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SAVE YOURDRIVING LICENCE
 
AVOIDING THE SPEEDING TICKET
What must the officer do, and what should you do
When you are being reported for speeding, the Police Officer 
must
tell you:"That you will be reported for consideration of the question of prosecuting you for exceeding the speed limit." It must either be given verbally or in writing at the time,or in writing within fourteen days or a summons be issued within fourteen days.Following this Notice of Intended Prosecution, he should then caution you bysaying, "You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you donot mention when questioned, something you later rely on in Court. Anything youdo say may be given in evidence."Under Section 1 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act, 1988, section 1, it states, " Aperson
shall not be convicted of an offence
to which this section applies,(speeding, dangerous driving, careless driving, failing to conform to traffic lights,failing to conform to stop signs, continuous white lines in the middle of the roadand other mandatory road signs) unless the Notice of Intended Prosecution wasgiven.When being booked for speeding or any other offence, if possible switch on a taperecorder or Dictaphone so that you have a record of what the officer says.Be careful, some Police Forces do have the N.I.P. printed on the HO/RT/1producer form or on specially printed forms for speeding offences.
How to avoid being nicked when you are stopped
In a word. Act. However much you want to tell the police how crap his lastmanoeuvres were, you actually do this...Dependent on how bad the offence is,because remember, by the time he gets to your car he has pretty well made uphis or her mind what they will be doing.Try your utmost to make the officer truly believe that he has really got to your soul.He will always have a cautionary tale of something gruesome that just happens tohave occurred right next to where you are. They make these lectures often. Theywant to feel that by telling you they can 'make a difference' Be craven, make sureyou stop the very instant you know you are going to be stopped, be on thepavement looking seriously glum. If your licence has already has points on it, youare going to need talent.Go with the super-miserable, "Oh god, I of all blokes should know better by now,"if you can raise a Hollywood tear you are Oscar material. No matter how base,low and s**t it makes you feel, exult in the aftermath when you get a good ticking-off but no ticket
 
What to do if caught
Firstly, not enough people who are caught fight it in court, they simply accept it,get the points and pay the fine. If more than 10% fought the ticket I think the judicial system dealing with this would be overwhelmed and brought down on itsknees. If in doubt, fight it. The worst thing that can happen is that you will beconvicted of you original offence. You can get a heftier fine and more points incourt, but unless you were doing silly speeds, it’s unlikely.Make the systems life HELL when fighting it. Remember it is going to cost thesystem a huge amount of money to prosecute you, in the officer's time, court'stime, prosecutor's time etc. The best thing you can do is make it worse.Here are some steps you can take.
What to do at the scene
It is critical that you start contesting your ticket at the scene of the alleged offence.You must judge the officer’s temperament and situation and decide for yourself.You are more likely to get let off by a normal officer (black hat, black uniform) thanby a traffic officer (white hat, green overcoat). Remember, its a traffic cop's job tocatch you, the normal cop probably does not want the added paperwork (I knowsomeone who was let off in town for doing 70mph because he said he thought hewas still on the motorway). If the officer asks you how fast you think you weregoing you can take one of three approaches.1. You can deny it outright and tell him you weren't speeding, that youchecked the speedometer. DO NOT get into an argument, but do not admitguilt. This is unlikely to prevent him from giving you a ticket, but you can tell judge at a trial that you were not speeding and you checked thespeedometer, you can have the officer confirm that in your crossexamination of him. This will serve to make your case stronger.2. You can say that you are not sure, your mind was elsewhere. If he insistsyou were speeding, then sidestep by saying something like, "I guess I musthave been otherwise you would not have stopped me DO NOT admit guilt,this approach simply reiterates the officers accusation. This is difficult touse as evidence in court on both sides.3. Be honest and admit guilt. If you are stopped by a traffic officer, then youare going to get a ticket anyway so this is a stupid approach. If it is anormal officer, you may get off for being honest. This approach relies onluck. Forget fighting it in court if you admit guilt.
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