Aachen1989

yep..so true.
I think this is the flip side for being born in Germany..

Aachen1989

I guess if I just pay the ticket directly without doing anything else, 2 points will be recorded..

As you said, "too many", is that like 10 points?? Or like 5 speeding tickets??

Aachen1989

Thanks for the info.
Since the exact court shown on the ticket is too far from me, more than 100 miles, I do not think I will show up.

i_am_amused

in virginia reckless is 20+ over the limit OR 80+ mph. That gets you 6 points (on a 12 point system) that stay on your license longer than anything except DUI (which is permanent). In other words, 95 in a 70 is deep doo-doo here

pg2373

As a police officer myself...my suggestion is to go to court. That way you at least have a chance. Either the officer might not show up and the ticket will be dropped or you may get a lenient judge who will probably tell you to pay but receive no points. I honestly believe lawyers are a waste of money for traffic offenses.

CEB

...any charge that includes reckless driving should probably include an attorney...

iblaho

I value your input from the other side of the rolled-down car window, pg2373. While standing in line at the CA DMV a while back, I spoke with a man who has a fleet of vehicles for his company. The guys get tickets all the time. He has an agreement with a lawyer to pay him $250 per ticket and the man never hears about it. Most violations start at $375 around here.

pg2373

I am just going by my experience. It is rare that the attorney gets the person totally off the hook. YOu pay the attorney a few hundred dollars just for him to try to reduce your fine or reduce the points. I've had instances where a person has obtained an attorney for failing to display a registration card. In Maryand the fine is $40 but there is no points. So they pay a few hundred for attorneys fee just to say in court that their client has never received a ticket and their license is in good standard. At times, I just say "no evidence". The minor charge gets thrown out AND they still have to pay the attorney fee. I've been an officer for 10 years and trust me...I don't get a kick out of writing tickets or winning in court.

CEB

...especially in your last sentence, but I still must caution that there are times when a lawyer is required.

Reckless driving that may include severe penalties (ie jail time in VA,) cases where you already have points and a couple more would bump you over the limit or when even a couple of points would impact your livelyhood are instances where a driver should consider an attorney.

Like you said, however, a clean record and a minor charge does not require a lawyer - and in some cases may actually hurt your chances in court.

Aside from not doing anything wrong, the best advice that I can give is to be pleasant with the cop. He or she stopped you for doing something wrong and really doesn't want to be yelled at - their job is stressful enough as it is. Often, the court will ask the officer how you behaved when stopped and his/her response will impact the outcome of your case - the officer can be your best friend in court...

pg2373

I definitely second your opinion. I just can't stand it when people argue with me during the stop!!

iblaho

My 07 C230 Sport seems to have three stump-pulling gears. I'm not up with traffic until I am in 4th (with three more gears to go ).

How does that car merge onto the Autobahn?

german-anger

just pay it. saves you the pain of waiting forever and going to court to appeal it.
plus save your money and get a solid radar detector and laser diffuser combo for your car, and learn to be quick on the brakes, and constantly scanning for highway tax traps.

iblaho

A happy ending:

I received a speeding ticket on 4/30/09. Contested it in writing. It was dismissed. I recieved the full refund of my fine on 7/28/09.

Carsy

LONDON LAWYER vs GLASGOW COP



A London lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a Glasgow copper.

He thinks that he is smarter than the cop because he is a lawyer from LONDON and is certain that he has a better education then any Jock cop. He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Glasgow cops expense!!

Glasgow cop says, " Licence and registration, please"


London Lawyer says, "What for?"

Glasgow cop says, "Ye didnae come to a complete stop at the stop sign"

London Lawyer says, "I slowed down, and no one was coming"

Glasgow cop says "Ye still didnae come to a complete stop. Licence and registration, please"

London Lawyer says, "What's the difference?"

Glasgow cop says, "The difference is, ye huvte to come to complete stop, that's the law, Licence and registration, please!"

London Lawyer says, 'If you can show me the legal difference between slow down and stop, I'll give you my licence and registration, and you give me the ticket. If not, you let me go and don't give me the ticket.'

Glasgow cop says "Sounds fair. Exit your vehicle, sir"

The London Lawyer exits his vehicle.

The Glasgow cop takes out his baton and starts beating the sh*t out of the lawyer and says "Dae ye want me to stop, or just slow doon?

tivoboy

As people here have said, best thing is to go to court. Mea culpa, etc. You will probably get either points reduced or eliminated and/or lower penalty. COULD happen that the cop doesn't show and they throw the ticket out. Depending on the state, you could request to have the most recent calibration and inspection information for the device to be provided. If it is more than six months out of date, they usually will reduce the charge completly.

erifly

I have had about 8-11 speeding tickets in past 4 years(lost count ). Yes I know..SLOW DOWNNN!!! lol. My lawyer makes them disappear though. I have got all but one of the tickets reduced to "moving violations". The violations makes no sense at all. E.g. I got a 23 mph over speed limit ticket reduced to a "rear tailight out" moving violation . Another time it was a moving violation for a muffler issue. I don't understand how they do this, and frankly I don't care. I actually tried to fight the very first speeding ticket I got. But the judge didn't even want to talk to me when I approached him at the bench. He gave me an extension on my court date and told me to get a lawyer. I sometimes think the lawyers, judges, and cops have side deals or something.

justthinking

Same here..defintely try trial by declaration if the court is not too far away from you (if you lose, you can then request a new court apperance trial)
I was cited for going 15mph over speed limit on hwy 5 back in March when driving down from SF to LA (going 90mph on 75mph speed limit)
Was going to just ask for traffic school but thought I would give trial by declaration a shot since I think I have a good argument for speed trap..
Got my decision back today, judge found I am not guilty and all is good..
I think the judge didn't even ask the cop to respond to my argument b/c the decision date is only 5 days after the court receive my paper..

thearc

Here in Canada, in BC at least this is the best way to get out of a ticket.

1. If you got the ticket in an area that has RCMP fight the ticket and get a court date, a week or so before the date comes ask for an extension and get another date. The idea here is that the courts are backed up (up to 6 months) and since RCMP are relocated every year, you're hoping the officer will be relocated in that time and not make the court appearance...thus you get out of the ticket. If he shows up, or you got the ticket in a city where there are no RCMP see step 2.

2. So you have to go to court? Sucks! Now depending on your driving record there are different ways to reduce your ticket or get out of it entirely, each situation is different. The importand thing is if you end up paying anything points will go against your driving record and that is where it get expensive.

3. So say you have to pay something, but want/need to not get dinged on points? The trick is to overpay your ticket. Say you end up having to pay a ticket of $100, send a payment in for $105. When they see you've overpaid they will try and send you a refund, whatever you do never collect the refund! By doing this your ticket will stay "active" and not be affected on your driving record and no points will have to be paid when you renew your insurance!

JLee

Great!! Trial by written declaration is by far, the best way to fight any traffic citation, especially in California.

I used to get off on speeding tickets pretty easily because it used to be that the officers often would not show up in court. These days, however, they almost always show up because they get paid to do so(they get paid the full wage for the day, and they are free to go home afterward).

When you opt for Trial by written declaration, the officer also has to respond in writing to the court, which they often do not do because they do not get paid extra for that. When the officer does not respond within the allotted time, you win automatically.

If the officer does respond and the judge rules against you, you can still ask for a new trial in court.

When you make this request, the court has to give you a new trial date within 45 days of you making that request. If the court ends up giving you a trial date that is over the 45 days, you can file to have the case dismissed based on your rights to a speedy trial being violated.

If the new trial date is within the 45 days, you can show up in court and if the officer is not there, you win. If the officer is there, you can choose to fight or ask for traffic school if you are eligible.

This is definitely worth it since you get so many chances at winning! Do not just plea guilty and just pay the fine without giving this a thought.

http://ticketprep.com

jmhtsai

You do realized that this is an urban legend? and, really, there's no way to get off of tickets due to glitch or whatnot. you can't really beat the system; they are people too, they are not stupid, well...we think they most of them are stupid but you know what I mean.

What I usually do is, well, in this case, I have a great excuse to speed. I am a nurse practitioner; usually on call for emergency situations. Most of my friends adopted my strategy, however, I am not sure if it is worth it to use that because the lack of proof of identity. But I am able to suggest one thing that is safer and more of a good excuse. Tell the cop or the crown that you were in a hurry due to parental emergency, or anything parallel towards that line of defence. it usually works due to human nature and it is more often acceptable as a speeding excuse.

but the bottom line is still, don't speed.

Dealt with too many deaths due to motor vehicle accidnets. Believe me, it is not worth it, 5 mins earlier vs your life? I choose my life.

If you really want to speed, go on the racetrack or become a paramedic or a police officer. You can speed all you want

C300Sport

I agree with what you are saying. Most drivers speed at some point during an average drive but they are adjusting there speed to road conditons and generally only moderately exceed the posted limits. Of course some drivers are just idiots and have no clue what a safe or reasonable speed is and unfortuneately when the $h!t hits the fan, it happens fast. I spent a few years working in a trauma center and the MVAs were mostly drunks but with a solid showing from speeders and only a handful of wrong place, wrong time accidents.
Guess the moral of the story is that for street driving, you have to keep the worst case scenario in the back of your mind because if you are already pushing the limits, you don't have much room left for mistakes...either from yourself or others.
Of course I just got a ticket for doing 51 in a 35...four lane highway with light traffic, few entrances/exits and me just keeping pace with traffic...makes me wonder why they chose to enforce where they do sometimes...

E92-Lighting

try to fight it if you can