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Speeding ticket

SonicIce

SonicIce

Diamond Member
If you get a speeding ticket it is best to go to court and plead guilty, or just pay the ticket through the mail?
 
SonicIce said:
If you get a speeding ticket it is best to go to court and plead guilty, or just pay the ticket through the mail?
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I would go to court, yes you'll waste your entire day while you sit there but you may get the points dropped and just have to pay reduced fine. Somehow mailing it in with a check doesn't seem right.

Last time i got a ticket for failure to stop a stop sign, the guy in front of me was pulled over for doing 120 in a 65 on the interstate in his Porsche. The DA was so pissed at that guy being a total douche and lying about the whole thing, when they got to me, she said, oh just a stop sign offense, we can reduce this to a lesser offense, you only have to pay this amount and no points. 🙂
 
That's cool. I've never had anything before. So I should go to the court and say guilty? I don't think I will get off easy as the cop said it was 55 in a 30 🙁
 
some states have the option to take a defensive driving course which will clear the violation if you don't get another ticket in a set period of time. I know texas is like that, having taken the courses both on line and in a storefront.

another option is a traffic lawyer if you don't have the time to go to court.
 
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SonicIce said:
If you get a speeding ticket it is best to go to court and plead guilty, or just pay the ticket through the mail?
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Do you mean go to court to plead not guilty? I don't see the point of going to court to plead guilty, you can just pay the ticket and mark guilty on the ticket.
 
I've gone to the court house for all 3 of my tickets. Just show up and say you're sorry. They dropped the points on all 3 of mine...
 
dawp said:
some states have the option to take a defensive driving course which will clear the violation if you don't get another ticket in a set period of time. I know texas is like that, having taken the courses both on line and in a storefront.
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This or check to see if you can get diversion in your state, basically the same thing but you just pay a slightly higher fine but no def driving course...oh and you can't get another ticket in a specific period of time or they both drop on your record, usually 6-12 months
 
you might also see if they have deferred adjudication. you pay the fine and if you don't get another ticket in a year, the ticket is dismissed.
 
Last time I got a ticket I used a lawyer. Had to pay $500 but the ticket was reduced to a parking ticket lol. It was a 84 in a 55. that would have been big time fine + points raising my insurance premium so in my case it was well worth it.
 
M0oG0oGaiPan said:
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Last time I got a ticket I wasted $50 on one of those traffic lawyers, and then took a few hours off of work and went to the court house.

What happened? Everybody who showed up at court had their ticket dismissed. Those who no showed had arrest warrants issued.

Of course this was Dallas and in smaller municipalities the cop will probably actually show up to court.
 
Well I just got back. Said no contest. They lowered the fine a bit but after court costs it ended up almost the same as if I just mailed it, $207 as opposed to $225 and still got 2 points... Kind of a waste of time.
 
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Always plead not guilty if you are actually going there in person. Otherwise you might as well just send it in with a plead of guilty.
 
dawp said:
you might also see if they have deferred adjudication. you pay the fine and if you don't get another ticket in a year, the ticket is dismissed.
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This is usually the main reason to go to the court date. Did you not have an option to get the ticket deferred?
 
Last time I went for one of those photo radar vans. Turns out the cop put out the wrong sign in front of the van, so everyone got their ticket tossed. Mine was about $300 I think. Worth it for me, and I was only there for maybe an hour.
 
SonicIce said:
Well I just got back. Said no contest. They lowered the fine a bit but after court costs it ended up almost the same as if I just mailed it, $207 as opposed to $225 and still got 2 points... Kind of a waste of time.
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Sorry I did not see this earlier as I was out of country - could have given you advice based on experience.

a. First option : Pay $50 to an attorney and get it wiped clean with some inane fine that does not affect your points. ALWAYS RECOMMENDED.

b. 2nd : get the date deferred yourself. Some courts you can call and get this done; at others, you have to go in person, but of course, before the actual date. Do this a couple of times (some counties allow only once), and by the time you make an appearance, the cop does not, and it gets reduced/thrown out. (I have not done this myself, but a friend used to be an expert in this).

c. 3rd option : represent yourself on the said date, but meet with the clerk before 'court is in session', and express the intention of pleading not guilty. By the time it's your turn, they just tap it down to just a fine.

d. You could take a defensive drivers course and escape point-free. The course is a couple of hours long, and is online nowadays, and costs some money, but can be used only once in 12 months.

I've had 9 'moving' tickets in NJ, NY and FL, and in 7 I have used (a) above. In one I did (c), and the last time I used (d) - an online 'defensive driver' course, which costs around $200 but lets you off without points; of course you can use that only once a year!

Remember, when I paid the attorney, I still paid the fine ranging from $85 to $250 (depending on the gravity of my offence), but I never got points added to my license, so my insurance was never affected.
 
Remember that the citing officer not being there is not means for dismissal in many cases. The officer's sworn statement against you is evidence as he is an officer of the court. Some judges are annoyed when the citing officer doesn't show and dismiss the cases though, but don't assume that will happen. 🙂

Some courts will allow you to "fight the case" through the mail which can sometimes draw things out long enough the cases are dismissed on technicalities.

I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on the Internet either, so if I have to deal with the gub'ment in any fashion, I always have counsel. I'm not an expert and don't pretend to be. My odds of winning are increased immensely with the guidance of counsel.
 
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