Fighting this Ticket???? Worth it??, anyone have any good advice Options

[airfron]

i'm losing my mind

okay so yesterday i went cliff diving up in the mountains w/ my girlfriend, a friend visiting from japan, and an old friend i haven't seen in years... on the way back i was in a hurry, for reasons that might sound gross, and i was going down this bigl straight away thats about 5 mi long and is a pretty steep grade.. i was already speeding a little and just thought that since it was a mountain road there wouldn't be a cop and if so i'd see him since i was uphill and would be able to slow down in time... i was WRONG.. i saw the car coming from about 1/2 mi- 3/4 mi in the distance coming around a turn coming on the opposite side of the road so i slowed down, i had gotten up to about a hundred and by the time the officer was about 1000ft in front of me i was going about 65 or less... speed limit was 55 so i thought i'd be okay... i looked in the mirror and saw him pull over, stop then turn around he cought up pretty slow and turned on his lights after being behind me for about a min. i had slowed down to the limit after i passed him....he got me on laser going 102 but only wrote me for "speed in excess of one hundred mph".. idk if thats any better. probably not
i just couldnt believe his radar worked from as far away as it did

the cop was very friendly in spite of actually giving me the ticket, he even told me that he noticed i was not driving very dangerous and just got unlucky... i had no shoes or shirt so he thought it was funny and laughed when i got out of the car... then he told my friend to let me borow a pair while we talked... he told me that is wasn't likely i'd lose my license but ther would def. be a point on my license, and the ticket would not be cheap since cali is in a deficit.. when he dicussed the court date he made mention that if i chose to contest the ticket that "he might show up or he might not".. if the officer doesnt show the ticket is dismissed and there is no point on your record.. but if he does i'm screwed anyways and then at the mercy of the judge where i'm at greater risk than if i plead guilty initially right.

my friends keep telling me that i'll probably lose my license
that makes me feel like vomiting and then punching myself in the face



i guess what i'm asking is has anyone got a ticket that bad??
or has anyone had an experience with fighting a speeding ticket

anyone with any knowledge on speeding tickets or the court processes involved with whats gonna happen to me i'd greatly appreciate your comments

-Aaron

[j0e_p3t]

wow, 102 in an st. pretty fast. anywho... i guess you could go to court. i mean, he did say he might not be there. and if he's as friendly as you say he is, then he probably won't show. and if he actually does show up, then you should just bend over and take it like a man. i mean, you did break the law and what-not. just have the money in hand in case he does show. btw, how much is the ticket?

[airfron]

i was in my dad's accord,
but the celi tops out at about 125ish still pretty slow

i'm expecting $600+ my insurance rates, manhood, etc. they might as well cut off one of my toes i'd rather that

[kenjamatic]

sorry to hear that...fighting the ticket is up to you...if you decide to fight it you have to pay the full amount if you lose, if you go to court and plea guilty you don't have to pay the full amount and you might beable to do some community service to bring the fine down a little...my cousin was doin 120mph and a chp pulled him over for going "92mph" i guess the cop didn't use the radar or something...he had to pay $1200...like i said it really is up to you if you want to fight it...i recomend that you just pay for it and don't even waste your time to go to court because it is a 50/50 chance of the cop showing up...

[Gatz]

.i recomend that you just pay for it and don't even waste your time to go to court because it is a 50/50 chance of the cop showing up...

doesn't the ticket get dropd if the cop doesn't show up? so wouldn't it be worth showing up for since the cop might not show....

[JoKeRkId613]

im not gonna tell u to stop speeding, but buy a radar detector as soon as u can. get one of those traffic ticket lawyers to fight it for you... regardless you're going to have to pay court fees 9 times out of 10 and some of the ticket. so i usually go on the safe side and pay those traffic ticket lawyers about 70 bucks + court fees(if applicable) because they guarantee no points or convictions AND you dont have to miss a day of work. hope this helps. im only 19 and ive gotten a nice share of tickets for the past 4 years of driving and ive probably been through all different scenarios... good luck.

[bloodrain]

you wont lose your license, i had 1 ticket doing 125 I was in the 30+ bracket, then a few others, and still havent lost it, so...

[kenjamatic]

.i recomend that you just pay for it and don't even waste your time to go to court because it is a 50/50 chance of the cop showing up...

doesn't the ticket get dropd if the cop doesn't show up? so wouldn't it be worth showing up for since the cop might not show....

true....but if the cop did say that he "might or might not show" sounds kinda fishy to me...so like i said it really depends on you to see if you want to take that chance/time to go to court...i don't really have the time so that's why i suggested you just pay for it....but then again that's just me...
you don't lose your license unless you have quite a few speeding tickets...have a friend who got a lot of speeding tickets(don't really remembered how many) and got his license suspended for a year...

This post has been edited by kenjamatic: Jul 17, 2006 - 10:47 PM

[Akimbo]

sometimes fighting a ticket can be more troublesome for you.

Laser is accurate and long-range

[airfron]

sometimes fighting a ticket can be more troublesome for you.

i think it depends on the judge...
my neighbor is a clerk at the court so she'll tell me if the judge is a hard@s$ and then i'll have an idea of how to approach him/her... hopefully she can put in a good word maybe

[zachattack15]

I got pulled over in the mr2 doing 107. If the cop wanted to he could have put you in jail when he pulled you over and taken your license. I pleaded not guilty. I work at a mechanic shop so I had them give me a write up that said my bigger rims/tires threw off my speedo so I could try and just reduce the ticket. Turns out the cop didnt show and I didnt need it. I walked out of the court room without anything on my record and not having to pay a dime. I got lucky.

[dustin15brown]

.i recomend that you just pay for it and don't even waste your time to go to court because it is a 50/50 chance of the cop showing up...

doesn't the ticket get dropd if the cop doesn't show up? so wouldn't it be worth showing up for since the cop might not show....

true
I fought a ticket and the state dropped it before it went to court (both sides took our 2 extensions) I ended up paying $480 in lawyer fees but avoided the 4 pts on my license as a 16 year old. It was a lucky chance that i got off. I framed the letter here somewhere.

[tomazws]

90MPH on a 25MPH zone (****ing school), $400~ ticket.

So yours should be alright I think..

[sinner96ST]

I've been given tons of tickets, by good & bad cops.

Every single time I show up in court, the cop isn't there. The judge tells you that the 'city of (wherever you got it) has decided to drop the case, do you understand?'

You nod your head, grab your license, and walk out the door. Last time I went I had to listen to an old high school buddy I hadn't seen in years argue with the judge and get fined 100's of dollars + a day in jail for talking **** to the judge & cop.

But yeah, if the cop does show up? You have to explain your side of the story to the judge, so does the cop, then a decision gets made. More often than not, you'll wind up losing.

I just go to traffic court with the intention of pleading out, and if the cop doesn't show up, I'm lucky and I win.

[airfron]

(****ing school)

i hope that was at night or some time no children were around

i hope it's not more than a grand, i can afford it but damn that's my whole paycheck for the next 3 weeks
it'd leave me w/ just enough to buy a cheap gun and one bullet if they take my license ..j/k i'd save up for a swap no problem if i couldn't commute or go out anytime i wanted anymore

[WannabeGT4]

Setup a court date. If the cop shows, plead no contest and request a reduced fine, community service, etc. In our state we have something called diversion. If you don't get a ticket for a year after it will be removed from your record, however I'm not familiar with your state/city laws so you'll probably want to at least talk to a lawyer about it or do some research of your own if you decide to take it to court.

[ZacMan1987]

^what he said^

If the cop went to the trouble of being nice about it and all, there's a good chance he won't bother showing up. If he does, you can cut a deal which might even get your points completely removed and definitely reduced. It is WELL worth your trouble to go to court. Going to court does NOT mean that you're fighting the ticket and that they will slap you with the maximum that they can.

[illneversellmyce...]

def get a lawyer , its amazing what they can do!!!!!!!!!! if you jsut pay the ticket you admit guilt automaticly get points , so paying like 70 -100 dollars moe is worth it......face you will have to pay, but if you get a lawyer you wont even have to go to court! which is awesome, man one time i overslept for court and they put a warrant on me with a quickness, jsut def get a lawyer, i still think your going to get a point at least, but if your drving record is good you shouldn't get nailed to hard


oh yeah i forgot in my state NC, you can get what they call a prayer for judgement pjc, you have to do like 2 weeks of reeducating driving for the county lol, but they drop the ticket then, but you can only use it once every 3 years, i did it when i got hit 115 in 65 last year