Trying to argue your way out of a traffic ticket is one thing. But presenting a four-page letter that presents the physical impossibility of the situation described in said ticket is something that could only be done by an expert physicist. So if you don’t want to pay $400 and happen to know such a person, it might turn out handy.

A UCSD physicist used his knowledge of angular and linear motion in a paper he prepared for the judge presiding over his traffic ticket. In it, he argued and was able to prove his innocence, explaining that the issuing officer didn’t really see what he “thought” he saw, according to the laws of physics, says NBC San Diego.

“Therefore my argument in the court went as follows: that what he saw would be easily confused by the angle of speed of this hypothetical object that failed to stop at the stop sign. And therefore, what he saw did not properly reflect reality, which was completely different,” said the physicist.

Now, don’t run out trying to use the physics defense in any old situation. The physicist says events happened to combine perfectly for his argument to hold up and ultimately get him out of the ticket.

When asked if he really did stop at that stop sign, he claims, “Of course.”

Man Uses Physics to Fight Traffic Ticket [NBC San Diego]

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