Speeding Ticket Questions

[At-Least-It's-An-Evo]

So I got my first speeding ticket in my history of driving about 2 weeks ago. I want to goto court (court date is tomorrow).... and just plead guilty, (cause I was unknowingly speeding in Hastings)...........

I'm wondering, what actually happens. I've never gotten a speeding ticket before, but I've been told usually they cut you somewhat of a deal if you plead guilty. I'd rather go and have the fee be cut down instead of paying the entire $130. :( There goes my mint ass driving record.

[Kracka]

Talk to the prosecutor (which is probably what you're doing tomorrow) and there is a driving probation type of thing where the speeding ticket will be wiped from your record if you drive clean for the next year.

[turbotalon1g]

^word.

[x-pride]

^^
^^
Yep, talk to the hearing officer. You will need to pay the full ticket but you will not get any points on your record and be on probation for a year. If you break the probation the points go back on your ticket. Hopes this helps. Where did you get caught in hastings and how fast?

[t_92r]

You can talk to the hearing officer or prosecutor that you never gotten a ticket before and see if they can lower the fines but also ask them not to put it in your record. They usually cut you a deal if this is your first. It goes down hill from here if it gets on your record.

[mike55112]

Talk to the prosecutor (which is probably what you're doing tomorrow) and there is a driving probation type of thing where the speeding ticket will be wiped from your record if you drive clean for the next year.

You can go on a probation for a year and you will either have to pay the ticket price or it might be a little bit more than the ticket price, my sister paid 150 for the probation, But if you break your probation, you will get the points plus you will have to pay your first ticket price along with your new ticket price.. I think that what I was told last time..

[MATCHBX]

Basically if they are willing to work with you (i.e. you weren't going excessively fast or being stupid with the officer), they will give you a few options.

A....You plead guilty, pay the fine and it goes on your record.

B....Being that you have a clean record, you can ask for a "Plead guilty, no acceptance" What that is it that you plead guilty to the offense, usually pay the whole fine and then they don't accept it for a set amount of time (mine was 6 months, but sometimes it's up to a year). After that time is up and you have not got any more tickets, it gets erased from the books. So you are on probation for that time period. If you get another same or similar offense, then the ticket goes on your record for what ever amount of years it takes to come off.

C....Plead innocent and set up a trial date.

Those are usually your options for that type offense. Unfortunately you usually end up paying the full fine (and possibly a small administration fee, but not likely) for option B. You won't get something for nothing basically. They might be able to set up a payment plan with you though too. Pay most of it when you're there and then pay the rest within a certain amount of time.

I took option B the last time I got a ticket. I had a 6 month time period I had to keep mine clean. I got a small speeding ticket a few months later and was so pissed at myself. Until I found out the officer never turned in the paperwork to the court so they had no record of me having a courtdate that day. So I took my paper copy of the ticket into the court the day after I was supposed to be in court and they dismissed it. I had called the day of my court date to pay it and they said they had no record of it. So she told me to bring in my paper ticket and she would dismiss it. I got EXTREMELY lucky on that one.

If you do get option B, make sure that after the probationary period is up that you follow up with it to make sure they don't put it on your record and make sure that they do get rid of it. It can get lost in the shuffle and something might come back to bite you. Just make sure you cover all of your bases.

[At-Least-It's-An-Evo]

Thanks guys for the advice. I wasn't even purposely speeding. It's ironic that I got a speeding ticket in the slowest car I've owned and when I didn't mean to speed and have done a million worse things car-related. It was 43 in a 30... going down from 35 or 40 or something, who knows, screw small towns.

[Onefast99gsx]

I got a speeding ticket in Nov. '07 and I was doing 82 in a 55 zone. I can't remember the term, but it was either No contest or not guilty that I plead. So then they sent me another letter to setup a phone-in hearing. Basically, I told the guy I spoke to i'm not worried about the money, I just didn't want to lose my license or alot of points. All they care about is the money anyway. I think I would have lost 6? I only lost 3 because I negotiated with them. Insurance-wise, more points they take the more insurance will go up. You'll end up paying the full ticket amount. They may reduce the number of points they took from you.

[Andrew7dg]

Have fun in hastings, last time I was there the judge was rude to me before I went and saw a hearing officer. BUT I did have it off my record for a year.

WTF... your record was clean?! how!!!?