I’ve only gotten one speeding ticket. It was for $350 for going 35mph in a 20mph school zone at 2am. In the fine print, it outright said if I contested and lost, my fine would be no less than the ticket, but up to $1200. So I just paid the fine, and wrote “Assholes” on the memo line of the check.
It was in a town adjacent to the one I live in, with a local reputation of the PD spending beyond its means. They bought two helicopters on the citizen’s credit (ie paid for by shortening yellow lights, and increasing penalties for minor violations) for patrolling a few square kilometers and renting out to the county sheriffs.
my buddy said he had seen this work when he was on a road trip as a teen. The cop asked the driver “do you know how fast you were going?” The kid said “No.” the cop hadn’t clocked him and had to let the kid go. i’m told the cop wore a particularly tortured expression while dismissing them.
Boy howdy, ain’t that the truth. About 20 years ago, when I was less solvent and less responsible, I allowed my vehicle insurance (and eventually thereby, registration) to lapse. Over the course of a week I was pulled over in three different jurisdictions (by CHP in Riverside County, by LAPD in Sherman Oaks, and by the Burbank PD in Burbank) for driving with expired tags, and also ticketed for driving without liability insurance. The Riverside ticket cost a tad over $100, the Los Angeles one nearly $200. But Burbank, holy shit, they dinged me for $1200. Turns out they go by certain state-recommended fining schedules, and automatically double them in most circumstances, but for a first offense of driving without insurance (which this was; the Burbank ticket happened first), it cost more than a second-offense DUI.
A probably unrelated observation I subsequently made whenever driving down Burbank Boulevard from North Hollywood (in the City of Los Angeles) to Burbank proper: Burbank’s streets feel like they’re paved with silk, always smooth and in excellent repair. And there are Burbank PD cruisers on pretty much every block.
The way it seems to work around here: the judge looks at the written charge, asks you to respond to it, the officer isn’t available for cross-examination, the judge makes his decision.
This often turns out with the charge dropped. I guess they figure whoever showed up in court was the more credible witness, or at least has the last word as to what happened.
I have always thought of the note field on checks as my own personal last word, should I want to exercise my passive-aggressive side, and I have used it regularly since having to write checks.
But let me add a note of caution to any scofflaws out there, like myself, who have received speeding tickets in states of which they are not a resident: Pay (or fight) the ticket and be happy–either way, handle it.
I have just finished my own little experience with such things and it’s not a pleasant affair. Boy gets ticket, forgets about ticket, does not realize license is suspended. Boy then spends ~$1500 between lawyers, state fees, court fees, fees, and more fees, in the span of about 8 months before the damn thing was finally put down. All states involved will tap you for their own swath of nickel-and-dime fees, lawyers will screw up and they will give you incorrect information about what you owe the state, and few people will be helpful or give you good working information. Suffice it to say that I now drive 5mph over the limit and no more.
And if you’re ever thinking of using the law firm of Megerian & Wells in Asheboro, North Carolina to fight any particular tickets, just know that your lawyer may not be ready to argue the speeding ticket on the original court date, and they may not call and inform you that they’ve asked the court to push the hearing three months into the future. a
I got out of a ticket once by having the flu. I warned the cop I was sick when I handed him my license, and he could not get away from me fast enough. He dismissed me ASAP saying “I’m going to go douse myself in hand sanitizer now.”
(I was not speeding, my tags had expired and I didn’t have the new ones yet.)
Let me add an addendum to that: Do your homework on the law firm you choose to hire. The people I hired did a shit job in following my instructions and thereby delayed clearing up my ticket for a long time, thereby making the whole affair even more costly than it would have been otherwise. Take a small amount of time and find out if the person or firm is worth hiring–it will save a great deal of time, money, and headaches.
Yeah, I don’t want to give the impression that it’s a 100% foolproof way. You can always lose and it costing even more, as there’s no guarantee of success. I’ve been lucky as I’ve had a decent attorney and have been lucky enough to have some leverage to negotiate with the prosecutor. I think there can always be situations where you simply have nothing argue and your just going to have to pay the fine and get the points.
I have a reliable first person account of a particular small town for whom a major source of revenue is speeding tickets of a really shady practice.
[quote]You get caught in the speed trap and ticketed.
You go to the municipal courthouse to pay the court clerk, because the nice officer tell you the fine is reduced if you pay immediately.
The court clerk asks, before you pay the fine, if you would like to pay extra for the privilege of not having the violation reported to your insurance carrier.[/quote]
The town boundaries are drawn in such a way that each municipality in the area gets a stretch of highway, which can be a lucrative source of revenue. “Theoretically, you could be driving home from work on this road, and if you have expired tags or no inspection sticker, you could get pulled over 16 different times in 16 different towns, and written up for the same violations each time,” Harvey says.
The articles says that the ticket may be dismissed if the cop doesn’t show, but that attempting to game the system by calling in sick several days in a row in order to get the cop to stop showing up will not pass muster with a judge.
That’s where I am, and that’s where I had gotten that ticket.
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