Speeding ticket - need advice
 

Earlier this week on a nice sunny day I was in a Porsche enjoying a mountain drive . Windows down just enjoying the day . On a downhill section I lost my reference to speed and was nailed for 74 in a 45 😡.

It's a two lane road and I was the only car on that section of road . So I was not racing I honestly just lost track of speed . I am 64 years old with a clean driving record.

I contacted a lawyers office that was recommended. They suggested go to my court date , plead no contest and see what happens . If the no contest plea is rejected ask for a continuance and get back with the lawyer for consultation.

Has anyone here used a online service like " offtherecord " ? You apply online , answer some questions and send a pic of the citation . They hook you up with a lawyer.

Yes I made a mistake but I want to try and maintain a clean record. At the very least I want to reduce or eliminate the points for insurance protection . Any advice is appreciated . Thanks

Not to mention you're probably at what would be considered reckless op being 30 over the posted speed limit. You might call a lawyer better than the first one you called and get an in person consultation or at least find out if you'd be at risk of being hit with a reckless op charge by the judge.

I contacted a different lawyer a few minutes ago via their website . She has very positive reviews for traffic violations. Hopefully she can help me out . In Georgia a ticket for 30+ over the limit is considered a super speeder . That tacks on a additional $200.00 fine . Being @ 29 over I just missed that so lucky in that regard.

As long as there isn't any sort of reckless op involved, I'd pay the fine, take my lumps, and move on. The attorney will cost you more than the ticket.

That or go into the courtroom and tell the judge you were distracted by your phone ringing while you were trying to text someone and lost track of how fast you were going. That should fix things!

I want to hear what this lawyer has to say . I am hopeful that due to my clean record the speed/points can be reduced or eliminated. Accepting the fine " as is " is a last resort .

Good legal advice

Cop did you a favor by writing it for 29 over.

In NY 25 over posted is automatic revocation.

Go to court, depending on how traffic court works where you are there may be an ADA handling the States side of things.

Speak to the ADA before court starts and negotiate a plea. They have a lot on their plate for the day and are generally open to making their day easier.

Since you’ve never received a ticket it may benefit you to go to traffic court and watch the system in action.

In TX they have Deferred Adjudication.

You go to court, see a clerk at a window, they’ll offer a couple of things like online school to make it go away and even plead guilty, pay the fine and if you keep your nose clean in that jurisdiction for 30 days it goes away as if it had never happened.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with the roads around Dahlonega. We did."

The real issue is that how this will be settled is so local and often random it is very hard to handicap.

I would do exactly what you are doing - the lawyer should know the local personalities and probabilities.

Good luck.

At a minimum of $100 per hour, how many hours are you willing to have them spend for something that isn't going to increase your insurance premium and will be off your record in a few years?

I'd be more concerned with "lost my reference to speed".

I had a speeding ticket on the freeway for towing 60 in a 55.
The fine was $400.
Hired Mr Ticket to take care of it.
Since it was out of town it was not the normal $100 but instead $200 Mr Ticket fee to represent.
Mr Ticket went to court and got the $400 reduced to $200.
So after all that my out of pocket was same, $200 for the court and $200 for Mr Ticket.

It isn't the fine. It is the insurance cost that goes up for YEARS.

Get a good lawyer. Not a friend or a friendly lawyer. But one who can get you to pay the fine but on "something else", like "Failure to observe a traffic control device. One without points.

In Texas, you can apply for "Deferred adjudication". You pay the fine, take traffic school and they now hold this over your head for 18 months. No stops in 18 months and "Poof - Gone!"

Seahawk nailed this. No way would I attempt to handle this myself.

Best of Luck!

Not offered as legal advice. Sorry but have to say it.

I'd take my lumps. The cost isn't worth it for an attorney, unless it is me back in the day doing tickets for my BMW mechanics for $150.

As someone else said, go and speak with the ADA (remembering that these may not be the brightest bulbs since they are at traffic court). Plea it down or ask to take defensive driving in return for a dismissal. They probably have a solution that will work for you without having to pay an attorney and possibly keep your record clean.

Fair enough, call your insurance agent and ask them if your insurance will go up due to your first speeding ticket. If they say yes, look for a better insurance company.

Ultimately, the only person that is going to win in this situation is the attorney. It's a speeding ticket, not reckless op (if he's correct about that) pay the fine and move on. It's what? 2 points on your license? OH NO! I had 6 before I turned 18. Sh.t happens.

Here a ticket is a ticket as far as insurance goes.

"No contest" doesn't really benefit you at all. At least, that didn't work for me when I was young. IME, you still have to pay the full fine amount and you still get all of the points. I would NEVER use that option. If you were going to do that, you'd be far better off just taking defensive driving. Here, if you take defensive driving, your record still shows the ticket, but it shows "0" points.

It sounds to me like you need to talk to a different lawyer. Around here there are usually several lawyers that specialize in tickets and will usually work whatever magic to make the ticket go away.

Another option here is to ask for "deferred adjudication" or "deferred disposition." The way that works, they usually make you pay a sum similar to the ticket. Then they say "if you don't have any other tickets during <some period of time> then this ticket goes away like it never happened." When I was younger I used that option. The time was usually 60 or 90 days. And once you're done, it's not even possible to see that you had a ticket.

Not around here. THere are lawyers that are inexpensive. It will cost more because you pay for the lawyer, and there's usually some money to pay to the court still, but not always. Sometimes the ticket just goes away.

Yep, that's my guess too. It was probably higher, but the cop was trying to keep it to a reasonable speed.

I've had it anywhere from 30-90 days, but it's a good option.

Around here there are lawyers that specialize in tickets, and the charge is usually a flat fee. I haven't used one in many years, but when I did, it was very reasonable $50-100. I think that worked for them because they would often have many clients in each court. I was there once years ago. In Houston, there were a bunch of court rooms. Our lawyer came in before everything started and asked "who's using Kubosh here" and at least 75% of the people in the room raised their hands (at least 15-20 people). Before we were done, the same guy left the room to go to another court room because he had clients there too. In my courtroom every one of his clients except one got off. THe reason that one didn't get off was because the guy was a dick to the cop and the cop remembered that and wouldn't play ball.

I've done deferred (more than once) but it's been years. When I did it, it was pay a fee, keep your nose clean for 30-90 days, and that's it. No traffic school, and no 18 months.
I hate to admit it, but I even had 2 once, and had the 90 days overlap.

Just consider yourself lucky you are not in NJ.

In '92 I was pulled over for 67 in a 55, I was moving with traffic. Told it was just 2 pts so I paid it. Many hundreds in insurance surcharges over the next few years, and to add insult the limit was raised to 65 shortly after.

^^^^ This. In NC, 15 over is automatic lose your license in theory... (occuring in any state too).
They just want $$ and will reduce it or make it not appear against ins. rate increases for 3 years... that's what costs. No one speeds over 15+ here :D

Some good advice here , many smart Pelicans 😁. I will wait to hear from the lawyer I contacted this morning. I want to have a conversation on what the options are. I don't feel comfortable representing myself in court ........... I am no Perry Mason 😋. Court date is 8/3 so I have some time to get my crap together.

Also I was very pleasant and professional to the officer . I gave no attitude or BS . We actually had a fairly pleasant conversation . He told me don't sweat it there are worse things in life . I respect officers they have a tough job . I just want to attempt to keep a clean driving record and no points so I don't get insurance raped . I have no problem paying a fine and/or a lawyer to achieve those goals .

Speedo stopped working correctly? Hey man, I believe you, but the question is, will the law believe you?;) Pay the fine, I reccomend Defensive driving courses, it take your little error off of your record and everybody's happy. I suggest you get a Radar detector, I had one, but some workers at pep boys stole mine.

I can tell you what Defensive Driving does in Texas, at least, as of 15-20 years ago. It leaves the ticket on your record, but sets the points to 0.

Many years ago, I had taken defensive driving and then had some other issue, and ended up having to request my record from Austin. When I received it, it showed the tickets that I'd taken defensive driving, but then showed "points assessed" as 0.

At least the last time that I got a ticket if you used deferred adjudication, the ticket disappeared off of your record as if it had never occurred.

Each prosecutors office has guidelines for how to handle speeding tickets. They will either give you a break or they won't, depending on their office policies. Almost any prosecutor offers you 1/2 off the fine if you plead guilty without making them go to a court trial. Remember, PLEADING NO CONTEST IS PLEADING GUILTY. So is pleading guilty with an explanation. Prosecutors love to get people to do things like that because it seems to make the defendant happy and it results in a conviction. I don't know if something got lost in translation with the first lawyer or what, but if you plead no contest you are convicted, will pay the fine, the ticket goes on your record and there is nothing a lawyer can do about it later.

You really need a lawyer to handle this for you, but it should only be a couple of hundred dollars. The lawyer will know or find out what the office policy is for you and get you your best deal. You can't really do it yourself because without being a lawyer you don't know what you don't know.

The gold standard is to get the prosecutor to either amend the charge to some non-moving violation that isn't certified to the state or do some sort of deferred prosecution where the case is continued for a period of time and dismissed if you don't have any other charges and you pay an amount equal to the fine as prosecution costs. At the very least they will give you half off the fine, but you get stuck with a conviction.

So call a lawyer who knows what he's doing in traffic court and he'll do for you what can be done. Good luck,

I bet I have had more speeding tickets than most of y'all on this forum. LOL! I really dont keep up with my records, all I know is Defensive driving helps folks who have fun hot-rodding in what ever heap they drive. My last ticket was for speeding, I took an on-line course and almost got a 100% because I sat through it in 4 hours, Hey it had a cute broad teaching me. I wanted to take the test in the same day, but the computer said "Go to Sleep"! I almost got a 100% but missed just one answer, LOL!!!! I took the results to the clerk and her eyeballs popped out of her head from my score, I knew I have taken this mutha many times, she didnt!;)

I prefer the Euro method of speeding tickets like I got hooked up with in Austria: you pay the cop on scene. It was scary as poop but 30 or 40 Euros later I was on my way.

If I ever move to Austria I'm going to get a fake popo car and go "collecting"

I remember a comedian talking about something like that in one of the midwest states. he got pulled over for speeding. The cop gave him a ticket, and the fine was $5. He said "It's only $5? Here's $40 to cover the rest of my trip through your crappy state." or something like that. It was funny when he said it.

They also put up cardboard cutouts on side of roads to make you think the cop is standing there. My situation, cop literally jumped out in road and motioned me over. Although the photo below doesn't look realistic, in person it is a bit harder to tell and the pucker factor goes up.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1652459346.jpg

I think that was in reference to Montana

that's what I was thinking, but I wasn't positive. I thought it was hilarious.

Hire a local attorney. Someone who appears in that court very often.

Romania and Mexico are the same way...sort of...

Plead no contest and take driver school = no points - but still have to pay a fine and school tuition.

But no points on your record.

I've never been to Romania. I was going to say that I'd never driven in Mexico, but I have driven in either Cabo San Lucas or the Puerto Vallarta area (can't remember which). I have to assume that many/most tickets in Mexico if paid on the spot end up being "shared" by the cop many/most times.

Gotta be careful with that though. I'm sure each state is different, but here in Texas, "no points" just means that your license won't be cancelled because you got too many points. But the ticket is still on your record, so it may still impact your insurance. Maybe now that most of us are older, and assuming we have clean records, maybe one ticket with no points won't impact your insurance or maybe it will, I have no idea.