I have a question regarding a speeding ticket I recieved in Missouri (violation of 320.030: http://www.clarksonvalley.org/Chapter320.html).
The officer who ticketed me was parked at the top of a hill and as I approached the hill I remember commenting to my freind about how the weather was rather chilly and we both noted that it likely seemd worse because we were moving. At this time it just so happened that I glanced at my speedometer and saw I was below 40 mph (don't remember the exact speed distinctively). My cars a little 1.6L and when I went up the hill it noticiably slowed down. As I reached the top of the hill, a police officer pulled me over and gave a speeding ticket for going 46 in a 30 zone, up the hill.
I asked to see the radar and he agreed and it did in fact say 46. However, I strongly believe that there is no way I could've been going at that speed especially up the hill. My car requires notable effort to accelerate up a hill and to have accelerated while going up the hill without noticing would've been something new for that car.
My question is, can I argue the validity of the measurement? I didn't get a good look at the type of gun used, but both radar and laser models rely on reflections and as such I was wondering if I could argue about us raising our windows or some other external object (like another nearby car) could've caused that measurement. My freind would back me up in this case, but the unfortunate thing is that we'll both be back in college by my assigned court date so I'd have to send my (or our) statements through a lawyer.
It would be easy to have it reduced to a non moving violaiton or a no points violation, but I strongly feel that the measurement was either intentionally or unintentially made in error. Whats my best course of action. I'm willing to fight it on principle alone (I had a speeding ticket before and I knew I was at error and had it bargained to a parking violation, but this time I feel I wasn't in error), but I don't want to lose it and have pts added to raise my insurance when I could have it bargained to a lesser offence.
Can I call any factors into question (for example, the gun was opperating through a windshield and was nearly perpendicular to the direction in which I was traveling). Also, am I entitiled to learn information on when the gun was calibrated or anything else that may help? Thanks in advance.
The officer who ticketed me was parked at the top of a hill and as I approached the hill I remember commenting to my freind about how the weather was rather chilly and we both noted that it likely seemd worse because we were moving. At this time it just so happened that I glanced at my speedometer and saw I was below 40 mph (don't remember the exact speed distinctively). My cars a little 1.6L and when I went up the hill it noticiably slowed down. As I reached the top of the hill, a police officer pulled me over and gave a speeding ticket for going 46 in a 30 zone, up the hill.
I asked to see the radar and he agreed and it did in fact say 46. However, I strongly believe that there is no way I could've been going at that speed especially up the hill. My car requires notable effort to accelerate up a hill and to have accelerated while going up the hill without noticing would've been something new for that car.
My question is, can I argue the validity of the measurement? I didn't get a good look at the type of gun used, but both radar and laser models rely on reflections and as such I was wondering if I could argue about us raising our windows or some other external object (like another nearby car) could've caused that measurement. My freind would back me up in this case, but the unfortunate thing is that we'll both be back in college by my assigned court date so I'd have to send my (or our) statements through a lawyer.
It would be easy to have it reduced to a non moving violaiton or a no points violation, but I strongly feel that the measurement was either intentionally or unintentially made in error. Whats my best course of action. I'm willing to fight it on principle alone (I had a speeding ticket before and I knew I was at error and had it bargained to a parking violation, but this time I feel I wasn't in error), but I don't want to lose it and have pts added to raise my insurance when I could have it bargained to a lesser offence.
Can I call any factors into question (for example, the gun was opperating through a windshield and was nearly perpendicular to the direction in which I was traveling). Also, am I entitiled to learn information on when the gun was calibrated or anything else that may help? Thanks in advance.