Speeding ticket - Should I go to court? (moving, license)

[fishfister]

Always go to court. The points will kill you in insurance premiums and it is worth it to avoid that, even though you were going 23 mph over the posted limit. That fact will make the judge pinch his or her face up but your appearance there and willingness to plead guilty are closer to PBJ than sending in the fine.
Your insurance company won't know unless you get the points nailed onto you.

[SC-Cobra]

Originally Posted by endersshadow

I disagree that you should always plead your case. When I went to court for a speeding ticket (my cop didn't show thankfully), the people who plead guilty got the points and fine reduced..

that's sounds like MD. in VA it's a totally different ballgame....if the cop is absent....they give you another court date. one time, i had to wait about 1.5 hour for the cop to go find his report. i sat in the court room after almost everyone else left. i asked the judge a second time to dismiss the case due to the State's witness not being present. he laughed.

[Larry4455]

I live in Delmar, Maryland and I was stoped by a town cop for going 85 MPH in a 50 MPH zone on a motorcycle. I was approaching out of town limits when the cop passed me going the other direction. I keep going out of town limits and stoped at my friends house which is right on the out skirts. The officer did not turn on his lights until after I was parked off of the bike and going to the door. He lost sight of me for roughly six seconds when I turned down a street in the county. He then turned on his lights when he saw me in the drive way of my friends house and came down and wrote me the ticket for the full amount. I was very polite the entire time. I have not recived my court date in the mail yet. I have no points on my driving record. Any suggestions on how to get out?

[dspguy]

I was ticketed for an 81 in a 55 in NY years ago. While I think it is highly dependent upon the ticketing officer, if you show up to court, the officer will usually "rewrite" the ticket to a lower infraction or fine. In my case, it was changed to a "failure to obey yield sign" or something.

Of course, the officer could also not show up. In some cases, you are off the hook.

Remember that if there are 100 people on the docket for that day, the judge and the officers are all looking to get out of there quickly. They don't want people to plead innocent and then plead their case. That is probably why the officer will lessen the offense. But keep in mind that if for some reason you do plead innocent, all of the evidence presented is from the ticketing officer. Even if your story is "It wasn't me! The officer pulled over the wrong person!" it won't matter. The officer's word is greater than your word, and you will most likely lose.

[tercel95]

They can't just add reckless driving to your record if the cop didn't charge you for it... It is up to the cop to determine what you are being charged for... It is up to the judge to determine if you are guilty of said crime and if so what the punishment should be...

That being said 99% of the time your punishment is reduced when you go to court...

[glorybeecosta]

I haired a lawyer cost 500. but was dismissed in MD, just a thought

[Chris-Kim]

78 in a 55 zone? Be thankful that you got only a ticket.

[jramchar]

i got a 98 in 55 speeding ticket with wreckless driving any one tell me a possible outcome please

[psychofan]

Originally Posted by jramchar

i got a 98 in 55 speeding ticket with wreckless driving any one tell me a possible outcome please

Not to be an a$$, but most of us on the board (and on the roads) are probably hoping for you to lose your license. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason at all for you to be driving ANYWHERE close to 100 mph.

Here's the MVA Point System

In short, reckless driving is 6 points plus Speeding 30+mph over limit is another 5 points.

Eight to 11 points in a two-year time frame, the MVA will suspend your license.

Accruing at least 12 points in a two-year period, will result in the MVA sending out a "notice of revocation" You will be asked to relinquish your license to an MVA Office and once the revocation period expires you'll have to reapply for a new license.

Source

[juxtapos]

Originally Posted by psychofan

Not to be an a$$, but most of us on the board (and on the roads) are probably hoping for you to lose your license. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason at all for you to be driving ANYWHERE close to 100 mph.

Insurance will bump up quite a bit too if you manage to keep your license.

I'm not going to be hypocritical so I can't throw stones, but either you were cruising down the higway at 98 MPH for a while and got caught, or you went 98 MPH briefly and got super-unlucky for a cop to be right there at that time.

If you did the latter, then you might be able to mention that fact to the judge as a temporary lapse in judgement (i.e. your reckless behavior only lasted many seconds, say when you had no cars around you, versus reckless behavior of many minutes of whizzing past several cars).