Hey everyone. I want to share something that happened to me, how I handled it, and what I learned from the experience.
About a month and a half ago, I was accused of speeding way faster than I believe I was actually going. Specifically, I was charged under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law §1180(b), a speeding charge serious enough that I couldn’t risk an expensive ticket or my insurance premiums spiking. I was also confident the state trooper was wrong in how my speed was clocked on radar.
So I decided to fight the ticket. And in the end, I got a full dismissal.
Based on my research, only a small percentage of drivers ever fight traffic tickets at all. An even smaller percentage represent themselves as pro se defendants. Full dismissals, especially for serious speeding charges, are rare, and the number of people who use AI as part of their legal strategy is likely a tiny fraction of that already small group.
I’ve decided to document the entire journey. What I went through, how I approached the problem, and what it took emotionally. I’ll talk about how I used AI to write my discovery letter and my motion to dismiss, how I used AI to analyze what the ADA was trying to do procedurally, and how I used AI to help me understand and navigate the legal system step by step.
As someone who doesn’t have a college degree and who only had a surface level understanding of the legal system, I spent over 40 hours learning everything I could about New York State traffic law as it relates to speeding tickets. That effort paid off.
I’ll be sharing this story, my reflections, and what I learned on my personal blog at zeerebel.com and on my YouTube channel. If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to follow along and subscribe.
#trafficticket, #TrafficTicketDefense, #vtl1180, #ProSePower, #pro_se, #zeerebel, u/zeerebel, #chatgpt, #claude, #deepseek, #gemini, #perplexity
Follow me on SubStack: https://zeerebel.substack.com/…/how-i-fought-a-new-york…My Personal Blog Site: https://zeerebel.com/how-i-fought-a-new-york-speeding…/
My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/mongphu
Research Addendum:
The following data is included for context and transparency. Exact figures vary by jurisdiction, court type (e.g., NYC Traffic Violations Bureau vs. local town courts), and methodology, but the overall pattern is consistent: most drivers do not fight traffic tickets, pro se defenses are uncommon, and full dismissals—especially in serious speeding cases—are rare.
Contesting Rates
- In New York State, only ~3–5% of drivers contest traffic tickets in court.
Source:
https://traffictickets.com/new-york-city/
https://www.tickethelp.com/traffic-ticket-blog/should-you-fight-your-new-york-traffic-ticket/ - More than 90% of speeding tickets result in convictions, meaning most drivers either pay or accept a plea without litigation.
Source:
https://traffictickets.com/new-york/traffic-tickets/speeding-tickets/ten-winning-arguments/
https://www.trafficlaw411.com/blog/2017/august/nyc-speeding-ticket-conviction-rates-may-reveal-/
Pro Se Representation
- Fewer than 10% of drivers who contest tickets represent themselves as pro se defendants. Formal statewide traffic-court data is limited, but broader court studies show that self-represented litigants rarely succeed in adversarial proceedings.
Sources:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-social-inquiry/article/unchanging-rates-of-pro-se-litigation-in-federal-court/21434F32D9DB2AC89C42433F926CBFAC
https://attorneys.media/traffic-court-self-representation/
https://www.nycourts.gov/reports/ajji_selfrep06.pdf
Dismissal Rates
- Statewide, full dismissals of speeding tickets occur in roughly 5–8% of contested cases overall.
- Dismissal rates may increase to 20–25% when tickets are actively fought, often due to officer non-appearance.
Sources:
https://www.ticketvoid.com/blog/how-often-do-tickets-get-dismissed-when-you-should-fight/
https://traffictickets.com/new-york/traffic-tickets/speeding-tickets/ - In certain Manhattan criminal courts (not NYC’s Traffic Violations Bureau), dismissal rates increased significantly following discovery-law reforms.
Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/03/25/nyc-traffic-violation-dismissal-rates-in-manhattan-hit-51/ - Pro se full dismissals for serious speeding charges (such as VTL §1180(b)) remain uncommon, particularly without strong procedural or evidentiary challenges.
Context sources:
https://www.benjamingoldmanlawoffice.com/blog/nyc-traffic-tickets-statistics.html
https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/what-are-the-odds-of-getting-a-first-time-ever-tra-4680238.html
Use of AI in Traffic Defense
- There is no publicly available data tracking the use of AI tools in traffic-ticket defense.
- As of this writing, AI-assisted legal research and drafting in traffic cases appears to be an emerging and undocumented practice, making it a very small subset of already rare pro se defenses.
General context:
https://www.theticketclinic.com/es/states/new-york/
https://www.legalsurvival.com/new-york-traffic-violations-should-you-hire-a-lawyer-or-represent-yourself
