Go to court and ask the judge for leniency. Explain that you are normally a very safe driver and will gladly go to driving classes. Ask if he will defer judgement pending completion of the driving school. He may offer to do so and then dismiss the case after you complete school , leaving you with a clean driving record and no increased insurance costs. I have been to court numerous times since I drive about 90,000 miles a year and have for about 40 years. I have always found it worth my time to show up. I think the judge gets the idea that you are concerned about your liciense if you take the time to come to court. Besides the worst that will happen is he will convict you and fine you. If you pay the fine and do not go to court it will cost you the same and you will have a conviction on the record. It can only get better if you show up and behave properly and plead your case. You do not need a lawyer, you can do as well on your own.
I bet showing up for a ticket is something most people are unwilling to do, that or unable. Fortunately I can probably show up and talk to the judge and convey that I'm not going to do it again and that it's a one off. Personally I think that's a weak argument to make though, it doesn't excuse the speeding in the first place and I don't expect it to. I'm hoping that showing up is better than just paying the fine. Thanks for the advice on the alternatives.
We have a new grade school near our house with NO speed zone. It's 40 mph all the way. When I asked the street department why they said they found there is no problems with normal speeds in schools zones. Weird huh?
OP pay the ticket. You were speeding. That is not me talking, that is the judge.
Weird indeed. I don't argue with the lower speed limit in school zones, if I had a kid I'd want people driving slower and safer through that area anyway. I don't expect to get the ticket thrown out, but I know where the school is now and that it won't happen again. If that's worth anything at all, if not it's just a fine and higher insurance rates.
Save yourself the time and grief. Pay it by mail. Then go sign up for traffic school and get the points shaved off.
Does traffic school after the fact take the points off the license? Or do I have to ask for that kind of option during the court date?
Go to court. First of all, if the officer doesn't show up, the case is summarily dismissed. You walk out scott free. If he is there, simply explain you passed the school and thought it was back to 40. You'll probably get it dropped or reduced to something worth nothing.
The problem is the school zone was quite small, maybe 1000 feet total. By the time I saw the school, then the cop, I was almost out of it.
Go to court,
I read a article a while back about an NTSB study on speed limits, most are under the "natural" speed limit, which is also the safer speed to drive.
It's more about money than saftey, I'd contest it on the principle, also your insurance is going to use they as an excuse to jack your rates up too
I mean, I was watching for people in the road - I just didn't see the sign and then the school was there. I don't think I put anyone in danger, but I did unintentionally speed through a school zone. I was hoping that the judge would forgive that it won't happen again but I don't expect it at all. The insurance rates rising is another worry, some places say that it'll go up, others say that usually the first ticket is forgiven.
Find the sign that announces it is a school zone and if it is obscured, take a picture of it and present it to the court. If there is no sign, even better. Generally, your appearance at a hearing will get the fine reduced and also any resulting additional insurance or points on your license.
The issue you have to consider also is an appearance generally means a day out of work. Is it worth it? In Ma, a traffic offense follows you for 6 years and affects your insurance rate. I think so even though the "new" process adds its own expenses.
On the drive back through, I looked for a long ways off to find the signs. They were there, flashing lights and all. I don't know why I didn't see them in the first place. I'd like to have remembered the traffic around me but all i remember was there wasn't anything in front of me that slowed down enough for me to do the same. I'm not sure how much the fine will be, or the knock on my insurance is why I'm worried. I'm a pretty safe driver in the first place, no accidents or tickets before this at all.
Show up clean and in nice clothes. Say yes sir, no sir. It's common practice to knock 10 MPH off of the speed you were doing and have you plead guilty to a lower speed. Pay the fine & court costs, and be happy. I've also seen the knock 10 MPH off of the speed you were doing then offer driving school. I have also seen "this week is donate $50 to Juniors house and we will throw the ticket out". (Juniors house is a charity for a domestic violence shelter.)
Showing up clean, polite, and respectful goes a long way.
Jim
I was planning on dressing up nicely and being respectful in the first place. All of those options seem more beneficial than just paying the fine and moving on, personally.
Okay, hold on here....
Your State recognizes Prima Facie zones. With a few exceptions, the posted limits in Prima Facie zones are not absolute, and the justifiable limit is normally above the posted limit.
The general defense for getting a speeding ticket in a Prima Facie zone is to obtain a copy of the County or State DOT engineering report for the roadway section in question. This will establish the design speed. If you have a 40 mph posted limit, you were going 45, the design speed was 55, and conditions were dry, daylight, light or no traffic and good visibility, one can argue one wasn't travelling at a speed faster than conditions warrant
The speed limit in the area before and after the school was 40 mph, the lights were on in the area at 25. I was intentionally doing under the speed limit (38 mph) I thought was in place. Conditions were indeed dry, daylight, good visibility, although traffic in the area was medium. No one was in front of me to slow down for me to see their brake lights is about all I remember.
Seriously doubt that would hold any water regarding a school zone. Unless, of course, you can prove that the students at this school are superior athletes whose speed and perception enable them to dodge cars at 40 mph that lesser qualified schools need the 15 mph limit to dodge.
Maybe their common sense not to cross a 4 lane split road without something stopping traffic?
although it was a high school...
If you can dodge a car...
You can dodge a ball!
First, please don't tell the judge how you were doing 38 in an "otherwise 40." He will tell you sonny, thanks for admitting in court your speed, and sonny, a school zone at the time of its active-status, IS a 25 MPH, it s NOT a 40. Mr. Heavy Pedal is ordered to pay $$$$ at the window outside of the courtroom door. Wow that was fast, this may be a quick morning. Next case please....
With that said
1. This happened in a school zone, don't expect much leniency or "yes, we see your point" from the Judge/Court, if you decide to go to court. Skip the engineering studies or videos of the position of the sun (and moon) during the "time the ticket was issued." That sells those "Beat your Ticket" books but in the real world, most tickets are cut and dry and only are beat via legal means. Or lawyers, not engineers. This is a school zone and society does not openly accept speeders thru streets with school kids. It is what it is.
2. The officer (the witness) will be called to Court via his department/supervisor, he will likely get Overtime to attend court. The old wives tale of "if the officer doesn't appear, it is dismissed" rarely works. Less likely in a smaller town. Maybe in Los Angeles etc. If it goes to court, ALL evidence, to include officer's dash cam, lapel mic audio, notes, etc will come to court. If you mouthed-off (not saying you did) or admitted "yeah, I was speeding, sorry" and it was on his audio, you are pretty much hosed, in court. Many officers "like court" because depending on department, it pays overtime and sometimes gets them out of less than desired assignments that week. Gee Sarge, I need to be off midnites next week, I looks like I am in court, just FYI.
3. Hiring a lawyer should be saved (my opinion) for those "I might go to jail" crimes. This is not one of them. Speeding laws are administrative/civil in nature, in that via making a payment to a government body aka "fine", the matter is considered resolved. Skip the lawyer. If this was DUI/DWI or similar elevated situation, yes MUST have lawyer.
My opinion:
In Texas, we have "Deferred Adjudication". Call the city attorney/prosecutor (depending on size of town, a different person or office in-takes speeding tickets) and ask for this. This in laymans terms is you pay the fine, but the prosecutor, if you have not had ten tickets this month, will process your case so that the ticket is not on your driving record. Similar variations exist depending on the local prosecutor but usually that is the end result. Also ask him if "community service" could be performed at the local airport in which you invite school kids (from the school zone school you sped thru?) to the hangar and talk about flying. Or you go to the school on career day or cool-jobs-day or whatever they call it now and talk about aviation. Yes I am serious. Etc stuff.
You can also ask for a payment plan or plead financial poorhouse, they may reduce the fine.
Second option would be defensive driving.
My opinions of course. Good Luck
Fair enough. I don't expect much leniency because I admit I ended up doing 38 through the school zone. But if people are able to get their tickets reduced or removed, or set to a lower speed of offense, why not go for it? I'm not trying to get out of it exactly, just lessen the repercussions. I know the school is there and I don't intend to go back through there again. First time I've gotten a ticket, I've gone through a ton of school zones and didn't speed through them.
If it's about preventing people from speeding in school zones, I know where it is now and I haven't done it before and won't again. The judge can forgive or send me to driving school or defensive driving. At least for the situation - young responsible driver with no history not speeding excessively through a zone. Not like 75 through a 25 or anything.
If it's about revenue from tickets, why would they consider reducing a fine down if you show up?
Not trying to get the fine reduced or negate the damage to my license seems like I'm not using tools that I could take advantage of that other people have. To me, the ticket draws attention to that school and makes me remember where it is to not go through there again. Sure that's a weak argument because I could be in a different town and do the same thing and argue the same way and after a while that wouldn't work. I didn't see the sign and didn't slow down - it's a one off imo. Not sure why I didn't see it and I won't argue that I did or that I wasn't speeding.
Fair enough that the cop may show up and also to hiring a lawyer. I don't have any court experience but I don't think I'll need a lawyer - the questions (I'm guessing) will be straightforward and I know what I'm going to say (what I've said here). No DUIs at all and I'll
never drive with any alcohol even under the legal limit. I'd kiss my license goodbye if I ever did that, much less from the principle of the thing (and past family experiences).
Good call on the deferred adjucation. I would be fine with community service, except the place I was in is an hour away from where I work. If it was local, I wouldn't have gotten the ticket because I'm familiar with the schools in the area. I could talk about aviation at their school though if that was an option. Defensive driving might be a thing I'd do too. Thank you for your input.
Hi Overdrive.
What others have said, for the defense, and possible ask for delays / postpone the Court date as many times as you can.
For the future, Never say anything that you are not sure of, like the speed, other times, places, etc. Unless you had your car on Cruise control, or other means of auto speed control, you Don't know.
You just lost half of your possible defense. Go to school, pay it, whatever it takes to keep it off your record if possible.
You may also want to reconsider your Screen name, that name gets you in high speed mode just reading it. Just kidding.
I didn't notice that about my screen name
I didn't admit or deny anything to the officer, but what I put on here is pretty much what I'm going to say to the judge if I do so or not. I was indeed over the speed limit of 25 in the area because I didn't see the school zone.
I'm assuming he busted the 40 limit and that it was not an active school zone at the time. If it was active, then you are right, 25 mph is an absolute limit.
Yeah, sorry, I was doing 38 mph in a 40 mph speed limit area, then found a school zone with a 25 mph limit in an unfamiliar area.
