[Anonymous]

This is very random but… I got a speeding ticket last night (a speed trap at the bottom of a large hill) and it’s the 2nd one in 6 months (the other was on a highway which isn’t considered a highway so the speedlimit was 55). Both are very much my fault, but at the same time are frustrating considering both were past 10:00pm with absolutely no one around. Had they been at 7am going the same speeds, no one would be pulled over.

I’m doing online supervision for the first one but you can’t do it twice in 12 months. These are the only tickets I’ve ever gotten. What do I do? Also, I’m 23.

[Recked]

Alright, Keep in mind I am from NY and NY uses speeding tickets as revenue producers. Not sure which state you are in, but considering I wasted my 20's on making cars go too f'in fast, I'll share some real world knowledge with you.

First off never just plead guilty and pay the fine. Always plead not guilty, always go to court. You don't need a lawyer, if you are in a plea down state you just represent yourself. Never ask for the officer deposition, this makes more paperwork for them and they are less likely to plea it down.
More likely than not there will be a pre-trial meeting. In NYS you would meet with the officer, but they got tired of paying OT for court so now you meet with a low level assistant DA. You give them some reasonable excuse/sob story, accept that you were going to fast(responsibility) you will be more careful not to let it happen again, but are hoping for a break because you have a mortgage/kid to feed/got laid off/ money is tight. 90% of the time the speeding charge will be dropped to a no-point infraction to prevent your insurance from going up, and it just costs you a fine and court charges.

If you were going 15-20 over they might give you a failure to obey a traffic controlling device which carries 2 points. If you were under 10mph over (they probably would not pull you over) and they will drop it to some nonsense charge like parking on pavement.

NYS uses a driver's license point system, the severity of the infraction dictates the number of points applied to your driving account, and I think every point would result in something like a 10% increase in your insurance.

Your state may or may not have this type of trial/charge reduction system in place, but I would firmly believe you can get the ticket reduced to something lower. All the state wants is their revenue. Anyone telling you to pay the ticket and be more careful next time doesn't know the way the system works. Between the ages of 16 and 26 I can't even count the number of times I was pulled over and given tickets, and during all that time I think I only ended up with 2 points on my license.

Going to court is still going to cost you time and money for the fine and court fees, but if it keeps the points off your record the real savings is in your insurance over the next 3-5 years.

#gear head life, specializing in motor swaps, forced induction and laying frame on 20's

[Anonymous]

Do you have to know much about the law to be able to represent one's self? I'm in Illinois and they use the same point system. Let me ask this, would it be worth it to just plead guilty and whatnot if the insurance company doesn't increase my rate since it's the first ticket on my record?

[Recked]

You're not actually fighting the ticket. Legitimately fighting a speeding ticket is impossible. It's your word vs a cop and the judge will always rule for the cop.
A lawyer tries to find loopholes or technicalities to get the case thrown out. A mistake on the ticket, or questioning the radar/laser gun and the last time it was calibrated, things of that nature.
By going to court all you are hoping for is to plea it down. Your insurance company may already know about your first ticket. I am not familiar with your online supervision, but that indicates to me that it's on your driving record, but was “dismissed” due to alternative rehabilitation.

You can call your insurance company anonymously, or if you have an insurance agent you can contact them to ask “off the record” questions to see if its worth your time to go to court.
I know many people that would rather just pay the ticket rather than deal with the hassle. I was very familiar with the process and how the courts/plea deal worked, so I always went to court. Sometimes I got lucky and the cop was a no-show and the ticket was thrown out, but now that they use a DA that rarely happens. Your state might still require the cop to show up. Your state might not plea down tickets just to get money out of you. What do you have to lose?

[Anonymous]

The first ticket did not go on my record. The only concern I have is the court fees. The court I'm assigned to has a $120 speeding ticket turn into $312 with the most absurd charges. If it doesn't affect my insurance rating then it's really just a gamble on whether it will get dismissed or not, although I'm not sure if I still have to pay court fees if it's dismissed. If it's just pleaded down I would guess I would have to.

[alloverit]

@Recked

And while he's busy doing all this guess what he's NOT doing?

The money he might save on insurance premiums will have already been expended on the opportunity cost of jumping through all these hoops.

Good luck emerged

[Recked]

To each their own.
I'll just give you an example for NY, which according to Geico each point would result in a 10% increase in insurance back in 2005ish.
lets also assume insurance was roughly $2000 a year. and the insurance premium increase would be in effect for 3-5 years or until the points rolled off your record, which i believe was 3 years at the time.

Parking on pavement = 0 points
Failure to obey a traffic control device = 2 points
Speeding 11-20mph over = 4 points
Speeding 21-30 over = 6 points.

2 hours spent at evening traffic court = $0

Getting a 6 or 4 point ticket dropped to 2 points would result in 20-40% insurance savings a year for a minimum of 3 years.
400-800/year x 3 years = 1200-2400

I had numerous 4 point tickets dropped to 0 point infractions.

There is now way I could make $1200-2400 in 2 hours in my early 20's.
Also keep in mind most states have point caps/drivers license suspensions. In NY if you were convicted of 3 infractions in 12-18 months you lost your license for a year.

I am in no way bragging about my foolish 20's, but when I was riding motorcycles my tickets could have resulted in suspensions many times over. I went to court, played the game, got the plea deals, they got their money, I kept my license and saved on the insurance. To each their own. My motor vehicle rap sheet was longer than your arm. I liked to go too fast. Young and stupid.

[Recked]

This might help.
https://answers.justia.com/question/2018/06/05/speeding-ticket-1-1-18-did-traffic-schoo-433191
Speeding ticket 1/1/18. Did traffic school/got supervision. Again ticket 5/16/18. How do I plead to ask for supervision
I'm 68 yo never had a ticket only prior supervision 5/24/2013. Have a transcript. Can I ask for supervision again and how do I plead? Or should I just pay the fine?

A: You have to go to court and ask for Court Supervision. You are allowed two Court Supervisions in a 12 month period, so you should be fine.

Also this
https://answers.justia.com/question/2018/05/30/i-got-a-ticket-for-going-70-in-a-45-will-431552
I suggest you appear in court for a couple of reasons. In Cook County, if you appear in court and the Police Officer is not in court, the ticket should be dismissed. If you appear in court and the Officer is in court, you should be eligible for Court Supervision, which depends on your driving history. If you are not able to appear in court, you could always hire an attorney to appear on your behalf.

[Anonymous]

So do you just go in and plead not guilty and ask for a court supervision? I emailed the officer and asked if we could talk about the ticket, who knows if it will amount to anything but it's worth a shot. It's honestly been a rough year for a lot of reasons, maybe he'll be merciful, but if he isn't that's fine too, I'll what I rightfully deserve.

I assume I plead not guilty and ask for court supervision or something? The court fees would be worth the points on the record. I would also lose my safe driver discount thing since it's my first one.

edit: I swear I'll be done with this soon!

[TommyTheCat]

ha this is funny as hell. what a bunch of silly stuff going on here.

for a friggin speeding ticket.

emerged did you take the 74 on AUD to the supreme court? Or were you too busy fighting a fix-it ticket to deal with that?

[Anonymous]

And here I thought these forums were all civil

[Nikki374]

@tommythecat, oh my goodness, your sarcasm is killing me. 😂😂😂 thanks for the laugh!

[alloverit]

“If you haven't turned rebel by twenty you've got no heart; if you haven't turned establishment by thirty you've got no brains!” – Kevin Spacey

Got get em tiger…GRRRR!

[lam2848]

There isn't much point to contest the speeding ticket, especially since you said it was your fault. You don't have a defense. $200 is a lot but I know from experience that it doesn't have to be paid right away. I wouldn't worry about it, I would focus on your CPA.

[TommyTheCat]

silly questions warrant silly responses.

[jeff]

Experience tells me that a thread with a seemingly innocuous title with 30 responses is an outlier and is about to go off the rails. 🙂

[Author]

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