| Speeding
Ticket: Template Letter 2. |
|
|
|
| [If you do not have a
Solicitor but want to contest it in Court... you can have someone sit with
you... known as a "McKenzie Friend", (named after a Court case.) You can confer with
them but they cannot address the Court directly. If you plead
"Guilty" then you can only claim "mitigating
circumstances", (for example, I was trying to get out of the way of
an Ambulance) or "special circumstances", (like, I will lose my
job) in the hope that you will receive the minimum
punishment rather than the maximum. If you think you have a chance
of getting off... plead "Not Guilty".] |
|
|
|
| I wish to plead "Not
Guilty" Your Worships (in a Magistrates Court) Your Honour (to a
Judge in a Crown Court) I believe that my actions were not
unlawful because they meet all the criteria laid out by The Court of
Appeal concerning... "duress of circumstances" for this type of
offence... let me just quote from... |
|
| Wilkinson's Road
Traffic Offences: 21st edition. Which reports... The Court of
Appeal confirmed that such defences were available for offences such
as these, but only... "where a defendant had committed an
otherwise unlawful act to avoid imminent peril of danger to life or
serious injury to himself or some other person for whom he was
responsible. The evil must be directed towards the defendant
or some other person for whom he had responsibility and could be
identified by reference to the action threatened. The evil to
be prevented must be greater than the evil done... which should be no
more than reasonably necessary to avoid the harm feared". |
|
|
| My circumstances were as
follows... |
|
| I was heading in a (South-Westerly...
Easterly?) _________ direction along a stretch of dual-carriageway on the
(A3... A14?)
______ travelling on... or near to the posted Speed Limit. I noticed
in my rear view mirror that there was a large truck catching me up. Once it caught up to me...
I fully expected it to overtake me... but for some reason it didn't... it
just continued along behind me in the inside lane. After a while I started
to get the impression that
the truck driver was becoming agitated and angry... and he started to tailgate
me in a really
aggressive manner... literally within 2 or 3 metres. |
|
| (As I'm sure
you know... having
someone tailgate you like this is not that unusual... actually it happens quite
regularly these days... and when it happens with a large truck... it's very scary.
You know that if something goes wrong... and you have to hit the brakes...
your car could end up being crushed like a tin can!) |
|
| So... as he was so close I slowed down a little...
hoping that he would overtake. But that just seemed to annoy the driver even more...
(he was reacting as if I was being deliberately obstructive... but there was
absolutely no reason why he couldn't just overtake me) instead of maintaining the same distance... he kept getting
closer... then braking hard... as if he was trying to intimidate me into
going faster. I was looking for a place that I could pull over to the
side of the road... but there wasn't anywhere I could just "pull over", without
braking... and the truck was so close... I knew there was no chance that
he would be able to
stop if I braked... even gently. |
|
| So... I tried speeding up a bit... but that didn't seem to satisfy
him either... basically, we just had the same situation... but now it was even more
dangerous because we were both travelling faster. So, I slowed down
again... travelling a little bit under the speed limit. |
|
| I decided that the only
way out of this situation, was to... open up a bit of a gap between myself and the truck.
I already new that if I accelerated slowly the truck would just accelerate
as well. So I decided to wait until I could see a stretch of open
road with no one around... then I would quickly open a gap using the
superior acceleration of my car. That way, I knew if I opened a gap,
I would be back in control of the situation... I would get this truck off
my tail and that would give me a number of
options... |
|
| 1. I could safely pull over
into any small space and wait for the truck to pass... or... |
|
| 2. The gap might just be maintained until out
routes parted... (one of us turned off.) Or... |
|
| 3. Another vehicle might
pull into the gap so there was a bit of a buffer between myself and
this truck. |
|
| But... whatever happened from that
point on... I knew I would have defused the situation. I would have got
myself out of a potentially deadly situation... and without putting anyone
else at risk. |
|
| Unfortunately for me... I
happened to come across a speed camera (Radar? Gatso?) at that very moment. Now that
may seem like a bit of a coincident... but can I just say... I
travel many thousands of miles every year... passing hundreds... if not
thousands of these machines... and only this one? (only two? only
three??) in the past year? (two years? three years?) have found me to be exceeding the speed
limit... so it is not
a coincidence... it is something which is bound to happen occasionally...
especially to people who do a lot of driving. |
|
| The bottom
line is... I had a life-threatening situation to deal with... and I did
what any reasonable person would have done in those circumstances. I
managed to get myself out of a very dangerous situation... without putting anyone else
at risk. While I realise that these rules are open to
interpretation... I believe that my actions were fully justified... and well
within the general guidelines of this law.
So, on that basis... I do not believe I am guilty of anything. |
|
| If Relevant...
and True!
If asked whether you mentioned the incident at the time... you
might say something like... I did speak to the Police at the time... but I didn't mention
the situation. It seemed fairly obvious to me that their
mission was to hand out tickets... not track down dangerous
drivers! They were obviously going to give me a ticket
whatever I said... so I didn't think it was worth getting
involved in a long discussion over the particular
circumstances. |
|
| Or... I did try
to explain the situation to the officer... but he cut me off,
saying something like... "there are no excuses for
speeding"... so I stopped trying to explain. |
|
|
|
|
For more Information...
|
|