Extra evidence is always good. If everything is clearly labeled, and you refer to it in your declaration, it shows you were paying attention. And if you were paying attention, you likely were following the law. Cops often do not pay attention, but are often quite successful in using their badge of office and authority to steamroll over defendants during adjudication. You can counter this by having better evidence. The best evidence usually wins in court, so have good evidence.
If you find yourself using a lot of words to describe where you were and where the cop was at each step of the process, then perhaps an overhead map would help your declaration more clear. On this map, you would mark your position at each point where each thing happened. Then you would refer to it in the declaration.
Here’s one example of a map with markings for a lane change citation:
Here’s an example of an overhead google map with a beam-spread angle drawn right on it.
Here’s an example of the “officer’s point of view” (just a guess, really) and how that relates to the target car:
Here’s another overhead view map with beam-spread I did for a member just the other day.
This looks fancy but all it is, is a screenshot of the Google Maps and then writing on it with the drawing program on whatever computer you are using.
This works well with an argument like:
Given the distance from the officer to my car, and given the other cars that were near me and well within the spread of the officer’s radar beam, the officer’s assumption that his radar reading came from my car is in serious doubt. There was a large pickup truck in front of my small sedan hatchback along with another SUV that had just passed my car and was going faster. An overhead map of the area is attached and these other cars labeled. I have also included a photo from the officer’s perspective. These vehicles were between my car and the officer’s. Many vehicles also passed me just prior to my stop. The officer’s radar could have targeted any one of these.
This trio of images is a little more sophisticated – it requires the ability to post little cars on the map. You don’t need little cars on yours – you can use X’s or big red dots.
