Did they get the wrong speed on your traffic ticket?

When you get pulled over for speeding, the first thing the police officer is likely to ask is if you know how fast you were going. Many people choose not to answer this out of fear of admitting they did something wrong or incriminating themselves. They may simply say they’re not sure or they may counter by asking the officer how fast they clocked them at.

Now, you may know that you broke the speed limit, and you can technically get a ticket for going one mile per hour over that limit. This is uncommon, of course, as the police are unlikely to pull someone over for going 56 MPH in a 55 MPH zone, but it’s technically possible. Most of the time, though, people get pulled over for going at least five miles per hour over that limit.

The exact speed that the officer clocks you at, or at least the speed that he or she writes on the ticket, can play a major role in your fines. Whether you admit to breaking the limit or not, it’s important for it to be accurate.

The potential difference in fines

For example, say that the officer writes down that you were going between 1 and 10 miles per hour over the limit. In New York, the minimum fine for such an offense is $45.

But, say they write that you were going between 11 and 29 miles per hour over the limit. The maximum fine is now a full $300, while the maximum is 90. You could also spend up to 30 days in jail, as opposed to 15 or fewer. Most people do not spend time behind bars for speeding tickets, but it is possible.

You’re not always fighting the ticket entirely

People often think that the point of fighting a speeding ticket is to get out of the ticket entirely, but you can see that that is not always the case. You may want to fight it because the officer wrote down an inaccurate infraction, which could cost you hundreds in fines and possibly thousands if you miss work while serving time. It’s a massive difference and you must know what options you have.