How To Challenge A Faulty Speeding Ticket In Washington

In this article, you will discover:

• Common errors found when law enforcement uses radar or laser-based speed monitoring.
• The process for disputing a speeding ticket in King County, Washington.
• Common legal and procedural mistakes to avoid when disputing a speeding ticket.

What Technology Does Washington Law Enforcement Use To Detect Speeding On The Road?

There are two types of speed-measuring devices that Washington State Patrol or local law enforcement use: radar or LiDAR, which is a laser. When you drive by a red light camera or a school zone, those are the devices inside the camera. Sometimes law enforcement aims radar or LiDAR at a vehicle, or they may be underground on the road when someone drives by.

What Are The Most Common Errors Found In Radar Or Laser-Based Speeding Tickets?

Radar and LiDAR are not always accurate. These machines require specific testing by law enforcement before and after each work shift to ensure accuracy and trust. They must also be tested every two years by the Washington State Patrol to ensure they function correctly.

Failure to perform these tests is the most common error. In speeding ticket cases, there are often concerns about whether the police clocked the right vehicle and whether they performed the tests to certify its functionality.

What Is The Process For Disputing A Speeding Ticket In King County Traffic Court?

When you’re issued a ticket for a violation caught on camera or without interaction with an officer, the citation is mailed to you. If you interacted with an officer, they would give you the citation at the scene. The citation is the same whether it’s sent by mail or received in hand.

The ticket has three options or boxes to check:

• You can admit to the infraction and mail in the payment
• You can admit to the infraction and request a mitigation due to the circumstances
• You can contest the ticket to begin the process of disputing it

If you admit the infraction and pay the fine, you’ll receive a letter acknowledging your payment and informing you that the infraction will be on your record. If you requested a mitigation and it’s accepted, you’ll receive a letter stating the reduced fee you’ll pay and that the reduced infraction will appear on your record. If you contest the ticket and send that notice in, the court will send you a court date specifying the time and place to appear.

If you contest the ticket and an attorney represents you, you won’t check a box or mail it in. Your attorney will file a notice of appearance with the court and the prosecuting attorney, letting them know you have representation.

The court will mail back a court date. Once you have the court date, your lawyer will make a discovery request, which is the evidence the city or state has indicating that you violated a speeding ordinance or traffic law.

When your lawyer receives the discovery, they will review it thoroughly to determine if the officers who issued the citation did everything correctly. Your lawyer will verify whether they performed those tests on the radars and LiDARs, whether their citation is in proper form and whether they filed the citation with the court in accordance with the rules.

Because traffic cases are considered criminal, the next step involves your lawyer reaching out to the prosecuting attorney to negotiate a resolution. If that fails, you present your case to the judge at a hearing. At this proceeding, you can testify and present arguments. At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge will issue a ruling.

How Is Hiring A Traffic Attorney Helpful When Challenging A Speeding Ticket?

Handling a speeding ticket carefully takes a practiced understanding of the law. And anytime you do something complicated that you haven’t been trained to do, it’s easy to make unintentional mistakes that hurt your case. Many people want to appear in traffic court to explain what happened. But that explanation will be considered an admission, and the court will make a finding against you.

It’s essential to tell the court the truth, but in a way that doesn’t admit any guilt. For that, you need an attorney.

Notes From The Field: The Most Common Mistakes People Make When Trying To Contest A Ticket Alone

Suppose you tell a judge you were driving 40 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone, but you weren’t looking at your speedometer. In that statement, you’ve admitted to violating the law.

Whether you looked at your speedometer or not is of no concern to the court or the officer. They have a radar reading that says you were driving 40 miles an hour, and you just openly admitted that you did that. That will be your downfall.

Traffic attorneys mostly rely on finding procedural faults. However, if they review the discovery and see that everything is procedurally correct, they may still subpoena the officer, who will often be too busy patrolling to come to court. Meanwhile, the court cannot rely on the officer’s declaration if we have subpoenaed them to testify, but they were unable to attend court.

These are the types of tactics clients don’t realize they can use. Instead, they’ll come into court, admit certain things and won’t object to certain types of evidence. That’s the downside of self-representation.

Still Have Questions? Ready To Get Started?

For more information on challenging speeding tickets in Washington, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (425) 200-6439 today.