Ticket Says 56, LIDAR Gun Said 55

[bamrissa]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California
Me and another car (mustang) were stopped yesterday. I believe he was let go for he was stopped only for approximately 30 seconds. The police car that stopped me talked to the motorcycle cop after the other car was let go. At any rate, I got a ticket. My issue is I asked to see the radar (lidar) gun and he said to me they are pretty accurate. He showed me the radar gun after he wrote the ticket. The radar gun displayed 55. I looked at the ticket quickly but didn't noticed until later that he wrote 56, not 55 like the gun displayed. This 1 point makes a big difference in the fine. How can I fight this?

[lostintime]

Unfortunately, there is no way to prove that. While the technology is available, there is no printed "time-stamp" with your speed locked in. It would probably lead to a decrease in tickets.

It is rare for them to show you the radar/LIDAR gun. The only way to know for sure, would be to see how many of his tickets are "exactly 1mph over" into the next speed bracket. If they all are (or a large majority), it would look as if he is bumping tickets up 1mph to write higher fines. That information would probably be near-impossible to access, although you could try filing a discovery request.

What was the speed limit? Was it radar or LIDAR? There is a difference.

[bamrissa]

It was a lidar. He showed it to me because I asked to see it. How do I file a discovery request? The speed limit was 40.

[That Guy]

You're not going to get anywhere claiming he lied on your citation (or anyone else's for that matter).

He can simply say "I never show the reading to anyone, its against department policy"...

And at that point, not only have you lost credibility on this one argument; confirming your name would then become questionable!

There are plenty of threads on 22350 citations and plenty more that discuss discovery. Search the forum, read a few and come back with more meaningful questions!