There are several ways to get out of a ticket.

The first suggestion I can make to you is take the ticket, and win in court. It is much easier to win in a 15-minute court trial of the ticket, especially when you are barely over the limit, rather than to try to talk the officer out of the ticket, or by doing something extreme.

Tip #0: It's trooper, not officer



Tip #1: Subpoena everything. (No, not this).

  • Calibration records
  • Vision records
  • Previous ticketing records
  • Any sort of APBs they had out that day (you were unfairly stopped)
If they cannot bring one piece of evidence to court with you, you win by default. Done. That's the law.

Tip #2: Claim damage to your car.
  • Have a local mechanic look at your speedometer, claim that it is "damaged", or "miscalibrated", and have it replaced. One look at the receipt, and the judge will claim that you are not liable, since you could not tell how fast you were going. This is hard to prove with digital speedometers. You can claim damage to your brakes that you were on your way to getting repaired, but that is a whole new world of trouble.


Tip #3: Over-write the check, and do not deposit the difference.

  • Supposedly, if you write a check to the state for say, two dollars over the price, and do not cash the refund check, the transaction is not considered closed, and is not reported on your driving record. This may be an urban legend.


Tip #4: Get an out of state license conversion in a far away state.

  • Many places do not have insurance deals with far away states. Massachusetts has one with New York, for instance, but not with Oregon. So if you go far away, and get your licence converted, then you do not need to worry about the state reporting the tickets to your new home state. A New York friend of mine did this with Washington State. This can cause other small problems, but if it is a huge concern for you, is quite manageable.


Tip #5: Hire a traffic lawyer.

  • These specialty lawyers do in fact exist, but may not be worth the cost. It will cost more than the ticket, but will spare your precious driving record.