How to Appeal a Speeding Ticket

Attend your hearing. At the initial hearing, you will not argue your case but will instead plead “guilty” or “not guilty.” After you plead “not guilty,” the judge will schedule the trial date.

• You should dress nicely to attend the hearing, because you will probably be appearing in front of the same judge who will preside over your trial. Business casual (a pressed dress shirt and dress pants) is acceptable attire.
• In some situations, you can get out of your speeding ticket without going to trial. For example, in some states, if you have never gotten a ticket before then you are eligible for traffic school if you show up to your hearing.^[7]
• Also, if you were ticketed because you did not have proof of insurance in your car, then many courts will allow you to get out of the ticket if you present your proof of insurance before your hearing date.

Understand the prosecutor’s case. Principally, you will want to understand how the police officer judged that you were speeding. The most common methods of gauging speed are “pacing,” radar, laser, and VASCAR (Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder). Each are vulnerable to different criticisms:

• Pacing. Here, the officer gauges your speed by following behind you for a length of time to judge how fast you are going. You can attempt to discredit this speed reading by pointing out the officer was too far back to adequately follow you at a consistent speed, or that hills, curves, and traffic lights prevented the officer from following you for a sufficient length of time.^[8]
• Radar. This technology uses radio waves which reflect off a car and then are picked up by a receiver. Radar speed readings are vulnerable to certain challenges. For example, radio waves can hit more than one car, or there may be problems with the radar’s calibration. Also, rain, wind, and storm clouds can send back erroneous speed readings.^[9]
• Laser. Laser technology sends 40 beams of light over the course of a second toward the vehicle. The rate at which the light reflects back translates into the speed the car is going. One weakness with laser technology is that all of the beams need to hit the same spot on the car. Also, like radar, light beams could reflect off other cars.^[10]
• VASCAR technology. This fancy name is used for a very simple technology of measuring speed. Here, the officer measures the distance between two points (say a telephone pole and mailbox). Then, the officer uses a stopwatch to measure the amount of time it takes you to pass from one point to the other. The time will then be mathematically adjusted to produce a miles-per-hour reading. VASCAR measurement is obviously vulnerable to claims of human error: the officer didn’t start and stop the stopwatch accurately or did not accurately perceive when you crossed one of the markers.^[11]

Gather evidence for trial. After you have been assigned a trial date, you should begin crafting your defense. Crucial to your success will be evidence to present at trial. If you want evidence from the state, ask the court clerk how to make a discovery motion.^[12]

• You can also request a copy of the prosecutor's evidence. The evidence file may include the officer's notes, a video of the traffic stop, or a drawing depicting the scene. You should know what evidence the prosecutor will present.
• Also request the operator’s manual for whatever form of technology was used to track your speed. These manuals are written for police to use and often include information about potential flaws or problems with the technology. You can then quote the language to the court during your trial as you try to cast doubt on the credibility of the speed reading.^[13]

Contact witnesses for trial. Ask witnesses if you appeared to be going the same speed as other cars, or if you were passing them. The most likely witness is someone who was in the car with you when you were stopped.

• You might want to remind them of the trial date so that they will be sure to attend.

Postpone the trial for as long as possible. By postponing the trial, you increase the likelihood that the officer will forget about you and not show up in court. Judges will drop the case if the officer doesn’t show.^[14]

• Ask the court clerk how many times you can request a delay, and how many days before the trial you need to make the request. State law varies.
• Also call the police department and try to find out when the officer is taking a vacation. If you can time things just right, you can push a trial off until the officer is away on vacation.

Attend your trial. Arrive on time and in conservative attire. Have any documents prepared to use at trial. The notes you took immediately after being stopped is good evidence.

Challenge the determination of speed. Depending on the technology used to gauge your speed, you can challenge it on the grounds stated above. Also, you can ask the officer how much training he or she had with the technology.^[15] Asking this question helps cast doubt on the officer’s ability to use the technology properly, and any technology is only as good as the person using it.

Challenge the officer’s identification of your car. You may also argue that the officer didn’t identify the right car. If you were driving in moderate or heavy traffic, you could argue that the officer used the radar or laser on the wrong car.

• You can ask leading questions to rattle the officer. If your car is blue, ask “Did you see the other blue car in front of me?” This might fluster the officer.

Request that the case be dismissed, if possible. At the close of evidence, you should argue that the government has not established that you were speeding. Be specific and point to limitations in the state’s case. For example, the fact that an officer received only a half hour of training to use radar technology casts doubt on whether the technology was used accurately.

• Also, if the ticketing officer does not show up to the trial, you have the right of dismissal.