Contesting traffic ticket by Claudia Sonea

Officers' word weights a lot in a court and that is why drivers would rather pay up their fines than contesting them. However, Roger Rude, a retired deputy has made up his mind and contested his step son's traffic ticket by opposing a police officer's radar gun against the accuracy of the GPS tracking device. He openly admitted that his stepson likes to put the pedal to the medal, therefore he and his wife decided to install such a device- a global monitoring system showing the car's speed and location- to the boy's car, a Toyota Celica. Despised by Shaun the device proved to be very useful for contesting a fine he received on July 4, when he allegedly drove with 62 mph in a 45 mph. Nevertheless, the GPS showed Shaun was going the speed limit within 100 feet of where a Petaluma officer stopped him for speeding. Even though the court rarely accepts GPS as evidence because they are not very reliable, there have been many cases of contesting traffic ticketing like the one of an Australian farmer who succeeded to beat off the fine. Jim Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association says that the GPS at least offers an alternative for the one-sided procedure used until now. On Shaun case a Sonoma County Commissioner will rule within next two weeks. Rude will came up with scientific data and expertise if the argument will not be successful at the first attempt. Furthermore, this is an opportunity to show both Shaun that truth prevails and to parents that it's a good idea in surveying their children in the matter of cars. David W. Brown, a Monterey lawyer and author of Fight Your Ticket in California says there are few chances to succeed without hiring legal experts. Still he says it is not impossible. Will they succeed? Stay connected and track up what happens next...it may come on handy.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071025/ap_on_hi_te/gps_ticket_challenge;_ylt=AvPR0HGueNnAIUZb2h5DLh6s0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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