Written by TOM McCAREY
Berwyn, Pa.
Member of the National Motorists Association.
I advocate for people to drive the safest speed, which they do 85% of the time.
The reality of driver behavior is that people drive at a speed at which they feel safe. To test this, the Federal Highway Administration performed a study where they raised and lowered posted speed limits to see what drivers would do. The results were that people drive the 85th percentile speed (the safest speed), no matter what speed is posted.
The Legislature wants to ticket drivers for driving safely. Posted limits are 8 to 16 mph below the safest speed, so arming municipal police with radar will result in tens of millions of dollars of tickets every year given to the 85% who drive safely.
The Speed Trap Bill (Senate Bill 607), radar for local law enforcement, promotes an enforcement-for-profit racket so that drivers all over Pennsylvania will be caught in radar speed traps for driving the safest speed, not because they are dangerous drivers run amok.
The radar lobby, individuals, organizations, companies and governments that profit from predatory traffic enforcement issue falsehoods and conceal alternate data that expose the errors and the real goal of radar: your money. Not safety.
Tell our representatives and senators to vote no on Speed Trap Bill SB 607. Remind them that this is an election year.
This opinion letter appeared in the Post Gazette
Free Resources
The Basic Speeding Ticket Defense
This is a 9 page review of the most basic way to beat a speeding ticket – even if you actually were speeding. This particular strategy will almost always work, but it does depend on one aspect of the circumstances surrounding your ticket. For the strategy to be effective, there must be an issue with the speed limit signs, themselves. It’s all about the need of states/localities to comply with their “Obedience to Traffic Control Devices” statutes.
Click to Download the Free “Basic Speeding Ticket Defense”
Applying the Traffic Ticket Defense Method to Challenge a Citation.
This is a seven-page, detailed explanation of my three-step method for challenging any traffic ticket. I use the “Driving at a Safe Speed” statute from Pennsylvania to illustrate this method, but it can be applied to any other statute that you might be cited for in the vehicle code.
In addition, no matter what state you live in, the procedure is the same: you need to understand the statute you allegedly violated, look for technicalities in that statute and (most importantly) find case law to support/reveal those technicalities.
Click to Download the Free “Applying the Traffic Ticket Defense Method to Challenge a Citation”
The Pennsylvania Stop Sign Defense Strategy in a Nutshell.
This is a one-page, eight-point summary of the strategy I discovered while researching ways of beating unfair stop sign tickets. It is specifically geared to Pennsylvania but can also be applied to most other states.
Click to Download the Free “Pennsylvania Stop Sign Defense Strategy in a Nutshell”
My Son’s Opening Trial Statement at the Court of Common Pleas.
This is an elegant, one-page, powerfully concise expression of my defense strategy.
The Brief – My Son’s Case Brief for the Court of Common Pleas
- An eighteen-page argument for why an illegal stop sign is not enforceable.
- Requested by the President Judge at Wayne County, PA, Court of Common Pleas.
- A highly distilled application of the Pennsylvania Stop Sign Ticket Defense.
Traffic Ticket Defense Blog 