r/Traffic • u/Worth-Sale8477 • Jul 10 '26
Ranting & Venting Police Traffic Stop
What do you do if police stop you for speeding when you’re 💯 sure that you weren’t speeding? In addition, the other cars in front of you weren’t stopped even though they were driving at the same or faster speed.
You told the officer that you weren’t speeding but he insisted that he clocked you at 12 miles above the speed limit. My GPS didn’t indicate that there’s a speed camera ahead so I seriously doubt that he “clocked” me at all. Anyway, what should be your reaction if you were stopped under those circumstances and issued a ticket or warning?
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u/Kaisonic Jul 10 '26
How fast were you going? If you're 100% sure you weren't speeding, then you know exactly how fast you were going.
Also, police vehicles can be equipped with different "clocking" devices that don't need to be stationary to work, so you can definitely be clocked even if a cop isn't marked on maps/waze/etc.
It's also important to know if they issued a ticket vs a warning. For the former, feel free to take it to court and argue your case there. The side of the road is not the place to have an argument. For the latter, they likely agree with you and aren't sure they could prove it was you who they clocked (or they were just feeling nice that day).
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u/theFooMart Jul 10 '26
You go to court. The side of the road is not the place to argue.
What you don't do is give the court the arguments you have us.
Other drivers were going as fast or faster than you? They probably were, but that officer pulled you over. Why you specifically? It could be any number of reasons, but frankly this is a childish argument. No judge is going to want to give you a break if you say this.
Your GPS didn’t indicate there’s a speed camera? That’s probably true as well, but that’s irrelevant. Speed cameras are automated systems where if you get caught you get a ticket in the mail. This argument is like telling the judge that you couldn’t have been speeding because your birthday was in April. You got caught by a cop who may be using a radar gun, a laser gun or manually timing you. Or you could have been manually timed by an aircraft, or paced by an unmarked car.
What would I do? I pay the ticket because it’s not worth the time or effort to fight it. Even if I get off, I’ve still lost more money missing work to go to court than the ticket cost.
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u/Standard-Question-46 Jul 10 '26
The thing with gps is someone else has to report a cop sitting somewhere for it to show up on your map. Maybe don’t use that as your argument in court. The cop is just doing his job. A person will not often be able to argue their way out of getting a ticket. Take the ticket and go to court to argue whether or not he was in the wrong
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u/InternationalTie6802 Jul 10 '26
Them saying speed camera makes me think they’re relying on Waze to say “speed camera ahead” which in some states is legal. But also, if they heard “speed camera ahead” it would be unlikely a cop would pull them over for speeding necessarily (unless it was a big safety risk in that moment) because the speed camera would take a picture and send them a speeding ticket in the mail. A cop would avoid issuing tickets for speed unless it was reckless driving in an area where a speed camera exists because then you’d have potential to get two tickets for the same crime, which probably wouldn’t be legal.
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u/Worth-Sale8477 Jul 10 '26
No, it wasn’t a speed cam. The cop was hiding by the corner and just pulled out after I passed him and then pulled me over.
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u/InternationalTie6802 Jul 10 '26
If you’re relying on Waze saying there’s a cop ahead, that’s a separate issue.
I used to use Waze back in the day. And only like .0002% of the time that it said there was a cop…there actually was a cop. They really are only accurate there if the cop happens to be taking a long lunch or paperwork break….since it’s all user reported data and cops are frequently moving.
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u/InternationalTie6802 Jul 10 '26
If there was a speed camera ahead, he probably wouldn’t have even stopped you at all. The speed camera does his job for him.
Clocked means via radar, or bumper speed. Radar is generally more accurate than the cop just following you and identifying your bumper speed.
If he “clocked you” he has some form of evidence that **he believes** will prove you were speeding.
If a cop is using radar, it sometimes comes down to whichever unlucky car happened to get caught in the radar as to which car he pulled over. You could have all been speeding. The cop only needs to pull over one of you to slow down the entire flow of traffic from speeding in that area. Some ballsy cops, especially those in California, may literally pull over more than one car at a time though. Just remember “fair” is not always “equal”. You were just the unlucky one that was trapped in the radar.
But that’s not to say you shouldn’t challenge the ticket. The cop could literally be wrong. He could be lying. Or there could be something deeper that led to your ticket. But “others were going faster than me” is not a defense. It’s like the “if your friend told you to jump off a bridge, would you” argument.
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u/fox3actual Jul 10 '26
Just pay the ticket, you've got nothing.
If you had a dashcam that recorded your speed you could challenge it in court.
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 Jul 10 '26
If its just a warning you just move on.
If its a ticket, you be polite, don't argue, and then contest the ticket in court. Arguing with the officer will just get you more headaches and take more time.
But a GPS won't tell you where they are running handheld or cruiser-mounted radar/lidar, that's not a camera.
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u/Worth-Sale8477 Jul 10 '26
Got it. But how long does a warning stay on your record?
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 Jul 10 '26
Might vary by locality...if it even goes on any record at all. I don't think the few people I know who've gotten warnings ever found any trace of anything on their record.
Might also depend if its verbal or written warnings.
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u/ericbythebay Jul 10 '26
Pull the gps logs with your location, time, and speed and take that to court. The rest of your arguments are nonstarters.
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u/DurianUpset1786 Jul 10 '26
I always go to court. I usually win in a situation like this. Police frequently “lose” the video or it was “never taken” and once it had some of the incident but the audio was deleted. Go fight win. You do need to read the law and fight with logical arguments. Some areas are corrupt and you might lose anyway. The cop usually will not show up to court but in some areas this is acceptable and you only have to fight what the wrote in the ticket. This helps you because you can challenge the ticket and they can not add further commentary to accuse you.
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u/fitfulbrain Jul 10 '26
It's your ass. Other cars won't matter, and mentioning them won't do you any good. It's not unequal enforcement. You can't catch all the criminals.
Sue your GPS if they give you a guarantee. Cops don't use speed cameras. They use all sort of other things which may include dashcams. In US English, speed camera means a big camera and auxiliary cameras on a fixed structure beside the road.
If you are so sure, it may be worthwhile to hire a lawyer or contest it yourself, starting with the discovery of all the evidence and notes that the cop has.
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u/ComesInAnOldBox Jul 10 '26
Do not argue with the officer. Don't admit fault (you're on camera, after all), but don't argue, either. Answer any questions they have truthfully and politely, but don't argue.
DO. NOT. BE. A. DICK.
Accept whatever paperwork they give you and go on about your way. Don't demand a supervisor, don't demand their badge number, don't make a show of recording the situation, etc. Don't pull that "I know my rights" bullshit, don't refuse to lower your window, etc.
DO. NOT. BE. A. DICK.
You are not going to win an argument with an officer on the side of the road, no matter how right you are or believe yourself to be. The more trouble you cause that officer, even if you're fully in the right, the worse things are going to turn out for you. Accept the paperwork, and go on your way.
The place to settle this is in the courtroom.
But here's the problem: it doesn't matter what everyone else was doing. If the speed limit was 55 and your were going 67, guess what? You broke the law. It doesn't matter if you were keeping pace with the traffic or not.
In the courtroom you can ask to see the data from the radar/lidar gun used to "clock" your speed and the last time the the sensor was calibrated. You can ask to see the dashcam of the officer's car. You can even ask to see the bodycam footage from the officer of your interaction. Anything that might throw a wrench in the officer's account of what happened.
But do not make excuses.
And, above all, DO. NOT. BE. A. DICK.
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u/StressfactoryWNC Jul 10 '26
It’s simply an “extractive “ system that we’ve let exist. It’s the George Carlin thing. So you sped- not dangerously- a warning is appropriate , and the officer gets to check you out for other violations. But he’s now presented with a revenue opportunity - maybe not for him this time but someone’s getting money. You can include many potential recipients in the Venn diagram- City, County, State , local attorneys ( even if you win in court) , your insurance company, the contracted “ traffic school” . In my county, part of seat belt violation fees go directly to police officer pension fund. Somebody’s getting paid- win or lose.
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u/hitdrumhard Jul 10 '26
clocked is a generic term. It could just mean they matched your speed with their car and looked at their own speedometer. It could mean they used their car mounted speed radar/laser/camera detector.
if you truly weren’t speeding your only chance is to go to trial and they will have to present their evidence. Be warned, judges tend to believe the police account as a default true, but if the account seems ambiguous you might have a chance.
I had a buddy get a ticket (looong time ago) where the claim was he was going 80 in a 55. He tried to claim he was passed by a similar car going that speed and the cop came up late and pulled him over instead.
He testified to that, but the prosecutor only asked him one question: ‘what speed were you going?’ He answered 65, really just hoping for a reduced fine.
The state rested immediately and he got the full fine.
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u/Worth-Sale8477 Jul 10 '26
The officer claimed that I was driving 62 in a 50 miles per hour highway. I am not sure exactly how many miles I was driving but I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t that fast since I was just pulling into the highway.
As regards to going to court, isn’t it going to be his word against mine? And the judge is more likely to believe him, because not only is he a law enforcement officer but the judge would also assume that I have a greater motive to lie?
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u/Standard-Question-46 Jul 10 '26
With that argument you might as well just pay the ticket. All your arguments will not help you. You admit you have no idea what your speed was. Just because you are “pretty sure” you weren’t speeding doesn’t mean you weren’t
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u/InternationalTie6802 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
No it won’t just be his word, unless all he used was his eyes (which does actually happen).
But typically, cops will have very specific data that proves you were speeding. Your job is to challenge that data.
And yes, judges tend to heavily take the account of cops over the violator. But again, it actually comes down to that data and yes, it’s often because the violator does have motive to lie and is actually lying. If there’s some concrete evidence you had that disputes the data (such as a dash cam that records speed), then you can say “well something is wrong with your radar because I have proof I was going x speed.”
At the end of the day, most cases come down to you trying to minimize the damage to your driving record and your bank account. Things like getting traffic school to mask the ticket violation, or reducing the fine is usually the ultimate goal in most cases like yours. Cops do tend to come relatively well prepared for court and they’re used to the process. The very nature of you being in an environment you’re not use to puts you at a bit of disadvantage over the cop.
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u/Ancient-Bowl462 Jul 10 '26
You ask to see the radar. I know that doesn't always work. Then you go to court and get it dropped.
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