Short story: I got a speeding ticket a while back, and my deadline to appear in court is coming up.

Long story: Looking to get out of paying the full fine, and looking for help on how to do that. Call me cheap, wrong, whatever. I'm broke.

So far, these are the options I know of:

Pay the citation online or over the phone - $332+$64 for traffic school, no thanks :shock:

Appear in court, if the officer doesn't come in, plead not guilty, and get off free? I've heard this from various people, but seems sketchy. Generally, do I need to set an appointment for the court, or do I just walk-in?

Appear in court, if the officer is there, then appeal to the judge on the grounds that I'm a college student with a part-time job and don't have enough money to pay the fine, but am willing to do community service


Any other ideas? Are those last two even sound at all?


Thanks, Wert

 

You may want to consider requesting a trial by declaration, or trial by mail whatever they call it. Cops will be paid to go into court, they will not be paid to do the paperwork and respond to your case. Unless he is at a desk and feels like ruining your day

 

Well what I had to do was this go to the DMV plead not guilty!
They will give u a court date (try and get a date that's as far away as possible) they gave me 7 months later.
Once ur date is a week away go to the court again and say u can't make it on that day they will give u another date no questions asked! (once again get the furthest date as possible) I just did this yesterday the same lady gave me January 2011 I took it! Then when your date comes up again u can either hold it off again or go to the hearing but by this time the cop won't show or he won't remember y he pulled u over so this is your chance to get out of it if he shows make up a story that u where trying to avoid an accident the judge will rule in your favor if the cop can't prove there was no type of traffic to cause an accident. This also depends on how fast you were going 20 miles over will be ok to make it but anything above that I don't think will fly.

 

trial by declaration ftw, try to delay it as long as possible

 

Lol ^ agreed

 

Look into the the National Motorists Association. If you join, they will send you info on how to fight a traffic ticket. Their website is http://www.motorists.org/

I used to be a member, and took some of their advice on fighting a ticket. Although I ended up losing the case, their info did help me to fight it. It turned out that I had no chance of winning, since the officer lied on the stand and I had admitted speeding when he pulled me over.

 

delaying the court date is something you DONT want to do if your trying to get off cheaper. the courts charge you every time you need to change your court date. its a paperwork fee cause everytime you change your date they have to send you a letter in the mail to notify you of the change.

need a bit more info on the ticket. how fast were you going, what time of day and what was traffic like at the time you got pulled over.

if traffic was heavy, were you going with the flow of traffic and just happened to be the one pulled over? if so then you can tell the judge that you were following the spirit of the law and that it was safer for you to be going with the flow of traffic at 75mph then being the one slowing traffic down to the speed limit of 60mph since ppl would be swearving around you so they could go faster and that could in turn cause a pile up.

if you were the only one on the road you can try one that got me out of a ticket. i was caught doing 80mph in a 25mph zone, i told the judge i couldnt afford the points on my license cause i was going for my CDL and the points would keep me from getting it and in turn keep me from getting a better job. (judges like to hear that you are trying to improve your life and tend to be more lenient) the judge droped my speed from 80mph in a 25mph to 29mph in a 25pmh and gave me a $50 fine plus court costs (when the judge asked why i was doin 80 in the first place i just told him i had caught my gf with another guy and was pissed and went for a drive)

been in front of so many judges im sure i can come up with a way for you to get out of it or atleast get a smaller fine. dont think i have ever paid more then $125 for any speeding ticket i have ever gotten and i have had ALOT of them (had well ver 100 points on my license at one point and lost it for almost 5 yrs)

 

I guess in ny it's a lil different cuz we don't have a paper work fee! But the one about the girlfriend is good I'm keep that one in the holster :-)

 

mr. west - my other way of getting out of tickets is by becoming friends with a judge (kinda easy when your in front of them all the time) and buying them drinks at the bar. i have been in jail and had the judge drop all charges and tell me to go home

 

Lol it's a good thing my 21st is in a few dayz!!

 

This definitely is not the case here in California. I just beat one of my tickets recently here in southern California.

Delay the court dates as long as you can. That means: (1) Get an extension right before your court date is up (over the phone or on the court website). (2) Get ANOTHER extension after your extension is up by showing up to court a few days before the extension is up.

You will have to talk to a judge to get a second extension, but they will usually grant it to you.

This makes your file dated back even further. Remember that the officer has to have sufficient evidence against you. And being a case that is so old, he might not have all the notes from the event to prove you guilty in court. Or......if you're lucky....he had prior obligations he couldn't get out of and doesn't show up.

With the troubled economy, let's just say that my courtroom in Orange County was PACKED with officers!

Luckily.....my officer didn't show up. I used the method above.

 

must be nice to not be charged to change your court date. here its a bit different. the first time you go to court the officer doesnt have to be there. you can plead guilty, not guilty or no contest (means you will be found guilty but it cant be used against you in civil case whereas a guilty plea can be) if you plead not guilty then the officer has to show up at the second hearing and if they dont show then the case gets dismissed and you only have to pay court costs but no fine. at the second hearing you might get a chance to speak to the proscutor before going infront of the judge and make a deal to change your plea to guilty if they are willing to give you a smaller fine/less points etc. otherwise you take your chances on the officer showing up and pleading your case to the judge

 

I have the same situation

 

Court Costs and fees are out rageous.

A 25 cell phone ticket gets you up to 275 to 325 depending on county.

 

You lose.

 

Talk to the cop before the trial. See if he'll agree to reduce the ticket down to 5 mph over the limit with no points. He'll more than likely go for it and talk to the judge and you just agree to it.

 

^Not in California buddy..

 

QUESTION !!!

i'm from NoCal/bayare...

1) went down LA and got a "turn left on a double yellow line"....gave me a $211 ticket in the mail ...i called them up and ask for an extention to april 19th.... would the same trick work for this ticket ??
PS: there was no other car present at that moment from BOTH lanes...

2) 3 weeks later , i got a "unsafe start"....kinda did a little burn out with my buddy at the start of a traffic light but slowed down before i hit 15mph....the cop was 4 cars BEHIND and on a DIFFERENT lane...i think he just hear the noise but i dont know.... would the same trick work for this ticket ??
PS: i just came out from a car wash ...could wet tire + hi HP car be an excuse ?

 

so what did you do?