So I just got my first ticket. Any advice?

I've received maybe three tickets in 35 yrs of driving.

My best experience yet, was showing up in traffic court - ready to fight my ticket and plea my case before the judge - only to have him throw it out.

Only you know the truth and what the officer may have detected.

If you feel that you were wrongly accused and or you feel it's a judgment that could go wither way?

I'd clean myself up, take some pictures of the area maybe... whatever evidence I could find in my own support and then (after reminding the judge it's only a first offense) - take my chances in court.

 

Also good advice.

 

Take it from someone with a lot of experience in this "field of study". Typically this kind of thing can be dealt with at the clerks office. Go there first, explain your financial situation and request a payment plan, then ask the clerk what your options are to avoid an insurance rate increase. These options may include differed adjudication, or traffic school. If you're unable to negotiate a payment plan, your options are to request a court date or try to come up with the money. I recommend the latter.

Don't wait until the last minute. Git er dun!

 

First, stop whining about it.

Second, don't take it to court. If you do you will end up with court costs as well as the fine.

Third, many states allow for making payments to pay the fines. check with the clerk if this is an option.

Finally, sell your computer, cancel your cell service, ride the bus, do whatever you can to get the fine paid. If you don't they will suspend your license. Keep driving and the next time you're stopped you'll get a visit to the county jail and $160 turns into a couple of thousand.

 

Don't they have "driving/traffic school" in your state? All you have to do is sign up for it, spend however much time it takes the class in your state and then pay whatever else is left. By doing the driver/traffic school, your ticket doesn't go on your record (at least that's the way it was in my state (Texas) the last time I got a ticket which has been about 6 years ago. You save just a little, but not having it go on your record helps you with your insurance status as well as not having a strike against you in your driving record.

 

Do you have a credit card? If you do I would just put some of your current expenses on the credit card and save the $160 in cash for the ticket fine and then slowly pay off your credit card as you need to. I don't know what your living conditions are like so it may be rough for a little while but we all have to do what we can when (*)(*)(*)(*) happens.

 

pay the fine and slow down..no big deal..its just a ticket...

 

The court date is tomorrow. Wish me luck.

 

Damn, just how has America declined to this point - there are people in this world dying of AIDS epidemics, enduring starvation, famine, warfare on a daily basis - working 100 hours a week in sweatshops for cents an hour, and spending lifetimes in North Korean gulags for the crimes of their great-grandparents...

...and here in sheltered little America - we have 'mental freakouts' over getting a speeding ticket - if there ever was a great financial disaster - how the hell would we ever survive any longer than Lindsey Lohan if she was placed smack dab in the middle of Africa (without a pillow)?

Hint, I've been to jail - when I first hit 21 I got a DWI, and spent about a week in jail. Wasn't exactly pretty - but it's not the end of the world. And I delt with it, and moved on, and sure as hell didn't "freak out over it" - as if I'm such a special little organism in this planet of 7 billion people - that I have the right to 'freak out' over spending a couple days in a cell with a bunch of black men, when right now someone in a North Korean prison is being raped or tortured, or forced to pick corn kernels out of eat cow feces just to survive.

Even if I am a sheltered little American - I'd be too embarrassed to proudly proclaim it to the world - but that's just me

 

Well good luck with it Andro. It's no big deal. Hell, by the time I was 21, I had 18 moving violations including 3 wrecks.

Funny DWI story. I got picked up when I was 16 and blew a legally drunk number. Texas Highway Patrol turned me over to my mothers custody late that night. Next day dad and I went before the Justice of the Peace. The "hearing" took place in the JP's kitchen. Justice of the Peace Chino was also on my dad's school board so they obviously knew each other. Dad was sitting there fuming. JP Chino questioned me about the events of the night before.

"Son, where did you buy your beer?" He asked.
"Chino's." Was my one word and truthful answer.

JP Chino, who owned the local beer stop, looked over at my dad and said "Pat, you will take care of this won't you?"

 

Don't take the points on your driver's license, particularly if you're under 25 as your insurance rates will increase as the actuarial tables correlate the risk with moving violations and rates are adjusted up.

Hire an attorney and they can have a moving violation changed to something other than moving...you'll still pay the speeding ticket and incur the added cost of attorney fees but you'll be saving an insurance rate increase which could be more expensive in the longer term than the up front costs of reducing the ticket to a non-moving violation. If you have a lawyer friend in your family, all the better, sometimes they'll do this for a nominal fee.

 

So, Andro...how'd it go?

 

It actually went really well.

I live in a small town in the Portland Metro area, so the courtroom was fairly small, about the size of an average classroom. I arrived about ten minutes early cause I wanted the judge to be impressed. Three other people eventually showed up with their tickets in hand.

When the judge finally came in, he went over the procedure of what happens in a civil court and the rules that apply. He then called me up to the podium in the middle of the room and had me choose which way I wanted to plead. I plead guilty, cause I knew I was in the wrong, and there was no way I was going to lie about the incident. I gave a one to two minute testimony explaining what happened while the judge scribbled down some notes here and there on his copy of my ticket. After I was done speaking, he acknowledged that it was my first ticket and he reduced it from $160 to $130. I had a little over that amount saved up in my wallet and I was able to pay the fine right there.

So, overall, it kind of sucked that all the extra I had available had to go towards paying the ticket, but it felt nice to have the burden off my back. I definitely am watching my speed much more carefully now.

 

Glad it turned out ok. Sorry for your financial loss but hey...coulda been worse.

 

I don't know what state you live in, but the fine is often the least of your worries.

Most states have a point system, which charges points against your license for infractions.

In my state, points stay on your record for two years, but insurance companies count them for three.

This is important, because more than two points ususally hikes your auto insurance, and makes it harder to shop your policy.

In my state, a 20 mph violation is a three or four pointer; one of those minor violations that can have major implications.

Go to court.

Wear a suit, or at least a sport coat and tie. If you're guilty, just describe what happened. Don't make excuses,and don't make up some BS story (they've heard them all).

Look the judge right in the eye and show respect. That way, you'll get respect back. Which is what you want.

 

(*)(*)(*)(*) in a package and send it in. You'll make national news.

Honestly though there's not much you can do. Go to court and plead no contest has been my solution. It leaves it to the cop and the judge. This would work well if cops were not dickbags, but, especially traffic cops, tend to be. Actually had to pay a fine and lose my car because of out of state plates. It was all he could find wrong with my vehicle. I'd been back from the Army for a month. They didn't care. It cost well over the ticket price to get repairs so I asked the judge if I could have the ticket dropped and have the tow be my punishment. Cop said no.

Have fun getting rammed!

Edit for clarity:

Car was a POS. The front brakes had issue and to pass DEQ would have required a new muffler. I bought a Ford Ranger (97 Mazda basically) which has done its job, well other than when it snows or I want to go up a dirt road.

 

If its your first offense you will not get points and you will probably get a reduced fine if the judge is in a good mood. I am a regular at traffic court and I see it happen all the time. As other people mentioned you will have to pay something though as I have never seen anyone get their entire fine taken away, just reduced somewhat. If you can put it off till Christmas that would help as well. I had to show up around Christmas one time and the judge was reducing everyones speeding and other minor offenses to stuff like defective odometer and wishing everyone a merry Christmas.......I am assuming he was up for reelection soon.

 

I've done this at least seven times in the last 15 years. Don't pay the ticket by mail. Go to the court date on time (don't screw around, make sure your there on time). The chances are like 70% or better that the cop who gave you the ticket won't show up in court. If he does, you will have to pay the fine, plus court costs. But if he doesn't show up the ticket is dismissed and you pay nothing.

Good luck.

 

This is a ruse that works in my city but it probably depends on the size of the city you are in. Go to court prepared to fight. If the cop doesn't show up (and they usually don't unless they have the day off and get overtime for showing up), the case gets dismissed. The city doesn't want patrol cops to be down for two hours standing around a courthouse.

 

You're the idiot going 55 in a 65 in the left lane, then?

 

You were speeding you owe the fine so pay it. Beating a ticket in court is extremely difficult even when you have a case to make. Go sit in your municipal court and watch a few cases. If you do go to court and are found guilty you will also have to pay court cost.

Do the crime pay the fine. Go mow a few yards or do extra chores for your parents else give up something for a few weeks.

 

Sometimes one doesn't have to go in front of a judge, just the DA. Sometimes they will reduce the violation. IE, he was 25 over, may get it reduced to 10 over and a reduction in fine.
But yes, as one said, never argue. Be polite and just state facts, no rants.

 

Man, there's some really scary responses here. After 15 years writing tickets and sitting in court I can tell you that unless they gave the cop a hard time, 95% of young drivers with a first offence usually wound up with a small fine or driving school. Of course it depends on the judge. I once chased a guy for 20 minutes at over 90 mph and the judge sent him to driving school. I got a 2 day suspension for blurting out "But judge, isn't it apparent that he already knows how to drive?"
Enjoy!

 

Maybe our judges are just more hardline but the last thing they want is someone taking up their time just to try and get a lower fine when they committed the offense. No contest is as good a guilty, here is the fine. "Well I didn't really mean it.........." guilty here is the fine. About the only thing is if your tag was expired and you got it taken care of before court, or you license, they will give you a break. But if you were speeding you were speeding, pleading don't get you nowhere you're wasting the courts time when they have a full docket to get through.

 

Honesty is always the best policy. If you have always driven the way you were driving when you got the ticket, you are lucky it was only one ticket. Pay the fine or ask the judge if you could do community service instead. I don't know if that is possible but anything is worth a try.