Speeding ticket question...

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
2
81
Question friend asked me....


She got a speeding ticket in the state of New York about four years ago. She was going to school in Illinois at the time, and it was on a break when she was going back home (lived in Mass). Anyway, she got pulled over for a 71 in a 55, and wanted to fight it so she requested a trial via mail. This is the only area of I90 where the speed limit drops from 65, down to 55, and then back up to 65 in a 1 mile stretch for no reason, perfect trap.

She mailed back and forth with them for a few months trying to find a mutual trial date. She would reject a trial date because she was in school, and they would send another date, and nothing was working out. Then suddenly one day (3.5 years ago) she got something in the mail that looked like a notification of a warrant for her arrest in NY. She sent another letter asking about that and when a trial date would be negotiated (they were ignoring her when she said what dates would work).

Long story short, she never heard back from them, and 4 years later is wondering what the reprocussions of this will be. My answer: No f!@$ clue.... if they havnt done anything yet, prob should just stay out of NY heh.

 

OdiN

Banned
Mar 1, 2000
16,430
3
0
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
she has a warrant for her arrest in new york

So if she gets pulled over in NY = go to jail?

That is usually what happens when you have a warrant for arrest.
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
2
81
Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
she has a warrant for her arrest in new york

So if she gets pulled over in NY = go to jail?

That is usually what happens when you have a warrant for arrest.

Interesting..... but they will arrest over a speeding ticket? She is thinking of trying to straighten things out, but I said it is probably best to let a sleeping dog lie.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
146
I think I would have just paid the ticket and have been done with it.

For four years, she has had to deal with this.

Speed traps are everywhere, and I doubt she could talk her way out of it.

Everybody claims that they didn't see the signs, however the sign with the bright orange flags on them are hard to miss.
 

imported_Dimicron

Senior member
Jan 24, 2005
327
0
0
By the time she pays the late fees/penalties and everything else, she'd have paid enough money to buy a fully loaded Hummer 2 outright and keep it gassed up for 6 months probably.
 

Noirish

Diamond Member
May 2, 2000
3,959
0
0
the lesson here -> pay your ticket!

even if it changes from 65 -> 55 -> 65, it doesn't invalidate the fact that she's over speed limit.
 

KLin

Lifer
Feb 29, 2000
30,508
796
126
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
she has a warrant for her arrest in new york

So if she gets pulled over in NY = go to jail?

That is usually what happens when you have a warrant for arrest.

Interesting..... but they will arrest over a speeding ticket? She is thinking of trying to straighten things out, but I said it is probably best to let a sleeping dog lie.

Is there an echo? The answer is YES.
 

ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
Originally posted by: dxkj

Interesting..... but they will arrest over a speeding ticket? She is thinking of trying to straighten things out, but I said it is probably best to let a sleeping dog lie.

Will they arrest?? Absolutely! Big question here is will Illinois extradite?
 
Nov 7, 2000
16,403
3
81
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: OdiN
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
she has a warrant for her arrest in new york

So if she gets pulled over in NY = go to jail?

That is usually what happens when you have a warrant for arrest.

Interesting..... but they will arrest over a speeding ticket? She is thinking of trying to straighten things out, but I said it is probably best to let a sleeping dog lie.
The arrest isnt for the ticket, its for failing to appear for the court date.

 

bradruth

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
13,479
2
81
Originally posted by: dxkj
Interesting..... but they will arrest over a speeding ticket? She is thinking of trying to straighten things out, but I said it is probably best to let a sleeping dog lie.

No, they won't arrest her for a speeding ticket...they'll arrest her for Failure to Pay fines from the speeding ticket.
 

LOFBenson

Member
Sep 11, 2000
123
1
0
She probably has a warrant for failure to appear. I'm not sure about NY law but any officer can and probably will now arrest her/book her into jail. Her warrant will probably show up in any state. She needs to contact the court in question and find out where she can turn herself in. Warrants do not just go away.
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
Ignorance of the law is not considered to be an excuse.

She broke the speed limit easily by 10+ mph.

As far as the court was concerned, she could have been stalling with all the trial dates "iunavailable" request.

They gave her plenty of chances and she did not agree.

Finally some clerk, looked at the communication log and said; "to heck with this". Put her on the docket, send her a drop dead date and then let her decide to pay or appear.

She did neither, a warrant was issued. If she gets pulled over for any infraction and her license is run, she will be off to the pokey until she clears up the situation. And once in jail, those situations do not get cleared up without expensive lawyers :( No local law enforcement is going to listen to her excuses or look into the warrant.

The cost of the situation will grow until she pays up. She has been found guilty; therefore no appeal will work. She signed the ticket agreeing to appear, she did not do so.
 

vrbaba

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2003
3,266
0
71
umm... noone mentions getting a lawyer yet?
for about 500-1000 (usually including fees, the matter could be settled).

She should have hired one and paid him like 200-300 bucks or so...so the lawyer would do all the work and no points on insurance.
 

Metron

Golden Member
Oct 16, 2003
1,163
0
0
Originally posted by: vrbaba
umm... noone mentions getting a lawyer yet?
for about 500-1000 (usually including fees, the matter could be settled).

She should have hired one and paid him like 200-300 bucks or so...so the lawyer would do all the work and no points on insurance.

Some lawyers specialize in this area... have her search in NY for attorneys or contact the NY Bar for a referral. Will end up being cheaper than the ticket, fines, late fees, jail time, lost wages, bail, etc.
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
2
81
She showed me all of the documentation and copies of the letters she sent..... As a fulltime student she couldnt just drop everything and drive 5 states for a court apperance...

Do late fees continue to add up, or is there an upper limit on that? I asked and she got pulled over twice in Illinois with license run and no red flags. (apparently she used to have a Mass license, and now has an Illinois license)

The point about fighting the speeding ticket.... according to her she was going the speed of traffic, and there were semis packed in the right lane so there was no way for her to see the speed limit change, after the first sign she was nailed, it was a trap and there was no way for her to know the change of speed limit, hence wanting to fight it.

 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
2
81
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Ignorance of the law is not considered to be an excuse.

She broke the speed limit easily by 10+ mph.

As far as the court was concerned, she could have been stalling with all the trial dates "iunavailable" request.

They gave her plenty of chances and she did not agree.

Finally some clerk, looked at the communication log and said; "to heck with this". Put her on the docket, send her a drop dead date and then let her decide to pay or appear.

She did neither, a warrant was issued. If she gets pulled over for any infraction and her license is run, she will be off to the pokey until she clears up the situation. And once in jail, those situations do not get cleared up without expensive lawyers :( No local law enforcement is going to listen to her excuses or look into the warrant.

The cost of the situation will grow until she pays up. She has been found guilty; therefore no appeal will work. She signed the ticket agreeing to appear, she did not do so.

I looked at all of her letters. She never received a letter saying show up for this court date or you go to jail. She kept responding back trying to get them to move it to a time that she could attend. She was going to college and they said they would work with her.... I forget how the letter worded it. She probably won't be driving in NY again for years and years, if she is on a different drivers license now how will it show up as her?
 

nick1985

Lifer
Dec 29, 2002
27,153
6
81
Originally posted by: dxkj
As a fulltime student she couldnt just drop everything and drive 5 states for a court apperance...

Then maybe she should have paid her fvcking fine.
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
2
81
Originally posted by: nick1985
Originally posted by: dxkj
As a fulltime student she couldnt just drop everything and drive 5 states for a court apperance...

Then maybe she should have paid her fvcking fine.

I wouldn't have if I was in her position. She got fvcked by a cop who saw out of state plates and singled her out of a lot of traffic that was going FASTER or the same speed. She was in the center lane, and traffic was passing her on the left, 3 lane highway
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
5
0
Originally posted by: dxkj
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Ignorance of the law is not considered to be an excuse.

She broke the speed limit easily by 10+ mph.

As far as the court was concerned, she could have been stalling with all the trial dates "iunavailable" request.

They gave her plenty of chances and she did not agree.

Finally some clerk, looked at the communication log and said; "to heck with this". Put her on the docket, send her a drop dead date and then let her decide to pay or appear.

She did neither, a warrant was issued. If she gets pulled over for any infraction and her license is run, she will be off to the pokey until she clears up the situation. And once in jail, those situations do not get cleared up without expensive lawyers :( No local law enforcement is going to listen to her excuses or look into the warrant.

The cost of the situation will grow until she pays up. She has been found guilty; therefore no appeal will work. She signed the ticket agreeing to appear, she did not do so.

I looked at all of her letters. She never received a letter saying show up for this court date or you go to jail. She kept responding back trying to get them to move it to a time that she could attend. She was going to college and they said they would work with her.... I forget how the letter worded it. She probably won't be driving in NY again for years and years, if she is on a different drivers license now how will it show up as her?

The problem is that she ignored the situation. After the court system tried multiple times, some paperwork may have got misplaced, or as previously stated, it started looking like a stall job.

Therefore the last date set by the court would apply.

Some mitigation could still occur if you can show that they received her last correspondence and they do not have any later than that back to her. However, she is the party responsible; she was asking for a deferrment.

With regards to the license; NY will have probably notified MA regarding the situation and MA will have a flag on her license. Some states will detect that flag when a change of address occurrs.

It will be difficult to get from anywhere to Mass without going through NY.
Also, it could show up in car rental systems when they interregate the driver records.
It will show up regarding insurance policies.

As long as a warrant exists, she is at risk when any legal infraction and/or brush with the law occurs.



 

cavemanmoron

Lifer
Mar 13, 2001
13,664
28
91
Originally posted by: LOFBenson
She probably has a warrant for failure to appear. I'm not sure about NY law but any officer can and probably will now arrest her/book her into jail. Her warrant will probably show up in any state. She needs to contact the court in question and find out where she can turn herself in. Warrants do not just go away.

Deal with it Now,
before she looses on a job,that has security issues;

And if a background check is done,she could be arrested anyways.

Tell your "friend" to get a lawyer;Now.