I’ve done this in the UK (the cost of the course is usually the same as the fine, but you don’t get the points and don’t usually have to declare it on your insurance, though I think some companies have now started asking about this). It’s not always an option (e.g. if you’re too much over the limit, or you’ve done one already in the last few years). 65 in a 40 would definitely be too high, that would merit a court appearance over here I believe.
For speeding where you are only a few mph over the limit but don’t qualify for the speed awareness course, we have a fixed penalty system whereby you can plead guilty by mail. You send in a cheque and your license (to be be endorsed with points) and don’t have to go to court.
Choosing to go to court and then pleading guilty will probably just land you with a bigger fine/costs than paying by mail, unless you have some extremely unusual mitigating circumstances. Going to court and pleading not guilty might work if the cop doesn’t show up or there is a problem with the evidence, but as doing this is rare, they probably will show up and bust you - meaning a bigger fine and bigger costs.
Nowadays, I pay a fee to a law firm to represent me and delay the hearing. Eventually I’ll have to show up in court. The first time my cop didn’t show, and my ticket was dismissed. This last time, he showed up and I couldn’t get him to dismiss it. So I paid a fine and some fees (and the law firm!) and after 6 months it was expunged. So both times it never got to my insurance.
No idea about Texas, but the last time I got a ticket here in Illinois, about 20 years ago, there were three options when you got your ticket: (a) plead guilty, pay fine, it goes on the record;(b) ask for a court date; (c) plead guilty, pay fine, pay a little extra to go to driving school, and as long as you don’t get a ticket within 6 months, it stays off your record.
You were only offered the last option if you hadn’t gotten a ticket in the last six months or year or something like that. I’m fuzzy on the exact details. And there were two types of traffic school: one was for 3 or 4 hours if it was your first offense; and the other was 6 or 8 hours if it was your second (I can’t remember the exact times.)
ETA: Actually, here are the Illinois options. Still pretty much the same. Costs about an extra $50 over the fine to go to traffic school. And there does appear to be an online option now, and they all seem to only be a 4-hour course. Perhaps I misremembered there being a long one and a short one, but you are only allowed two offenses per 12-month period to be resolved in this way. Oh, it looks like now the first one can be done online, but the second one must be done in person at a facility. So perhaps that’s what they changed it to.
This. Here where I am, they tack court costs on top of the fine for the ticket, so even getting a fine reduced might still end up being a wash or even a loss compared to paying up front. Also, the judge said at the start, stating our options of guilty, innocent, or no contest, that all those claiming innocent and requesting a trial would wait until all the others had been processed which, presumably, could make time in court even longer.
My advice, along the lines of the above, is figure out just how much a couple points on your license will affect your rates. I’d wager a guess that if you’re worried about a couple points, you’re probably safe enough that it’s going to have minimal or zero impact. Then figure out what you’re likely to get the cost reduced by, and then add in your costs, like time off work, time in the court room, time and cost in going to court, parking, etc. If you work a normal type of office job, chances are likely you’ll need to take roughly a half-day off work on average, so just based on that, say you make $25/hr, saving $100 seems like it’s nice, but that’s a wash even before you consider the expenses, stress of going to court, uncertainty of what’s going to happen, falling behind at work, time researching, etc.
Seriously, it seems to me that in most jurisdictions, because most minor traffic infractions are intended more for revenue than safety, will have the rules set up to discourage people from fighting them, making the fines just low enough that most people are going to lose more money fighting it than they’d gain if they won. Sure, some people will fight on principle (I know someone whose fought supposedly BS $20 traffic tickets and taken people to small claims court over $50), but if you’re weight costs, make sure you include everything, not just the insurance rates vs the ticket. Also, like others said, many jurisdictions have options to gain positive points on your license like cheap or free defensive driving courses, and that might end up being a better option than court.
Another option is to go talk with someone in the district attorney’s office.
I received a ticket for “disorderly conduct”, went and talked to someone in the DA’s office and walked out with a ticket for “excessive noise”, even though the reason the ticket was written had absolutely nothing to do with noise.
The first time I got to stand up and explain to the judge. Fine dropped. I was a poor grad student then and this helped.
Second time in another place the court was only for pleading. It is not a good idea to force an actual trial for trivial things. But I got to talk the ADA and wham, bam, I got to plead to a much lower speed and paid a minimal fine. The real benefit here was points/insurance and all that.
The first question is what format is your local traffic court? The second question is will it be worth it?
This is something that I have heard, but have no experience or cites.
In many jurisdictions the fine from a speeding violation gets shared with the state and/or county while the fine from some other violations go entirely to the municipality. This gives the municipality a motive to let you plead to another violation, though they often make you pay more for the privilege. Of course this assumes that you got the ticket from a municipal cop and not a state trooper.
