Speeding Ticket from Dept. of Fish and Game

[redcouch]

My question involves a speeding ticket from the State of: California

I was recently pulled over by California Dept. of Fish and Game Officer for 22350-unsafe speed for conditions. He has me at +75. The following day I was sent a correction, to correct his 2 hour time mistake. He wrote time as 1615, corrected it to 1815.

It had just started sprinkling, speed limit is 55mph. The car in front of me was driving around 45 mph, so I passed that car. However, I know my speed did not go up to 75mph just to pass the car. Shortly after I passed the car, I see lights (no siren) in my rearview mirror. It was dark and I was on a narrow country road, so I continued to drive about a mile to a small well lit gas station. Officer #1 approached my passenger and asked him if he knew why he had been pulled over. My passenger replied, "i'm not sure since I'm not driving". Officer #2 opened the door where my second passenger was (behind me) and asked him 3 times "Do you have a gun?" My passenger answered "No" each time the question was asked, so we guess this is standard?
One of the officers asked where we had came from, one of the passengers replied "work" we were all wearing Nursing scrubs, so it was kind of funny when he asked what "we did".
It took the officer over 30 minutes to write the ticket, during this time it began to rain harder, so he was drenched. I noticed 3 more things on my ticket, he has the wrong year of my car, wrong plate number and posts that the violation occurred at the gas station where I had stopped, not where he initially put his lights on to alert me to pull over. I had not receieved a ticket in so long I was not up to date enough to know to get his plate #'s or anything like that.
Now my questions are:
Are these officers properly trained to give speeding tickets?
He obviously did not use a radar, since I know I never went that fast & since I had passed a car and was pulled over less than a minute later, I know he didn't pace me. Does anyone know what device this Department uses to prove someone was speeding?
Do I have a decent chance at winning this ticket?

[HonkingAntelope]

Any legitimate CA Peace Officer can write traffic citations. Since you didn't see where the officer was initally, it's hard to tell how exactly the speed was obtained.

That being said, you stand an okay chance at beating the ticket. If it took him 30 minutes just to write a lousy speeding ticket, odds are he won't even file the TBD reply. The other issue is the sheer number of errors on the ticket. Most courts are willing to overlook a minor misspelling or when the officer writes down the color of the vehicle as 'pink' while the defendant insists it's 'mauve,' but the judge may be willing to toss the ticket after seeing three screwups on the same citation. I seriosly doubt it'll even get to trial, though.

If you wish to contest the ticket, the first steps would be to wait for the letter from the court, request a month extension over the phone, ask for a trial by written declaration, and submit your declaration with nothing more than "i stand by my plea of not guilty" on the statement of facts.

[redcouch]

Update:
First, I filed for an extension, until around late January. As I was sitting waiting for my ticket, I called my husband, who called his best friend. His best friend is married to a Caltrans worker and she went onto their website (I was lucky enough to be on a State Route) where it reports "NO TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS ARE REPORTED FOR THIS AREA" (God I love her!). I also, filed a request for an informal discovery from the DA. He was to respond on December 15, but has sent me nothing. I still plan to ask for a trial by written declaration, but shall I include this as "evidence" or shall I do as stated in the previous post with nothing more than "i stand by my plea of not guilty"? Thank You so much, for the previous advice. I didn't know where to begin and you really hvae helped me, more than you know!