |
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07:04:07 05/28/03
