Posted: 6/26/2010 4:47:45 PM EDT
| Have you ever tried contesting a ticket? Does it work? I heard it gets dismissed if the officer who issued it doesn't show up at court, or the court date gets delayed for too long. My county court is extremely back logged because they having to take days of due to the fucked up budget. |
| If the cop does not show up and you have a relatively clean record it'll most likely get tossed out if you go, however, if the officer does show and you have some priors you most likely will have to pay up. My last ticket I hired a traffic lawyer to go and squash it. Cost me 350 but I didn't miss work and I got out of the ticket and most importantly-the points on my license. |
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I tried it recently.
The cop walks in, and he and the judge exchange greetings - smiles and waves. Seems like they have been through this uppity citizen contesting tickets stuff many times before. They had their scripts memorized. They were both revenue collectors for the city, just doing their jobs. |
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I was in a fender bender about 4 weeks ago. Cop gave me a ticket. Then proceded to tell me, I can't advise you what to do, however, there's so much doubt out there [motioning to the accident area], if I was you I would go talk to a judge.
The ticket was for "failure to yeild". $175 So, I proceded to subpoena the cop. He claims I was over the fog line when i was hit. He took no pictures or measurements. The guy that ran into me was completely over the line when he hit me. I think I have a pretty good arguement. My court date is July 21st. |
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Depends on where you're at, California for example will let you do a trial by declaration, you basically extend as far as possible, then write a letter explaining your side of the story. Cops get paid to go to court, they usually don't want to waste time writing a response letter. I got out of 3 tickets in California by doing that. You should check and see if your state has something similar.
*Caveat* you do lose certain rights by going this route, so do your research. But it worked for me multiple times :D |
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I haven't had a speeding ticket in around 25 yrs.
I always wondered if you could contest it with math- Speed limit is 55 miles per hour.Now what if you get stuck in traffic for 10 miutes and move less than 10 feet before traffic starts moving again? Tell the cop/judge you were driving 30 miles an hour for the last hour,so you were just making up time by speeding,and are still averaging 55 miles per hour at the end of the day. Right? |
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Keep your case simple and focused –– as in 15-20 seconds.
If the cop doesn't show up, you won't have to say anything. You'll win. If the cop shows up, you are probably going to loose. Try to score a few points by saying something good about the cop, like how professional he was, and how you respect him. No one ever does that. Good: "I just don't think that I was speeding" Bad: "That cop is a jerk" |
| Show up in court. If the cop doesn't show it ought to get tossed. If he does, tell the judge you just don't want the points on your license (PA has a point system for moving violations) because you can't afford the insurance increase. If you're lucky they'll change the charge to something that doesn't get points. Worked for me more than once. |
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It was 85 in a 70 on the interstate. It was radar not laser. Are troopers more or less likely to show up? I don't have any priors.
Apparently if the ticket is 10 or less over, then it doesnt go on the driver's record here, so maybe I can at least contest that I was only going 5 (according to my gps) over and avoid the points? |
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Quoted:
I haven't had a speeding ticket in around 25 yrs. I always wondered if you could contest it with math- Speed limit is 55 miles per hour.Now what if you get stuck in traffic for 10 miutes and move less than 10 feet before traffic starts moving again? Tell the cop/judge you were driving 30 miles an hour for the last hour,so you were just making up time by speeding,and are still averaging 55 miles per hour at the end of the day. Right? Let me know when your court date is if you try that. I want to come watch. 
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