Got a speeding ticket... need advice (NY)

[kansei]

It pays to check the ticket carefully. If the officer made a mistake on the ticket a lawyer can get it dismissed (example: if your name is misspelled, your driver's license # is incorrect, the location of the incident is not right, etc).

Failing that, in some states they dismiss your ticket if the officer does not appear in court. Some judges will let you plea down to a lesser violation if you ask nicely. It may be cheaper to pay a lawyer $200 than to pay the fine and the insurance surcharges for several years. It also may be a good idea to pay a lawyer $100 to just give you advice on what's best. Call some lawyers in the area where you got the ticket and see if you can get some cheap or free advice.

[immtbiker]

No insurance company is going to raise his rates because of one speeding ticket.
If they do, go the Caveman route and get Geico. My wife and I each have a violation, my latest one being the "Emergency Vehicle" violation and every 6 months when Geico re-assesses our insurance, they send us a letter showing us the violations and ask us to please be more careful.
Allstate did the same.

Bottom line (as was stated by others here). He sped, he got caught, and he should pay the fine and move on.

[MrSlacker]

Originally Posted by MD1032

That doesn't sound right. Was the cop operating his radar while driving? How do those things even work? Can it really get an accurate reading on a car going in the opposite direction while the cop was moving?

Originally Posted by immtbiker

He can't tag him for speeding in the opposite direction, (if 2 trains leave their stations in NY and Albany, traveling towards each other at 60 mph...), however, he could nail him while following him if Mr. Slacker was still above the speed limit while the cop was trailing him.

Unless he was on the other side, sitting still, with his radar gun facing either side of the highway.
Either way, a day spent in court will still yield a ticket because these traffic court judges hear moaning 24/7 and always side with the cop. So now you lose a day and still have to pay the fine.

You can always do the "overpay" trick. Overpay the fine, and never cash in the refund check. They cannot apply the points to your license until the transaction is finalized.

Thats exactly why I think its a BS ticket. He wasn't sitting and catching people with a radar... he was just driving in the opposite direction. There is NO way he can prove my speed.

I heard about the overpay trick, but would rather take care of it.




ALSO, i have NO problems paying the fine. I will gladly pay whatever is needed, BUT I just do not want to have points on my license. So please stop with "just pay the fine."

[Kicksonrt66]

May depend on the town and how busy they are that day.

The last ticket I got was in New York. I showed up on the court date with no lawyer, just intending to pay the fine. Since I had a clean record (as you apparently do) they changed it to something like disobeying a signal device (ie the speed limit sign) which was less points.

[Kicksonrt66]

Originally Posted by MD1032

That doesn't sound right. Was the cop operating his radar while driving? How do those things even work? Can it really get an accurate reading on a car going in the opposite direction while the cop was moving?

Fancy radars can subtract the police car's speed from the approach speed.

[immtbiker]

Originally Posted by MrSlacker

BUT I just do not want to have points on my license. So please stop with "just pay the fine."

Just pay the fine

Dude, you were speeding. Take ownership for your actions, you're not in High School anymore.

[nick_charles]

Originally Posted by MrSlacker

ALSO, i have NO problems paying the fine. I will gladly pay whatever is needed, BUT I just do not want to have points on my license. So please stop with "just pay the fine."

It sounds like you are admitting you were speeding. If so, you should take responsibility for your actions , regard it is a lesson that will stand you in good stead for the next 50 years. The points will vanish in a few years anyway.

We all make mistakes, yours did not involve dying in a ball of fire or wrecking a car so all things considered it was a cheap mistake. Last year I had my first serious accident in 24 years of driving , writing-off my Ford Escort, that was an expensive mistake. I also got a couple of points for it.

[user18]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

You can always do the "overpay" trick. Overpay the fine, and never cash in the refund check. They cannot apply the points to your license until the transaction is finalized.

Internet rumor. snopes.com: Overpaying Traffic Tickets. The state/county couldn't care less if you never cash the refund check, in today's economy they probably prefer it.

[kansei]

There is a difference in my mind between taking ownership for your actions and throwing yourself at the mercy of the courts. I also have a fundamental issue with towns speed trapping for profit under the guise of "safety".

Also, if the officer made a mistake, why should you just blindly accept the blame and pay the fine? Did you know that most car speedometers display your current speed at least 5 MPH faster? You may think you were speeding but really weren't. The officer could have made a mistake when clocking you and not even realized it. Now, you're now paying over $2000 in fines and surcharges because of his/her mistake.

Bottom line: the state is not always right, and neither are you. Know your rights and at use the "due process". Why be a victim of the circumstance?

[immtbiker]

Never tried, but I do know people who have success with the ploy. Of course this is only a short term solution that delays your 18 month "falling off" period.

Can't fight City Hall.

[nick_charles]

Originally Posted by kansei

There is a difference in my mind between taking ownership for your actions and throwing yourself at the mercy of the courts. I also have a fundamental issue with towns speed trapping for profit under the guise of "safety".

If the speed limit is clearly posted this matter not a whit in legal terms, the township's motives are immaterial to whether the OP sped or not.

Also, if the officer made a mistake, why should you just blindly accept the blame and pay the fine? Did you know that most car speedometers display your current speed at least 5 MPH faster?

Okay, that would make it 55 in a 45 zone if based on speedos alone, still 10mph over the limit, but it it not the OP's speedo that is in question but the radar device the copper used.

You may think you were speeding but really weren't. The officer could have made a mistake when clocking you and not even realized it. Now, you're now paying over $2000 in fines and surcharges because of his/her mistake.

If you are going 10 - 15 over the speed limit you know you are speeding even if the precise extent is hard to ascertain. The OP has never denied speeding so the burden is to prove that the copper was way off and really badly off to mistake 60 for 45.

[Aimless1]

Originally Posted by immtbiker

No insurance company is going to raise his rates because of one speeding ticket.
If they do, go the Caveman route and get Geico. My wife and I each have a violation, my latest one being the "Emergency Vehicle" violation and every 6 months when Geico re-assesses our insurance, they send us a letter showing us the violations and ask us to please be more careful.
Allstate did the same.

Bottom line (as was stated by others here). He sped, he got caught, and he should pay the fine and move on.

Sorry, this is simply not true...

Most states allow insurance companies to charge for the first ticket and they do. In Michigan this is certainly the case. Not to say it doesn't apply where you live, but what's material is not whether there is an increase in the premium, but rather whether the final price is competitive. Best to turn to your insurance agent to find out what, if any impact this may have on your rates.

I've used to be on the road and had a similar situation. When the officer pulled his u-turn I simply pulled over and waited for him. Had my speed on his radar. We had a friendly chat, he knocked the ticket down to 5 over from 15 over and I went on my merry way ... and paid the ticket.

As others have said in many different ways...man up and pay up.

[meat01]

If the insurance company checks your record and you have points on it, they can raise your rates by taking away your clean driving record discount. They don't always check your record every time it is up for renewal though.

[kansei]

Originally Posted by nick_charles

If you are going 10 - 15 over the speed limit you know you are speeding even if the precise extent is hard to ascertain. The OP has never denied speeding so the burden is to prove that the copper was way off and really badly off to mistake 60 for 45.

Unless you have an officially calibrated speedometer in your car, you really don't know how fast you're going. I owned at least 2 cars and several motorcycles where the speedometers were off by a lot. The margin here could be large enough to make a considerable difference in the fine and insurance surcharges. Even if he feels he's was speeding, it is not certain how much faster than the speed limit he was going.

Again, the benefit of following the appropriate process outweighs just taking this at face value. There is room for error in this process, why accept it at face value?

There is an important lesson about talking to the police here, especially when admitting guilt: "Don't Talk to the Police" by Officer George Bruch Contrary to the popular opinion, the job for the police is to gather as much information about you that can be used against you. They can use anything you tell them to further the search of your person or your possessions.

[nick_charles]

Originally Posted by kansei

Unless you have an officially calibrated speedometer in your car, you really don't know how fast you're going. I owned at least 2 cars and several motorcycles where the speedometers were off by a lot. The margin here could be large enough to make a considerable difference in the fine and insurance surcharges. Even if he feels he's was speeding, it is not certain how much faster than the speed limit he was going.

I had a Vauxhall Astra that was consistently 15mph out (at any speed from 30mph onwards) , it took a while to calculate the error exactly using mile markers, but I knew it was funky as soon as I had bought it and started driving it home, it gave me highly improbable acceleration, though at the time I did not know exactly how bad it was, but I knew it was bad. Had it been 5mph out I doubt I would have noticed it. I sold it to my nephew who was very upset when I told him that the 114mph he got out of it was really 99mph.