Web site offers advice on tickets
Company offers legal research kit to help drivers defend speeding tickets

by John Flaherty
Daily Illini reporter

Tammy Hilaris The Daily Illini

Patrol Officer Joe Ketchem watches for speeding cars on the corner of State and Charles streets Wednesday afternoon.

There is finally relief for drivers who are tired of paying costly speeding tickets.

Mason and McGhie, a legal research and education company, is now offering a free, legal research kit that teaches people how to defend themselves against speeding tickets, which is available at "www.speeding
tickets.com".

As thousands of college students fill the nation's roadways in the upcoming weeks when they leave for home, police agencies will be intently scrutinizing and enforcing speed limits, the company's press release stated.

"Summer is the season of choice for traffic enforcement officers," it read. "The summer months always see a dramatic increase in the numbers of tickets given out."

The company offers many different ways for students to protect themselves from paying expensive speeding tickets or high lawyer fees. Speeding tickets can be defeated in court through a number of different methods, depending on the situation, which are listed on the company's Web site.

Among those listed were arguing that poorly calibrated radar devices can produce highly false readings and speed limits are too low for a certain road.

Illinois State Police Sgt. Rory Steidl warned that students should not rely on the company's techniques.

"The primary reason that speed limits exist is to save lives and reduce injuries," Steidl said.

But some students realized that the Web site might be helpful.

"I think this Web site could definitely be useful," said Ben Tolsky, junior in LAS. "I'm sure it'll cost me a lot less money and time than a ticket or traffic school would."

Tolsky has received two speeding tickets commuting back and forth from home to school in what he has described as "speed traps."

Steidl dismissed the company's allegations that more speeding tickets are deliberately issued in the summer months to boost state revenue.

"Traffic citations increase in the summer because the traffic volume increases as well," Steidl said. "There is no such thing as a speed trap. Officers only pull over vehicles with a probable cause."

In addition to providing advice after a ticket has been issued, the company also gives several tips to avoid even receiving a speeding citation.

"A very important tip which sounds outrageously simple is to always say 'No' when an officer asks if you know why you were pulled over," said Dave Galbraith, the company's online analyst. "By answering 'yes,' you're allowing him to enter this statement as evidence against you when you go to court."