Radar Speeding Ticket, But My Speedometer and GPS Said I Wasn't Speeding

[Itwasentme]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington, Lewis County

Hello all,

Let me start off by saying thanks for reading and offering your help!

On 12/31/2011 I received a speeding ticket while traveling east on highway 12 in lewis county, WA. The WSP trooper that pulled me over got me on radar while he was traveling west (opposite direction). He claims I was doing 69 in a 55. I am positive that I was not going 69, my speedometer and gps both read 60. But my word means nothing to the WSP officer or the court so here I am. I have the discover documents from the court, the SMD info is correct and the only thing I can see that might be wrong is the fact that he didn’t box "The defendants vehicle was the only moving vehicle in the radars beam". There was other traffic, is it possible that his radar caught them and will this help my cause? I would attach the discovery info but I can’t post attachments though, if anyone knows how to get permission to post attachments please enlighten me!
If you need additional info, let me know.
Thanks again!

[free9man]

Scan and post the discovery and the WA experts can help you out.

[Riply]

Fighting a radar ticket isn't impossible, but it's a close second. Much of the "evidence" relies on the officer's testimony, especially in terms of whether it was your vehicle that was "clocked", rather than another vehicle. Once the officer testifies to that, the burden of proof switches to you to prove that it wasn't your vehicle. Difficult to overcome, since it's a word-against-word element. Unfortunately, the officer has more credibility at the beginning.

The remaining evidence establishes the integrity of the speed-detection device (testing, calibration, etc), then the officer's qualifications for operating the device and whether he followed appropriate procedures to determine the device was working properly. Next would be whether the police agency (the State, in this case) had a license to operate the device (they always do) and whether the road on which it was operated is covered by that license.

As to your speedometer (and GPS) showing your speed as 60, that's pretty subjective, as the only way to prove that is to accept your word that it did. Motor vehicles' speedometers are calibrated upon manufacture, but that calibration can be compromised by a variety of factors during the life of the vehicle. Wear and tear on the drive train, timing belt, pulleys, tire pressure, tire wear, etc all can have minor effects on the accuracy of a vehicle's speedometer.

Speed calculations on a GPS are based on the doppler shift in the pseudo range signals of a satellite. The speed reading of a GPS is normalized, and not "instant speed". The speed is based on changes of the distance traveled between identified points in a particular span of time. A little high-tech, yes, but the bottom line is the GPS is probably a bit more accurate than the vehicle speedometer, because it's usually not subject to the variables that effect the speedometer.

Still, the GPS reading is what you saw (or claim to have seen). I doubt there's any way to take that to Court and duplicate what you claim the GPS indicated.

I know this was a rather verbose reply to your question, but I though you might want to understand why you need to just plea for a reduced speed (and fine) or just pay the ticket.

[blewis]

Riply states he/she is from Georgia -- and probably doesn't have much knowledge of WA traffic law. With a little work, you've got about a 75% chance of beating this -- but it does take some work. Fortunately, you already have your discovery materials, which is a great start.

You'll need to use a service such as Photobucket to post your discovery documents. Upload them and post a link to the documents. Here's a post that can show you how. Just click on the "Quote" button at the bottom right, then look through the post. You'll see how to create the proper links.

Barry

[Riply]

Riply states he/she is from Georgia -- and probably doesn't have much knowledge of WA traffic law.

Yes, which is why I didn't discuss WA law, but rather the mechanics of radar and GPS.

Thank you for clarifying that for the OP.

[Itwasentme]

Attached are the discovery docs. FYI, I'm a CDL driver and drive around 80k ticket free miles a year and have not had a ticket in over 7 years. That being said, I really done want or need a ticket on my record.



Thanks for your help!

[Itwasentme]

[blewis]

OP, did you redact anything from the "Officer's Report" which identifies the NOI that it pertains to?

Barry

[Itwasentme]

I did not, I only blacked out name, address and DOB on the NOI itself and my first and last name on the second attachment. I changed nothing on the third.

[PTPD22]

Yeah, I see where Barry is going. The officer's statement should have something about "this statement incorporates by reference notice of infraction #XXXX). Without that, there is nothing identifying that the statement and the NOI are regarding the same incident. You can try to argue that nothing in the statement identifies the "date and time listed on the attached notice of infraction..." as pertaining to your stop. Therefore, the statement could actually be for a completely different stop, with a different driver, and should, therefore, be excluded.

Also, the trooper makes no statement that he saw your vehicle passing other traffic or in any other way identified your vehicle as being the fastest vehicle within the radar beam. Since the officer admits that there were other vehicles within the beam (at least by omission by not checking the "only vehicle in beam" box), he needs to say how he identified your vehicle as the one returning the 69 mph reading. IMO, the statement about your vehicle appeared to be traveling over the limit, doesn't cut it. So, your argument that the radar was actually reading another vehicle may have some traction with the judge.