Question about my speeding ticket....

[krunchykrome]

I have received one speeding ticket in the past and I dont remember exactly what I did afterwards. As some of you may know, I got a speeding ticket (50 in a 30) the other day for $140 (2 points.) What I want to do is to go to court and plead guilty with explanation. Now on the back of the citation, it gives me three options.

1. Payment: Pay the full amount.....

2. Trial: If you wish to appear for trial you wil automatically be mailed a notice of your date........Do not send payment at this time.

3. Guilty with explanation: Sign the "request for waiver hearing: guilty with explanation" statement on the back of envelope. Do NOT SEND PAYMENT AT THIS TIME. You will be mailed a notice of your hearing. Since there will be no trial, witnesses and officers will not be present . At the hearing the court will hear from you only for the purposes of imposing a trial.


-------Now what I wanna do is go to court and plead guilty with explanation. I dont mind paying the fine but I wish to reduce the 2 points to 0 if I can. Now option 2 and option 3 sound very similar. Which one do I do and what exactly needs to be done?

Thanx

 

[Mill]

You die.

 

[Orsorum]

30 in a 50?

 

[Anubis]

number 3

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: Orsorum
30 in a 50?

So you are given ticket as blocking traffic?

 

[Steve]

It might help to know where you are.

 

[waggy]

eh how did you manage to get a speeding ticket for going 30 in a 50?

 

[krunchykrome]

Sorry, I meant 50 in a 30.

 

[sillymofo]

How about Trial by Declaration? The judge will never listen to your "explaination", because he has heard plenty, and will not give a hoot about what you'd have to say. If everybody starts doing the same thing, that is quit pleading guilty and hope for pitty, and start fighting back by not even going to court, eventually, they'll get the point.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: gunblade

Originally posted by: Orsorum
30 in a 50?

So you are given ticket as blocking traffic?

Well, I realize what the possible offense is, but I've only heard of its being given out once in five years of driving.

 

[Bulk Beef]

What I want to do is to go to court and plead guilty with explanation.

3. Guilty with explanation: Sign the "request for waiver hearing: guilty with explanation

Seems pretty clear to me. If you wanted to contest the charge, you would pick #2. You don't. Pick 3.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: sward666

What I want to do is to go to court and plead guilty with explanation.

3. Guilty with explanation: Sign the "request for waiver hearing: guilty with explanation

Seems pretty clear to me. If you wanted to contest the charge, you would pick #2. You don't. Pick 3.

But will this hopefully give me the chance of reducing the points? Whats the difference?

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

What is your explanation?

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: Yo_Ma-Ma
What is your explanation?

I rush in a rush and I wasnt paying attention.

 

[dbk]

That really won't hold up..I say just pay the ticket and accept your fault. You could kill those points by taking one of those driver's clinincs during the weekend

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: Yo_Ma-Ma
What is your explanation?

I rush in a rush and I wasnt paying attention.

Well, I'm wondering if #2 might be a better option? Seems like a good explanation might be something of a medical nature. It might be different in your state, but I had a speeding ticket here in MI and went to court and spoke to the officer beforehand, apologizing for the speeding as well as the time taken in coming to court (etc.) and asking if they would be opposed to me asking for the judge "taking it under advisement" [I got this advice from a talk show ] and it worked, no points, I was just under some kind of extra watch for 12 mos then it was removed from my record. If I'd gotten another ticket during the 12 mos then the original infraction would have gone through with the points. There were some costs involved but none so bad as getting the actual points.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: bykim5
That really won't hold up..I say just pay the ticket and accept your fault. You could kill those points by taking one of those driver's clinincs during the weekend

And how much do these kinds of classes cost roughly?
You dont think the judge would be understanding if I said that I was in a rush and I understand it was irresponsible and I wasnt paying attention at that moment? I have only had one ticket before this one...2 years ago!

 

[MalikChen]

Defensive driving courses (that's what we have here), not only erase a ticket from your record (if the judge says OK), but they also lower your insurance about 10%.

 

[OFFascist]

Do not plead guilty.

Even if you know you are guilty ask for a trial by jury if your state offers it.

You will have to pay for the overtime costs of a cop if you lose though, however before the trial ever happens the prosecutor will likely give you some plea bargain options. This is so they can get some or most of the cost of the ticket without having to waste resources in a trial.

So you can negotiate somewhat with them if you want and change your plea to guilty or no contest.

Personally I would still go to trial and hope the jury would let me off.

 

[dbk]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: bykim5
That really won't hold up..I say just pay the ticket and accept your fault. You could kill those points by taking one of those driver's clinincs during the weekend

And how much do these kinds of classes cost roughly?
You dont think the judge would be understanding if I said that I was in a rush and I understand it was irresponsible and I wasnt paying attention at that moment? I have only had one ticket before this one...2 years ago!

Since you haven't gotten a ticket in the last two years then you could give it a shot. I think the class costs around $100, takes about 8 hours..and can give you +5 points(not really sure about that). It can be totally different in your state...I live in VA

 

[OFFascist]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
And how much do these kinds of classes cost roughly?
You dont think the judge would be understanding if I said that I was in a rush and I understand it was irresponsible and I wasnt paying attention at that moment? I have only had one ticket before this one...2 years ago!

Depends.

I got a ticket for going 40 in a 30 and they wanted me to pay $110.

The plea bargain offer the prosecutor gave me was to take the defensive driving thing, but it was going to cost $120.

I chose to go to trial and the case was dismissed.

 

[Bulk Beef]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: sward666

What I want to do is to go to court and plead guilty with explanation.

3. Guilty with explanation: Sign the "request for waiver hearing: guilty with explanation

Seems pretty clear to me. If you wanted to contest the charge, you would pick #2. You don't. Pick 3.

But will this hopefully give me the chance of reducing the points? Whats the difference?

In all the times I went to traffic court (a LOT), I always plead "guilty with an explanation." The fine ALWAYS got reduced. The points NEVER got reduced.

 

[cucumber]

I don't know how it works in your state, but the couple of tickets I got, I went to court. I pleaded no contest to them. The judge cut the fine in half both times, and one of the times ordered traffic school (was around $50). The first was not stoping at a stop sign (I did a rolling stop). The second was speeding (57 in a 40 zone). The second one was where I was ordered to attend traffic school. Pretty much anyone who tried to argue their case was not even listened to. If it's the cop's word against yours, the cop allways wins.

They checked my record on computer right there in the court and since my record is almost perfect they assigned no points and reduces the fines. I live in Florida. It might be different where you are, but I would take it to court and stand before a judge. I figure you might even get more leniency if your facing the person (if you go well dressed and clean. The thug look does not go over well......they always got it harsher treatment) then if you just send in the ticket using the 3rd opotion.

Absolutely do not just pay the ticket. You'll get the points. Since you have a good record so far they'll likely go easy on you.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
3. Guilty with explanation: Sign the "request for waiver hearing: guilty with explanation" statement on the back of envelope. Do NOT SEND PAYMENT AT THIS TIME. You will be mailed a notice of your hearing. Since there will be no trial, witnesses and officers will not be present . At the hearing the court will hear from you only for the purposes of imposing a trial.

99% of the time, unless you honestly WERE innocent, this is the best option. Explain it well, ask to take driving school or whatever, do what it takes...and you will get the fine sharply reduced and hopefully no points (at least nothing your insurance agent will know about).

 

[backinsac]

I went to an online traffic school. It cost about $16 and only took abount an hour. This is for a California ticket.