how much trouble am i in?

Question

i was driving around and came upon a vehicle i wanted to pass. there was a left turn lane so i stupidly decided to pass right there. I live in Griffin Georgia and a Georgia State Patrol pulled me over. he wrote me two tickets. one for speeding, 65 in a 45 and one for passing in a no pass zone. i am seventeen years old and have never had a ticket before. what do you think i will get?

p.s. he put on the ticket that i passed two vehicles at once but i KNOW that i didnt. i had plenty of witnesses in the vehicle with me. oh and please no preaching. i am fully aware of my irresponsible actions and am being handled very harsh by my parents. i am going to get it hear at home dont worry. im just wondering about legally.

Answer 1

Even if you do not tell your parents, the GSP sends a letter to your residence stating that their minor was stopped and issued a citation. Something happened in the Houston County area and now all GSP posts have to send out the letters.

Since you are 17 years old, you have a Class D license. The point system for a Class D license is more strict than a Class C. You are lucky that you were not traveling any faster than what GSP wrote you for. That would have been an automatic suspension due to point value. The point value for a Class D is four or more points in any consecutive 12 month period for persons under 18 years of age. (Georgia code 40-5-57.1)

Now, your speeding of 20 miles over the limit is valued at 3 points. Your passing in a no passing zone is not listed so it falls underneath this: All other moving traffic violations which are not speed limit violations 3 points. (Georgia code 40-5-57)

So, you are looking at 3 points per citation with your total being 6. Your license will be suspended if all the points go on your driving record.

The only thing left to do is to talk with the judge who will hear your case. He or she might be able to work with you, or not.

For the other side of this, you are 17 yoa and will be in a regular court, not juvenile court. There are certain amounts already preset by the court for each citation. If you are found guilty, then you will have to pay those fines. If you cannot pay the fines the day of court, they normally give you two choices. First, a small time frame in which to have all the monies paid. Second, you can be placed on probation until the fines are paid. If you are on probation, you have probation fees that will also have to be paid. The probation will normally terminate once the fines have been paid in full especially considering these citations are just minor traffic offenses.

You can get a lawyer if you want one. Legal aid is also available to you. They have some really good lawyers and work so much cheaper, like $50. They can accomplish the same thing as a $1000 lawyer can. You can see if they can get the speed lowered to 14 mph over instead of 20 (at 14 over there are no points accrued), or get the other citation changed to something that has no point value such as too fast for conditions.

Good luck and I do hope you have learned a valuable lesson from all of this.

Answer 2

Before you go to court, you may wish to contact the County Attorney (CA) and ask him or her if you could plead out to a lesser charge for a heftier fine.

Most likely, before the CA will agree to talk to you, they will require you to sign a form, waiving your right to an attorney. You can still have an attorney, but you will not get a free one after signing the form. Sign the form, and speak with the CA, but be careful what you admit to, because often those forms also waive your right to remain silent. Be polite, contrite, and humble. If this is a first offense, there is a good chance the CA will allow you to plead to a non-moving offense which won't put points on your license. If, after talking to the CA, they refuse to cut you any breaks, hire an attorney. An attorney can have an easier time convincing the CA to lower the charges with a plea deal than you. But you can still try doing it yourself first. That will save you legal fees. I'd be surprised if the CA refused to work out a deal with you. You might even get the charges dropped, but I doubt you would be that lucky.

If they allow you that courtesy, you will pay a fine that is more than the fine you would have paid, but in the end you still save money because your insurance won't go up at all, assuming all of the charges are reduced to something that is a non-moving violation. Even if only one charge is reduced, or dropped, the points against your license would be less than otherwise. You might also be able to take a defensive driving course, and be placed on probation for a while. In that case, the charges would be dropped completely, after you complete your probationary period without getting any more tickets during that time.

If the CA makes you an offer, you are not obligated to accept it. If you think hiring an attorney would be better for you, and it probably won't be so, you can still do that.

I got a ticket once, and asked the CA to reduce the charges. He refused. I hired an attorney. Guess what? My attorney worked out the same deal I was asking for.

But I paid more to get it. That was the CA's goal...to teach me a lesson.

EDIT:
Someone said you can't use family members as witnesses. That's not true. The judge may choose to believe that the family member is lying to protect you, but you can use them. And the judge often does consider their testimony. Bottom line, if it comes down to your word and your famiy member's word against the officer's, you will probably lose. Someone who doesn't know you that was there to counter the testimony of the officer would be better. Better yet, a recording from the dash cam of the officer's patrol car would be ideal in proving if it is actually the officer's memory which is faulty. Then again, it might prove yours to be the faulty one.

If you could come up with a specific, documented incidence of when that officer has lied on a report or in court, you could destroy his own credibility in court, but you'll have a tough time doing that without an attorney who will know how to solicit and supoena that documentation, assuming it even exists.

Good luck!

El Chistoso

Answer 3

On the back of the tickets, it tells you how much is the fine for each offense. Or it tells you where to find out the fines. Then you mail in a check or money order for the fines and that's that.

Besides the grief your parents will give you. And possibly, POSSIBLY, the increase in insurance rates, which probably won't show up until the annual renewal, if then.

Answer 4

BIG TROUBLE.
THANK GOD YOUR PARENTS CARE AND YOU FEAR THEIR RESPONSE MORE THEN THE LAWS.
MOM AND DAD BY THE SOUNDS WILL TAKE AWAY THE CAR, MAKE YOU PAY FOR YOUR MISTAKES, YOUR INSURANCE INCREASE ESPECIALLY IN GEORGIA WILL SPY ROCKET. ONE TICKET OK BUT TWO IN THE SAME DAY WOW.

NOW ABOUT COURT. OFFICER WROTE YOU SAY?? YOUR FRIENDS SAY?? BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER. WHAT DOES THE JUDGE THINK THEY WILL SAY. THE OFFICER WAS RIGHT??

PAY THE TICKETS AND WHEN MOM AND DAD LET YOU DRIVE AGAIN REMEMBER IT IS A PRIVILEGE TO DRIVE NOT A RIGHT. AFTER WALKING TO SCHOOL, BUSING ETC YOU WILL HAVE LEARNED YOUR LESSON.

OH BY THE WAY MY PARENTS WERE THE SAME WAY. AND ALL OF THE ABOVE APPLIED TO ME.

Answer 5

nothing , you got tickets, pay the fine, pay more for insurance, maybe take defensive driving to get rid of one of your tickets and save you a little money. thats about it besides the parents part you'll be done.

Answer 6

Ok, witnesses can't be family members because family members are known to back u up even if they didn't see it. u had friends in the car with u .. it may not help as much. you need a witness that is not bios..
you may set up a court date for it ..
worse cae scenario, ask for probation or commnity service to pay for the fines..

Answer 7

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Answer 8

big fine. depends. since this is your first traffic ticket. nothing major just a few hundred dollars in fines. maybe some driving school.

Answer 9

You will get a big fine, increase in insurance premium..maybe have to take a defensive driver course.

Answer 10

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