Speeding ticket

[alphatarget1]

I got a speeding ticket Drove too fast, was being dumb. I'm a first time offender...

Has anyone gone to court not to fight it but to plead guilty? Would it hurt to go to court to plead guilty anyway and see if they lower the fine?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: alphatarget1
I got a speeding ticket Drove too fast, was being dumb. I'm a first time offender...

Has anyone gone to court not to fight it but to plead guilty? Would it hurt to go to court to plead guilty anyway and see if they lower the fine?

go to court. you should be able to talk to someone. they will ovver a deal where you plead guilty and you get something like court supervision or they may lower the fine (doubt it).

 

[leftyman]

Pay your fine. Learn your lesson. Move on with your life.

 

[slsmnaz]

First time? Go to traffic school

 

[randomint]

Originally posted by: leftyman
Pay your fine. Learn your lesson. Move on with your life.

wow. a concise, precise and useful reply.

is the world coming to an end?

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
First time? Go to traffic school

QFT! That's one of the things I like about Kahleeforneeya...traffic school keeps MOST tickets off your driving record.
Sure, you still have to pay a fine, PLUS a fee for traffic school, AND the actual cost of the school, but you don't get points on your record, nor does your insurance go up for it...
Will you save any money by going to court? Maybe...maybe not. The judge can knock the fine way down...or not, PLUS you'll still have to pay court costs on top of any fine.

 

[Soundmanred]

I went to court everytime I got a speeding ticket. I would say 80% were just plain dropped. (Oklahoma) I had alot of tickets when I was a teen...haven't had one in years...

 

[scarfase99]

go to court. i went to court for speeding since i already had done traffic school, and before saying anything, the jduge was like, "In this court, i allow u to go to traffic school 2 times in a year."

so saved that from my record, just by showing up

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: slsmnaz
First time? Go to traffic school

If this is an option in your state its your best bet.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Soundmanred
I went to court everytime I got a speeding ticket. I would say 80% were just plain dropped. (Oklahoma) I had alot of tickets when I was a teen...haven't had one in years...

Have you ever been to neighboring Missouri for a ticket?

I can't imagine the little towns or counties having driving school as an option.

 

[Tobolo]

How fast?

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: randomint

Originally posted by: leftyman
Pay your fine. Learn your lesson. Move on with your life.

wow. a concise, precise and useful reply.

is the world coming to an end?

umm no. Always, ALWAYS go to court, even if you are going to plead guilty.

1) If the cop doesnt show up, you get off scott free. (i.e. gets called to an emergency)
2) Usually the cop will reduce your ticket IF you werent a dick during the stop AND if you talk to him/her about it BEFORE the judge enters the court room.
3) traffic school

If none of that works, then youve just lost a few minutes of your time, because it literally takes about 30 seconds for the hearing once it begins, which is why you need to strike a deal with the officer BEFORE the hearing starts.

edit: And this advice was given to me by a state trooper whom ive known for many years. He wont comment on whether the trick of overpaying your ticket by a few dollars and then never cashing the refund check actually keeps your points off the record.

 

[jdini76]

do a quick search for speeding. you should find my answer there.

 

[ahurtt]

You should go to court. Ask for leniency since it is your first offense. Even if they won't reduce or eliminate the fine, you might be able to ask not to receive any points on your license. That is the most important thing IMO. You don't want any points.

And like somebody said, if the cop doesn't show up you could get off scott free.

 

[V00DOO]

I would just pay the ticket and ask for traffic school. The chance of you winning is very slim. If you want to fight the ticket you can either plead by written or appear in court. To plead by written go here Ticketassassin for more info. To plead not guilty by appearing in court you first have to appear in court and plead not guilty. Then they court will schedule a court date. You'll waste a minimum 2 days and like others have said you only chance of winning is if the cop doesn't show up. Good luck.

 

[quentinterintino]

Originally posted by: leftyman
Pay your fine. Learn your lesson. Move on with your life.

Choke yourself.

OP, I would read this link:

Text

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: V00DOO
I would just pay the ticket and ask for traffic school. The chance of you winning is very slim. If you want to fight the ticket you can either plead by written or appear in court. To plead by written go here Ticketassassin for more info. To plead not guilty by appearing in court you first have to appear in court and plead not guilty. Then they court will schedule a court date. You'll waste a minimum 2 days and like others have said you only chance of winning is if the cop doesn't show up. Good luck.

Maybe it works different in different states, but thats about as far from the truth as it gets in pennsylvania.

1) Its not about winning. Its about getting your ticket reduced or the points dropped, which is VERY common/easy to do.
2) There arent two hearings. You pay your ticket, and mark down that you are going to plead not guilty. You will get a letter in the mail in a few weeks telling you when your court date is (usually a month or two later). You show up for literally about 5 minutes, and then you leave. Worst case, you just wasted 5 minutes of your time.

 

[jupiter57]

A couple of post here with some good advice, but the majority seems to think you may suffer irreparably should you take responsibility for breaking the law.
Maybe they're afraid you'll set a precedent?

leftyman: :thumbsup:

 

[Twista]

court supervision

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: randomint

Originally posted by: leftyman
Pay your fine. Learn your lesson. Move on with your life.

wow. a concise, precise and useful reply.

is the world coming to an end?

umm no. Always, ALWAYS go to court, even if you are going to plead guilty.

1) If the cop doesnt show up, you get off scott free. (i.e. gets called to an emergency)
2) Usually the cop will reduce your ticket IF you werent a dick during the stop AND if you talk to him/her about it BEFORE the judge enters the court room.
3) traffic school

If none of that works, then youve just lost a few minutes of your time, because it literally takes about 30 seconds for the hearing once it begins, which is why you need to strike a deal with the officer BEFORE the hearing starts.

edit: And this advice was given to me by a state trooper whom ive known for many years. He wont comment on whether the trick of overpaying your ticket by a few dollars and then never cashing the refund check actually keeps your points off the record.

What if the cop was a dick?

 

[purbeast0]

yes go to court.

even if you just show up to court and plead guilty and just explain that you usually don't do it or whatever and that you are sorry and didn't realize it, they WILL reduce your fee.

when my girlfriend got in an accident and went to traffic court, so many people's tickets were dropped and the judge just made them pay the $25 court fee.

also if you go to court, wear a tie and give the judge your utmost respect.

i saw some guys who were so freaking ghetto and wore t-shirts and baggy ass jeans, and then didn't even give the judge any kind of respect or the time of day. they acted like them being there was a favor to the judge. and they didn't get of fwith any less fines.

 

[manowar821]

WTF are you fighting it for if you acknowledge that it's your fault?

I'm sorry to say this, because you seem nice enough... But grow up.

 

[SampSon]

I never, ever plead guilty. That puts you at the mercy of the DA and court. You always want to go in and try to deal with the DA.
I really feel sorry for people who just go and plead guilty and take whatever the court hands them.

 

[Skotty]

On my first and only ticket, I dressed up nice, went to court, pleaded guilty, the state guy suggested $200 fine, judge argued with state guy and it went up to $400. The amount on the ticket, if I had been allowed to mail it in, was about $130. I was slightly over some limit where you are required to go to court; maybe that had something to do with it. I guess I should have pleaded with the court, but I didn't know what was allowed or how to be respectful about it. The judge asked "how do you plea", I said guilty (as I was), and after that I was pretty much left out of the conversation. Kind of left me the impression that going to court should be avoided, contrary to what others are saying. As far as I could tell, the police officer wasn't there. If he was, he had no part in the discussion.

In my case, I lived in the country on a long flat 2-lane road. Had been messing with my carbeurator earlier and was accelerating to see how peppy it was after my adjustments. Got up to 80 before slowing back down to the 55 speed limit (which a few months later was raised to 60). Total speeding time was maybe 30 seconds. The "required to go to court" limit at the time was 21 over the limit. I know that for a fact, as I tried to mail in my ticket before I knew about it, and it was sent back.

 

[EKKC]

delay a few times. blame it on work, travel whatever. after a year or so the officer will end up no longer in the force or losing the ticket, you win by default

i was handed a few moving violations (1 in Philly, fee only no points so i paid, 3 in NYC) in 10 years of driving and always get out free because of a) officer no longer part of force b) officer lost original ticket c) judge just trusts me


fee is nothing, the insurance that you get as a result of points to your record is much worse than any fine you'll be paying