Being accused of fast or otherwise reckless driving may have you wondering how you can present a defense. After all, the court system defers to police officers to a great extent when they're dealing with public safety concerns. You, however, have every right to protect your interests by presenting a reasonable defense. If you feel it's time to talk with a reckless driving or speeding ticket lawyer, here are some of the common defenses you might be able to present.

You Didn't Do It

The truth should always be your shield, and the best defense is to prove that nothing actually happened or that you weren't the person who was doing it. Remember that your reckless driving attorney will be able to obtain evidence through the discovery process. This means they can demand that the police produce potentially exculpatory evidence, including dash cam video from the cop's cruiser, any traffic cam videos from the area where you were traveling and even calibration data from the equipment used to measure whether you were speeding.

If your defense is that the cop nabbed the wrong person, for example, you can use this information to demonstrate to the court that the officer pulled over the wrong car. Your speeding ticket lawyer might show that a very similar-looking vehicle was in the vicinity at the same time, making you a victim of mistaken identity. Even a traffic ticket case is technically a criminal proceeding, so the burden of proof for the state is that they must show beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were the one who was speeding.

The Equipment Was Buggy

Among the most common speeding and reckless driving defenses is that the measured speed was wrong. There are logs kept for all the devices used by the police, so you can track down the type of radar gun that was used, when it was last calibrated and even whether it has previously been involved in cases that were thrown out.

You Had Good Cause

One of the trickier defenses to present is that you were in fact speeding but that there was a good reason for doing so. This is the theory that what is expedient is legal under especially dire circumstances. For example, someone who needs to get an injured person to the hospital for immediate medical attention has a good reason for driving as fast as possible.

For more help, get in touch with legal professionals like Tolbert & Tolbert, LLP.

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