Got my first WA ticket last week, going 40mph in a 30mph. He caught me going down the street while he was off of another street. Only thing is it was 8pm and dark, his view of me was obstructed by a lot of debris (broken tree, lots of vines, and a fence that ran down most of the street). His radar's line of sight on me would have been obstructed by the same debris. He also wrote down that my hair is brown when it's black and I had a beanie on so he couldn't have seen my hair color.

Regardless, it's a $124 ticket. Any advice? Fight it? Hire a traffic attorney?

 

Did he give you the full 10 or reduce it to 5 or less? I mean the hair color is easy enough to mistake at night, with a hat, etc. Id say if he dropped it to a lesser charge then id just eat it. But if you fight it you have the chance of him no-showing (no ticket/fine) or if he does show up your essentially fighting the full ticket speed if I remember correctly. I think their theory is if they drop the charge lower, ppl will plead guilty and accept the lower fine keeping the courts from getting clogged up etc.

Choice is yours. I know in DE if you haven't gotten a ticket in a few years you can plead guilty and ask for "probation before judgement" pay the fine...no points after your probationary period.

 

Funny thing is, when he pulled me over he first said I was "headed in speed upward to 40mph," but when i got the ticket it said an even 40mph. I asked if he caught me on radar and he said yes, but I should've asked to look at the radar.

It was a weird encounter too, he wasn't very happy and seemed to be having bad night, didn't really explain too much, just asked for my license and proof of insurance, told me I what he said above, went to his car, and came back with a ticket. Never asked why I was going that speed.

 

Tickets here have a clocked speed or an observed speed I think (been a while since my last one) and then a ticketed speed. Ticketed is usually lower.

Fighting is up to you man. A 10 mph ticket probably isn't worth an attorney but its not like you get penalized for going to court. Part of your ticket includes court cost I think. But you have to find something to argue. Like the obstructed view etc. Maybe someone in here can chime in who's gotten more than me. I had a big ticket a few yrs ago and the cop no showed. I was argueing the failure to use a turn signal charge and got off for everything.

 

Yeah, i'm just trying to find out how easy it is to fight the ticket in a WA state court....I hear it's easier in some states than others.

 

you can always defer it and it will get taken off your record, but i would use that for something a lot worse

 

If you were speeding , then pay BUTT , if you weren't , well then you have decide if you wanna try your luck at the Mans House... Personally I have never had anything nice come out of seeing "The Honorable" face to face...

 

I think of it like this. I am sure there are planty of other times i have done something to earn me a much larger ticket, $124 is pretty cheap to get my karma meter out of the red.

 

Well lets see you said you were speeding......eh.....yeah.

What you can do is goto the courtdate,if the officer is there he has to provide proof,which in traffic court is pretty much he showed up......

If he does not show up ask for it to be dismissed and if Judge will not dismiss ask for it to be lowered.

Then drive speedlimit.....I try to always leave 2 minutes early.....and I love being late......but so far not a ticket on my record since 1992 when I flipped the Camero in front of the Sheriff

 

Do not defer! Do fight it! I have had countless experiences like yours and have never lost. Think about it like this.. You pay $124 now but your insurance could go up $20 per month for the next 3 years+ that's $20x36 months which will be Roughly $720! It is extremely important to keep a clean record, let's say you want to finance a bike for the summer, your insurance will likely be more than your bike payment. Maybe you want to get cdl and do truck driving for whatever reason, good luck going up against other clean record drivers. Save your deferral for something bigger and pay $300 now for a good traffic attorney. You will thank yourself in the long run. I can give you my attorneys information if you'd like.

 

I believe here in wa they don't need to use a radar gun to give you a speeding ticket. I believe they can give you one by sight alone. Just like they don't need a decibel meter to give you a ticket for "faulty exhaust" ie loud aftermarket exhaust. Without a lawyer you're most likely gonna lose. As for the hair thing you said you gave him your drivers licence. There's a picture of you on it without the beanie. Also cops have bad days too, they have to deal with so many different types of people. They're only human.

 

Nothing better than Experience

 

I have to say this, you can fight but don't ask to see if the equipment is within cal certs, it will be and the Judge will have a book of all certs. And in wash they pass a bill that the officer does not have to go to court anymore. If you just pay the ticket it will be the amount of the ticket if you go to court and loose you will pay the ticket and the court cost.

 

If you have not had a defer, I would ask about that and if you don't get cought speeding for the year the judgement is for the ticket will not go on your record and you will pay court cost + a smaller fine. Been there.

 

Alright man let me tell you this...after reading everyones response of either to pay it, get a lawyer, defer it...my opinion....FIGHT IT and here is why.

I have something that is called PRE-PAID LEGAL ( I am not advertising them in no way). They fight all my speeding tickets and they WIN....EVERYTIME!!!

Ok so here is what I have learned. In order to get the ball rolling you need to mark the ticket as you were going to fight it. Then when you get a court date you need to submit a "PROOF OF DISCOVERY" request..(I have this if you want it) In the mail you will get a copy of the ticket, anything the officer wrote down about when he stopped you, and when the Lazer or Radar unit was last calibrated.

Now after I get these documents normally I send them in to a legal advisor who forwards them to a traffic attorney and then they go fight it for me....however in your case since you do not have this option you will have to go and fight it yourself. ok so here is when it gets good....I dont know about other states but here in washington you have the option to fight the ticket "BY MAIL" You can choose this option when you receive your court date.

Ok so there are a few ways you alone can battle this thing.

1. If the officer does not show so that you can "ask him questions" then you can have the judge dismiss the ticket. It doesn't always work, sometimes the judge will reschedule the court date for a time the officer can attend.

2. The other is depending on the calibration date of whatever he used to track your speed. If its out of calibration then the ticket is invalid. Also the unit has to be calibrated by certain people so if it wasnt calibrated right then that can be thrown out.

There are some other ways i'm sure to defend yourself against these bothersome tickets. Hopefully this helps.

If you want anymore info just let me know.


Here's also a little something i found.

http://lifehacker.com/208611/how-to-...r-your-chances

 

Let me make it simple. Go to Barbra bowdens law office in Tacoma, walk in, give them $300 (depending on county) give them the ticket and walk away, you don't even have to show up for court, done and done.

 

Yeah what he said. well worth it in the end.

 

^^^ Good info guys! Thanks a lot!