Physicist Uses Math to Beat Traffic Ticket

Yeah, that took some dedication, and because we aren't all as dedicated or physicist here are some practical tips I've learned:<p>1. When an officer asks how fast you were going, never say anything over the speed limit or that's automatic guilt. Just decline to know or tell. A lot of people say within a +5-10mph range over the speed limit because they think that is "ok", but in fact anything over the speed limit is speeding and is ticket worthy.<p>2. Look up laws in your area about loopholes. I once had a friend who got pulled over for doing a burn out in his Cobra, the officer was so aggravated he forgot to wear his hat when he got out of his car and the case got dismissed because of it.<p>3. Always be polite. Always, always, always. Even if they're real jerks, which has never happened to me, always be courteous and make things go as smoothly as possible. If you start being an ass they WILL remember it and will take that into consideration when writing the ticket and/or in front of the judge. You'll have a chance to give your side in court, so don't bother wasting your breath with the officer.<p>4. I once got out of a reckless driving ticket ($400+, I was young and dumb) because I just happened to know the director of the area highway patrol. It turned out I was in the top 5 worst tickets the highway patrolman had ever given out in his 20+ years of duty. My director friend told him I was a good kid and my parents were going to kill me anyway, so he let me off.<p>5. And really, the single most best way to not get a ticket, don't break the rules. Of course in this guys case the officer apparently was mistaken, but more times than not that's not the case.<p>This got large quickly. Just some things I've learned over a few years of driving.

The paper was submitted April 1st according to <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.0162" rel="nofollow">http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.0162</a><p>April fools perhaps?

If you're in California, trial by written declaration[1] is a great way to deal with minor traffic violations. The way it works is that you fill out a form[2] giving your version of events, and submit a check for the amount of the ticket. The beauty of this is that the officer also has to fill out a form giving his version of events - and if he doesn't, you automatically win and your money is refunded. It's the equivalent of the officer not showing up to your court case. If he does submit the form you might still win if the judge sides with you. And if you lose, you can request <i>another</i> trial by written declaration. I'm 2/2 using this strategy for minor violations, and I haven't had to waste any time in traffic court. In both cases I won because the officer did not submit his version of events - probably because it's boring work and they had better things to do.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d17/vc40902.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d17/vc40902.htm</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/tr205.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/tr205.pdf</a>

A friend of mine beat a speeding ticket once by demonstrating that it was physically impossible for him to have slowed down from the claimed speed and stopped in the location where the officer wrote the ticket.

&#62; or maybe he was simply impressed by the sheer dedication Krioukov put into avoiding this ticket.<p>This seems more likely.<p>I beat a speeding ticket with GPS data once - except the judge didn't even ask to see the data. I just said I had it. (Yes, the officer was there in court too.) The judge said he'd take my word for it.

Haha, nice way to beat the system. But I doubt the symmetry of those two graphs.<p>Surely, there is no (ordinary) retail car on the planet which can accelerate as fast as it decelerates?

&#62; <i>I want to ask the readership to please find the flaw in the argument.</i><p>"The officer had special two-week training that qualifies him to estimate angular velocity whichever the fucking way he wants, even with a completely obstructed view."<p>Courtesy of Canadian reality. Plot me a graph to counter <i>that</i>.

I had a similar story. I once sped through a traffic intersection and a cop car coming from the other way perpendicular to my heading. He turned immediately and chased me down. After stopping, he ordered me out and said I was doing 110mph. I was like there's no fucking way I was doing 110. The car felt very different going 110 than 60. He was saying I looked like going very fast. The only thing that ran through my mind was to get a lawyer. Amazingly he left me go after lectured me for a while. I guessed he wasn't sure exactly how fast I went.<p>I was wondering how can he misjudge the speed so far apart. This article explained the phonomena.

Gets more love when it's a churched up article than when you just post directly to the PDF :(<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3830019" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3830019</a>

I have a question about avg ticket costs. My first (and so far, only) ticket was in LA for crossing a solid HOV line. The ticket itself was 80-100. However, they added a ton of fees to it (the best one I remember was a fee for courthouse improvement but there were fees by the county of LA and the city of LA). All-in-all, the grand total was around 400. Is this just a California thing? I don't see how people can eat in that state when a ticket costs this much.

A buddy of mine tried the same thing (math in court) using the weight of his SUV, the HP of the engine, and other things to show he couldn't have been speeding at the location the officer said he was.<p>Result: "Too bad. Pay me."<p>Like they say in the movies; with law it's what is the truth, and what you can prove. He failed the latter and got a hefty fine.

&#62; "A way to fight your traffic tickets. The paper was awarded a special prize of $400 that the author did not have to pay to the state of California."<p>Good economics reasoning too - losing a loss is as good as gaining a gain.

Why is it that most comments here are about ways to fool a policeman and avoid a speeding ticket ? I was expecting more advices on reducing your speed and driving safely.

It is amazing that a judge would even listen to this in a non-criminal and minor offense case. Most places I know it'd just be dismissed and the fine upheld.

His argument and charts imply a stopped duration of 0s. I was taught that a legal stop is &#62;= 2 seconds duration. Guilty.

Recreation of the courtroom, from my brain:<p>Physicist: "Pretty much cold feet and sneezes your honor, QED."<p>Judge: "Well seeing as how you're a member of the affluent class I shall not inconvenience you further."