[quote=condogrrl]If ever you get a radar speeding ticket, go to the city you were cited in and ask for an “engineering and traffic survey” report (commonly known as a “speed survey” and is public information). Posted speed limits are based on these speed surveys and often posted speed limits are illegally set low(usually for political reasons). Refer to CVC 40802.

If the posted speed limit is not justified by a current speed survey, then the posted speed limit is not “radar enforceable” and the ticket is no good. The judge will dismiss the ticket. Cops know this and will still write illegal tickets.

I know this because I used to conduct speed surveys for the city of SD. Ask any attorney who specializes in traffic violations – they know this. But the best plan is DON’T SPEED.[/quote]

This type of thing only works when the judge doesn’t lead the cop to the “right” answer when asking questions. On my original post I said I had been given a ticket for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. I decided to take it to court because the cop didn’t use a siren, and that is a requirement to have written me the ticket. The judge asked her about it and she paused looking very confused. After a moment the judge said “because it says here (she was reading the statute out of a law book) that you have to have used your siren” The cop took another long pause and then said, “okay?” in a way obvious to me that she wasn’t aware of the law, and finally after another long pause said “Oh, well, I’m pretty sure we used the siren”.

I testified that I had been driving with my windows down (which I almost always do) and had heard the officer yell at me twice, but had never heard the siren. Unfortunately, since the cop had LIEd after the judge lead her to the answer, I was found guilty.

The whole system is bullshit.

I know a bunch of people will jump in to defend the police officers, and I agree with the importance of law enforcement, but when there is an obvious increase in certain types of more lucrative enforcement to generate revenue, then I feel like the whole system needs to be destroyed.