Traffic court or pay the ticket?

Question

I got a speeding ticket for 42 in a 20. (shut up. i was in a hurry. i normally drive slower) I have Nationwide.

I could pay the ticket, but then how much would my insurance go up? I am 16 year old male and this is my first violation.

Or... I could go on our town's "Probation" Thing
- 2 weeks of driving to home,school,work only
- 3 months of daylight-hours-only driving except work, with no passengers except immediate family members
- $30 traffic school, $61 court costs, $10 donation to local pta

What should I do

the probation removes the points from the license, so no insurance hike

Answer 1

IF you are going to learn something from this, go for it. IF you are going to speed again, because you are "in a hurry", you are just going to get nailed again. My bet is, based on your age, you will go through the probation, not happily when you can't do what you want for 3 months, and get a ticket in the next 6 months. Please prove me wrong, I really, really want to be wrong about this.

Answer 2

Its a hard call depends on how much the ticket is pobation removes points but not many and since your young i worry too much about it just go alot slower from now on let me tell you take the two week of probition two and from school let me tell you whyyou can pay 50.00 for driving school anddo it online but its a stupid pain in the butt and its boarring and i mean the boaring that puts you too sleep boaring it asks you to read about 20 chapters then take a stupid test and if you dont pass you must etak it till you do it took my sister 3 months to due it . Long stupid thing most people due them online now instead of going to traffic school like you thijk you would at least in 2 weeks you would have it over and done with in no time quick.... Thats the key not something that drags on and takes forever

Answer 3

the probation thing. Why would you want to pay more to the insurance company 22 miles an hour over will cost you about 375 or more a year.

Answer 4

You are 16, this is a no brainer. Don't be too glum, you're not always going to be this young and the longer you drive with a clean record (which is why this is a no brainer) things get better. Do the "probation" and be happy that option is available to you.

Answer 5

Pay the ticket. First of all, the first and only time I went to traffic court, it took me 3 hours just for my name to be called. Then all the mess with the probation just took all the spare time I had and they will attach more fines when you plead guilty. It's just to get more money from you and more time they can call time served.

Answer 6

depending on where you live (i live in california and the following is true for us) you can contest the ticket with a written statement. of course in your statement if you say you were speeding you wont win
if that doesnt work you can still contest the ticket in court.
if that doesnt work and you appeared before a commissioner, you can request for it to be reviewed by an actual judge.
even after all that, if you are found guilty you can still do traffic school

if you contest the ticket the officer has to show up in court and you are hoping he doesnt.
the urban myth that by delaying and changing your court date you can make it harder for him to attend is bunk. police make overtime sitting in court waiting to testify against you. and the onus is on YOU to prove that you are innocent in traffic court. and small things like getting the time wrong on the ticket or getting the colour wrong will not get you off.

and since the officer is on OT, it behooves the court to find you guilty in order to make up the money the county/ city/ district has just logged in overtime

good luck.

CONTEST EVERY TICKET ALWAYS. MAKE THEM WORK FOR THIER MONEY. AND IF ENOUGH PEOPLE DO THAT AND THE TRAFFIC COURT SYSTEM GETS BACKED UP, THEN PERHAPS THEY WILL STOP USING THE COURT SYSTEM AS A VOLUNTARY TAX.

Answer 7

Just like most things that are of our court system, they are legally black mailing you, and given your options, you have no reasonable choice but to give in and pay the bribe. For 100 bucks the slate will be wiped clean. If you go the easy route and just pay the fine, then you end up paying alot more to your insurance salesman.

Answer 8

i bet you wont speed again. now you have to deal with the consequences. be thankfully a ticket was the only thing that you got.

Answer 9

the points are what get your insurance raised, if that is all you have to do, go for it.