Speeding ticket.

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: CasioTech
Has anyone had a ticket like this one? It is my first ticket. Should I take it to court and represent myself or should I hire an attorney. What should I plead. It just so happens that it was raining pretty bad and I was in a hurry to get to my Ortho because of a tooth ache. Does that matter? Any advice?

stop speeding in school zones. its 15 MPH, and if there are kids in the crosswalk at any position, you have to stop. its not negotiable at any rate, and here in arizona they just TRIPLED the fine for this ticket. it now costs over 360 bucks when you get it. nicec, eh? im all for it, i have 3 kids that could be walking across that street when you or someone "in a hurry" like you is speeding thru there.

 

[Mrfrog840]

I thought that school zone tickets were NON-Reducable. In fact I am almost positive that you will not get this reduced. and also hope that the judge isnt an a-hole.

Ive had friends that got tickets for speeding in a school zone, the judge was not friendly....

 

[spidey07]

28 over in a school zone!!!!????

I'm surprised they didn't lock you up and take away your license. The judge is liable to throw the book at you. Better get an attorney if you hope to keep your license.

 

[murphy55d]

School zones are 15mph here as well.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: CasioTech
Dont' people get away with these things all the time. An attorney told me that it's $70 and court costs and I would get no points. Is that a good deal?

depends, how much is your insurance going to go up a month? here, if you havent taken driving school classes in the last 2 years you can take the class and get the ticket pretty much torn up. no filing at all. is that not an option in your city? everywhere in arizona has that clause.

 

[Jeraden]

lol, its easy for everyone to say don't speed through school zones, until you actually drive through a school zone and see how ridiculously slow 15MPH is. I drive through one every single day in the morning and constantly have to remember to slow down to 15, as the normal speed limit is 25, and even that seems slow. Especially where there isn't a single child to be seen anywhere. Its not like there are always huge lights flashing everywhere to slow down to 15. One little sign on the side of the road with an occasionally noticeable yellow light on it to remind you, which you frequently forget to even notice while you are groggily driving to work in the morning.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Krazy4Real
Wow, I've never seen a school speed limit that low. Everywhere around here it's 25. I thought the cop gave you ticket for going 3 over, which would be crazy. If it really was only 15 and it's your first offense, just go to traffic school or get court supervision.

for elementary here its all 15mph. high school and middle schools are 25 or 35 and the ticket is a speeding ticket instead of speeding in a school zone. all states are different on those fine details

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: Krazy4Real
Wow, I've never seen a school speed limit that low. Everywhere around here it's 25. I thought the cop gave you ticket for going 3 over, which would be crazy. If it really was only 15 and it's your first offense, just go to traffic school or get court supervision.

It gets that low because too many kids have been hit causing a injury or death. They dont fvck around at school crossing. They dont care that your little tooth hurt, they care for is the safety of the children and it raining and you speeding in a school zone where the weather may cause you not to see a child running in front of your car, roads be slick to the point you may hit the child killing it, wont mean jack sh1t to the judge. I can promise you that. Your fvcked, you sped, in the worst of all places, on a sh1tty rainy day, I dont not feel for you and hope you get what is coming to you. To have taken the chance of hitting a child because of a hurt tooth is not a valid excuse in my book. IMO the fine isnt big enough for as fast as you were going in the conditions you were driving in.

That said though, go there pled guilty, and if this is your first ticket they will just slap your hand, most likely get supervision, but if you pled not guilty to this your gonna fuel the judge to throw the book at your for what you did and where you did it at. You wont get a slap, but I am sure since your trying to weasel your way out of it, when you could of easily took a childs life, he is going to make you ride the pain train, and give you the max he can give if found guilty going the "not guilty" route.

 

[xeemzor]

Originally posted by: spidey07
28 over in a school zone!!!!????

I'm surprised they didn't lock you up and take away your license. The judge is liable to throw the book at you. Better get an attorney if you hope to keep your license.

Oh yes, quite the speed demon there:roll:

To the OP, the speed limit means nothing without a valid and recent traffic engineering suvery.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: Jeraden
lol, its easy for everyone to say don't speed through school zones, until you actually drive through a school zone and see how ridiculously slow 15MPH is. I drive through one every single day in the morning and constantly have to remember to slow down to 15, as the normal speed limit is 25, and even that seems slow.

i drive thru 3 a day just on the way to drop my kids off at school and go to work. 15 is deadening slow, but running over a kid because you couldnt stop in time is not an alternative i really want to deal with either.

there is a school zone posted here in one of the rural indian reservations, it is almost 1 mile long and 15mph all the way thru. i have to cross this everytime i go to fix their systems. patience is a virtue.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: xeemzor

Originally posted by: spidey07
28 over in a school zone!!!!????

I'm surprised they didn't lock you up and take away your license. The judge is liable to throw the book at you. Better get an attorney if you hope to keep your license.

Oh yes, quite the speed demon there:roll:

To the OP, the speed limit means nothing without a valid and recent traffic engineering suvery.

yeah he is speed demon. he was going nearly twice the posted limit.

 

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: CasioTech


I'm from Fl. Do we have Deferred Adjudication?

In Florida it is called "Adjudication Withheld" and may require a Driver Safety course to be eligible. You'll need to find out how you request it in Florida. In Texas the Deferred Adjudication request is on the back of the ticket receipt.

 

[DougK62]

I got a ticket for 24 in a 20 school zone. It's best to just pay it and move on.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: CasioTech

Originally posted by: mundane

Originally posted by: rivan
...
A judge won't give a flying poop why you were speeding. You'll be saying blah, blah, toothache and he'll be thinking "you should have left 5 minutes earlier, then."

I imagine if the excuse were "I had to get to my dealer's house before he left for his probation hearing", the judge would care =)

I was trying to beat the rain and i'm not from that area... Are those things the judge would be interested in?

Speeding in the rain in a school zone that you're not familiar with? Yeah I'm sure the judge will be happy to hear that.

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Do defensive driving, which will take the ticket off your record. But as for the fine...It's probably double in a school zone, you might get a sympathetic judge?

 

[Soundmanred]

I went to court some years ago for going 85 in a 45. I thought I got yelled at pretty badly until a guy went before her with a school zone ticket. WOW. Here in OK, they WILL NOT reduce it or anything of the sort, it's taken very seriously.
And don't try to use excuses on the judge, that just pisses them off. It's like you telling them you felt it was ok to be speeding, and that you would do it again if the same circumstances arose. I lived next to a traffic court judge for a while and heard alot of what he thought and that was one thing he HATED.
YMMV in your state...

 

[Shyatic]

Just go to court and tell the prosecutor you want to request the records of the officer, his radar service records, etc.

Even if you're wrong (which you are) you are teaching the town not to make money off of you -- tickets are a business, they are a TAX. I fight EVERY ticket I get for that reason. I have 0 points

 

[dethman]

you were speeding. be a man, suck it up, pay the ticket.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: cheapgoose
I thought school zone is 25 mph

either way, it doesn't matter. cops will nail you for going 1 over in a school zone. This happened to a pal of mine.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: CasioTech

Originally posted by: waggy
the limit is what 20mph? so yeah 8 mph is over. go to court and ask for supervision.

it was 15. My fine is $279

whoa! nvm. you're fvcked

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: CasioTech

Originally posted by: mundane

Originally posted by: rivan
...
A judge won't give a flying poop why you were speeding. You'll be saying blah, blah, toothache and he'll be thinking "you should have left 5 minutes earlier, then."

I imagine if the excuse were "I had to get to my dealer's house before he left for his probation hearing", the judge would care =)

I was trying to beat the rain and i'm not from that area... Are those things the judge would be interested in?

he would be very interested in those, yes--in so much as he wants to hear you make more stupid excuses.

 

[zinfamous]

Or...you could tell him that there was a sale on Diesel jeans that you couldn't miss. I'm sure he'll understand then

 

[magnux]

Originally posted by: CasioTech
I'm from Fl. Do we have Deferred Adjudication?

Aw, hell. Florida? You're golden. Check the yellow pages, grab a traffic attorney. They're a dime a dozen out here. Most outcomes are a withhold of adjudication and court costs (~ $100 - $150). During my heyday I pulled in about 12 speeding tickets in a 1 year span (4 of which I was actually speeding.) The Ticket Clinic was my firm of choice at the time, and they never failed me once.

Just be glad you live in Florida.. and next time, slow down.

Good luck!

 

[SZLiao214]

In the 2 cities I've lived in Texas the speed limit in the school zones have actually both been 20. I havn't seen the "With children present" sign yet.

 

[Nyati13]

Originally posted by: SZLiao214
In the 2 cities I've lived in Texas the speed limit in the school zones have actually both been 20. I havn't seen the "With children present" sign yet.

That isn't part of Texas law. Here the law is that the speed limit is in force on school days within the time periods posted on the sign, or when the yellow light is flashing.