I have a friend that was recently pulled over by the state patrol for doing 91 MPH in a 65 MPH on I-75 in Catoosa County in North Georgia. He still has a couple days until he can call the courthouse to find out if he can just pay the ticket, or if he will have to show up for court in December, and he is trying to find out what he’s looking at fine-wise. I had a similar ticket and was sentenced to 14 days in jail in addition to a $500.00 fine, but this was four years ago, and in a non-adjoining state. I don’t have any experience with North Georgia.
Does anyone have any experience in this region, and can tell me what my friend is looking at?
What? Why can’t he just call the courthouse, you know, now?
Clever.
Ah, so much cleverness in one place.
Ephemera, you may want to put those skills to practice. Google is valuable for other things besides geography. Georgia’s site says that fines are set by the locality even if the ticket was issued by the state police. One site says that the base fine for speeding 24-34 over is $400 for a first offense. You do not say whether this was a first offense. If the ticket is for something other than speeding (sometimes excessive speed can result in a reckless driving charge), this will not apply. Generally you can mail in the fine as a de facto guilty plea for a civil citation. Doesn’t his ticket have an explanation of all this? I’ve never gotten one in Georgia but that’s been my experience in Maryland, Michigan, and Virginia.
BTW for your own ticket, I am surprised to hear about jail time in a speeding case if there were no other charges. What state was that, what was the posted limit, what was the ticket written for?
Ike Witt, insults are not permitted in GQ. However, since you have already contacted us to acknowledge this remark was out of line I am making this a note rather than a formal warning.
[QUOTE=robert_columbia]
North Georgia? Was this near South Tennessee, or was it closer to East Alabama?
I’m afraid that I’m not finding anything on State of North Georgia traffic law. Are you sure it was in North Georgia?
[/QUOTE]
[Moderator Notes]
robert_columbia, let’s refrain from snarky remarks in GQ; and Ephemera, if you have a problem with another poster’s response report than rather than responding in kind. No warnings issued, but don’t do this again.
I have a son who currently has a similar ticket. North Carolina(just passing through), doing 83 in a 70 zone. There is NOTHING on the ticket telling you the amount of the fine nor is there any address to send any money. He called the county prosecutor(Duplin) and they said because he was exceeding 80mph he either had to appear in person or hire a lawyer to appear. When he called one of the ten law firms that sent him mail two days after he got the ticket, they said $250 lawyer fee, probably about $250 to get it reduced to “improper equipment.” This is how it’s done in NC(and SC and Georgia} by my understanding. County by county, pay a lawyer and pay them the fine and it all gets better. Hire a lawyer.
We both live in Chattanooga, samclem, and it straddles the Georgia line so he’s not worried about appearing. Are you suggesting he still get a lawyer, anwyay?
Thanks for that. I assumed he was going to be charged for something along those lines.
Yes, this will be in addition to the fine imposed by the court for speeding. So when you call the number on the ticket and ask about the fine, mentally add $200 to whatever number they give you.
One tactic would be to appear at the arraignment and make an offer to the prosecutor to plead guilty to going 84 mph (so as to avoid the super speeder tack-on fine). Some prosecutors will be amenable to this, some won’t.
Yep. While I’m only talking about North Carolina from my standpoint, my understanding about Georgia and South Carolina is that they’re similar. If I’m correct, he’s better off with a lawyer because:
It’s only gonna cost him about $200 more.
The lawyer knows what works and doesn’t work with the prosecutor in that county.
He’ll get it reduced to perhaps a lower fine/sentence than if he did it himself.
The points on his license will probably be less, and thus his future insurance rates will be less.
How much is his time worth?
As a former law enforcement officer that has appeared in traffic court numerous times (and once as a defendant), I concur: things go better with attorneys. Quite often (perhaps the majority of time) they don’t do anything the defendant wouldn’t do themselves, but “professional courtesy” goes a long way.
If you can get representation for $200, I’d do it, especially if that removes the necessity of the defendant having to appear in person (and, frankly, the defendant appearing in person may be a hidrance at times).