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Seat belt defence: going to court and police procedures
If its the police's word against mine and there is no other evidence can I still be convicted by magistrates of not wearing a seatbelt? Can I claim for loss of earnings for attending court? Can and will the prosecution use previous speeding convictions against me? Is there anyway I can find out about things like how experienced or how long the officer has been in the force? Where can I find information on traffic laws and police procedures?
Depending on the circumstances a police officer's word will be enough to bring a prosecution on a seatbelt offence and the courts will normally believe them unless you can cast doubt on their credibility, for example that they couldn't have clearly seen whether you were wearing it or not.
You will not be entitled to loss of earnings for attending court. You can however request the officer attends court and if you wish, question them as to their experience, but aggressive questioning can prove counter productive.
Previous convictions will not be known to the court at the time of the hearing, but they can be revealed at the time of sentencing. However convictions for separate offences not relevant to the offence on trial will be unlikely to affect the sentence for what the courts view as a relatively trivial offence.
If you search for "seat belt law" on google you will be able to find the appropriate legislation and many police forces put the procedures they follow on line. You should search the website of the appropriate police force where the incident took place.
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