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faulty equipment defense

  • Thread starter Thread starter mmm321
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mmm321

Guest
What is the name of your state? FL

I got a speeding ticket in Waldo, but my speedometer is broken. The problem is that it reads faster than I was actually going, and I knew it. (Though I only found out for sure the day before.) If I get it calibrated and show proof, can I use a faulty equipment defense? Or does your speedometer have to be reading under your actual speed?
 


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sogamom

Guest
i would be interested in the answer to this one. my son just got a speeding ticket yesterday and we discovered that his speedometer in defective as well.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
mmm321 said:
What is the name of your state? FL

I got a speeding ticket in Waldo, but my speedometer is broken. The problem is that it reads faster than I was actually going, and I knew it. (Though I only found out for sure the day before.) If I get it calibrated and show proof, can I use a faulty equipment defense? Or does your speedometer have to be reading under your actual speed?

**A: how fast were you going, what was the posted speed limit and when did you first realize that something was not right with your speedometer?
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
I know this isn't legal advice, but a friend of mine tried that defense in CA a couple of years ago -- not only did the speeding ticket get upheld, he was required to get the speedo fixed and show the court proof of calibration...
 
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mmm321

Guest
The officer claimed I was going 59 in a 45 mph zone. I found out that my speedometer wasn't right when I was following my boyfriend to Jacksonville on the highway. (He was going the speed limit, and my speedometer showed much faster). This was the last time I drove my car before I got ticketed.
 
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mmm321

Guest
Ok, haha... I get it now. I guess I'm just so mad about this ticket that nothing seems like a joke to me... Waldo is one of the biggest speed traps in the country and I think they give out a lot of unfair tickets. What I didn't mention was that I really think he clocked me in the 55 zone where he pulled me over, not the short 45 zone that was back a ways, where they try to catch everyone. But I have no way of proving that unfortunately. :mad:
 

spawn_x

Member
mmm321 said:
The officer claimed I was going 59 in a 45 mph zone. I found out that my speedometer wasn't right when I was following my boyfriend to Jacksonville on the highway. (He was going the speed limit, and my speedometer showed much faster). This was the last time I drove my car before I got ticketed.

You also said: The problem is that it reads faster than I was actually going


So that means if you're going 10mph the speedometer reads 13-15+, right?

So if you were going 45 the speedometer would be reading 55-60? And if you were going 59 the speedometer would be reading 70? 75?

So tell me einstein, was your speedometer showing 60-70+mph and you thought you were going 40?

Pay the damn ticket and don't lie about it.

I am also willing to bet the speedometer isn't malfunctioning. The chances of it malfunctioning are 1 in a million probably, what happens is that people get different size tires and it throws it off, and its their responsibility to correct it.
 
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mmm321

Guest
I appreciate your opinion, but I don't appreciate the language or the insinuation that I am lying.

Just so you know, I did not put different tires on my car. It's 20 years old and it's all I can afford. I also know for a fact that my speedometer reads much faster than I'm going, so you kind of have to disregard it if you don't want to hold up traffic. I was judging my speed mostly by the flow of traffic and was going about the same speed as a semi right next to me.
 

spawn_x

Member
p.s. flow of traffic?

I don't believe on everyone going 59 in a 45 zone and only YOU of all of them getting pulled over.

Sorry, never heard of such nonsense.
 
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mmm321

Guest
The flow of traffic wasn't a lot because it was 1:30 in the morning, but I was doing my best with what I had to work with. I was on my way home from the airport, so I didn't really have a choice to drive or not. I only fully realized the speedometer situation on the way up there.

I would be interested to know if anyone has a little less cynical opinion on my issue...
 
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