Tips and Advice

In a road full of traffic it wouldn’t seem to matter which lane you were in unless you were planning on exiting onto a side street. However the lane that you are in could be the difference between whether or not you get a speeding ticket.

On a road that has more than two lanes your best bet against being caught speeding is to travel in the middle lane. When you are in the middle lanes and within a group of speeding cars, you will be much less noticeable to the radar detector and also to the watchful eyes of the law enforcement officials.

Cars often jump away from congested traffic to speed up; they are placing a target on themselves for the police. Traveling alone and at a high speed makes you stand out and the police will take notice. If you are within a group of motorists, your speed if accelerated is much less noticeable if everyone around you is doing the very same thing.

If you do travel with a group of other cars but you are in one of the outside lanes you have just made yourself visible and more susceptible to the radar or laser gun that might be directed towards oncoming traffic. Being in the middle lane also affords you the luxury of seeing both sides of the road. This can help in spotting the police before the people driving in the outside lanes do. If you are in an outside lane and a police officer is on the opposite side of the road tracking speeds you may not notice him or her until it is too late and you’re being pulled over to get your speeding citation.

Another important method of avoiding the sting of a speeding ticket is to avoid changing lanes frequently. We’ve all noticed the sports car moving in and out of lanes at a high speed trying to find a break in the traffic. This person is drawing attention to not only their car but also to their driving. The police are much more likely to zero in on someone who is making sure they are seen. It’s always best, if possible, to stay in the same lane and stay at the same speed as those around you. It will keep you hidden from the police and also from the glare of the radar or laser detector.

Taking a safe place in traffic can be fundamental in beating a speeding ticket. If you are nestled away in the middle of a speeding pack chances are those motorists leading or those drivers on the outside of the pack will be the ones facing the fines for speeding. You will appear hidden to the police and by the time they’ve pointed their radar gun and shot it at a vehicle, the pack of cars you are in will have started to slow down. By taking the middle road you afford yourself the opportunity to move at the same speed as other drivers with much less risk of getting a speeding ticket.

As you’re racing down the expressway you’ll probably notice that many other people are doing exactly the same thing. They are traveling as fast if not faster than you are. The only problem is that if a law enforcement official is ahead with a radar or laser gun you might be the one who is recorded because you’re traveling just a bit faster than those around you.

There’s something you can do to make certain that if there’s a ticket to be given that you won’t be the person receiving it. It’s frustrating and infuriating to be the one nailed by the police officer for speeding when others are driving along at almost the same speed. Often on an expressway or highway people exceed the speed limit and some more than others. It’s not uncommon to see numerous vehicles moving along at a rate much faster than is legal on that road.

There’s a method you can use to make sure that you’re not the one pinpointed by the policeman or policewoman’s radar. Drive up beside or behind someone else who is speeding and note their speed, then pull back just a touch so that your speedometer reading is just slightly less than theirs.

Stay a bit behind them and if you happen to notice them braking sharply it will give you enough time to slow down before the police officer records your speed. This way the car ahead that was moving along much more briskly than you were will have to pay the price of speeding, you’ll be free to continue along the road past the police at the correct speed.

Another similar idea is to drive behind or next to someone who is going about the same speed as you are. The notion is that you’ll drive just a bit slower than he or she is driving. If there is a speed trap ahead they will be nabbed because their speed is the fastest. This technique works well if there is only one radar gun tracking the speeds of motorists. If there is more than one police officer ahead though you might be just as guilty as the person you were shadowing.

These are both techniques that give you the opportunity to speed at someone else’s expense. Quite often though it seems that as we do speed down the road, there are people who are traveling even faster than we are. Getting behind them or pulling up beside them and using them as a barrier between you and a ticket can work.

Police officers want to catch those who are breaking the speeding laws. Their equipment is designed to do that and using that to your advantage can certainly save you the cost of the ticket. Sticking close to another speeder can be a way to avoid the price of going over the speed limit.

Remember though that if the police officer is in a car watching the traffic, he might decide that you’re the speeder that he wants to catch in his net. Keeping your eyes peeled and watching the road is the most important step in avoiding a speeding ticket.

Regardless of how we view it, speeding is breaking the law. Granted it’s not as serious an offence as theft or murder, but under the watchful eyes of the law, it’s an infraction. Any time a human being breaks a law there are consequences. In the case of speeding tickets it would seem that the consequences aren’t that great. However, that’s not the case if you are a repeat offender and you’ve gotten so many tickets that you are facing time in jail.

It would seem unlikely that anyone could receive numerous speeding tickets, pay the fines, undoubtedly pay high automobile insurance rates and still speed. It happens and after receiving numerous fines and points taken off their driver’s license the law in many places shifts the punishment from being of a monetary form into being jail time.

An alternative that is offered in some cases is attending driving school. The person who received the speeding ticket pleads “not guilty” and appears in court. If this is a repeat offence they may have decided to retain a lawyer. Lawyers who specialize in the area of moving violations understand the importance of a driver’s license and will work hard to not only make certain that their client keeps their license but will also work to keep them out of jail.

The lawyer will attend court with the motorist and plead their case; explaining that the motorist will attend driving school in an effort to improve their motor vehicle skills. This is seen as a sign of good faith on behalf of the motorist. They understand that their driving skills are lacking and time with a certified driving instructor explaining the basics of driving will work towards improving their speeding problem. Noting that the motorist will spend not only classroom time absorbing the basics of driving but practical time inside a vehicle with an instructor might be enough to convince the judge that the speeder is trying to rehabilitate.

If the judge agrees, the motorist will spend several hours studying in a classroom environment with others. These might also be people who have a number of speeding tickets or it could also be people who have been charged with more serious motor vehicle violations such as driving while under the influence of alcohol.

After the classroom instruction is complete the students are expected to participate in in-car training with a qualified instruction. There they will be given the skills they need to safely operate a motor vehicle including instruction on maintaining the legal and safe speed. After they have completed a written and a practical test their results are sent to the court. If they failed any part of the course, they will have to appear again in court to face sentencing. If they passed, their lawyer may request that the last ticket they have be dismissed and they will be expected to continue driving as they have during the driving school course, which is safe and below the legal posted speed limit.

Some people naturally seem to have a lead foot. They glance down at the speedometer only to find that almost always, they are whizzing along the road above the legal posted limit. These are generally the people who end up with several speeding tickets within the course of a few years. Considering that each ticket amounts to points taken off of their driver’s license and increases in their automobile insurance rates, it’s a matter that needs to be taken very seriously.

• Ask about fees up-front. If their fees are going to surpass the cost of your ticket substantially, you might want to reconsider the value of their services.
  
• If you had taken any notes or noted anything peculiar while you the police officer was writing your ticket, tell the specialist that. What might seem insubstantial to you could be extremely important when you plead “not guilty.”
  
• Ask about any guarantee they offer. Some companies offer a no pay unless the ticket is dismissed guarantee. It’s important to know what their policy is regarding if they lose the case.

With the advent of the radar gun the police are able to determine a motorist’s speed effectively and efficiently. They just point and shoot and in that split second they can tell how fast over the limit you were speeding.

Radar guns are a huge convenience for police. They clock the speed precisely, and it gives them the ability to determine from a fair distance away who is speeding and who is obeying that traffic law.

If you are stopped by a policeman or woman who has used their radar gun to record your speed, all hope is not lost. There are steps that you can take once the ticket has been issued that may result in you beating the speeding ticket.

Radar guns are machines. Machines malfunction. This is the key point when you decide to plead not guilty and forego the fine to appear in court. Depending on the size of your fine and its impact on not only your driving record but insurance premiums, this might be a worthwhile defense to pursue.

There are steps you need to take before your court date to validate your claim of “not guilty.” Some jurisdictions will make available information related to law enforcement. The information that you are concerned about is the radar or laser equipment that the police are using. If this is public information, you’ll need to get documentation regarding the make of the radar gun, the city or county’s maintenance record, if possible the maintenance record on the radar gun that was used the day you received your speeding citation. There is also documentation on the training of officers in the use of radar guns. It is worthwhile to try and obtain this information in regards to the officer who issued your ticket. Experience might play a part in your defense; that being his or her experience with the equipment.

Being prepared is paramount when taking this into court. People make mistakes and although trying to argue that the officer was pointing the radar gun at the car next to you and not yours probably won’t work, knowing the equipment and how it operates will be a huge benefit to you.

When you do appear in court, the officer who issued you the speeding citation will be present as well. If your defense is with the machinery, he will be expected to answer questions regarding his or her handling of the radar gun. Some of these questions might include when the radar gun last went through maintenance, if there has been any error with the gun in the past or since your ticket was issued. Also the manner in which the police officer handles the gun and records the speed will be addressed. It puts much of the onus of proof on the officer and the piece of equipment that recorded your speed. If the judge feels that there is reasonable doubt you might win your case and save yourself the fine.

So you find yourself with a slip of paper that contains both a dollar amount and a date. It’s the dreaded speeding ticket. You look at it and realize that you have two choices. You can pay the fine and subject yourself to the possibility of higher insurance premiums or you can plead “not guilty” and appear in court.

Depending on how fast you were going over the legal, posted speed limit, it might be wise to consult with a traffic ticket specialist. However, many people are ticketed when their speed is over the limit, but not dramatically. These people would do well to save the money associated with an expert and take the matter into their own hands.

It seems daunting to imagine going into court without a lawyer or someone familiar with the ins and outs of speeding tickets. All the average citizen needs to do is research traffic laws and come prepared with whatever materials they feel will help them fight the citation.

It’s important to note that when you do have a court appearance often the officer who issued the ticket will be there to testify as well. If you admitted speeding to him or her, your defense becomes that much more difficult. Admitting guilt of speeding is accepting the guilt. If you’ve done that your best remedy will probably be to pay the fine. You could try and explain your speeding a couple of different ways. One is that you have to increase your speed because of someone else’s careless driving. For instance, if someone is right behind you driving fast and you become concerned that they are going to hit you, you might increase your speed to avoid that. This defense is probably not going to work but if it what happened, than sharing it with the judge is important. Another could be road conditions. If there was something on the road, you might have sped up to pass it, or to avoid it. Again, this is difficult to prove and a judge might be skeptical.

If you weren’t able to see the posted speed because the sign was either covered by some foliage or perhaps knocked over, there are important steps you need to take before you go to court. As soon as possible after you have been ticketed, you need to take pictures of the sign in the same condition you saw it in. It’s crucial that this be done quickly. Having that type of evidence to show the judge, will allow him or her to see that although you were going over the posted limit, not having knowledge of that limit might have played a role in your infraction.

Taking the issue of your speeding ticket to court involves being prepared. Bring any notes or pictures that you have taken since that day. Be ready to take the witness stand and tell the truth in regard to what transpired when you received your speeding ticket. Also, be of the mind that although you’ve put time and effort into your own defense, you might still have to pay the fine as it was administered to you initially.

It seems almost inevitable that if you’ve been on the roads for anytime, that you’ll find yourself with a speeding ticket. It’s never pleasant to be pulled over by a police officer and to have to hand over your driver’s license and insurance so that he can write you up a ticket that’s not only going to cost you some money but a piece of your pride as well.

Regardless of how we choose to look at it, speeding is breaking the law. For some drivers it’s a law that they break over and over again. However there are a large percentage of people that go years without a speeding ticket. For that group there is something they can be doing when they are stopped for speeding for the first time.

Each and every time a police officer pulls a motorist over for speeding the person’s identification is checked in the computer. There are numerous reasons this is done, but the reason that speeding motorist needs to be concerned with is how many tickets they have gotten for exceeding the posted limit in the past. This can be a crucial factor in whether the police officer writes you a ticket or just gives you a warning.

Depending on how fast you were going if this is your first infraction, the police officer might be inclined to just give you a warning. Often, that warning can have enough impact on the motorist that they will heed the advice and not speed again. No one wants to take the money that they worked hard to earn and have to hand it over because of a mistake. Many policemen and women realize this and that’s why if you’ve been driving for years and have never been ticketed, explaining the merits of driving within the limit is the only punishment they will feel that you need.

Another factor that weighs heavily in the officer’s decision on whether to write up the ticket is your demeanor and attitude. If you don’t take the situation seriously, the officer may feel inclined to go ahead with the citation because he or she doesn’t feel as though you’ve learned your lesson. Feeling that pinch in your pocketbook when you write the check to pay for the fine or hand over the cash to a clerk has much more impact on someone who doesn’t understand the seriousness of speeding. Therefore it’s important for you to show the officer respect, keep your composure and not admit to the speeding. In this case, the police officer sees that you’re not finding it funny to be stopped, that you realize that you have broken the law and that you understand the impact that it has on both your driving record and your insurance premiums.

If you are pulled over for the first time, remain calm and listen carefully to the police officer. If he or she does decide to give you a warning, pay close attention to what they are saying. They are never obligated to give a warning as opposed to a ticket for first time offenders, but if you handle the situation correctly, you might save yourself a few dollars while at the same time take that warning to heart.

When we are just learning how to drive, every individual has to pass not only a written test but a driving examination as well. The written test normally consists of dozens of questions all related to safe driving. A common question that is posed on these tests is what the speed limit is if you don’t see a sign posting the limit. It varies for each city and county and also it generally changes depending on if you’re on the highway or driving a city street.

Some people seem to forget that premise when it comes to fighting their speeding ticket. After being pulled over and having a police officer tell them that the speed limit was noticeably lower than what they were traveling, some people are surprised to learn that they were speeding since they didn’t catch a glimpse of a sign on the side of the road depicting the limit.

Beating a speeding ticket in this way involves pleading not guilty to the original citation. In this case the person charged with the speeding infraction doesn’t pay the fine but instead appears in court on the date and at the time specified. Their defense is going to be that they didn’t see the speed limit sign and thus had no idea that they were breaking any laws.

When this is the case one of the most common situations is that the speed limit sign was obscured by a tree or some brush. If that is the case going back to the scene and taking a picture of the sign might be a helpful tool towards your defense. You could argue that since you couldn’t see the sign, you had no idea that you were traveling beyond the speed limit that was permitted.

It’s extremely important that if you do feel that the speed limit sign wasn’t noticeable that you take pictures of the sign as it appears as soon as possible. Often, other motorists will point out these types of problems and the issue will be corrected immediately. Therefore time is of the nature and having those pictures to present in court will back-up your claim of not knowing the speed limit.

A likely argument to this type of defense is that although you weren’t able to see the sign, there are laws regarding speed limits if they are not posted. This is a logical argument and although it won’t help eliminate your fine, it may help reduce it substantially because your fine will be altered to reflect what the speed limit when not posted for that area is.

Regardless of how you look at it, if you cannot see the speed limit sign and you do wind up with a ticket for going too fast, take the time to revisit the road, find the sign and if it’s blocked by something, take some pictures. You just might not only be saving yourself some money but the problem of the obstructed sign will be addressed.

Hundreds even thousands of times each day people everywhere are pulled over or stopped on the road by a police officer who has spotted them speeding. It’s alarming to glance into your rearview mirror and realize that the siren you hear is directed at you. You pull to the shoulder, up walks the officer who asks that dreaded question, “Do you know how fast you were going?”

The natural reaction is to say the speed limit but the policeman wouldn’t have wasted his time or yours if your car wasn’t speeding merrily along well above the posted limit. If you were going well above the limit the best thing you can do is to remain quiet, not to acknowledge that you knew you were speeding. This is vitally important if you decide to fight the ticket.

If you were speeding but at a lower rate, you might decide to rely on human nature as a means to getting the fine either reduced or converted to a warning. Some people react strongly when they are pulled over. Crying or acting scared; both real emotions and for some people genuine at the moment when they realize that they are facing not only a fine for their transgression, but also the possibility of a hike in the automobile insurance premiums.

Police officers routinely run the driver’s license information of those they pull over through a database. If the driver’s name shows as a repeat speeding offender, the police officer may be much less lenient on them. However, if it’s the first infraction, there is a possibility, depending on the police officer, that the ticket will never be written and the driver will be sent on his or her way with nothing more than a warning.

Having a bad attitude will not help in any way when you’re facing a speeding ticket. Calling the officer names or using curse words ensures that you’ll be paying the price for having a lead foot. If you show the police officer respect and refer to him or her as “Officer” this will help down the road when you decide to plead “not guilty” and go to court.

The worst possible thing you can do if you’re caught driving too fast is to confess that fact as the police officer is writing your ticket. If you do that, pleading “not guilty” is really not an option any longer. The police officer who writes the ticket is the one who has to appear in court when you do to fight your ticket. If he or she remembers you taking ownership of your speeding, you’ll have lost the case immediately and you’ll end up paying the full price for the fine. That’s the main reason why you don’t say anything when the police officer asks you if you knew what you were doing wrong. Say as little as possible and after your ticket has been written, the best thing you can do is drive away.

Credit ratings are based on your credit report. When banks, credit card companies, or any other business loans money to you, they report to an agency your status in terms of making your payments on time, etc. . . The agency then compiles this information into a credit report, which is the ultimate gatekeeper to your credit rating. Negative marks on your credit rating will stay there for 7 years, preventing you from getting most kinds of loans.

When you begin to lapse in payments to a creditor, whether it be loan payments or credit card or financing payments, the creditor will go though various steps in an attempt to receive payment. After a (usually long) serious of warnings, the creditor will eventually sell your debt to a collections company. When a creditor does this, they are effectively “writing the loan off” as they generally sell the debt to a collection agent at a heavy discount. Basically, the creditor has decided that their chances of recovering the loan are small enough that they are willing to lose as much as half of its value in order to stop pursuing it. When this happens the creditor will inform the credit reporting agency, and you will be left with the lowest possible mark on your credit report, which will affect your rating for up to 7 years.

A crucial step to credit repair is take steps to avoid this “writing off” of your debt. You should act as soon as possible after being contacted by a collection agent. The first thing you should do is contact your creditor – not the collections company – and see if you can arrange to clear the debt with them. In many cases, if you agree to repay the debt immediately to the creditor, they will remove the “gone to collection” mark from your credit rating – essential to quick credit repair.

If your creditor is unwilling to do this, you’re stuck with the collection agency. In terms of credit repair, keep in mind that the mark on your credit rating can’t get any worse at this point – the debt is already gone to collection – so take time to consider all of your options. Usually, the collection agent will contact you in an aggressive manner demanding immediate and full payment of the debt, and imply that they will take you to court if this doesn’t happen.

It is to your advantage in this situation to understand that the collection company has likely bought your debt at something close to half its value, so any payment higher than that will result in a profit for them. Try and offer to pay less than the full value of your debt immediately. In most cases the collection agent will be motivated to close your file as soon as possible to avoid the process getting dragged out. They will usually be willing to accept a quick payment at a discount so they can move on..

In order to achieve credit repair as quickly as possible, always attempt to pay your creditor rather than the collection agent when your debt has gone to collection. If that fails, offer the collection agent a lower figure than the full loan amount. Full payment to a collection agent should only be offered as a last resort.