Posted: 5/2/2011 4:41:35 AM EDT
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Got a traffic ticket (speeding)....first one in 10+ years. Court date is in Atlanta next month. Is there any benefit in going to the court date? I could really use a reduction as this ticket could literally cost me my job, but doubt with the current economy that they are willing to give anyone a break. Any info or suggestions?
Thanks! |
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I would take a divers a defensive corse and when you go to court they will reduce it and dissmiss it.
Had the same thing happen to me a while back and thats what I did per a lawyer and it worked. Nothing on my record points wise and insurance company was never notified. |
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+1 on the Defensive Driving class. I just attended one this past saturday (for insurance reduction). Find a school that's on the department of driver services approved list and call them. They will explain the details. I know you can use it for points deduction.
CB |
My recent ticket/court date was pretty .
Ticket was for 'driving on the wrong side of the road' and the fine was $116.50. I went to court, plead Nolo, fine reduced to $75  w/ no points but court cost were $41.50 . So the total cost was $116.50  same as the fine plus a couple hours in court. YMMV
With a speeding ticket I feel the fine cost will be the same no matter how you plea. Its the points I would want to drop. Its possible your insurance will make you pay for a long time if your points become an issue. 7mm |
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Did atl pd give it to you or gsp? GSP gave me the ticket. I was in a group of cars N on I-75, and got picked out of the group. I had cruise control on 78 mph, and he wrote me for 80, which puts it at 25 over. Anything greater than 20 mph over is an insurability problem at work. The fine sucks, but I'll pay whatever if I can get it reduced to 19 over. I've signed up for a Defensive driving class. Someone educate me on No Lo..... |
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I post this in every thread related to your specific topic. Every time I've gone to traffic court my conversation with the solicitor is as follows,
"I will admit my guilt, I will gladly pay the fine in full. Is there anything we can do to reduce this to an offense with zero points." There reply is always, "certainly" They just want your money, it is not about safety. By reducing the charge they know that you probably re offend and have to give them more money. The only time I took a defensive driving class I didn't even pull it out of my hat, they reduced it before I was going to use it to bargain with. |
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I post this in every thread related to your specific topic. Every time I've gone to traffic court my conversation with the solicitor is as follows, "I will admit my guilt, I will gladly pay the fine in full. Is there anything we can do to reduce this to an offense with zero points." There reply is always, "certainly" They just want your money, it is not about safety. By reducing the charge they know that you probably re offend and have to give them more money. The only time I took a defensive driving class I didn't even pull it out of my hat, they reduced it before I was going to use it to bargain with. My problem isn't even the points––I can have 0 points, and insurance will still drop me for in excess of 20 over. Does anyone know of a way to reduce the actual charge vs just the points? Thanks for all of the info! |
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I post this in every thread related to your specific topic. Every time I've gone to traffic court my conversation with the solicitor is as follows, "I will admit my guilt, I will gladly pay the fine in full. Is there anything we can do to reduce this to an offense with zero points." There reply is always, "certainly" They just want your money, it is not about safety. By reducing the charge they know that you probably re offend and have to give them more money. The only time I took a defensive driving class I didn't even pull it out of my hat, they reduced it before I was going to use it to bargain with. My problem isn't even the points––I can have 0 points, and insurance will still drop me for in excess of 20 over. Does anyone know of a way to reduce the actual charge vs just the points? Thanks for all of the info! Do what jeffco said and ask them to reduce the speed. They do not give a shit about you or how this will affect your life, they just want your money. ARH |
| If you can get your speedometer verified, and found to be off by 5 mph, they can possibly reduce it to a mechanical fine. Worked for my dad on his one and only ticket in his life. If you are with AAA they will often do speedometer calibrations as part of a safety check. It would give you some paper for the court as well. |
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I post this in every thread related to your specific topic. Every time I've gone to traffic court my conversation with the solicitor is as follows, "I will admit my guilt, I will gladly pay the fine in full. Is there anything we can do to reduce this to an offense with zero points." There reply is always, "certainly" They just want your money, it is not about safety. By reducing the charge they know that you probably re offend and have to give them more money. The only time I took a defensive driving class I didn't even pull it out of my hat, they reduced it before I was going to use it to bargain with. My problem isn't even the points––I can have 0 points, and insurance will still drop me for in excess of 20 over. Does anyone know of a way to reduce the actual charge vs just the points? Thanks for all of the info! Do what jeffco said and ask them to reduce the speed. They do not give a shit about you or how this will affect your life, they just want your money. ARH The only difference between here & Mexico is that in Mexico the cash fine is set at the time you're stopped. That, and a lot of pretense. |
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So here's the end story. I went to a 6 hour defensive driving class, which really wasn't too bad at all. Very nice gentleman that taught it. I took that certificate and my 10 yr clean driving record to court, ready to make a solid argument for a charge decrease.
I was in court in downtown Atlanta. There were probably 150 people there for traffic violations that day. The judge was very kind and helpful, and spent about 20 minutes explaining to the group what everyone's options were, and what they meant. She told everyone that she would give them opportunity to negotiate wit the officer, and that she would agree to any reduction that he/she recommended. She also said that by coming in, her standard fine was $100 + $50 court cost (which was great considering my fine was $450). The two bailiffs and a court reporter were actually quite friendly, and were in the crowd answering questions and explaining things to people. One gentleman came in and told the reporter that he wasn't going to stay for court, but just wanted directions to where he paid his ticket. This was about 5 minutes before the session was to start. She told him that he really needed to sit down as there were no officers present, and his case would likely be dismissed. This was my first clue that this might go very well. At the appointed time the judge called the court in session, and noted that there were no officers present (of the 6 who were supposed to attend.) She gave them a 15 minute extension, and said that cases would be dismissed if our officer was not present. One office (not mine) showed up during the 15 minutes. All of the other officer's cases (including mine) were dismissed, no fine, no record, no points. The poor unfortunates whose officer showed up had to stay and deal with their citations. Long story short––in just about every way, you benefit from going to court vs just paying the fine! |
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I'm betting that there were some com problems in the system to have only 1 of 6 officers there... Hard for me to believe that the other 5 just didn't care about the cases that they had in court. My guess is it is an economic decision. Is the officer on the clock when he is in court? |
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Definitely a WIN!! I'm betting that there were some com problems in the system to have only 1 of 6 officers there... Hard for me to believe that the other 5 just didn't care about the cases that they had in court... Either way, you came out ok on this one... Yeah, I kept looking around the room at the 150+ people waiting to hand them money, thinking "Wow, that's a lot of cash they're letting walk out of here!" |
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Yeah, I kept looking around the room at the 150+ people waiting to hand them money, thinking "Wow, that's a lot of cash they're letting walk out of here!" that does kinda throw water on that 'they just want your money' fire doesn't it 
Glad you came out ok 
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So here's the end story. I went to a 6 hour defensive driving class, which really wasn't too bad at all. Very nice gentleman that taught it. I took that certificate and my 10 yr clean driving record to court, ready to make a solid argument for a charge decrease. I was in court in downtown Atlanta. There were probably 150 people there for traffic violations that day. The judge was very kind and helpful, and spent about 20 minutes explaining to the group what everyone's options were, and what they meant. She told everyone that she would give them opportunity to negotiate wit the officer, and that she would agree to any reduction that he/she recommended. She also said that by coming in, her standard fine was $100 + $50 court cost (which was great considering my fine was $450). The two bailiffs and a court reporter were actually quite friendly, and were in the crowd answering questions and explaining things to people. One gentleman came in and told the reporter that he wasn't going to stay for court, but just wanted directions to where he paid his ticket. This was about 5 minutes before the session was to start. She told him that he really needed to sit down as there were no officers present, and his case would likely be dismissed. This was my first clue that this might go very well. At the appointed time the judge called the court in session, and noted that there were no officers present (of the 6 who were supposed to attend.) She gave them a 15 minute extension, and said that cases would be dismissed if our officer was not present. One office (not mine) showed up during the 15 minutes. All of the other officer's cases (including mine) were dismissed, no fine, no record, no points. The poor unfortunates whose officer showed up had to stay and deal with their citations. Long story short––in just about every way, you benefit from going to court vs just paying the fine! I guess ATL court works in an extremely weird way..... Officers are not required to attend arraignment, so I'm extremely confused right now |
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Yeah, I kept looking around the room at the 150+ people waiting to hand them money, thinking "Wow, that's a lot of cash they're letting walk out of here!" that does kinda throw water on that 'they just want your money' fire doesn't it
Glad you came out ok
It depends. If an officer is on the clock when he is in court, and I assume he is, then it makes sense from a purely monetary view for the officer not to show up. In the same amount of time it would take him to be in court fighting a single ticket where the person is obviously interested in fighting it, the same officer could have written multiple tickets to people who are most likely going to just pay the ticket. I imagine an officer could easily burn 3-4 hours per appearance - and multiple appearances might be required for a single ticket. Now you are talking 6-8 hours for a single ticket that the government stands a good chance to lose anyway. How many tickets will a traffic officer write in 6-8 hours if he was on traffic patrol instead? And based on statistics the people who get those tickets are just going to pay the fine. So in the short term I would say not showing up is the best way to maximize ticket revenue. |