Defenses Against Speeding in Fairfax

In Fairfax, Virginia, speed reading instruments, such as traffic radar instruments are considered to be accurate as long as the officer also presents a calibration certificate to support them. Unless the defendant can show that there is some kind of error or reason to suspect that the instrument wasn’t functioning properly, then the court will admit the evidence and accept it as very strong. Still, with the help of a Fairfax speeding ticket lawyer, it is sometimes possible to show that the instruments were inaccurate, or that there was some other error made that would dismiss the evidence

Potential Issues in Fairfax

It can be argued that the traffic radar instruments were interfered with in some way, such as in situations where the reading was taken on a bridge with a lot of wind on it. But while this can be used as evidence, it is generally difficult to prove because it is hard to show the exact weather at the exact moment that the reading was taken.

Another possible defense is that a radar instrument locked on to the wrong object. This defense can work in heavy traffic situations, especially if the officer was fairly far away from the targeted vehicle. Sometimes it is possible to show that, because of the multiple cars on the road and coupled with the distance that the officer was from the targeted vehicle, there is a reasonable doubt that he was able to accurately lock on to the correct object.

Operator Error

Operator error, while a possibility, is something that would be difficult to prove in court. Proving operator error typically requires very strong cross-examination of the police officer by a defense attorney

Calibration Certificates

The burden of proof on showing that the defendant was speeding is on the state. Therefore, the state not only has to prove that the speed reading instruments work, but they have to do so  beyond any reasonable doubt. Typically, the best evidence of this is the calibration certificate that the officer has that supports that the instrument he was using to read the speed was functioning properly and had been maintained as required.

Defenses For Pacing

Pacing is admissible speeding evidence in court even though it is very controversial and is subject to quite a few issues. Some defenses regarding pacing in speeding cases are that the officer’s own speedometer was not calibrated properly.

Usually the defense should require that the officer shows his own speedometer calibration in court. Otherwise, there is no reason to accept that the speedometer was accurate.

Another defense is if someone can show that the officer was catching up to the defendant at the time that he was pacing the vehicle. Therefore, the speed that he tracks the vehicle as going is actually lower or higher than the actual speed of the vehicle.

Flow of Traffic Speeding Defense

Going with the flow of traffic is not a good defense that never really works. The only time where this may work is if the driver could show that the reason they were going with the flow of traffic was to prevent lost of life, injury or destruction of property.

This would still be a stretch because it would be hard to show that this particular vehicle needed to behave in such manner that every other vehicle on the road was not guilty of. Further, if it were true that every vehicle on the road was also speeding at the same time as the defendant, this is not a valid defense. Just because everyone else has chosen to break the law does not justify an individual person also breaking the law. The reality is that a law enforcement officer cannot pull over the entire highway to charge them, even if the entire highway is guilty.