“111 In An 80, Pitch Black Dark Night. Already Reduced.”

Received a speeding ticket last week and I'm thinking about taking it to trial. Just wanted to present the facts here and get people's opinion on what I should do.

Was pulled over outside Peterborough on Hwy 28, north of highway 7. It was pitch black at night around 10:30PM. For those that don't know the area, hwy 28 is straight as an arrow with just a few slight hills. I merged onto 28 from 7 and was headed NB when I suddenly saw the cherries light up a good distance behind me. It was far enough back that I thought he was responding to an emergency call.. and I was very surprised when he pulled in behind me.

Two officers got out of the car and the driver told me he'd 'got' me doing 111 km/h. Asked me if there was any reason I was speeding and I said I wasn't aware that I'd been speeding. He leaned in and took a huge whiff and asked if I'd had any drinks (I hadn't). Asked if there was any open alcohol in the car (there wasn't). Took my license etc: and returned with a ticket for 15 over. On the ticket in the "R" code area, he wrote "109". He emphasized that he'd "gotten me on radar". I don't know why there'd be a 2 KM/h discrepancy between what he initially claimed and what he wrote in the code box.

I honestly don't believe that I was speeding, especially the speed that the officer claimed. I clearly recall slowing down to glance over at a log home company on the right side of the road, right before I was pulled over. It really sticks out in my mind because the (nice) display homes were really lit up and I pointed them out to my wife. I recall slowing right down (below 80 KM/h) to get a better look, which may have caught his attention.

Is it possible:

- Given the pitch black night, it was difficult to accurately tag my (dark blue) car at a distance with the radar. Instead, is it possible that the officer could have erroneously measured the speed of a car beyond mine? If this was even a remote possibility, why was there no attempt to pace me to verify his radar reading? He really was a good distance back. I think, given how straight the road is, it would have been very easy to 'miss' my car and to paint an oncoming vehicle.

Worth fighting? I'd have to make the drive from Ottawa to Peterborough for the court date, and I'm completely willing to take a day off work to do so. It's only a $50 ticket, but it's my second in the past 2 years .. not interested it having my rates go sky-high.

Youll have to start by requesting disclosure and seeing what the officers actual evidence is, namely how they measured your speed and where they did it from. Without knowing when/where they obtained your speed, its pretty hard to know what your chances are in Court. For all you know they could have been travelling in the opposite direction and tagged you with moving radar.

Its possible they measured the speed of the wrong vehicle, but youll need something to support this theory. In regards to tagging a vehicle going the opposite direction, most radars show the vehicles direction of travel, so officers know if the reading they obtained is from a vehicle approaching or going away.