go to court for speeding ticket or not?

Question

I recently got a speeding ticket in South Carolina. He said that I was going 55 in 35 but dropped it to 44 in 35. This is my first ticket, and I can't say for sure that I wasn't speeding. The ticket is 76 dollars and I stand to lose two points. It would have been 180 something dollars if he had put down 55 in 35. A part of me feels that it is best to just pay it especially since he dropped the speed from 55 to 44. I don't know how fast I was going, so I can't prove I wasn't speeding. Or should I go to court and throw myself at the judge's mercy? Also, what's the likelihood that two points will affect my car insurance?

Answer 1

Alternatively, you can go to court, plead no contest and ask for Traffic School. You will still pay the fine, and an additional fee for school, but upon completion of the class, your ticket will be dismissed, and your insurance won't go up.

Answer 2

odds are your Lic is currently suspended and you have a warrant. I'm sure the notification is in the mail...it will take a few weeks to get to you. I'd suggest calling the court and dealing with this ASAP, before you get caught driving with a suspended Lic..which is a crime in many states. A whole new ballgame from a traffic violation. If the ticket was issued in a state where you don't live, going to your ,ocal police is pointless. They will have no info and can offer you nothing, except maybe to run your Lic for a suspension. the ONLY people who can assist you at this point is the court that you failed to appear at. Once a ticket is in court, even the cop who wrote it can not do a thing. Get online, get the court clerks phone number (AT THE COURT YOU FAILED TO APPEAR AT) Call them at 9AM tommorow. Odds are they will simply reschedule you or tell you what you need to do.

Answer 3

First ticket ever! Go to court asked the DA you can plea to a improper equipment. You'll be fined and court cost but no points on Ins. and your answer is " Yes Sir or No Sir, your honor. Good Luck!

Answer 4

This, dude, is a pure and simple case of providng fuzz fodder.

1) it is not up to you to prove that you WEREN'T speeding, it is up to him and the prosecutor to prove that you were, and then for you to raise 'reasonable doubt' in court.

2) If you aren't aware of your speed, then even if you weren't speeding, you are at the very least declaring yourself guilty of inattentive driving, which, is against the law in several states, now. There is no reason to admit to that, either, not to the cops, not in court, not in this forum, nowhere.

3) This is a game that badge-bearing bullies like to play in order to make their victims (you) feel less victimized by them. They pull a person over regardless of the speed he's driving, and start asking questions to see if the driver confesses to anything being asked, then they write a ticket to a lesser charge than the one confessed to, and the victim (you) wind up feeling so confused but not nearly as abused that you for some reason begin to believe that it really went down that way and you get the idea that you really do need to pay the ticket.

You have no idea how grateful I am that you are no longer THAT naïve.

If you ever drove past a small town and that small town's cop had a quota to meet, he would pull you over and then ask "So, do you know why I pulled you over?"

At this point WAY too many people wind up making a guess. Bad idea. One of the best responses would be "If you aren't going to tell me, am I free to go?"

But, most people will then venutre a guess, and most people guess that they were "Speeding?"

Then, whether it's the truth or not, a badge-bearing bully can then play off your own feelings of guilt about having posiibly been speeding that they can then start playing all sorts of games with you, at your own expense, and I mean that literally. "So, how much over the speed limit do you think you were going?" is what they can next ask.

If you even BEGIN to make a guess, they will then say something like "Try doubling that" just to make you feel just that much more guilty about not knowing and possibly being guitly.

Then, they will usually go with whatever it is that you said since, after all, it was you who confessed it, even if it wasn't true, because the victim (you) is not very likely to try to challenge it.

I have only twice been pulled over for 'speeding'. Once, the officer didn't even say a word beyond telling me to give him my documents... and is the same officer who was later run out of town for having rigged the roadsigns so that the deceleration zone for that speed zone was cut into half of the legal state minimums whenever he wanted to use that sign for his speed trap during quotas week.

The other asked me "Do you know why I tried to pull you over" and I said "I'm sure that if you had a reason you're either going to tell me right now, or tell me that I'm free to be on my way" which stunned him into confessing that he pulled me over because "My radar showed you doing fifty-six miles per hour back there" leaving it open, I presume, to give me a chance to think that it might have been in a forty-five or a thirty-five, or a twenty-five mile-per-hour zone. But, I didn't fall for it. Instead, I asked "So, you pulled me over for doing fifty-six in a fifty-five?" "Well, yes." "And you are aware that the Legislature has declared that speedometers accurate to within two percent are by no means unsafe, right?" "Well, yes" "So, you realize then, that if you write me a ticket for less than two-percent over the speed limit, you're going to be the laughing stock of the entire state, right?"

He'd already by then made himself a laughing stock of not only his fellow county contstabulary, but the state patrol and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, whom he had asked to step acros the border to help run me down, when I hadn't stopped immediately but had slowed my pace and continued driving about ten more miles to the next lit and populated parking lot before stopping for him. I guess he really didn't want any more people to be lauging at him, so at that point, he simply handed me back my documents and told me to have a good evening.

The point being that I didn't confess to anything, but I kept on probing him for everything. And, he let me go.

Make sure you don't go about confessing to anything, even inadvertently, from now on.

Do NOT throw yourself upon the judge's mercy, unless you know you were guilty, which you say you don't know.

Instead, make him PROVE in court that you were speeding, and challenge it.

Chance are, that he won't even show up to court. About nine out of ten badge-bearing bullies, who were just out to increase the jurisdictional coffers during quotas, realize that it is much more lucrative to the jurisdictional coffers for them NOT to go to court, but to be out on the streets where in the same amount of time they would be wasting waiting for your case to be called, and for them to testify, they could haul in at least ten times the amount of revenue that they'd pass up by letting your case slip away by ticketing more victims who WON'T take their case to court.

If you really were speeding and this wasn't just a quota-fishing badge-bearer, then he likely will appear, but that is one way you can at least begin to find out.

Answer 5

Our judge is really cool about points. If you go to court and ask the judge for no points in an exchange for a no contest or guilty plea, thye usually will do it. And to dispell a rumor, the ticket is no more if you go to court. The court costs are already figured into the waiver amount if you choose to waive it. So it will be the same price either way.

Answer 6

You already got a break, be grateful.

The court could amend the ticket to the original charge, I would settle for what you already got, unless your state offers a diversion program such as traffic school.

Answer 7

Only go to court if you have a very clear and compelling argument that the ticket is unjust. Don't go in and tell the judge "I want you to feel sorry for me and reduce the penalty". This will not get you anywhere and may cause further problems.

Answer 8

I had a similar experience in California, and I just paid the ticket and went to traffic school. I would not advice you to go to court because it can be more expesive if you go to court with no documentation that proves in your favor. Furthermore, my traffic ticket did not affect me in my insurance. So, I will say your best bet is to just paid the ticket and be careful next time.

Answer 9

If you have no proof, why would you consider paying additional court fees on top of the fine? If you take the case to court and lose, guess who pays for the time spent, lawyer fees if any are involved? You are better off to pay the fine, odds are it will not affect your insurance rates if it is only 2 points. If you have been with the company for while, many do not even check the points for a few years. deal with what the ticket is and learn a lesson, next time have a clue how fast you are really going.

Answer 10

I would suggest that you just pay the fine and let it sit on your record. Unfortunatley as you said you really have no way to prove it and it is his word against yours. I don't think it would be worth getting a lawyer over such a small fine. On the other hand if you were risking losing your lisence It may be another story. In this case I don't think that you will. Another thing to consider is that if it is a mandatory show in court you had better be there or you will risk having a warrant put out for your arrest and then you end up in jail.