Whenever you choose to defend yourself in court against a traffic ticket, the big issue is credibility. The judge has the testimony of an officer of the law and is weighing it against the evidence that you present. If you present a bogus traffic ticket defense that's actually based on a myth, then the judge probably won't be able to take you seriously. It's best to avoid these myths if you want fight your ticket.

Myth: A good excuse of why you were speeding can get you out of the ticket.

Have excuses ever worked in the past with judges or with the officer before the ticket was written? Of course these have happened to work from time to time. But this doesn't mean it's a solid defense. The biggest problem with the excuse method is that when you are attempting to excuse your actions like speeding too much you are also admitting that you were speeding. If you try this tactic, then no other defense is going to work since you have already admitted to breaking the law. At that point it's up for the discretion of the judge and most likely he or she must find you guilty.

Myth: If your ticket says that no court appearance is required, then you don't have to show up in court to beat your ticket.

No court appearance required simply means that if you want to admit guilt and pay the fine, you can go right ahead and do this without showing up in court. This doesn't mean that you can somehow fight your ticket remotely outside the courtroom as some advocate.

Myth: Attacking the credibility of the officer on the witness stand will help you win your traffic defense case.

The big problem with this method is that these types of accusations or lines of questioning will be ruled as irrelevant to the case. In most cases if the officer had some serious negligence recently they wouldn't be out on active duty to have pulled you over. If you do attack credibility, attack the credibility of the device or method the officer used to pull you over.

For example, in many jurisdictions the radar gun or laser gun must be checked and calibrated every few months. If the calibration documentation is out of date, that's the type of credibility you can bring up in court since the machine may in fact not be reading speeds properly.