So I got caught going 65 in a 40 mph zone and thats a fine of $160 which I am willing to pay but I will be assigned 2 points also. So I was wondering if the cop does show up then should I just plead guilty because then it will show that I am not hiding anything and maybe I can get a point of or 2 which I really want.
Show up and do not plead AT ALL until you’re in front of the magistrate/judge/arbitrator-person. Pleading innocent won’t get you additional charges no matter what and pleading guilty beforehand will not help reduce any consequence. They may mail you a letter stating this before your appearance date. If you have no appearance date on the ticket call the courthouse and ask for one.
If your cop doesn’t appear you’ll likely get reduced consequences if you please innocent but are found guilty.
If your cop does appear they’ll see you are present and will likely reduce the charge in some way.
DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY AT ANY POINT
Yeah I want to be honest because I do admit I was speeding but I really just don’t want any points because that will insurance my insurance premium.
Honesty in this instance is unimportant and unhelpful until you are asked a question under oath.
My usual experience was that I go to the courthouse or city office on the appearance date, the cop is waiting b/c all their tickets are being heard at one session; when I check in the cop comes up, confirms who I am and what my ticket’s for, asks how I’m going to plead. I say innocent, they offer to drop the fine amount or the charge in exchange for guilty plea. Then we either appear in front of the magistrate or I sign off on the deal and I’m free to go w/ reduced consequences.
Do not offer information, only answer questions succinctly. They’re not interested in what you did or why. They’re interested in your money and in getting through the docket as fast as they can. Tickets are written primarily for revenue.
Yeah, I know tickets are written for revenue. It has shit to do bout being safe because I was in this part of area where there were no cars at the time being and it was like a back road.
Legal advice belongs in IMHO. So moved.
If you have the time to go to court you have nothing really to lose, sometimes you can just ask the prosecutor or judge and work something out, like pleading guilty and paying a fine and getting the points taken off or take a driver’s safety class to reduce the points, I’ve also gotten stuff thrown out by just dragging things out.
Are you absolutely positive you have to go to court at all?
In some states (including Texas) you can go online and take a defensive driving course, and not only do you not have to pay the fine, but the ticket is completely dismissed. I did this a couple of years ago.
Read about it here:
http://www.comedyguys.com/texas-defensive-driving-links/dismissing-a-ticket/
In my experience, this varies quite a lot by jurisdiction. In some places you can have the ticket dismissed if you attend driving school ONLY if you plead guilty in advance of the appearance date.
I don’t remember “pleading guilty”…but maybe I did. In any case, the ticket is dismissed after you take the class, which you do at home in your pajamas, on your own computer. The link I posted gives the steps for the procedure in Texas. When I googled, other states came up.
Don’t go to court and admit anything. It is a waste of everyone’s time and contrary to the way the system is supposed to work. This isn’t a virtue contest.
Here is what I did the last time I got a ticket (in New Hampshire). I pushed the court date three times per their procedures by mail. That lasted for well over a year (even that has some value). I showed up when I couldn’t delay it anymore. They asked me if I wanted a trial and I said yes. That triggered an automatic plea deal with a State Trooper that was there just for that purpose. He gave me a plea deal for 10 mph over the speed limit and I rejected it still saying that I wanted a trial. He offered a better deal for 3mph over the limit, $40 cash and no points. I took that one.
In general, you should always fight tickets. You don’t have anything to lose and there are established procedures to deal with savvy people that usually work in your favor.
Am I the only one who has done the class to get a ticket dismissed?
Does your jurisdiction offer a diversion program? Basically you pay the ticket, and sign an agreement with the prosecutors office, which stipulates that as long as you don’t get another ticket over the next 6 months, they dismiss this charge. Nothing on your record. If you do get another ticket, then both go on your record.
That’s only true if your time isn’t worth anything to you. If I spend 3 hours researching, finding dates, and driving to a hearing in order to get a $50 ticket dismissed, I’ve just lost money, in my estimation.
My advice, find out how much in insurance premium those two points will really hurt you (I suspect the first two points won’t do much). Add that to the maybe $100 you can shave off the fine by showing up in person. Then estimate the time to fight it, including research, driving to the hearing, etc. Do the math and figure out if your time is worth that much per hour to you. If not, just send in the check and get on with your life.
A lot depends on what state you’re in. Every state has its own rules and procedures and you can’t extrapolate from one to the other.
The following applies to NJ:
[ul]
[li]The fine amount stated on your ticket is the amount that you can pay online or by mail. If you show up in court, the judge has the discretion to set the fine at some higher level, and generally will do this. Plus court courts. So if you get a ticket that says $95 if you pay by mail, showing up in court and pleading guilty or being found guilty will cost you about $200 or so.[/li][li]Higher level tickets or multiple tickets can generally be plea-bargained down. So if you get a 4 point ticket for going 25 miles over the speed limit, you can reasonably expect that the prosecutor will let you call it a 2 point 10 miles over the limit ticket in exchange for a guilty plea, or if you were ticketed for speeding through a red light, to drop one of the tickets. However, there is sometimes not much room to go down, and a 2 point ticket is hard to deal with.[/li][li]There is also an “unsafe driving” zero points ticket, which you can generally plead guilty to (I believe the violation was created for the express purpose of having people plead guilty to it when charged with other violations). However, in addition to being a very expensive ticket ($400+) there are also limits as to how often you can plead to this violation. Generally you wouldn’t opt for this unless you’re otherwise looking at license suspension or surcharges or the like.[/li][/ul]
Again, the above is from NJ. Something similar might apply in your state, or might not.
This. Quickest thing to do is call the phone number on the ticket and ask if there’s anything you can do to avoid getting points on your license; they will give you the straightest dope of all.
Years ago I got a ticket in southern Utah, and was able to enter a “plea in abeyance:”
-I pled guilty and paid the fine, plus some other bullshit administrative fee
-I also submitted a current copy of my driving record
-six months later, I submitted a then-current copy of my driving record, showing no new infractions, and they expunged my violation as if it never happened
YMMV.
FWIW, I contested a MA speeding ticket. I read a number of local newspaper articles that said many first-time violations were dismissed if contested with a simple “I won’t do it again”.
The first step was a civil hearing with a magistrate (after paying a $25 fee, of course). At the hearing I said something like “I haven’t had any previous violations, I knew the speed limit, I did not intend to speed, and I’ll be more careful in the future.” They dismissed the ticket.
Can someone just address what I’ve posted about taking the online class and getting the ticket dismissed? Has no one ever heard of this? I’m feeling invisible.
In NJ you can’t do it.
What you can do is get some points reduced by taking defensive driving courses. But you can’t get tickets dismissed by doing this, and even points only come off for some purposes and not for others. (For example, there is a state surcharge if you have 6 or more points within a certain number of years (2 or 3 - I forget just now), and reductions due to defensive driving courses don’t count for this purpose.
Thank you.
I’m amazed that Texas is actually sort of progressive on this. God knows we’re backward on just about everything else.