You live in South Dakota and were recently pulled over for exhibition driving. The cop did not have it on radar and your mom said you didn't go over 37 mph. Should you fight it in court?

If you cannot get your mom certified as a speed expert at trial, her testimony will not be allowed. The cop HAS been trained in speed estimation and uses it a lot every day at work. The cop is a certified speed expert - and is a cop - and his testimony WILL be accepted. Additionally, no one seated anywhere in the vehicle save the driver can see the "correct" reading on the speedometer (unless it's a digital one) because of parallax.

Additionally, if you were cited for "exhibition of speed" by the officer, you don't necessarily have to have been speeding. If you burn rubber (lite up the tires), you are performing an "exhibition of speed" and may not actually be breaking the speed law. Those are two separate laws. And the second one, the one that allows an officer to cite you, was developed for a reason. If you're laying rubber, "chirping" the tires, causing your car to "jump" as you drive or perhaps even just gunning your engine "excessively" at a light, you can easily be cited for "exhibition of speed" in many locales. These are the reasons the "exhibition" law was written, and it has undergone many court tests.

Fighting this in court is almost certainly going to result in your failing to be able to defend yourself, as it is your word against the officer's. In many to most cases, passengers in a driver's vehicle will not be allowed to testify as witnesses for the defense - because they're obviously "friends" of the driver. And this ground is well-known territory to the courts.

First answer by ID0404605553. Last edit by Quirkyquantummechanic. Contributor trust: 743 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question]