Just got a speeding ticket... how bad am I off?

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all i know is never plead guilty. no contest maybe but never guilty.
usually when you go into court for the first time the judge will ask you if you want a court appointed attorney. Say yes, even if you got your own or don't actually want one. Then he will advise that you plead not guilty so you can delay for another court date and he won't have to pass judgement right then. so you plead not guilty.

From there you can either get yourself a lawyer, take a court appointed one, put in a request for which court appointed one you'd like, or cut a deal yourself with the DA. With little stuff the DA will usually just cut a deal for a reduced fine if you plead guilty or no contest. You could always go that route. Eitherway the judge will tell you on the first court appearance what the maximum penalty for your ticket is.

Most dummies panic and just plead guilty on the first appearance and take whatever the judge gives them. Thats actually a very wrong move. Especially for insurance purposes. Its always best to contact a lawyer or DA first.

For future run ins with law enforcement I strongly recommend you check out a video called "Busted- A citizens guide to surviving police encounters." It's awesome! I made my little sister watch it before she left for college. She still thanks me for it.
 


Ok, quick question; I have to mail the ticket in and plea either guilty or not guilty. I have already been given a court date. Does that court date change if I plea not guilty?

-Chris
 
peach said:
what the hell does a speeding ticket have to do with your car insurance.
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Not to be disrespectful, but are you fucking retarded or just plain stupid? haha

Speeding tickets raise your car insurance on average 30% for the next couple years which in the end costs you a lot more than the initial ticket
 
peach said:
what the hell does a speeding ticket have to do with your car insurance.
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Speeding ticket means reckless driving, meaning more chance at crashing, meaning more chance at getting your car screwed, more chance of them having to pay money meaning that want more money which results in paying them more

If you understand that
 
I once read that insurance companies are not only the biggest benefactor (in terms of increased income) from speeding tickets, but also the biggest lobbyists for keeping the speed limits low. You do the math.
 
geyer said:
how old are you? it's a scam in New York State...

You plead not guilty...you go to court.. they reduce it to a non-moving violation...you agree to go to and pay for a driver safety course..upon completion you pay the fine for bald tires or whatever..saves you tons in insurance money and feeds local coffers...
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Chris, I think Geyer said it best back on the first page. If you have to enter a plea when mailing in the ticket, plead not guilty, go to court (get there a little early) and talk to the DA. This is how the game works. You'll probably see a line of people waiting to talk to him. Tell the DA this is your first violation and you're really concerned about the insurance points and you'd consider a plea bargain if he could reduce the charges. There's not much you can offer him; you're really looking for sympathy. No big deal, they hear this everyday so they're expecting it. I'm almost positive the DA will reduce the charges. (There's no harm in asking, what's the worst he can say. It could cost you thousands in insurance surcharges if you don't ask.) Then, when it's your turn in front of the judge you plead guilty to the lessor charge.

Edit: I see Deliguy also mentioned this a few posts back.
Deliguy said:
...the DA will usually just cut a deal for a reduced fine if you plead guilty or no contest...
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Make sure the officer spelled everything right on the ticket. Friend of mine got one dismissed b/c his street address was spelled wrong.

I have a speeding offense on my record and it hasn't affected my insurance. I plead no contest and paid the fine by mailing the ticket in. Insurance rate stayed the same. With Allstate, you're in good hands.
 
Be a man and pay the ticket instead of pussyfooting around. You were speeding and you got caught... just don't get caught next time, and watch out for the kids.
 
what county wrote the ticket? I know in nassau county you can go to court and they will reduce the ticket to a failure to yield or a seat belt, suffolk county wont negotiate, and town courts like the hamptons suck cock.

You can fight it out in court, what i suggest is if you end up having to pay the fine mail in a check for $1 more than the fine, what this will do is delay the ticket from hitting your insurance company, the court will mark it as payment received so you wont go to jail or anything for not paying but it wont get reported to your ins company until they close it. They cant close it until they have the right amount, so either they send your check back asking for a check in the right amount or they send a refund check. If you get a refund check DONT CASH IT, once you cash it the ticket is closed and reported to your Ins company. if they ask for the right amount send a check for $1 less, keep fucking with them.

I did this for a year to avoid getting my license suspended, it didn't work for me because i fucked up the timing and sent the right amount on the 179th day, all i had to do was wait for the 181st day and i wouldn't have lost my license. I got 3 speeding tickets in less than 12 months, one was 93 in a 55, another was 84 in a 55, and one was 75 in a 45. It just ended up costing me a lot of money for fines, and i had to get rid of my car so my insurance would go back to normal.
 
chris22 said:
I have a speeding offense on my record and it hasn't affected my insurance. I plead no contest and paid the fine by mailing the ticket in. Insurance rate stayed the same. With Allstate, you're in good hands.
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Just be thankful those blood sucking leeches spare yours.
 
Ok so you want to beat your traffic ticket. The best way to do that is to request a continuance... say you have something that conflicts with the court date that you cant get changed. Most cops have way too much crap to keep track of and wont show for the 2nd court date. You win just by showing up.

It has worked for me twice now.
 
CLKeenan said:
Not to be disrespectful, but are you fucking retarded or just plain stupid? haha

Speeding tickets raise your car insurance on average 30% for the next couple years which in the end costs you a lot more than the initial ticket
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I'm not retarded, and luckily I don't live in a retarded country where insurance companies get notified when speeding tickets are handed out lol.

Only way my car insurance can go up if I claim money from them twice, because I still got no-claim protector.

Over here there is even a trend for insuring against speeding tickets, there is this insurance company that pays your speeding tickets but the rates go up if you get one of course, but still nice. They also have gift certificates that can be used only to pay for speeding tickets. They're getting some nice media attention with this black hat insurance stuff :D
 
My apologies- I didn't realize that you were from the Netherlands.

That is strangely cool haha. How much are speeding tickets over there?
 
CLKeenan said:
My apologies- I didn't realize that you were from the Netherlands.

That is strangely cool haha. How much are speeding tickets over there?
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Not sure, I'm always going to school doing ~200km/h and the trip is 60km, but I never got a speeding ticked :D
I think if I do 160 km on the highway (max=120) you get like 189 EUR. Not too bad I think.
Though if you are 50 km/h or more above the speedlimit, and you get caught, you loose your drivers license and you get a way bigger ticket. You don't loose your license for ever but you get suspended for a while.
And if you really really piss them off they impound your car and auction it. bastards.
(for those of you who don't know what a km is, it's mile/1.6)
 
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