Top 10 Traffic Defenses That Don't Work! Articles / Info Posted by Admin on Oct 17, 2004 - 10:00 PM If you fight your ticket based on one of these defenses, you will probably wish you had contacted us instead. 1. "Everyone else was going above the speed limit." It was your bad luck that the law enforcement officer stopped you instead of all of those other speeding vehicles. But raising this as a defense in traffic court will only bring you more bad luck. 2. "I had to go over the speed limit to pass another vehicle." There is no exception to the speeding laws for passing another vehicle. 3. "My speedometer wasn't working." A defective speedometer is not a legal defense to a speeding ticket. You are held responsible for the condition of your vehicle and its equipment. 4. "It would have been unsafe for me to brake, so I went through the intersection under a red light." The law requires you to slow down far enough in advance of an intersection to avoid this dilemma. 5. "The ticket says I was going 60 m.p.h in a 40 m.p.h. zone, but I was only going 55 m.p.h." Assuming you can prove your claim (which is doubtful), you will still be held responsible for traveling in excess of the speed limit. The precise amount by which you exceeded the speed limit is not critical. 6. "The officer wrote on the ticket that my car is blue, but it is actually green." If that is the only mistake in the description of your vehicle, you will in all likelihood not succeed in getting the ticket dismissed. 7. "The officer didn't file the ticket within five days of its issuance." You are to be commended for discovering the five-day filing rule and the fact that it was violated by the law enforcement officer in your case. However, Florida courts have determined that violation of the five-day filing rule is not a basis for dismissing a traffic ticket. 8. "I was ticketed for driving with a suspended license, but I didn't know my license was suspended." If you were ticketed for the non-criminal violation of driving while your license was suspended, your lack of knowledge of the suspension is irrelevant. 9. "The law enforcement officer refused to allow me to see the radar or laser readout." The officer is not required to allow you to see the speed indicated on the speed measuring device. 10. "The law enforcement officer was rude to me during the traffic stop." This is more in the nature of "venting your feelings" than a true legal defense. The officer's behavior was inappropriate and you are steamed. Complaining in traffic court to a judge or magistrate may temporarily make you feel better. But the feeling of satisfaction won't last long, since you are likely to be found guilty if this is your only "defense." There are procedures for filing a complaint against the ticketing officer with the appropriate law enforcement agency. Making your complaint in traffic court is not the most effective way to address the problem. This article is from Florida Traffic Ticket Defense   http://www.floridatrafficticketdefense.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.floridatrafficticketdefense.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1