I have a question about speeding tickets

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by jbcjr14

Be very careful! The worst thing you want to happen is that you LOSE and it show up on your driving record. If the aforementioned takes place then your insurance company can take the full pleasure of jacking your rates due to a moving violation at renewal.

Keep that in mind when you are thinking about this process. The cost to lose might be far greater than a win.

Not always. It depends on the CO. and the type of policy you have if they even charge for moving violations most do in some ways. Allot of Ins. Co. do not even pull driving records on renewals unless there was other activity (like an accident or other claim).Its cost about $7.00 for them to pull one and if you times that by the thousands of customers they have it becomes a bigger cost to pull the record than the lost premium they would get for the tickets.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Redskins8588

My Uncle is a cop and this is comming from him. The radar guns are accurate with in +/-5mph of your speed. So to write you up a ticket for only going 5mph over rather than the 11mph over is insane, the cop is taking the time to write you the ticket so why not write you up for the additonal 6mph. Either way though, any cop that uses the radar gun has to be trained regularly on them, so if you do fight it I would request, which the police office has to give you, the calibration records for the gun and the officers that are currently trained on using the equipment....

You do not need a lawyer to make sure that the gun had been calibrated. This is normal proceedure for them to have this done and if you go to court just ask the officer for the calibration record. If it was expired at the time you received the ticket just ask the officer how does he know it was working properly. Then ask the judge to dismiss the case due to the fact the calibration was out of date. Thats all a lawyer will do and most judges will throw out the case. Good luck. I'm no lawyer so this is just my 2 cents worth.

[mlmpetert]

I got a speeding ticket a few weeks ago when i was heading up to DC for my mom's bday. It was in Prince William Co. I was charged with going 80 in the i95 HOV lane, when the speed limit was 65.

I got 1 maybe 2 speeding tickets when i was 16 (about 12 years ago), however, they are both off my record or got dismissed because they make minors take driving classes. I did however get an "illegal lane change" about 2-3 years ago. Other then that my driving record is clean. The cop even made a mention of this when he wrote me up.

Does anyone have any advice on what i should do in court, besides hope that the cop doesnt show up? Has anyone actually personally gotten out of a speeding ticket and not just because the cop didnt show up?

Saden what happened to you?

[Daseal]

MLM -- I was under the impression in VA that every ticket for 80+ is considered reckless. Maybe it's 81+ for Reckless.

Going 80 on 95 is the rule, not the exception. No real advice for you, but just curious. If it's reckless -- hire a lawyer.

[mooby]

Yeah it's tough to get out of a ticket, at least in my case it is. My advice would be to fight it. My last ticket (pulled over Sept. 2010 for doing 56 in a 35) I hired a lawyer and fought it all the way through the appeal but still lost. They didn't even offer me a plea deal, probably because it was my 4th ticket (previous 3 for speeding and a reckless for excessive speeding that I previously posted on here about). Long story short I dug my own grave lol, I actually took a clinic on Saturday voluntarily that finally got my points back to 0.

As far as fighting it goes, I paid 500 for the lawyer, and after I was convicted the fine and court costs were about 250 bucks so I spent about 750 total, and still got convicted and -6 points on my license. So yeah in other words don't be like me. It is worth your time to fight it though, because a person with your record they'll probably be willing to do a plea deal with at the least.

[Ruhskins]

You may want to ask people that have gotten tickets in your area and see how they dealt with it or how it works in that jurisdiction. I have gotten two tickets in two different jurisdictions: Montgomery Co. MD and Howard Co., MD. In both cases, it was worth going to court for the tickets to reduce the penalty. If memory serves me right, in Montgomery County, they automatically reduced the charge to 5 mph over the speed limit and reduced the fine by me showing up and pleading guilty. In Howard Co., I brought and submitted my driving record (which was clean), plead guilty, and received probation before judgement (PBJ). I don't think either ticket ended up on my record.

[mredskins]

If you are in Fairfax County you are fawked!

If some cities were built on Rock and Roll; Fairfax county was built on Speeding tickets and DUI's.

[mlmpetert]

@ Daseal - The cop said i was going 82 or 83 or something but that he didnt want to write me up for reckless so he knocked it down to 80. I think reckless in VA is above 80 or more than 20 over. Hopefully he didnt mess up and meant to knock it down to 79.

@ Mooby - i fought my Illegal Lane Change in court a couple years back. The police officer straight up lied. Like lied lied. The judge processed traffic offenders like a meat plant worker. Everyone in front of me was found guilty. It didnt matter what you said, you were found guilty. I think she even felt for my defense because as i walked away she stoped me and said "Mr. mlmpetert you do have the right to appeal my decision". I just looked at her.

This has left me with the impression that with most traffic court judges it's normally impossible to fight a ticket in the first hearing. The only way to fight and win is through the appellate process. I definitely do not want to appeal. Im in Richmond and driving to PW and taking more than 1 day off work isnt gonna happen.

I just want to make sure this nothing obvious i should do that could help. At this point my plan is to beg for forgiveness and say i only have a illegal lane change on my record. As a note I also got a registration ticket because I forgot to register my car. I apologized to the cop and completely took ownership on it. I registered the next Monday and printed my receipt so I expect to get out of that.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

You may want to ask people that have gotten tickets in your area and see how they dealt with it or how it works in that jurisdiction. I have gotten two tickets in two different jurisdictions: Montgomery Co. MD and Howard Co., MD. In both cases, it was worth going to court for the tickets to reduce the penalty. If memory serves me right, in Montgomery County, they automatically reduced the charge to 5 mph over the speed limit and reduced the fine by me showing up and pleading guilty. In Howard Co., I brought and submitted my driving record (which was clean), plead guilty, and received probation before judgement (PBJ). I don't think either ticket ended up on my record.

Thats basically my plan at this point.

Damn good idea! Definetly getting my driving record printed.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by mredskins

If you are in Fairfax County you are fawked!

If some cities were built on Rock and Roll; Fairfax county was built on Speeding tickets and DUI's.

Yeah the economics behind speeding tickets and dui's, particularly in some counties, should be straight up un-constitutional. There should never be a financial incentive in finding people guilty for anything. But that’s another topic…..

This happened in Prince William. And was by a State Trooper.

[FRPLG]

You were speeding...go to court apologize and the judge will knock it down some. Trying to turn it into some grand proceeding will probably only agitate the judge who will still find you guilty and not knock it down.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by mredskins

If you are in Fairfax County you are fawked!

If some cities were built on Rock and Roll; Fairfax county was built on Speeding tickets and DUI's.

More like a housing bubble and real estate taxes.

[Chico23231]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

More like a housing bubble and real estate taxes.

and some shitty ass attitudes

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

More like a housing bubble and real estate taxes.

Don't forget property taxes (car) as well.

IF you have to live in that area do yourself a favor and try to live in Fairfax City. It is like a little oasis in the middle of Fairfax County.

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

You were speeding...go to court apologize and the judge will knock it down some. Trying to turn it into some grand proceeding will probably only agitate the judge who will still find you guilty and not knock it down.

Yep. Doesn't matter how many other people were breaking the law, so were you and you got caught. Be a man and accept the consequences.

If you TRULY believe you were not speeding, show up at the hearing and use the radar calibration approach. Usually, just for showing up, they'll reduce your penalty or scrap the insurance points.

But, you were speeding, you admitted it already...just pay it and move on.