Traffic Violation Defenses

You are charged with a traffic offense in Pennsylvania – and you are worried about the consequences. You know that a violation can mean points on your driving record, a costly fine, a hike in your car insurance rate and even a possible suspension of your license. However your attorney will have several ways to defend you.

Possible Lines Of Defense

Depending on the circumstances of your case, these are some of the possible defenses:

1. You didn’t do it
   If you did not commit a traffic offense then, obviously, you can’t be convicted. In some cases the police may have made a mistake when they ticketed you because it wasn’t your car that committed the traffic violation.

   One example: if an aircraft was tracking cars through Philadelphia’s rush hour traffic and the officer looked down at their controls, they may have lost sight of your car or confused it with another one of a similar color and style.

2. The equipment used to calculate your speed was not calibrated properly
   In Pennsylvania the automation used to track your speed, such as a VASCAR device, must be calibrated at least once every 60 days. Radar guns have to be calibrated at least once every year. Police car speedometers, used when the police follow you to track your speed, also have to be calibrated at least once a year. If the automation was not calibrated within that time period, it will not produce reliable results that will stand up in court.

3. VASCAR Unreliability
   VASCAR, the stopwatch-like device often used by Pennsylvania police to calculate speed, has been shown to be error-prone, especially when the police are tracking you over a short distance. If the police used VASCAR to determine if you were speeding, the information will appear on your ticket and your attorney can challenge the technology’s inaccuracies in court.

4. Police error
   Human error often enters into the problems of correctly and accurately assigning a traffic violation. For example, a police officer following your car to determine your speed may have been distracted, or they may not have followed you for a long enough distance to get an accurate reading. Factors like curves in the road or the darkness of night can call into question the accuracy of consistently tracking your car.

5. You must be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
   Your lawyer will carefully examine every aspect of the evidence against you to determine where there can be reasonable doubt and then he or she will prove try to prove to the judge that the doubt exists.

How A Philadelphia Traffic Violations Defense Lawyer Will Help

When you are up against a traffic violation, you need an attorney who will stand by you every step of the way, work hard to discredit any evidence – and work with you to determine your best course of action.

Pennsylvania Traffic Violation Law

Traffic violation is described and defined under The Pennsylvania Code under Title 75. Read the code here.