I got pulled over a few weeks ago. For St. Louis Dopers, I was on Natural Bridge Road just east of Hanley. The speed limit was 30 MPH, and I got caught doing 42… If I’d gotten 5 seconds farther down the road I would have been in Bel-Ridge and the speed limit would have been 35, but that’s another story. Anyway, I would like to avoid points on my license and a hike in insurance rates. In Florida, if you take a traffic safety course they leave off the points, but there doesn’t seem to be a system like that here. My girlfriend’s stepfather advised getting the ticket amended, and someone at work said this is how it works: A lawyer calls, and for a fee, the court changes the ticket to something without points, like a parking ticket, but with a higher fine.
Can I do this myself? And Missouri Dopers, is there a different way to avoid points on my license, other than what seems like bribery?
It works. I did it with a lawyer in St. Louis a few years ago. The Speeding ticket would be $60 or so, the amended ticket is double, plus a lawyer fee of $50-75. So you end up paying three times as much, but there is no record which might affect your insurance. You can try to place the call yourself, but you’ll find that the prosecutor in charge of tickets and the traffic attorneys have a pretty good racket going where the best results come from the attorneys.
I am not sure of your age or occupation, but if you say you are a student (specifically a law student) you might be able to help yourself without a lawyer. I know this because I was in law school at Wash U when the incident occurred and after I paid my attorney and got the reduced offence with the larger fine, all my friends told me that I should have just called myself because they give law students “professional courtesy.” In fact, I was later in the care with a friend that got pulled over and when she told the officer that she was a law student, he let her go.