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Step 1
Get All of the Facts
Many times, when a police officer issues a citation for speeding, they write down information about the incident on the back of their copy of the ticket or on a notepad. This helps the officer remember facts about the incident that he will need to relay to the judge in court. You have a right to a copy of those notes so you can see exactly what the officer knows about the case before you go to court. You can also use these notes as a starting point for contesting the charge, if you find any discrepancies - like your car being listed as the wrong color, or the weather being noted as sunny when it was actually raining - and hopefully, have the charge dropped.
To get a copy of any notes the officer has regarding your speeding ticket, simply write a letter and send via certified mail with signature delivery to the police officer who gave you the ticket. Ask for a copy of his copy of the citation, both front and back, and any notes he has kept regarding the incident. If he replies, you'll be able to go through his notes and get a picture of what he'll be saying in court. If he never responds, make sure you bring your certified mail receipt with the signature to your court date; you can ask the judge to dismiss the speeding ticket for failure to respond to discovery requests. -
Step 2
Contact the Police Officer Directly
You can also try calling the officer at the station a couple of days later, and ask to talk to him about the citation her issued you. Most police officers will at least talk to you on the phone, if not agree to a meeting at the station. But don't go right into a conversation or meeting asking for him to drop the ticket - this is a sure way to annoy him. Instead, ask him for a chance to explain your side of the story, and what led you to speed. Show remorse, and let him know that the citation could put you behind financially, that you have a family to care for, or even that you can't afford a speeding ticket on your record for work purposes - anything you can find that the officer can relate to on a personal level is a good way to get the charge dropped. Remember, the police officer who issued you the speeding ticket has the ability, at any time, to drop the charge. If he tries to tell you otherwise (cops are infamous for telling you that once they've started writing a ticket, they can't stop and it has to be issued) then he's not telling the truth, and don't be afraid to point that out - in a polite and respectful manner, of course. -
Step 3
Postpone Your Court Date
Police officers have set days during the month that they attend court to handle the citations they've issued. The majority of the time, all of the days are the same each week, except for one. Police officers are on strict schedules, and like to make things easier by scheduling all of their court dates for one day, say, on Tuesdays. But they will also have one extra day on say, a Thursday, to accommodate those who can't make it on a Tuesday, although they will purposely not schedule any court dates for that day.
You can use this to your advantage. Contact the clerk of the court a week before your hearing at the courthouse where your hearing is scheduled to take place. Be polite, because they takes dozens of calls a day from annoyed and angry citizens who take their frustrations out on the clerk, and believe me, they've heard every lame excuse in the book. Explain that you have a commitment you can't break, like an important doctor's appointment or a family issue, or even say that you can't get out of work on that particular day, and ask for another day SOON that you can postpone your hearing for. The clerk will then give you the dates - pick the "off" date, that is, if all of the dates fall on a Tuesday except one, which is on Thursday, choose Thursday. If the date is coming up soon, or even that week, take it. Chances are, the police officer has no other hearings scheduled for that day, and he's not likely to show up in court for just one case. And, the sooner you can get it scheduled, the less time the officer has to rearrange his schedule to accommodate the date change, if he even bothers to at all.
When you arrive at your hearing and the officer isn't there, ask the judge to dismiss the case. If the judge asks why, explain that you have a right to face your accuser, and since your accuser isn't there, the matter should be dropped. That alone should beat the speeding ticket. -
Step 4
Show the Speeding Was Necessary
Speed limits exist to protect the driver and those around them. If you can show that your speeding wasn't dangerous, or even better, was necessary due to the circumstances at that time, you may be able to get the speeding charge dropped. To prove the speeding was necessary, take some photographs or video tape traffic in the area you were pulled over at the same of day you were pulled over. You'll want to show that everyone on the road is driving faster than the speed limit, and that driving the speed limit would not only be dangerous to you, but could cause harm to others, potentially causing a car accident.
You can also try to show that your speeding wasn't dangerous to you or to others at the time. For instance, if you were driving through a school zone were the speed limit drops from 35 to 25, but you were driving through the area at 9:30PM on a Saturday, you can show that it's reasonable to expect no children were in the school zone at that time. From there, you can explain that the people the speed limit is meant to protect were in no need of protection due to the time of day, and that driving 35 miles per hour in that area is reasonable and you should not be ticketed for doing so.
