Question/Advice on Denver Traffic Court (Lone Tree: insurance, school, live in) - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

wumbum311 · 10-19-2011, 10:16 AM

I'll just say in advance sorry if this has been asked before, I searched through old threads and couldn't find anything.

I received a 'following too closely' ticket yesterday while on my way to work. I was in moving traffic and I'm sure I could've been but who knows (I think they just got me because of my out of state tags). It's $160 fine and 4 points, reduced to 2 if I mail in within 20 days.

My question is about showing up to court. Will they just give me a reduced plea like other places do just for showing up? In all honestly I'd like the fine to be reduced, and based on anyone who responds experience, is it worth it to show up? I've heard 2 different sides, one that they just round all the people with similar violations up and give them a lower plea, and 2 that they aren't trying to do you any favors and you're taking a risk showing up.

Who has gone to Denver court with relatively minor ticket, and what were the results?

Thanks!

davebarnes · 10-19-2011, 10:30 AM

How long have you lived in Colorado?
"After becoming a Colorado resident, you have 30 days to qualify for a Colorado driver license and 90 days to register your vehicle ."

If you have lived in Colorado for longer than 90 days, you could be hit with additional fines.

chilaili · 10-19-2011, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wumbum311

I'll just say in advance sorry if this has been asked before, I searched through old threads and couldn't find anything.

I received a 'following too closely' ticket yesterday while on my way to work. I was in moving traffic and I'm sure I could've been but who knows (I think they just got me because of my out of state tags). It's $160 fine and 4 points, reduced to 2 if I mail in within 20 days.

My question is about showing up to court. Will they just give me a reduced plea like other places do just for showing up? In all honestly I'd like the fine to be reduced, and based on anyone who responds experience, is it worth it to show up? I've heard 2 different sides, one that they just round all the people with similar violations up and give them a lower plea, and 2 that they aren't trying to do you any favors and you're taking a risk showing up.

Who has gone to Denver court with relatively minor ticket, and what were the results?

Thanks!

A couple of years ago I got a speeding ticket and had to go to Traffic Court in Denver. I think everyone there (except for those caught in a school zone) was offered a lower fine and points off. Most of us accepted the offer. I got out of there paying just over $200 (you also have to pay their court costs of about $40).

sunsprit · 10-19-2011, 11:21 AM

I've always gotten a better resolution by heading to the courts in Denver. On non-injury/no accident traffic tickets of this type, the court would rather resolve the situation as expeditiously as possible so that they can focus upon more serious traffic offenses.

You'll do best to head to the court and ask to speak with one of the assistants about your ticket before heading into the courtroom. If you've got a clean (or pretty good) traffic ticket history, they will typically be most anxious to offer you a substantial plea bargain agreement just to get this over with and settled. At best, try to get a plea bargain to a zero point ticket and a minimal fine. The fine is the least of your concerns, it's the point system that hits you in the insurance pocketbook.

The court system tends to recognize that many tickets of this type are not always well written tickets ... especially where the judgement of a citing officer is legitimately called into question. I've been there where a similar ticket was defective, and the city spent a lot of legal time to ultimately admit that the citing officer was wrong.

Safecracker · 10-20-2011, 04:29 PM

I have only received one ticket in the past 35 years, they got me for running a red light...which I didnt do, but thats not the point. When I showed up for court I went to talk to someone about a plea deal, they offered to lower it to a "Broken Headlight" and 0 points taken, but the fine remained the same. I took the deal of course...no points off and a non moving violation so it didnt effect my insurance. But no way they would reduce the fine...they want their money, I think it was approx $130.

Tigerlily64 · 10-21-2011, 07:10 AM

Interesting thread as I currently live in Texas but my job is likely to relocate me to Denver area early next year. In DFW area of Texas, there are other options such as a probation period or a defensive driving online course. If offered (depending on the "crime") you still pay a fine but nothing gets reported to your driving record i.e. no points etc - doesn't Denver offer these sorts of alternatives?

chilaili · 10-21-2011, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tigerlily64

Interesting thread as I currently live in Texas but my job is likely to relocate me to Denver area early next year. In DFW area of Texas, there are other options such as a probation period or a defensive driving online course. If offered (depending on the "crime") you still pay a fine but nothing gets reported to your driving record i.e. no points etc - doesn't Denver offer these sorts of alternatives?

I think it depends on where you get caught. A former colleague was caught so many times in Larimer County she had to attend a defensive course in order to avoid losing her license, but when I went to Denver's traffic court nobody was offered that.

Luvs2Trvl · 10-22-2011, 02:54 AM

I don't have Denver county experience but did get my first ever speeding ticket in Lone Tree which said you could get a reduced point/fee if you paid/mailed in the fine rather than go to court which I did because I was clearly speeding.

About 2 years later, in Lone Tree AGAIN and on the same street no less, I was pulled over and given a ticket for making a right hand turn from the "wrong" lane. However, it was the same way I had driven to work for 7 years and you would think by then I knew which turn lane to use. The cop was sitting in the middle of the street I turned onto and was about half a block away from the intersection and there was no way he could have seen which lane I was in (which was the correct lane). Same lingo about pay the fine, reduced fee, yadda yadda but I knew I wasn't in the wrong lane.

So a month later I showed up to Lone Tree court and the prosecutor told me I could pay the fine and get the reduced points which I swear was the same as if I had mailed in the fine. I said NO, I was not in the wrong lane, why would I show up to pay the fine/points I could have mailed in for. I had to come back a month later for the actual hearing. I asked the clerk, how often do the officers not show up to which she said they pretty much always show up in Lone Tree. If he didn't show it would be dropped. Not 15 minutes later they called my name and said that they officer had not shown up and had responded that he couldn't remember where he was sitting in the intersection that day. So all my photographic evidence proving that he could never have seen the lanes from where he was sitting was for nothing. In 7 years of driving that route, almost 4 times a day, I never once saw any cop car sitting in the middle of the road like that. Moral of the story, if you know you are guilty I would pay it through the mail and be done with it. You will get reduced points by mail, if you fight it and the cop shows, you will likely pay more and have more points and you may have to take several days off of work to deal with the courts. Plus, even in Lone Tree watching other people plead their case was pretty intense. They called in a city landscaper to testify against a woman that received a speeding ticket in a school zone and she was pretty much toast.