Speeding ticket help please! (Carlton: insurance, lawyer, home)

[NCAC88]

hey everyone,
I have a squeaky clean driving record, have since i was 16 when i got my license in MN.I am now 20 years old and a junior in college. I never even got pulled over before, until this morning on my way back to school. I went home for the weekend from college to visit my family and I got up early (5 am) to drive back to school in Ashland WI before class started at 9 am. I was driving up 35 towards duluth its a 70 mph zone and I was driving in my mom's car, Ive only had it for a week now, it is a stick shift and I am still new at driving it and I am not very good at keeping it at a consistent speed. I was driving through Carlton county and i came over a hill and i didnt notice the cop on the side of the road facing me. There were at least 2 or 3 other cars very near me, I didnt think I was speeding until I saw the cop and looked at speedometer and it said i was going 80. I hit my breaks and he pulled me over anyway. He said I was going 84, which I dont think is right but honestly it doesnt matter i was still speeding anyway. Now this is my first ever offense, so obviously i am not a bad driver who gets tickets all the time and even more so this is my first ever time being pulled over for anything at all. i didnt try and lie to the cop and make up any excuses or anything either, he asked if i knew why he pulled me over and i said for going to fast, and he said yes. He asked why i was speeding and i told him i was late for school and was worried i would miss class but i apologized for speeding. He gave me a ticket anyway. I dont mind payiing for the ticket but I REALLY dont want this showing up on my parents insurance!!! They would kill me and probably take away my car. I have never been pulled over before and I will do whatever it takes to keep this off my record! Anybody know of anything i can do? I got the ticket in Carlton County MN, its a statute 169.14.2(A)(4).
Please help!
I dont want my parents to find out, I am going to pay for the ticket myself if I cant doing anything else but I just dont want them to know that I got a ticket, and I know they will find out in December when they go to renew our insurance policy.

Please help! honestly any advise or anything at all helps!

[Ghengis]

plead not guilty. were you ticketed for 80 or 84? In any case, I think if you can get them to drop the speed to 79 or below, your insurance co. won't be informed, at least it use to work that way. A lawyer would likely cost you a couple to several hundred dollars but if you want to avoid the potential repercussions, it may be worth it. Exact same thing happened to me many years ago and I showed up in court (without a lawyer) to plead not-guilty and lo and behold, the trooper didn't show up. The DA offered to drop it to 9 mph over (I think I was ticketed for 13 over) and I accepted his offer.

Don't worry about guilty or not-guilty, the goal is to keep it off your record.

[NCAC88]

i was ticketed for 84. and thank you so much! Im not too worried about the court or legal fees. I just dont want the insurance company to find out. My older brother has 3 speeding tickets and a moving violation all in 3 years. So my parents would be very angry if another ticket got added to the insurance.

Thank you!

[wamer27]

I don't know if its true or not, since I've never gotten a speeding ticket. I had heard when you pay the fine of say $150 (would only work if you mailed it in) you mail a check of $151, then they supposedly mail you a check for $1 overpayment and you don't ever cash it. Then something about your insurance wouldn't find out. I had heard this wives tale 10 or so years ago from a friends brother who worked in the insurance world. It's worth a try

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by wamer27

I don't know if its true or not, since I've never gotten a speeding ticket. I had heard when you pay the fine of say $150 (would only work if you mailed it in) you mail a check of $151, then they supposedly mail you a check for $1 overpayment and you don't ever cash it. Then something about your insurance wouldn't find out. I had heard this wives tale 10 or so years ago from a friends brother who worked in the insurance world. It's worth a try

Not true....those are all reported via computers now ...maybe back in the day before computers but not now.

[bfrabel]

Usually you can go to court and make a deal with them where if you promise to not get pulled over again for a year, and you can pay the fine plus some extra court fees, the ticket will never go on your record. This is called a "continuance for dismissal". You will have to plan on spending all day in court, but it will be worth it to keep it off of your record. When you go to sign in at the court house, tell them that you are there for a speeding ticket and would like to know if there are any options to possibly keep the ticket off of your record. I have done this a few times, it usually works. Good luck.

[Glenfield]

Originally Posted by bfrabel

Usually you can go to court and make a deal with them where if you promise to not get pulled over again for a year, and you can pay the fine plus some extra court fees, the ticket will never go on your record. This is called a "continuance for dismissal". You will have to plan on spending all day in court, but it will be worth it to keep it off of your record. When you go to sign in at the court house, tell them that you are there for a speeding ticket and would like to know if there are any options to possibly keep the ticket off of your record. I have done this a few times, it usually works. Good luck.

^ Your best bet. Good luck. But also work on that fear of mom thing. You're going to need to man up 'cause someday mom's gonna find out about something you did.

[601halfdozen0theother]

Seriously.

Pay the ticket. Tell your parents. Man (or Woman) Up!

[Thegonagle]

Don't just pay it, but don't contest it if you're guilty--you'll lose if you can't come up with a plausible defense. As long as the officer has his I's dotted and T's crossed, the judge almost always weighs law enforcement testimony more heavily than a civilian's. That's why you neither pay the fine (an automatic guilty plea), nor take it to trial (which you'll most likely lose).

Good news is you don't need a lawyer, either.

With a clean record, you can almost always get a plea deal whereby you pay a court fee (which happens to be about the same amount as the fine, so $200 or less) in exchange for keeping it off your record if you have no more moving violations for a full year.

Call the courthouse (phone number on the ticket) and ask how you go about talking to a hearing officer or prosecutor in that county. They'll most likely schedule a hearing and/or arraignment date/time. Speeding is a misdemeanor charge, and the courts are set up so that you don't need a lawyer for the pre-trial stages of a misdemeanor proceeding (not that a lawyer is discouraged, just not required).

Since your goal (assuming you're guilty-but-remorseful) is a plea deal, not a trial, you shouldn't need a lawyer at all. For best results, show up at least 30 minutes early, and also be ready to pay the fine--I mean court fee--that day if possible.

Good luck.

[Photch]

I got a speeding ticket last week iam 19 and on my parents insurance the ticket was issued in new york but i live in ct i paid the fine in full in person so my question is will my insirance go up? I was driving 84 in a 65 but cop wrote 81