driver | 24.04.2007 19:01

How to fight a ticket and win.

letter from superior court -

check from court

bankers hill copwatch

So I was driving up Sixth Ave by Balboa Park on the way to work and the motorcycle cop who's always there stepped out into the street with his radar gun and stopped me. He said I was going 47 mph in a 30 mph zone. First of all, I wasn't even going that fast and second of all, that is a completely ridiculous speed limit since that street has no lights or stop signs for several blocks and has four lanes so of course you're going to pick up a little speed. It's the perfect speed trap and the police expoit it for all it's worth.

After I got the ticket, I was determined to fight it. I did some research online and found this website:

 http://tinyurl.com/sepls

I found out that you can plead not guilty and do a trial by mail for just the cost of the postage. And here's the best part: cops are paid overtime to show up in court but receive nothing to fill out paperwork. They have no incentive to help prosecute you except for their sense of "justice" which luckily most cops don't give a fuck about.

In my case, I wrote in my written deposition (form letter found at previous link) that if the cop was not able to provide proof that a road survey was conducted in the past 5 years (necessary in order to issue tickets based on the reading on a radar gun) that I should be found not guilty. The cop never turned in the required documentation so I won by default. According to the Ticket Assassin website, this is what happens in over 40% of the trials by mail. I got my money back and started the Bankers Hill Copwatch to let people know about their rights. Imagine if everyone fought their ticket by mail, even if you thought that you broke the law (you can still go to traffic school if they find you guility). We would flood the system with so much paperwork that there would be no way they could handle it, making the current way of doing things unsustainable.

Homepage:: http://tinyurl.com/sepls