Officer changed citation

Virginia.

Yesterday, I was pulled over. The officer asked if I knew the
speed limit of the road I had been travelling on. I responded
"45". He claimed that he had been travelling at the speed
limit and that I had passed him, and therefore I was speeding.
I did not respond as no question had been asked. The officer
asked for my license and registration, which I handed to him.
He looked at the documents, and then made a statement that
the speed limit was not 35 but 45. I found this weird, but I did not see a point in responding to this, so I did not.

The officer returned to his vehicle and spent 10 minutes doing
whatever it is they do at this point. When he returned, he said
that he was giving me a break and gave me a summons indicating
that I had disregarded a highway sign (Sec 87, 46.2-830). Not
knowing exactly what to make of this, I told him I appreciated
it and wished him a nice remainder of the weekend, and I was
on my way.

The fact of the matter is that it is certainly possible that I was
speeding by at most 5mph, but I am not even sure of that, I
may have been going at the speed limit. The officer's apparent
confusion regarding what the limit was on the road makes me
wonder if he was doing 35, found me passing him going 10mph
faster, and only later realized he made a mistake and therefore
changed the citation.

Now, on the particular road in question (mentioned in the
summons) there are no highway signs other than the
speed limit sign (indicating 45mph).

My questions:

Is there any point in my appearing in court to fight this
ticket? I can document that there are no signs
other than the speed limit on this stretch of road. I assume
the officer would have to indicate to the court what sign it
was I disregarded.

If he claims I disregarded the speed limit sign, wouldn't
he have to explain why he did not give me a speeding
ticket, and tell the court how much I was speeding?

If he tells the court I was speeding and gives a number,
would the court be likely to find him reliable since he
did not give me a speeding ticket? And is a "visual"
assessment of speed admissable evidence, he was
not using radar or laser to assess my speed?

Could I subpoena records from the police department that
would provide an explanation as to what highway sign it was
I alledgedly disregarded?

My default response would be just to pay the fine and
forget about it, but it does not seem fair to me to be
cited and found guily for something I did not do, and
I am not at all certain that I was guilty of the charge
for which the officer claimed he stopped me for.

[lwpat]

"I did not respond as no question had been asked. "

Excellent. Never lie but never admit guilt.

"Sec 87, 46.2-830"

This is no different from a speeding ticket 1 to 9 miles over the limit. You will be assessed three points and your insurance rates will go up accordingly.

"confusion regarding what the limit was on the road makes me
wonder if he was doing 35, found me passing him going 10mph
faster, and only later realized he made a mistake and therefore
changed the citation."

Possible but it really makes no difference. He issued the ticket and it is his word against yours. The only thing that might happen is if he testifed in court that the speed limit was 35 and you had pictures of the 45 sign. Not very good odds.

"Could I subpoena records from the police department that
would provide an explanation as to what highway sign it was
I alledgedly disregarded?"

You can file a request for discovery with the court. In most states discovery is not allowed at the traffic court level. I'm not sure about Virginia. Your other choice would be to file a freedom of information act request. Usually these produce nothing of use and make the judge mad.

For this ticket I would call the court and request traffic school. You pay the fine but the ticket stays off your record. This is a good option in Va because you can do the school online. Here is a link

[url]http://www.trafficschoolonline.com/?lcode=4013[/url]