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Do you want to know how to fight a speeding ticket in NY? Keep reading for some important tips to help beat your ticket.
Tips to Fight NY Speeding Tickets
The most important thing to know when it comes to fighting a NY speeding ticket is that you should plead not guilty. Entering a plea of not guilty begins the dispute process.
If you pay your ticket before court or plead guilty, you will not be able to fight your ticket.
Now that you are ready to fight your ticket let’s examine some common ways police officers measure speed and how you can dispute them in court.
How to Beat Radar Guns
“Radar” stands for Radio Detection and Ranging. Radar guns are designed to use radio waves to measure the speed of moving objects. This gives the police officer the evidence they need to pull you over. But high tech devices don’t always work the way they’re intended to.
Radar guns need to undergo routine calibrations in order to function properly. One of the easiest ways to beat Radar gun speeding tickets was to ask the officer to prove that the gun was calibrated correctly. If the officer doesn’t have evidence proving that or the gun were calibrated wrongly, the court might let you off the hook.
However, nowadays police officers tend to be well-trained in those policies. That makes it harder to dismiss the ticket through the calibration method.
Another method for fighting a Radar gun speeding ticket in court is to prove that your vehicle was not the one speeding.
This is where a dashcam can come in handy. If your camera caught somebody else speeding next to you, you can claim that the other car was the one that was driving above the limit.
How to Beat Visual Estimations
Visual estimations are when the police officer sees your car and estimates your speed. In other words, the cop “eyeballs it.” This might sound like guesswork—because it is—but case law shows that’s good enough for the court.
According to the ruling in People v. Olsen, police officers don’t need to have mechanical proof that you were speeding. As long as they think that you were speeding, they can write you a ticket.
The best way to dispute this kind of ticket is to ask the court to prove that the estimating officer is a qualified expert when it comes to guessing speeds of moving objects (this is where having a lawyer for cross examination comes in handy).
If you can demonstrate to the court that the officer has not been adequately trained in how to estimate the speed of moving objects, you might beat the ticket.
Another way to beat the ticket is to provide mechanical evidence that you weren’t speeding. That could mean dashcam footage, other video evidence, and so on. New York traffic courts treat mechanical evidence with a higher degree of respect than visual estimations.
This works in a similar way to the police car pacing method of issuing speeding tickets.
How to Beat the Police Pacing Methods
Ever wonder why a police car is driving right beside you? They could be using the pacing method to estimate your speed. They do so by matching your vehicle’s speed for a period of time and checking their own speedometer.
As with the Radar guns, the officer’s equipment must have recently been calibrated. That includes the officer’s speedometer. If you can prove that the officer’s speedometer hasn’t been calibrated within the required amount of time, you might get the ticket dismissed.
The next tip—you guessed it!—is dashcam footage. The officer is allowed to enter into evidence the footage taken from their dashcam. You can do the same. If the video evidence shows that the police officer wasn’t actually matching your speed, the judge might rule that the speeding ticket is invalid.
Of course, that all depends on what evidence the police officer actually has.
How to Ask for All the Evidence that the Other Side Has
One of the first things a lawyer will do is request the police officer and prosecutor hand over any evidence they have. That way, you can find out what kind of arguments the prosecution is likely to make. Then you can decide how you want to proceed. This is called the “discovery” stage.
New York state law requires that you be granted access to the evidence against you within 15 days of arraignment. Arraignment is the hearing during which you decide how to plea. If the prosecutor doesn’t give you your information in time, you can motion to have the case dismissed.
To request the evidence that the other side has, you’ll need to provide a lot of documents to the court. That includes your list of witnesses and any supporting documents. Then you can request that the prosecutor does the same.
Is It Worth It to Fight a Speeding Ticket in NY?
Many people think that the government always wins in traffic court. That’s just plain false.
NYC speeding tickets are an all or nothing game, but it’s still possible to beat them. Either you get them dismissed or you pay them in their entirety. And the only way to get them dismissed is to fight them.
If you don’t fight your ticket, you will have to face all of the ticket’s penalties. That means fines, fees, surcharges, and worse.
Fortunately, the rest of the state offers plea bargaining options that can help reduce your penalties. Of course, that’s only if you decide to fight the ticket. Deciding to fight your speeding ticket opens the door to negotiations with the prosecutor. This could cut your fines in half or better.
But plea bargaining is a challenging process. It’s not easy to go up against seasoned legal experts and come out on top. To maximize your chances of winning your case, you should consider hiring a traffic ticket lawyer.
Fighting a Traffic Ticket Yourself Vs. with a Lawyer
Knowing how to fight a speeding ticket in NY is one thing, but actually being able to is a whole nother beast. Not everybody has the legal acumen to form a solid speeding ticket defense. On the other hand, not everybody has the money to hire a traffic ticket lawyer.
Fighting your ticket on your own and fighting it with a lawyer both have their pros and cons. To help you decide which option is right for you, we’ve broken them down into two easy-to-understand sections.
Pros and Cons of Fighting a Speeding Ticket with a Lawyer
When you hire a lawyer, you don’t have to go to court unless you’re facing criminal charges. That means no taking off from work, no having to find a babysitter for your kids, and no having to deal with judges and prosecutors.
Lawyers also have higher chances of winning your case than you do alone. The rules of the Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB) and DMV make challenging a ticket a complicated and confusing process. Oftentimes, people without attorneys are pushed around or taken advantage of in traffic courts. In fact, conviction rates for people without an attorney are over 80%.
Experienced attorneys are used to the legal process and know how to navigate it. They’re familiar with the rules and they know which arguments the judges are likely to accept. In some cases, they might even already have a working relationship with the judge on your case.
The major downside of hiring a lawyer is that they cost money. The state of New York does not allow lawyers to give refunds for lost cases, which can leave you paying even more than before. But this risk comes with a much higher reward than if you were to go it alone.
Pros and Cons of Fighting a Speeding Ticket By Yourself
The best part of fighting a ticket by yourself is that you don’t have to pay for a lawyer. If you lose your case, you won’t have to worry about paying extra attorney fees.
Fighting your ticket on your own also gives you greater control over your case. Instead of leaving the negotiations up to your attorney, you can take the wheel—pun intended.
One of the biggest cons of fighting your ticket alone, however, is that you most likely don’t have the legal experience that comes with years of legal practice. Traffic ticket attorneys know the ins and outs of how to fight a speeding ticket in NY because many of them have been doing it for years.
How Much Does It Cost for a Lawyer to Fight My Speeding Ticket?
One of the biggest worries that people have when getting a ticket is how they can find legal help and if they can afford it. We at WinIt make it as easy as possible to find a lawyer and save money doing so.
If you lose your case, the state of New York will not allow a lawyer to refund you. That could leave you paying more than you would have if you had just pleaded guilty in the first place. But that only happens in New York 3% of the time.
On average, the attorneys on the WinIt app win 97 out of every 100 cases they work. That’s a 97% success rate in the state. If this were an exam, that would be an A-plus! If you bring your ticket to WinIt and we win it for you, you would only have to pay 50% of the original fine.
That means no DRA fee, no surcharges, and—best of all—you get to keep your license.
Since a success in court can prevent your insurance from increasing and help you avoid all manner of other penalties, you can potentially save thousands of dollars over four years. 50% of the original fine is a small price to pay for long-term stability and peace of mind.
FAQs About NYs Speeding Tickets.
Now that you know some methods for fighting a speeding ticket, here are some of the most frequently asked questions regarding speeding tickets in NY.
What is Defined as a Speeding Ticket in NY?
There are two kinds of speeding definitions in New York: basic speed law and maximum speed law.
Basic speed law states that “No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent” [NY VTL §1180(a)]. This law makes it possible to get a speeding ticket even if you’re not actually speeding. As long as you are driving at a speed the officer thinks isn’t reasonable given the road conditions, they can ticket you for it.
Maximum speed law is much easier to understand. These are your speed limits. Section 1180(b) of New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law sets the maximum speed limit at 55 miles per hour. Driving any faster than that can get you a speeding ticket for violating the maximum speed.
Both of these laws label speeding a moving violation. Moving violations are serious offenses, oftentimes coming with potential criminal charges. In fact, you can even go to jail for a speeding ticket. Whether you go to jail will depend on the evidence the police officer has on hand.
Since basic speed law tickets can be pretty subjective, it’s usually a good idea to take them to court.
How Should You Dress and Act in Traffic Court?
According to the Library of Congress, courtroom dress codes are about a lot more than simple fashion. Wearing the wrong clothing to court can land you in hot water. Sometimes, it can even cost you your case.
The first thing to know is to dress business formal. In court and in life, it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed. That said, think of courtroom clothing like the story of Goldilocks. You don’t want to underdress or overdress. You want to dress just right. That means business formal.
Business formal clothing means business dresses or suits. If you wear a suit, make sure to wear a plain long-sleeved shirt underneath with a tie that complements your suit. If you wear a dress, make sure to wear a jacket over your top. The dress bottom should neither be too elegant nor too small.
Always refer to the judge as “judge,” “your honor,” or “the court.” Using the wrong terms can be seen as a sign of disrespect. And judges tend not to like people who disrespect them.
Dressing and acting properly in court can have a serious impact on your case. If you look nice, speak well, and act right, you just might even get points off your license.
Point System in New York for Speeding
A speeding ticket can ruin anyone’s day. But points added to your driver’s license can ruin your next year and a half. Most tickets will add points to your license if you don’t handle them correctly. Different traffic violations warrant a different amount of points, but even with just a few tickets, they can add up quickly.
If you get 11 or more points on your license within an 18-month period, the court can suspend your license. If those points come from three or more tickets, you might even have your license revoked. That means no more driving until you get a new license.
Here’s the New York state point schedule for speeding tickets:
| Violation Description | Point Value |
| Speed Imprudent or Unreasonable | 3 |
| Speeding 1-10 MPH Over the Limit | 3 |
| Speeding 11-20 MPH Over the Limit | 4 |
| Speeding 21-30 MPH Over the Limit | 6 |
| Speeding 31-40 MPH Over the Limit | 8 |
| Speeding More than 40 MPH Over the Limit | 11 |
If you have too many points on your license, you might want to consider enrolling in a Point and Insurance Reduction Program (PIRP). Points can stay on your record for quite some time if nothing is done about them.
How Long Does Speeding Stay on Your Record in NY?
That’s a tricky question. New York driver license points “expire” after four years, but they stay on your record forever. That works through the use of active and inactive (or passive) points.
Active points are those points currently on your driver license. Every speeding ticket in New York comes with a point value. If the court convicts you, you’re getting at least three points for a speeding ticket. With police officers issuing roughly a million speeding tickets each year, that’s a lot of points to go around.
Once a point expires, it becomes inactive. Contrary to popular belief, that does not mean that the DMV will remove those points from your record. These points will stay on your record for the rest of your life, unless you satisfy conditions for removing them. One such way is the PIRP program mentioned above.
Fortunately, insurance investigators can only see the last four years of your driving record, also known as your abstract. Unfortunately, you may be looking at four years worth of insurance premium increases. And that’s on top of the step fines that come with any speeding ticket in the state.
Fines for Speeding Violations in New York
The first thing people ask when they get a speeding ticket is, “How much is this going to cost me?” The answer is, “A lot.”
Fines for speeding violations in New York vary from county to county. Even though the state legislature sets minimum and maximum penalties, the counties have a good deal of wiggle room. Here are the state’s minimum and maximum fines for speeding violations:
| Violation Description | Minimum Fine | Maximum Fine |
| Speed Imprudent or Unreasonable | $45 | $150 |
| Speeding 1-10 MPH Over the Limit | $45 | $150 |
| Speeding 11-20 MPH Over the Limit | $90 | $300 |
| Speeding 21-30 MPH Over the Limit | $90 | $300 |
| Speeding 31-40 MPH Over the Limit | $180 | $600 |
| Speeding More than 40 MPH Over the Limit | $180 | $600 |
Many speeding violations are considered misdemeanor offences, making them criminal traffic violations. Criminal traffic violations have the potential to send you to jail, although prosecutors don’t normally push for jail time on speeding tickets.
Fines and jail aren’t all you have to worry about, either. You’ll also have to pay fees, surcharges, and court costs. All of these additional costs can end up doubling or even tripling the total cost of the traffic ticket. One such fee is the Driver Responsibility Assessment fee.
What is a Driver Responsibility Assessment (DRA)?
The Driver Responsibility Assessment is a fee that you have to pay for three years after the start of the penalty period. This applies to anybody who meets at least one of the following criteria:
- You have a drug- or alcohol-related traffic conviction.
- You refused to take a blood alcohol content test.
- You got more than five points on your license within 18 months.
The price that you’ll have to pay for the DRA is steep. To make matters worse, you have to pay it for three years. The moment you hit six points within an 18-month period, the state requires that you pay a $300 fee. Over three years, that comes out to $900 in total.
That’s in addition to whatever other fines, fees, and penalties you’ll have to pay.
For each point above six, the price gets even higher. A seventh point will add $75 to the annual cost. An eight point will add another $75. And so on until you get enough points to suspend your driving privileges.
Let’s use an example to illustrate why you should always fight against the DRA. If the court convicts you for speeding by 15 miles per hour two times, you will have 8 points. This year, that will cost you $450. The whole three-year period will cost you $1,350.
That’s much more than the average cost of hiring a lawyer to beat the ticket for you.
Conclusion
If you have any more questions, comment them below! Our team of New York traffic law experts will respond as soon as possible. If you have a ticket that needs handling now, download the WinIt app and let us take the wheel.
