Generally, an officer will ask you one of two questions. It’s either, “Do you know how fast you were going?”, and your response should be, “No, I’m not really sure.” Or, “I think I was doing the speed limit.” Or, “I know I wasn’t speeding, I looked at my speedometer right before you stopped me.” The other question that you may be asked is, “Do you know why you were stopped?” Your response is, “No Officer, I don’t.” The most important factor to consider at this point is, DO NOT ADMIT ANYTHING. Your Constitutional rights allow you to remain silent, but the officer doesn’t have to let you know that. If you tell the officer you were doing about 62 or 63 and you know that you’re in a 50 mile speed limit, you’ve admitted your guilt.
When the officer requests your credentials such as driver license, insurance, and registration, tell him where they are located in the car and ask for permission to retrieve them before going for them. This will relieve the officer’s suspicion that there may be a concealed weapon in the car. If the officer decides that he wants to search your vehicle do not agree to this search under any circumstances. If he says that he’ll get a search warrant, tell him to go and get one. He cannot search your vehicle without one. He must have probable cause to search your vehicle. If he can smell smoke from Marijuana or alcohol, he has probable cause. And those are things that are more important right now to you than the speeding ticket you’re about to get. This is not the time to try to argue with the officer, or see if you can beat the ticket. Give him as little as possible to remember you by because he’s heard of all of the excuses hundreds of times before. Once he starts writing that ticket, you’re going to get it, period. There’s no turning back for the officer or for you. He can’t void it and say he made a mistake. He’s got to write it. And it’s yours.
While the officer is writing your ticket back at his vehicle, look over your surroundings and make notes of as much data as you possibly can. Small details can be very important. Some of the information that you should be on the lookout for is the type of vehicle, the license plate, and the unit number of the police officer’s car that stopped you. Know the exact location of where you were stopped, and the distance between where you were stopped and where the violation occurred.
Write down the weather conditions. Cloud cover, rain, no rain, sunny, overcast, snow, whatever it may be. Write down a list of anyone who’s traveling with you in your vehicle and please ask them to remain quiet during the entire time that you are with the officer, unless they are asked a question by the officer. Write down the color and the type of clothing that you are wearing. Make note of any noticeable characteristics of your vehicle. Different colors of paint, dents, aluminum wheels, hubcaps, anything that are small details which would be difficult for the officer to remember later. Make sure you try to remember everything the officer says during the traffic stop. If he has to talk on his radio, or direct another driver during the stop, make a note of that. Many times the person who’s writing the ticket is not the one who is using the radar unit. He’s basically the chase car. Find out if he’s the one because it’s very important to your case that you know if the officer was the one using the radar unit. Observe the traffic in the area during your stop and remember what the traffic was like when you were pulled over. If you can, remember everything humanly possible about the cars in your area during your stop.
After the officer writes your citation he will bring it back to you and ask you to sign. By signing you are merely acknowledging receipt of the citation. At that point in time, ask the officer if you can have your court appearance moved to the county seat. If he refuses, please have him indicate on the back of the ticket that he refused to allow you this consideration. If he does not want to indicate that on the back of the ticket, don’t worry about it, just make a note of it in your notes. It may be important later on. Tell the officer after you have signed the citation that you would like to see the readout on the radar. He’s not really required to do this for you because it would involve your safety. They would not like to see you run down by another motorist while you are walking back to the patrol car. If he does allow you to see the radar, don’t make any comments at all. Just make a note of who manufactured the unit or a model number. At this point in time, don’t mention the calibration fork. We’ll explain that later on in the book, but don’t ask to see it. If the officer knows that you are aware of the calibration fork, it would tell him that you know a bit more about the type of equipment that he’s using, and he’ll remember you in court. And that’s not going to help you later on down the road. After the officer returns to his patrol car, stay