Ticket
 

Today i got my first ticket and the officer said i was doing 45 in a 30 on a long stretch of downhill. My car was in neutral and i let my car coast down and i saw the cops too late hiding behind a snow bank. I have a clean record and i was wondering if it is a good idea to fight this ticket in court. i just turned 21 is that information helps.

Always fight a ticket in court if possible, in most cases they are looking to give steeper fines in exchange for keeping a clean driving record. The clean record will pay for itself in insurance costs that rise with having points on your license and in most states if you are going under 100 they will have leeway.

Do a driver education course, online if possible. Even if they don't drop the ticket, the course alone will reduce your points. Your state might also offer some kind of disposition to get out of the ticket.

One thing I love about Texas, I can get 2 tickets a year without anything going on my record. I've gotten pulled over so many times here and almost nothing has stuck. It's really quite a miracle. I've had 2 or 3 warnings, two tickets disappear into thin air, and the rest I just take the disposition or the driving course and they drop it, and both of those can be used annually.

You have to be one crazy sob to rack up a bad driving record in Texas if you ask me.

Wow, you got a ticket just for that? Cops in my area wouldn't bother with me for doing that. Just the other day I saw someone speeding at least 20 mph over the speed limit to beat a red light in front of a cop and there was no pursuit.

Glad I live in Cali, where going 90 on the freeway with a 65 limit is considered "normal" (given there's no heavy traffic).

Don't coast down a hill in neutral...

Not familiar with laws in Connecticut, but in NC we can use a Prayer for Judgment (PFJ) that will get you out of the ticket - you only owe the court costs, I believe. Ticket doesn't go on your record or insurance. The sticky point is that if you get another ticket in something like a two year period, both tickets come back on your record. You may have something similar in your state.

Otherwise, I would just go to court and ask for a reduction. Get it reduced to 9 over and it shouldn't count any points against your insurance, so your premium will not increase. Just pay the fine and court costs and be done with it.

If this is your only ticket, your "good driving record" will probably wipe it and you'll just end up paying court fees.

always fight tickets

Thanks for the feedback. Any tips on how to approach the jury and officer in court? Telling them I have a clean driving record.

Really depends on the state. Everyone told me to fight a ticket I got in PA that was written for 10 over, but in the comments the cop wrote just the number "76" which was the actual speed I was going, which was 21 over. One of those roads where nobody goes 55 and I was following traffic and got picked out of the bunch. In MD, they usually let everyone off easy for a first offense, which this was, so I went to court. I got there and the judge told me that she saw the number 76 in the comments of the ticket, and if I even argued my case that I could be charged for the 76mph instead of 65 I was written up for. I said have a nice day, and went and paid the fine. I don't know if they treated me different for being out of state or what. I guess I should be happy the cop only wrote the ticket for 10 over in the first place. I'm confident from what Iv'e heard about my own state may have worked with me a little more being my first offense.

Man up, and pay up...

I second the man up and pay. Take a class so your insurance doesn't go up much. It will eventually go down at 25. Just don't get caught next time.

Side story: I got my first ticket in 12 year when I moved to Indiana. I found out that you can pay a fee on top of the speeding ticket so they don't put it permanently in your record. My first thought, I'm bribing the the local government.

If you have a clean driving record, complete an easy 20 dollar online safety course, and go to the court and say sorry I screwed up, here's what I did, they will almost definitely throw your case out.

You might even end up with a better record than before with the points bonus from the course. Assuming your state works that way, TX and VA do.

Go to the district attorney's office first. They might be able to drop it for you. I've got nothing on my record because of that. You'll probably still have to pay court costs. If that doesn't work, then go to court- there's a pretty decent chance the officer won't show up. Also, ask for the calibration records for whatever device they were using. Most places require that they keep them properly maintained.

NEVER hurts to go to court. If your record is clean and you tell the judge you've never had a ticket, he may reduce it or toss it......or.......ask you why you didn't put your foot on the brake. Depends on his mood that day. Or the officer might not show up for court (it happens) and if the judge asks if you want a continuance.....your answer is NO and then they dismiss it because there is no one in court to provide evidence against you. Wear a shirt and tie, don't go in jeans and a T-shirt because that basically says you have no respect for the court.

True story: I was in court one time and the guy 2 cases before me had some type of serious violation because the judge asked him if he wanted to get a lawyer and the guy says no he didn't. Then the judge says the officer who gave him the ticket wasn't in court and did he want a continuance and he said...............yes. What a dummy was all I could think.

So were you actually speeding? Sounds like yes. If that's the case man up, its not the end of the world.

Yup, please do not waste my tax dollars trying to defraud me.

Going to court isn't necessarily about dodging the fine, it's about trying to avoid points on your license. At least for me it would be.

Also, legitimately using the system isn't defrauding it and wasting tax dollars. Court costs and fines collected pay for a part of it too.

I would go to court and ask for a reduced fine or waive it with traffic school and say this is your first time getting a ticket and you've had a clean record.

[QUOTE=TheVoiceOfReason;2163783]Going to court isn't necessarily about dodging the fine, it's about trying to avoid points on your license. At least for me it would be.

You make it seem like you get a moving violation more often than average person.

To the OP, what is most likely going to happen is a deferral since it's your first violation. Lesson learned right?...go with the flow of traffic and don't speed during the night if you're the only one on the road.

Yeah. I feel as if the cops were out there giving everyone tickets though because as i was pulled over, 6 other people were pulled over from the second cop that was also there.

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Don't get caught in NS speeding. 1-15km/h over is $230. And I would say try to fight the ticket, around here at least you can't make it any worse by fighting it, so there's nothing to lose. Could be reduced, could be thrown out.

I can see why it would seem that way by the way I said it, but iv'e had one ticket in about 10 years of driving. My point is, telling someone to "man up" pay the fine and not defraud the system doesn't make sense. Going to court for your first violation and saying you're sorry isn't fraud, or really wasting tax dollars. They may let you off for your first violation, or at least work with you to reduce it a little. This is how the system is intended. If you tell me it's your 3rd violation this year and you want to go to court for some mercy(I know someone who did this. Didn't turn out well)? I say "man up" and pay the fine.

Yeah this is my first ticket within the 5 years i've had my license.

Nah, I don't think it's defrauding the system either. My first violation at 18 was removed from my record simply because I asked. I just had to pay for the court cost and traffic school. I took responsibility for my mistake and did not try to get out of it.

Jury?? Are you expecting a jury of your peers to decide your guilt? That would be prety funny actually...

Call the court, ask for a change of date. Go to court on the new date, hope the cop can't make it, get ticket dismissed. If cop does make it, don't give a ton of excuses - the judge has heard them all. If there was snow on the roadway, you can say you tried to slow down but the pedal made a weird sound/vibration and you thought something was wrong. You don't have to be an expert on ABS systems. ;). Again though, excuses only go so far. If its your first ticket then say so. And take traffic school if offered to keep your insurance down.

BTW in some places coasting down a hill in neutral is illegal so if you try to fight it don't mention that.

I got cited in my BRZ for 80 mph in a 70 mph zone when my speedometer read 74 mph. I fought it via mail and won using a traffic lawyer I found online. Cost as much as the ticket would have been, but at least it stays off my record and hopefully discourages the lying cop.

Fucking this. It was so easy. I did 80 I'm a 55 (work zone) and a state trooper pulled me over. Found a lawyer online, paid him, it didn't go on my record. I didn't even speak to them, the whole thing took place via email. This was like 10 years ago, different car.

Bet you wish you had a 9500ix about now :)