If you travel around by car, you’ve probably had that creeping feeling in the back of your mind that you might get pulled over for something trivial. Even though most traffic offenses are minor in nature — they can still be very costly!

Traffic violations can result in expensive tickets, higher insurance rates, and even suspension of your driver’s license.

Things That Will Get You A Ticket

There are a surprising number of reasons for which a police officer can pull you over for, and you’re probably guilty of doing some of these things regularly without even realizing it! Some of these offenses can result in tickets, losing points on your license, or may even result in you having your license suspended or revoked!

We’re going to cover some of the most common reasons that people are given tickets and share with you some ways that dash cams have helped drivers get out of these tickets!

Speeding

Speeding is probably the most common traffic violation in the US, with almost 41 million speeding tickets being given out each year! That’s basically one speeding ticket per second!

If you are wrongly accused of speeding, it can be very difficult to prove your innocence in the court of law, since it’s your word against the officer’s. Why not make it the word of your dash cam against the officer’s?

Most modern dash cams have built in GPS that will determine the speed at which your vehicle is moving and output this speed onto the video. This simple bit of data can play a monumental role in helping you to contest a speeding ticket.

Chris Hylander, a plumber from Florida, was pulled over by a highway patrolman for supposedly driving 90 MPH in a 70 MPH zone. Such a ticket would have been devastating to his career, because it would jeopardize his commercial driver’s license.

Thankfully, Chris had a GPS enabled dash cam ready and rolling, and the footage proved that he was well within the posted limit The footage was reviewed, and the ticket was dismissed entirely, saving Mr. Hylander a whole lot of trouble.

Here’s another situation where a driver was pulled over for speeding despite clearly being within the posted speed limit. The ticket doesn’t even get issued after the driver politely informs the officer that he has a dash cam that he is more than happy to bring into court to prove his innocence. If he didn’t have the dash cam, it would have been his word against the officer’s, and being a supposedly speeding Mustang driver on the road at 4am would almost certainly have ended up in a hefty fine.

Even if your dash cam doesn’t have GPS installed, it can still be used in the court of law to estimate your speed. It is entirely possible to determine the vehicle’s speed by counting the white dashed lines on the road.

These lines are 10-feet long and distanced from each other by approximately 30 feet. If you measure the time it takes to move from the beginning of one dashed line to the next – which is the time it takes your car to move 40 feet – you can measure speed through the video footage and contest the speeding ticket in court.

Cell Phone Usage While Driving

Another often received ticket is one that many people get for using their cell phones while driving. We agree that texting and driving is even more dangerous than drunk driving, we disagree with people being wrongly ticketed for it.

Another often received ticket is one that many people get for using their cell phones while driving. We agree that texting and driving is even more dangerous than drunk driving, we disagree with people being wrongly ticketed for it.

That’s what happened to a man in Brooklyn, when he was pulled over for using his phone while driving. At his insistence, the officer reviewed the footage on his two-way dash cam and let him go when it was clear that he was merely scratching and tugging on his ear as opposed to talking on the phone.

Illegal Turns

In the above clip, the driver of the vehicle was stopped by an officer for allegedly making an improper turn. Thankfully, he had proof on his dash cam that showed that there was nothing illegal at all about the way his turn was conducted. He took the footage to court, and as you would have guessed, the citation was dismissed.

There’s also the case of a Tesla owner who was saved by his built in dash cam proving that he did in fact signal when making a turn, despite an officer claiming he did not. Had he not had the dash cam footage, he would have had to pay a $171 dollar fine.

Other Protection That A Dash Cam Can Provide

If all of the above isn’t convincing enough, then check out the case of a New Jersey man who was not only wrongfully detained and assaulted by police officers, but also faced charges of eluding police, resisting arrest and aggravated assault on an officer. He was ultimately exonerated, and the officers responsible ended up being indicted.

In this case, the dash cam that exonerated the man was actually a second police dash cam that recorded the entire incident. Imagine if that footage didn’t exist, or if it was never submitted to the courts. It would be far safer to have your own dash camera to record everything.

Keep in Mind…

Sometimes all you need to do is be polite to the officers, ask them to view your dash cam footage for proof that you weren’t violating any traffic rules — and hope for the best! More often than not, if you weren’t actually guilty, that will be enough for the officer to leave you alone and let you go on your merry way.

They might refuse to watch it and write you a ticket anyway. In this case, let them know that you’ll contest the ticket and bring the footage to the court if needed.

Don’t Forget Your Dash Cam App!

Some of the better dash cams out there have apps that you can connect to with your phone. Using this connection, you can bring up the footage right there at the traffic stop and also secure it to your cloud. You can also present it to the officer as proof right then and there, but make sure you don’t outright hand your phone to them.

Request Disclosure

If the officer was not empathetic to your case and you just got a ticket for going 20% over the speed limit, you can file for disclosure after getting a court date. This means that the officer’s notes will have to be presented to you before the hearing is conducted.

If the notes are inconsistent or the information is incorrect, you can use your dash cam footage to fight the case and prepare your defense.

Get Legal Help

If all else fails, you can find a lawyer that understands how to investigate and present dash cam evidence. They’ll ask for a copy of your video and also get footage from the police dash cam, if available.

Make sure the footage provides sufficient evidence to relieve you of the false charges (if any) — or else there is no point in taking the footage to court.

The Wrap Up

Dash cams can help make your everyday commute safer and give you much-needed peace of mind while driving. They can also get you out of a situation where you are wrongfully accused of breaking the law.

This makes them a cost-effective solution to traffic woes that can endanger your career and most importantly, your freedom. If you’d like to learn more about 4k dash cams, visit the VAVA Blog, or check out our dash cam products here.