One Bay Area Driver Recently Tried a Unique Argument to Try to Dodge a Speeding Ticket. It Didn’t Work.

Everyone responds to agitation in different ways, and almost anyone experiences some sort of agitation when they’re pulled over by the police for a speeding violation. Some people cry. Some become hostile. Others panic. Still others try to debate their way out of the ticket while sitting on the shoulder of the road. The reality is that the best way to handle your ticket often is simply to sign the citation and then retain knowledgeable San Francisco traffic ticket attorneys to handle your case and get you a favorable outcome.Judges and journalists both love a good story, sometimes. In a recent criminal case decision, a federal appeals judge in Atlanta, while putting the “kibosh” on a novel defense argument, opined that America’s “history contains many…stories of triumph over long odds. This, however, is not one of those.” What the judge was saying was that, while the defense’s argument was creative, the judge wasn’t buying it. Closer to home, the Sacramento Bee reported on another encounter with the legal system that involved a “long shot” argument and an audience that wasn’t buying it.

According to the Bee report, a driver traveling on I-980 in Oakland was pulled over by the CHP for excessive speed. Advised of the speed the officer recorded, the driver contested that he was not going that fast. The officer showed the driver the display of his device, which read “99.” The driver theorized that the device was erroneously providing the officer with the current air temperature. There were two major problems with the driver’s effort to avoid the ticket in this manner. Besides the obvious (officers’ speed detecting devices do not sense, record, or display the temperature), the high that day in Oakland was only 81.

While this driver’s destined-to-fail effort to avoid a ticket may be good for a laugh for the rest of us, there are some things that you should know if you find yourself in a situation like this driver’s situation. While it may be tempting to attempt to argue with a law enforcement officer and try to “discuss” your way out of a speeding ticket, there are more effective methods of achieving success. In fact, sometimes the less you say at the scene, the better off you will be in the long run.

Instead, retain counsel and put your attorney to work contesting your ticket. While the “[that] must be the current temperature” argument may seem like a winner to you, your experienced San Francisco traffic ticket attorney knows the arguments and tactics that really work in the traffic courts. There are several aspects that your attorney can potentially attack successfully.

Whether it’s challenging the accuracy of the speed detection device or using some other technique, the experienced San Francisco traffic ticket attorneys at Uthman Law Office know how to get results. Our traffic law clinic gets over 90% of our clients outcomes that include no points on their licenses. Attorney David Uthman has over 20 years of experience as a litigation attorney and almost a decade of experience as a police officer. Put our knowledge of the law and the system to work for you. Call us today at (415) 556-9200 to schedule your FREE initial consultation to get the help you need.

More blog posts:

You Can No Longer Lose Your License for Unpaid Traffic Fines, But Don’t Just Ignore an Unpaid Traffic Ticket in California, San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog, June 12, 2018

What You Should Do (and What Not to Do) When you Receive a Speeding Ticket in California, San Francisco Criminal Lawyer Blog, March 27, 2018