77/55 Speeding ticket?

[FunkyCold5]

I got a ticket going 22 miles over the speed limit. With my good driving record, the officer reduced it from a wreckless to a speeding ticket, BUT the ticket still states 77/55. Is it worth going to court and pleading guilty with explination? Anyone know how much potential points I may get if I don't go to court and hopefully reduce it? The only reason I ask is, I'll have to go to Harrisonburg, VA (2 hours south of NOVA) in the middle of the week for the court date. So, it's either pay the bill and get the points, OR take a day off work, go down there, try to reduce it, and maybe request driving school to take away any points?

The biggest thing that pisses me off is, I wasn't driving the MazdaSpeed or the Porsche......I was driving my GF's Civic LX. OF all the cars to get a speeding ticket on, it's the slowest car! Either way a ticket is a ticket, my insurance will just assume it's either the MSP or my Porsche.

So, is it worth going to court and try to reduce this? If I'm only going to get 1-2 points without going to court, I will not bother with it, but if it's 4 points, I won't hesitate in going just to pray it get reduced down to 1-2 or even wipe out the points if I request to take a driving school. Thanks.

Andrew

PS - Mods, I hope you don't mind if I post this in the MEC Section also.

 

[bpoche]

you can always call and ask if they would drop it to a non moving violation you still have to pay but it will not go on your driving record. it never hurts to ask...

 

[FunkyCold5]

Who would I have to call? Wouldn't the judge be the only person to decide that? IS there another person with the power to reduce the charge before it goes to court? My court date is end of August, the 28th I believe.

 

[kamon8404]

I would definitely go to court and plead guilty with an explanation. I did that and I got off on a 85 in a 65 ticket just last month. No fine, no court cost, no ticket.

 

[FunkyCold5]

No fine, No court cost and no ticket? Even if you plead guilty with explination, that's still pleading guilty. Are you sure you didn't plead guilty and won your case?

I had one prior ticket (2003) that was 20+, but since my record was pristine, the cop told me to go to court and the judge should reduce my ticket. I pleaded guilty with explination and the judge reduced it to 1-9 mph over. I don't think I got any points (insurance didn't go up since the ticket), but I still had to pay the court fees.

Andrew

I would definitely go to court and plead guilty with an explanation. I did that and I got off on a 85 in a 65 ticket just last month. No fine, no court cost, no ticket.

 

[kamon8404]

Yeah I'm sure I didn't plead guilty and won my case. I went to the initial hearing where you plead guilty or not. I plead no contest but I wanted to make a statement. I made the statement that I could have been wrongly pulled over blah blah blah and they threw it out. ...

 

[323]

take drivin skool. they give u like +5 points or somtin. search around a local forum for feedback on teachers. i found one that basically gave u the dam answers

 

[Nicktorius]

yeah, i would just pay the fine online, and take the driving course.

either way, you're gonna end up paying money one way or another.

if you go to court, there is the money you are missing from work, plus gas money to drive 4 hrs(to and from), plus court costs.

 

[FunkyCold5]

Even though the officer said it's only going to be a speeding ticket and I don't need to go to court, I can just pay it online or by phone, she put down Speeding 77/55 on the description.

SO, there is a discrepancy to that. Judge or whoever will look at that and think it's Reckless. So, I'm afraid if I don't do anything and just pay online or by phone, they may charge me with reckless and give me 6points PLUS that new Civil Remedial Fee of $1,250.00. I don't think I have a choice but to go to court and make sure the judge changes that number so it won't reflect to the DMV that I was driving 22 over the speed limit.

 

[ghetto waggon]

It's politics in and out of the courtroom.
Think about it- She obviously did it on purpose, indicating that she was already giving you the benefit of the doubt by letting you off with a speeding ticket. 20+ is still a very different infraction than reckless driving.

Instead of getting pissed at the political system that you got caught in, you should just ask yourself 'what was I doing going 22 over?' I hate to sound like your mom but seriously what good did it do you?

So, its in your court. I've had my share of reckless tickets and can tell you from experience that you should go in and repent in court with proof that you've completed a drivers course or, just pay the ticket. Presenting yourself in front of the judge to complain about a 'discrepancy' after they've already let you off will undoubtedly get you the full charge.

 

[323]

from what im told if u have a clean record, usually u get off pretty good when u complete the course and admit that you've done wrong. also, since ive stopped
speeding, i found that it didnt even make such a big difference in time really. like about a minute or 2..... self-skeme galore.

 

[FunkyCold5]

We are good to go. I contacted the court to see how much the fee was, I only have to pay $171.00. $5 per mile over the speed limit = $110 and $61 for court fees. The Law Code the officer put down was for speeding, so the person I was talking on the phone with said I will not be charged for reckless even though she put down 77/55, I'm only charged for speeding (lady told me the officer must have been feeling generous to let me go).

Now, I just need to find out how the DMV would translate this. Will it be by the code, or by the speed I was driving. I may still get 6 points, but I'll happily take the Driver Improvement class to get +5 back. I currently have +5 in Safe Driver points.

 

[Nicktorius]

is your driving record that bad that you care about 6 points?

 

[Bakrauf]

Take the Class go to court and tell the Judge you are sorry. If you have a good driving record go to DMV and get a copy of your driving history for $10.00. 90% of the time if you do all the above, you will either get a lower fine, or they will hold judgement for a year. If you get no further driving infractions in a year they toss it out. Why pay a ticket when you have a chance to not pay anything. You loose nothing by gogin to court other than time.

 

[Nicktorius]

going to court = court costs = paying money.

 

[Akaveli]

going to court = court costs = paying money.

even if you choose to pay the ticket you will end up paying court cost.

 

[redrims]

I would definitely go to court and plead guilty with an explanation. I did that and I got off on a 85 in a 65 ticket just last month. No fine, no court cost, no ticket.

I wanna know what explanation you used.

Luckly, for my last ticket, the officer didn't show. (nana)

 

[redrims]

is your driving record that bad that you care about 6 points?

6 points is a lot even with no points on your record. Why would you want to keep points on your license that you can possibly take off? Not to mention, points do effect your insurance rate.

 

[kamon8404]

I wanna know what explanation you used.

Luckly, for my last ticket, the officer didn't show. (nana)

Sure ... well i didn't get pulled over on the highway. I got pulled over after I had already been off the highway for a little while. So I said I got off at my exit, wait at that whole light. Made a right hand turn and waited for that light, and then made a left ... went all the way down that road to a stop sign and then after making a left at the stop sign he got behind me and pulled me over. So I said he might just have mistaken my little black car with someone else's little 4 door black car (I left out the fact that my car have a body kit .. rims and a spoiler). So the judge said okay that makes sense.

 

[FunkyCold5]

You can have at most +5 points for good driving. THat's 5 years of no tickets of any kind. -6 (reckless) will bring it down to -1. Once you reach the negatives, Insurance won't ignore it and your premiums will go up. I wouldn't be surprised if you get 0-1 points they will notice it and raise your premiums. So, I do care for anything above -4 Points against me.

is your driving record that bad that you care about 6 points?