Surefire Ways to Beat a Speeding Ticket in California
The state of California has a population of 38,715,000, making it the most populated state in the United States. Currently of the 38,715,000 people who live in California 25,914,851 have a valid driver’s license. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 21,000,000 people are issued a speeding ticket each year.The state of California has a “Basic Speed Limit Law.” This means that a driver may not drive faster than what is considered safe for the current conditions. An example, if a driver is going 50 mph in a 65 mph zone during a heavy rain storm or snow, they may be given a speeding ticket for driving too fast for the road conditions.Beating a speeding ticket is challenging and many people decide to consult legal representation. The most important thing you should understand about speeding tickets in the state of California is that the amount of the ticket is actually called “bail” which you must pay before your day in court. If you are found innocent the bail will be returned to you. Let’s make sure you get your bail returned to you with one of the options listed below.
- California’s maximum speed limit on most highways is 65 mph. A driver may drive 70 mph if posted. Otherwise the speed limit is 55 mph when driving on a two lane undivided road or highway. This speed limit is for motor vehicles and motor cycles, Tractor trailers, RV’s, and other large vehicles and vehicles that are towing have different speed limits.
- Prima Facie (CMVC 22352) – Are the laws for driving in residential areas, school zones, playground area, alleys, business district, senior centers, and any highway that is not owned by the state. The maximum speed limit is 25 mph and the minimum is 15 mph, unless otherwise stated.
Ticketing Officer Does Not Show at Court
In several cases, speeding ticket charges are dropped if the officer does not show up for court or notify the court in advance of his/her absence before the hearing, and the defendant pleads not guilty. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and the officer is present. Therefore, you always need a backup plan such as one of the following:
Subjective Conclusion
In the state of California, many defendants challenge the officer’s subjective conclusion. This is easily done by requesting the officer to share his/her view of the incident that caused the speeding ticket. This is most likely in circumstances where the officer had to make a subjective judgment. For example, driving 60 mph in rush hour traffic when the speed limit is only 55 mph. Raises the option of challenging the ticketing officer’s judgment if you can prove that it was safer for you to exceed the speed limit. For example, if all the other vehicles were going even faster than you and “pushing you” along with traffic then it would have been dangerous for you to go the speed limit.
Speeding to Prevent Harm
If you were speeding to prevent causing yourself, your passengers or other people harm you can easily argue that you had no other choice than to exceed the posted speed limit.
Most judges will forgive a speeding ticket if your actions were not reckless but in fact a necessity.
Some examples, may seem a bit extreme but that is okay because chances are the officer will see, hear, or read about the event that caused you to exceed the speed limit, after the fact. Here are some examples: you are driving on a two lane, undivided highway when you see a car speed up behind you with a police car chasing it, a few blocks up the road you know there is a place you can safely pull off the road, so you exceed the speed limit to avoid the car chase.Unfortunately, for you, the car being chased by the police whips down a side street and before you reach your planned “safe place” another office who is unaware of the incident pulls you over. You try to explain what happened but the officer doesn’t believe you and you are given a speeding ticket. Even in the event that the car chase doesn’t make the paper or news you could fairly easily find witnesses in the area that the event took place to back up your story.If the above methods are unsuccessful you can hire an attorney, and in the state of California if you cannot afford one a public defender will be assigned to your case.