Memphis Speeding Ticket Defense Attorney

Most drivers treat a speeding ticket as a nuisance to be paid and forgotten. In Tennessee, that is a mistake. Basic speeding is a Class C misdemeanor — a criminal charge — and simply mailing in the fine is a guilty plea. That plea puts points on your license, can push your insurance premiums up for years, and, if the speed was high enough or in the wrong place, can turn into something far more serious.

A citation is not a conviction. You have the right to plead not guilty, to be represented, and to make the State prove how fast you were actually going. Brooks Law Firm defends speeding tickets throughout Memphis and Shelby County — working to keep points off your record and your license clean, and challenging the radar, lidar, or pacing evidence when the numbers don’t hold up.

Tennessee’s Speed Limits and the Speeding Statute

Tennessee’s speed limits come from T.C.A. § 55-8-152. The statutory maximums are 70 mph on interstate and controlled-access highways with four or more lanes, and 65 mph on other state highways and public roads. TDOT and local governments may set lower limits under T.C.A. § 55-8-153 — municipal roads cannot exceed 55 mph — and school zones are often posted at 15 mph.

Tennessee also has a “basic speeding” rule: regardless of the posted limit, you must drive at a speed that is safe for the actual conditions. That means you can be cited for driving too fast for rain, fog, traffic, or road conditions even if you were at or below the posted limit.

When Speeding Becomes Something Worse

Not every speeding charge is a simple Class C misdemeanor. Where and how fast you were traveling can change the offense entirely:

• Work zones. Exceeding a reduced construction-zone limit under T.C.A. § 55-8-153 while workers are present is a Class B misdemeanor, and the fines are steeper — often $250 or more.
• School zones. Driving faster than the posted school-zone limit (commonly 15 mph) when the flashers are on or children are present makes a driver prima facie guilty of reckless driving.
• Reckless driving. Significant excess speed can be charged as reckless driving under T.C.A. § 55-10-205 — a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail, and one of the few speed-related offenses that can cost you your license.
• Vehicular homicide. If speeding contributes to a fatal crash, the exposure rises to a felony.

Why a Speeding Ticket Is Worth Fighting

The fine on the ticket is the smallest part of what a speeding conviction actually costs. Here is what is really at stake:

• It is a criminal conviction. Basic speeding is a Class C misdemeanor, and paying the ticket is a guilty plea to it.
• Points on your license. Tennessee assigns points on conviction — not merely for being ticketed — and the number scales with how far over you were. That is why keeping the conviction off your record is what keeps the points off.
• Higher insurance premiums. A speeding conviction and its points are exactly what carriers look for at renewal, and the increase can far exceed the ticket itself over time.
• License suspension risk. A single speeding conviction won’t suspend your license on its own, but its points count toward the 12-points-in-12-months threshold that triggers a proposed suspension.
• Commercial drivers face more. For CDL holders, speeding — especially 15 mph or more over — counts as a serious traffic violation that can lead to disqualification.

Tennessee’s speeding points scale with speed. These values are representative — the Department of Safety’s official Schedule of Point Values controls:

Speed Over the Limit	Approx. Points on Conviction
1–5 mph over	1 point
6–15 mph over	3 points
16–25 mph over	4 points
26 mph or more over	up to 8 points (scales with speed)
Reckless driving (§ 55-10-205)	6 points

Tennessee does allow one form of relief: completing a state-approved driving course under T.C.A. § 55-8-207 can remove up to five points from a single speeding conviction, once in a four-year period. Note the limit — it takes off points, but the conviction itself stays on your record. Keeping the conviction off in the first place is almost always the better result.

Your Right to Contest the Ticket — and to a Trial

Because speeding is a criminal charge, you are entitled to the protections that come with one: the right to plead not guilty, the right to counsel, and the right to make the State prove its case at trial. These matters are heard in the court where the citation was filed — in Shelby County, generally General Sessions Court, and in the surrounding municipalities the Municipal Courts of Memphis, Bartlett, Collierville, and Germantown.

At a trial, the State must prove your speed — and that is often less straightforward than the ticket suggests. The citing officer generally has to appear, lay a foundation for how the speed was measured, and withstand cross-examination on it. If the officer does not appear or cannot establish that foundation, the charge may not survive.

How Brooks Law Firm Defends Speeding Tickets

Speeding cases are won or lost on the reliability of the speed measurement, and that is where we focus. Depending on how your speed was clocked, we examine:

• Radar. Whether the unit was properly calibrated and tested (including tuning-fork checks before and after the shift), whether its maintenance and certification records are in order, whether the officer was trained and certified on it, and whether traffic, angle, or interference could have produced a false reading.
• Lidar (laser). Whether the device was calibrated and aimed correctly, the distance and target were appropriate, and the officer was properly trained.
• Pacing. Whether the officer held a constant distance over a sufficient distance, and whether the patrol car’s own speedometer was calibrated.
• Vehicle identification. In traffic, whether the reading was actually tied to your vehicle rather than another.

With that in hand, we pursue the outcome that best protects you — often negotiating a reduction to a non-moving violation that carries no points, a deferral, or a driving-school disposition, and taking the case to trial when the State cannot prove its numbers. Possible defenses include a flawed or unverified speed measurement, the wrong vehicle being clocked, a genuine emergency, and simple insufficiency of the State’s proof.

Possible Outcomes

No lawyer can promise a result, but when a speeding ticket is properly challenged the realistic outcomes include a dismissal, a reduction to a non-moving offense with no points, a deferral or driving-school disposition that avoids a conviction, or a not-guilty verdict at trial — each of which protects your record, your license, and your insurance rates.