In court, doesn't a police officer have to prove that i was speeding in order to convict me?

Fordman

You are out of luck on this one. If it is a first offense, then the judge most likely will not suspend your license. He could however. Get a lawyer, and go to court. You will usually get traffic school and then you'll keep all your points on your license and the insurance company will not be notified.

That would be your best bet. Going in there and complaining about an officer tailgating you will not cut any ice at all. Don't bother with that. That may make the judge mad and he may stick it to you even harder.

bite the bullet and take your punishment. Next time pull off the road and wave the tailgater to pass you. Now you know.

dwmatty19

Your points:

a) You are a new driver. What does that have to do with going 35 mph over the speed limit?

b) The officer was tailgating you. What does that have to do with going 35 mph over the speed limit?

c) The officer was trying to make you go faster. What proof will you offer on this?

d) You were nervous. What does this have to do with going 35 mph over the speed limit?

e) The officer was in an unmarked car. What does this have to do with you going 35 mph over the speed limit?

f) You don't think they had your speed recorded for evidence. Then how did the officer know your speed?

g) There was a marked police car in front of you. What does this have to do with you going 35 mph over the speed limit?

Are you seeing a pattern here?

Barry C

Ha you really ARE a new driver if you think this makes any sense at all.

If someone is tailgating you, the proper response is to pull over and let them go by, not go 35 miles over the limit.

The officer will testify that he was following you at a safe distance, and judged by hos properly calibrated speedometer, he observed you driving 90 in a 55 zone.

That is going to be sufficient evidence to convict you unless you can show that his testimony is false somehow.

Excuses why you were going fast are just going to waste everyone's time.

Expect to pay the fine, go to traffic school, and pay a lot for insurance for a while.

Pay attention in traffic school this time, it seems you missed a lot of what was said last time!

LedZeppelinFan

No, someone tailgaiting you is never an excuse to speed... how come you didnt just pull over and let them go past?

schlitzcrew

Excuses are a waste of time. Your best bet is to find a ticket clinic who will probably make it go away. Also, you can try to go to court and fight it yourself and hope the cop doesn't show up. If he doesn't show up, you can move for dismissal due to lack of factual evidence on behalf of the state. Even if there is a prosecutor in court, he was not there and did not witness the infraction first hand. Deny deny deny!

mikeysco

Just to maybe help this make some sense for you (because you already have several good answers), here's why "I was speeding to get away from the car tailgating me" isn't a good defense.

Suppose you're on a one-lane highway or you're on some other roadway that won't allow you to get into another lane of traffic. Suppose the car behind you is tailgating you, so you start driving faster. Suppose that car is still tailgating you so you start driving even faster. Next thing you know, there's TWO idiots driving the speed of light instead of just one.

Better to just let the idiot behind you stay where they are until you can get out of the way. It makes no sense to drive faster to try and get out of the way.

GRUMPY

LOL, You're funny. If someone IS tail gating you as you say, then common sense tells you to just yield to him/her and allow them ahead of you. MORE so if there is a marked police car ahead of you. Let the cop see him going so fast and let him give the guy a ticket. But ALL of your reasoning doesn't hold any weight. So GUILTY as charged.

Josh

No, he does not have to prove it, his word is his proof. Rather, you have to proove that you were not speeding. Fat chance, especially at 90. Good possibility you'll be losing your license, hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. If not then your insurance will make you wish you had. Second, no, being tailgated is not a reason to speed. Police officers are allowed to do that to gauge how you react, it is also a good way to detect drunk drivers.

Matt

You did 90 mph in a 55 mph zone right in front of him, while he was traveling in the same direction. That's proof enough.

Nick Fury

If you fight it, get somebody to represent you. Or you could represent yourself and get a mistrial on grounds that your council was incompetent.

littleblanket

You would like to know if they should all have real tv videos for catching criminals like most highway patrol cars do. This would be a good idea for all cops if they walked around with video cam's to record all calls. Then they would have to let the judge see what happens regardless. The problem would lie in where they keep all these videos, for how long and in the amount of reality cop shows that would spring up on Prime Time ET Entertainment.

lenzix5

You need driving school for sure. You are responsible for the safe operation of your vehicle at all times.
The police shouldn't have waited to pull you over , you could have been killed or killed someone else.

jennie

On your ticket it has a court date you can either go in on that date and get whatever the judge gives you. If you go in plea not guilty and give your reason. I can see if you were going a little over cause they were on you but 35 over is a lot and I don't see that one. You should have just switched lanes. But I know how you feel I have went fast because of that. When you are telling your story afterwords ask him since this is your first ticket if you can go to driving school. When I got my first ticket that is what I did. You pay like 50 bucks go for a few hours then the ticket is drop. Or you can just call the number on the back of the ticket and pay it and not go to court and just have the ticket on ur record for 3 years then it will drop. Insurance companies don't run ur record once every 3 years or when u get new insurance. I got a 90 in a 55 in OH on the turnpike I just sent the money in and took the ticket it was 150.00. My insurance did not go up because I switched it before the ticket went threw so they did not no I got it and when it came time for them to run my insurance again the ticket would be off. Normally if they are gonna get you for reckless they do it right then and there when they pull you over. I was shocked I did not get wreckless when I got pulled over. I told the officer when he asked why I was speeding I told him I was going with the flow of traffice and did not realize. (I thought the speedlimit was 70 cause it is in Mi but OH it is 65 and I guess at the point I was in was a work zone so it was 55. Go figure. But like I siad I just paid the ticket to avoid court. You can take the chance and go in and see what happens. Last time I went in they dropped my ticket down. It was suppose to be like 85 and he dropped it to 35. If you go in you have to pay the ticket plus court cost. If you send through mail u just pay the ticket which like I said should be around 150. Good Luck.

Joe S S

You can NEVER win in "roo" court>>>><<<<

Sources:
Capitan Kangaroo

John

Hilarious

StephenWeinstein

1. If he was tailgating and did not hit you, then he knows that you were not going slower than him. That means you were going as fast or faster. If he had a working speedometer in his vehicle, it showed how fast he was going.

2. You are not allowed to go 90mph in a 55 mph zone, even when there is "a regular driver tailgating" or "to avoid" that regular driver.

3. The term for when a police officer causes a person to commit a crime that the person would not have committed otherwise is "entrapment". That was not the full definition and I do not know if this case qualifies.

Dennis Gess

yes- innocent until proven guilty

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