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My advice is never believe what a cop tells you at the scene. The amount of wrong ish they tell people at accident scenes has led to many deep cleansing breaths by claim adjusters.
I agree with you on this. If the cop advises you to do "x", then you should probably do "y".
Lawyers have told me that many cops will tell you anything to get you out of their face quickly and avoid any sort of confrontation.
The simplest solution is to pay for the lawyer. That will probably lead to the best possible result. If that costs too much and you have a lot of free time, you can try to represent yourself, but the end result might not be as good.
Unfortunately got my first speeding ticket going 40 during a school zone time when normally it is 35 speed limit but was 25 since it was during school hours which I didn't even a school was nearby.
Officer said he was going to reduce it to 30 in a 25 mph zone and not denote it was a school zone. The front of the ticket still says speed was "40 mph", but the back of the ticket where it states what I'm charged with says "Speed of 30 mph in a 25 mph zone". He said something about it won't show up in my insurance, and I could go to court or just pay the fine.
The fine is $10 but other costs indicate $191 (is this court fee??) so total was $201.
This is where I'm confused with the process and wanted to make sure I took the best step.
1) Should I show up on my court date? Do I have to show up at 7:30am as indicated on the ticket or can I show up later? What do I plea and say? Do I have a chance of totally removing it and not paying anything?
2) Or do I just plea guilty and pay the total $201 and avoid having to go to court? And assume it won't affect my insurance as he said.
So I got a Wake County speeding ticket 3 years ago under a similar situation. Hadn't gotten a speeding ticket in over 15 years and none in NC before then and this is what I did: I ordered a copy of my driving record to bring with me to the courthouse and went and asked them to dismiss or knock down the violation to a non-moving violation.
I went to the downtown courthouse first thing in the morning (people show up early and a line forms quickly). You basically line up and wait your turn to talk to an Asst DA. It is all very routine and you will probably only spend 45-60 seconds talking to them. They will ask you how you want to handle your ticket. I said I had a clean driving record prior to this and asked for it to be dismissed and handed them my driving record. They looked at it for a moment, said they couldn't dismiss it but would knock it down to "improper equipment" so it isn't a moving violation and has no points so doesn't count against your insurance. They then direct you to a window to pay the fine. So no, points, but you basically have to pay the fine one way or the other. You have the option to wait and see a judge and try to get the whole thing dismissed but that is a gamble and you will probably wan't a lawyer if you go that route.
So I got a Wake County speeding ticket 3 years ago under a similar situation. Hadn't gotten a speeding ticket in over 15 years and none in NC before then and this is what I did: I ordered a copy of my driving record to bring with me to the courthouse and went and asked them to dismiss or knock down the violation to a non-moving violation.
I went to the downtown courthouse first thing in the morning (people show up early and a line forms quickly). You basically line up and wait your turn to talk to an Asst DA. It is all very routine and you will probably only spend 45-60 seconds talking to them. They will ask you how you want to handle your ticket. I said I had a clean driving record prior to this and asked for it to be dismissed and handed them my driving record. They looked at it for a moment, said they couldn't dismiss it but would knock it down to "improper equipment" so it isn't a moving violation and has no points so doesn't count against your insurance. They then direct you to a window to pay the fine. So no, points, but you basically have to pay the fine one way or the other. You have the option to wait and see a judge and try to get the whole thing dismissed but that is a gamble and you will probably wan't a lawyer if you go that route.
Good Luck!
That’s nice about the improper equipment thing. For a while Wake County was not doing that, which made it harder.
The biggest benefit for a lawyer is just not having to spend time dealing with it. And I don’t think they fully dismiss too many, because at this point, the courts just want the money to keep the machine in operation.
3) I can either go myself or pay for lawyer to save my time, since i don't have a driving record in over 8 years, wasn't recorded as speeding in school zone, and only 5 over it should get knocked down either way
4) Get knocked down but still have to pay the $200 fees so final cost ---> Go myself = $200. Use lawyer = $X which includes the $200 fee.
3) I can either go myself or pay for lawyer to save my time, since i don't have a driving record in over 8 years, wasn't recorded as speeding in school zone, and only 5 over it should get knocked down either way
4) Get knocked down but still have to pay the $200 fees so final cost ---> Go myself = $200. Use lawyer = $X which includes the $200 fee.
You can speak to an attorney for free and they'll tell you if they can help you based on the ticket. How the officer clocked your speed can also make a difference in the final outcomes. Call Doug Portnoy and talk to him.
A lawyer might be able to obtain a Prayer for Judgement (if they still do that). I forget the details, but it basically puts you on a probationary period that if violated can then become insurance costs by points.
But yes, the court system is rigged against you unless you want to spend 2+ years challenging the stop like I did (and won). Of course, driving from Cary to the Franklin Co. Courthouse 48 times in that period was pretty exhausting but it was not a speeding ticking in my case. Picture My Cousin Vinny. Its like that in a lot of places and not just the south. Did you say "Youts"?
The lawyers all know each other and decide your fate behind closed doors. Its their business model. Do you think the judge is going to be on your side and if the officer has to take time out to testify (they have assigned days at certain courts) is going to be nice?
All cars should come with dashcams that record your geolocation, speed, and interaction with the police.
Its a speeding ticket and not that important. Just pay it or hire a private lawyer for a PFJ and move on. I dont think you'll have to set foot in an office or a court. They'll just send you a bill. With all the fridge magnets you're about to get, you can pick just about any of them.
It hurts and its meant to. Don't speed. If you could prove the light was not activated, you might get a pass, but then again, you need evidence and I dont even know if those indicators would make a difference when the signs have the hours of activity on them.
I'm going to show up in front of the judge wearing the red velvet suit like Vinny.
Yeah it's all a scam, I already got the letters from the traffic attorneys. It's like they pay for a subscription to the wake county citation office so they can spam all of us who got tickets. Everyone in it to make money.
Anyways, attorney fees are all over the place. Some charge a flat flee of $70 + fine/court fees, some charge $230 total. Not sure how the ones that charge $230 can offer that when the fine/court fees themselves are already $200.
I'm going to show up in front of the judge wearing the red velvet suit like Vinny.
Yeah it's all a scam, I already got the letters from the traffic attorneys. It's like they pay for a subscription to the wake county citation office so they can spam all of us who got tickets. Everyone in it to make money.
Anyways, attorney fees are all over the place. Some charge a flat flee of $70 + fine/court fees, some charge $230 total. Not sure how the ones that charge $230 can offer that when the fine/court fees themselves are already $200.
I’ve often wondered how they make money. I’m assuming they try to do enough that there banging out multiple cases all at one time basically and they are in the courthouse every day anyway for other cases. Or maybe they have some way of getting the fees all waived or reduced and they keep the money. But I don’t think too many people are getting mega rich off just speeding tickets.
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