Fighting a Speedy Ticket!?

[Mac-It-Up]

just get the demerits knocked off and pay the fine... its the insurance that is kiler anyways...

[metallithrax]

Its been 5 years since I got a ticket, and it'll be 50 more before I get another one, so sure, I'll pay whatever they want next time! 

Anyways, I think this has gone on long enough.  There are obviously quite different perspectives on the subject and its getting pointless for people to fight it out on a message board, therefore..."I propose a duel at sunset" lol

Im just going to go tomorrow and corss my fingers that I get the fine knocked down a little.  If I don't oh well, $120 is easily do-able, it could be a lot worse!

Thanks for all the...non help... with what to say tomorrow!

~OUT~

585224603[/snapback]

Keep us posted

[XanDaMan]

Yes this is the first offence i have EVER been caught for!

585224183[/snapback]

Oh? Still deserve it.

Laws are there for a reason. Say a ped suddenly came onto the highway (forget why), that extra seed would have been deadly.

As someone who has witness's a road traffic accident (nearly resulting in death) I dont have any smypathy towards your cause...

[Hills420]

I dont know!  The cop was coming towards me.  I didnt' see him until he flashed his lights and pulled a u-turn in the middle of the highway (if you ask me, thats more dangerous than what I was doing)

It was prolly a radar gun in the car!

585224403[/snapback]

It should tell you on your ticket.

[Cyranthus]

speed limits are there for a reason. take it. if it was 5 to 10 miles over... its usually not much of a big deal... but 15 over is where it starts to become a speeding ticket.

[p0welly]

I was driving 25 over the limit on a 80km/hr highway.

585224102[/snapback]

Dont know about Canada but in the UK you would have just made the biggest mistake you could have made, many Police cars in the UK are not equiped to verify another vehicles speed, the fact that they could have paced you for 5 miles doing 100 mph does not count, they very specific verifications to go to court.

Most people who get pulled get a ticket because they admit the offense (the officer will more than likely try to talk you into admiting the offense by asking open questions such as "how fast were you going?"), so if you do get pulled, be nice, be polite, but DO NOT ADMIT YOU WERE SPEEDING!

[muzzle79]

If it's the first time you got caught (IE: You're not in the same judge's face every week) then you should be okay. Just go and say that you are sorry and weren't used to the car, and that you would greatly appreciate any mercy they can afford you. Say it won't happen again.

Works all the time here in South Carolina. At least 75% of the tickets get at least a half reduction.

Oh, BTW: Metal_Urbain, it depends on the state you live in. Here, you can show up for your court date and they might reduce it. However, you have to have the money to pay the ticket on the spot. Once they "sentence" you, it's time to pay up. So you have to bring enough money for the entire thing just in case they don't reduce it.

585224157[/snapback]

or your in a holding cell till someone pays. : (

Atleast thats how it is in n.c. I made the mistake of not bringing cash. Thinking i could charge a debit. Atm at the court house only allowed $100 withdrawals ( bit suspicious if you ask me) and i needed 150. I spent about 3 hrs in the holding cell until someone got me out :

might i add the ticket was for 7 mph over in a construction section of the highway.

I was going the flow of traffic too ( car i was driving stood out like a sore thumb )

[IK47]

Bring a friend along with you to court.

Tell the friend to go inside first to tell the judge "My friend is held up, he will be late".

If the officer is present, your friend will phone you and tell you not to show up.

If the officer is not there, then your friend will phone you to come inside.

If the officer is not present, then you will 99% win

this way, you will win the ticket.

[rumbleph1$h]

Bring a friend along with you to court.

Tell the friend to go inside first to tell the judge "My friend is held up, he will be late".

If the officer is present, your friend will phone you and tell you not to show up.

If the officer is not there, then your friend will phone you to come inside.

If the officer is not present, then you will 99% win

this way, you will win the ticket.

585224911[/snapback]

Except for when you fail to appear at your court date :wacko: and then have a warrant which kicks you in the ass next time you get pulled over for anything , which is oh SO much better than paying a low $ fine.

[Jaded]

Dont know if you know about this, but if you were caught by a radar gun you can ask to see the police officer's certification and make sure its up to date. Also while doing that ask for the radar gun's calibration and maintance documents. If either of these are out of date or arrive after the trial date you get found not guilty. Also it takes a while for these documentation to arrive since the courts are quite backed up so usually they arrive after the trial date. The only catch is that you have to ask for them well in advance of the trial (not the day before) to give them time to process the request.

[wildk]

speaking as someone who has points for speeding, i just put up and paid the fine for my moments lapse, it did not affect my insurance and i lose the points in a month, if you can get a reduction go for it, but how in the hell if he was traveling in the oposite direction did he decide you were speeding. In the UK you would probbly be able to dispute that with no problems.

OH and for all those getting preachy about him speeding, i BET you all really obey the speed limits on motorways, :rolleyes: 70MPH in the UK and how many cars fly past you and how many cops do you actually see on the roads, very few, I drove 250 miles yesterday and saw one police car

[metallithrax]

OH and for all those getting preachy about him speeding, i BET you all really obey the speed limits on motorways,  :rolleyes:  70MPH in the UK and how many cars fly past you and how many cops do you actually see on the roads, very few, I drove 250 miles yesterday and saw one police car

585225068[/snapback]

I don't actually drive, but if I did and got caught, I wouldn't whine about it. I would pay up, unless you got a stupid judge that gave you a silly fine. He didn't he got $120 or about ?50. I say pay up and have done with it.

[+s55 Subscriber¹]

haha, u lot drive so slow over there,

80 mph = 128.74752 km/h < avg speed driven on a uk moterway - last time i was over there i did actually feel like gettin out the car and walking, esp on the 80K roads which are roads us ukers wud be doing 120K on. Seriously i totally dont blame u for speedin.

gd luck btw, if u can go for a point reduction rather thn fine reduction. Points are generally worse if ur insurance catches onto it

[jsupreston]

...how in the hell if he was traveling in the oposite direction did he decide you were speeding...

585225068[/snapback]

A lot of law enforcement agencies now use radar guns that detect how fast the police car is moving and uses the police car's speed in the calculation of how fast someone may be speeding. Using that information, it doesn't matter which direction the police car is moving or if it is standing still. I don't know how all of it works, but I used to date a girl whose brother worked for a company that made these radar guns, and he explained some of it to me. I'd probably remember more, but it was ten years ago when he told me about it.

[Gowcra]

I live here in the The Woodlands, and i speed always at least 30mph over the speed limit, if its 45mph, i'll do at least 65mph, its cool! Im very catuious tho, if theres familys on the road or something, i'll do maybe 50 in a 45 but its its quite 80-90mph in a 45!

edit: i just awoke and my eyes are barley open, so yeah this is a sleepy post!

[altezza Veteran]

It seems you will find it hard to win the battle. Unless if you have strong reason that you will have more chance to win. 25 over is a lot...it is serious offence here too...will be charged hefty fines.

[peterish]

Your strongest defense is probably the fact that it was not your car, therefore you 'accidentally' let it drift to 30 kph over for a moment. Tell them that normally you never, and never will speed. Also, play up your student status; from my experiences traffic court is lenient toward students. You could even try making up a story about recently moving out on your own or something. Tell the judge that you're only fighting this puny 120 bucks because you are dead broke. With a puppy face and a nice judge, the fine could definitely be reduced.

And for the people who flame him, come on, 30 kph (15 mph) over is not so devilish on an empty highway. I live in New York where the highway speed limit is 55 MPH, but at night, even when the traffic is HEAVY, the average speed is close to 80. He got caught, he got the points, he's paying the fines...HE DOESNT NEED TO BE FLAMED FOR BREAKING AN ABSURD LAW.

[dyl4n]

Just curious, How many of you here actually obey the speed limit? When I'm driving I feel like I'm the only one aside from the trucks...

[webeagle12]

I would say pay the fine and that it

[jooface]

What is 25kmph in mph? Like around 12ish? Psh, 12 isn't even a lot. Either way, I'm right there with you. I like all these posts saying how horrible you are and such, but just because its a law doesn't mean its just. And still it's not like you're trying to weasel out of paying completely (refer to my post on running a red light -- yea that was bad :( ) It's good you're pleading guilty and good luck with lowering the price. Don't let all of these perfect drivers out there make you feel like an idiot. I'm sure not one of them have driven 1mph/kmph over the speed limit since it is "breaking the law".

Good luck!

[k311]

25km over is a lot different than 25 mi over.

[RZombie]

DO NOT PLEAD GUILTY!! i know here in the states that when u do , u waver all ur rights away and u understand the maximum penalty, like a friend of mine was suppose to goto driving school but never got the notice , so later on he got pulled over and they had suspended his liscense because of that and he did'nt know, so he goes to jail and had to goto court, so he pleads guilty, because he was driving on suspended licsence BUT he did'nt know they was, so when he did that he got the max , which was 6months no liscense and $400 in finds, so he should have pleaded not guilty cause he did'nt know they was suspended , so once u do that u agree to the maximum, atleast thats how it is here in Kentucky, dont know about there

[asmit]

Well, everything is all over and done with! IM GOING TO JAIL...j/k!

I went in, and after waiting for almost an hour, my 45seconds of fame came around:

Justice of the Peace: You have been convicted with blah blah blah...how do you plead?

Me: Guilty

JP: Why are you here?

Me: To seek a reduction in my fine?

JP: Why?

Me: Because it is not normally like me to speed. I was driving a borrowed car which was completely unfamiliar to me and therefore I didn't realize I was going as fast as I was. Also, I'm a University student who needs to pay tuition in 2 weeks so I can't really afford a fine. This is my first ticket and it will most certainly be my last!

JP: Fine will be reduced to $60 + victim surcharge, Next!

Me: Thank-you

I don't think anyone who walks in there leaves without a reduction, there were 3 other people are their explanations were short and sweet: "I can't afford it" and they got the same outcome as me.

Anyways, the fine ended up being $75, so I saved a little. I still have to reap the consequences of 3 demerit points though!

Live and learn eh?! ;)

[OPaul]

Aren't you going to end up with points now on your license and insurance? Surely it would have been better to plead not guilty, those insurance fees will add up eventually.

[John S. Veteran]

I don't know what Canada's policy but here in the U.S you have to pay the ticket before you can challenge it. Its an awesome policy. Then you go to court where you don't stand a fighting chance pleading your case before the judge.

585224125[/snapback]

It's not that way in Tennessee or Virginia, must be a state law in CA. Here you either pay the fine or challenge it first on the date posted on the 'Summons' you are issued by the cop.

Back to the topic, pay the ticket, admit your wrongdoing, and stop whining.