speeding ticket!!!

[ram_man]

Well my wife got her first speeding ticket toay. It wasnt a little over either. It was 26 over.....holy [censored].
Ive had two tickets but both werent that bad. What is our best course of action and what is the consequences of something like this.

Please dont give me a lecture. I know ive told her for the past year you have to slow down and stop tailgating she never listened and would argue. Well today was her day. I just dont want her poor choices effecting my rates to much. My tickets never hurt my insurance surprisingly. But they werent nearly as bad.

She says she was only doing 55 in a 40 instead of 66. I kind of believe her because where she got the ticket it wouldnt be practical and it would be difficult to go that fast there. But I digress. All advice is appreciated.

 

[cmorr]

Surprised for 25 over she didn't get charged with reckless driving.

That's going to be allot of points.

Do you know how her speed was measured ?

 

[ram_man]

Moving radar

 

[Gabe]

It happens. I look at speeding tickets, seat belt violations, and parking tickets as a normal tax just collected at random times.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Don't get all bent out of shape about it. Let your good driving record get you a plea deal in court, pay it, move on, drive better.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Pay the fine and have her attend a safety driving course and send the certificate in to the insurance company. That's what I did getting a speeding ticket of 115 MPH in a 55 MPH zone in a 97 Neon. Yes I said Neon even the cop was surprised it could run that fast. Ticket cost me $150.00 and no points on my license. Good luck!

 

[97tbird]

The safest way to learn the lesson, IMO. Sort of a blessing in disguise if she learns from this.
Pay fine, and then hopefully grow the habit of not speeding.

I have slowed down a lot over the last 5-6 yrs or so, and haven't gotten any tickets in a long time. I used to. But getting tickets, looking for lawyers, and paying etc just gets old, and risky if your lose your license. That scared me, and I have since then forced myself not to speed. When i do go over the speed limit, if I have to, it's only 4-5 MPH above now.

 

[spasm3]

Find out what the insurance points are in your state. From a financial point it might be worth it to get a lawyer vs the full points of a ticket over three years. How many people on your policy and how much will it go up?

 

[Donald]

Here is what I would do:

1) Show up in court, they will most likely plead it down if first offense. Maybe the cop will not show up and it will be dismissed.

2) Take a def. driving course if that helps with license point reduction if she gets any points.

3) When it come renewal time for insurance, ignore the questionnaire. Don't lie, just ignore it. In most cases the insurance companies do not check DMV each renewal as DMV charges them. They do not seem to mind of the questionnaire is not sent in.

4) Slow down.

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Take it like a man, ram_man.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
Take it like a man, ram_man.


It wasnt me speeding. I just dont want her to effect me. I can get a lawyer for around 100 bucks do you think its not worth getting it reduced with a lawyer?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Find out if the court allows for/will give deferred adjudication which basically amounts to probation. Many states will do this and if this is her first ticket, she is almost assured to be allowed to have it. Not sure about AR, but in TX you pay the full cost of the ticket and court costs and if another ticket is not issued within 90 days, then the ticket is dismissed and nothing appears on the driving record. The district attorney's office should be able to tell you if deferred adjudication is allowed.

Good luck!

 

[MrQuackers]

My last (and only) speeding ticket was in '94 thanks to a bear in the air in AZ

 

[DBMaster]

^This is what I did a year ago. My DA was six months. My first one in ten years, 81 in a 70 on the George Bush Tollway. Even the lawyer (I have Hyatt Legal Plan through work) couldn't believe they would give one for that. It was Karma for all my aggressive driving over the years!

But, yes, speed enforcement is so random and arbitrary I seriously doubt it enhances safety in any way. Sorry police officers. I respect you and the hard job you have, but there are far more dangerous things that drivers do that are never ticketed because it can't be measured with a precision electronic device while parked on the side of the road.

 

[Rolla07]

Research possible defences online. If your court date is far out than take note of the weather temperature conditions etc. Educate yourself on it and get a copy of the police report prior to the court date to see what info the cop has noted down. What is the cost of the ticket and how many points? Might not be worth it.. you can always call an insurance company to see how it will affect ur rates.

 

[AlienBug]

Originally Posted By: ram_man
Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
Take it like a man, ram_man.


It wasnt me speeding. I just dont want her to effect me. I can get a lawyer for around 100 bucks do you think its not worth getting it reduced with a lawyer?


Are you familiar with how marriage works?

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted By: AlienBug
Originally Posted By: ram_man
Originally Posted By: TechnoLoGs
Take it like a man, ram_man.


It wasnt me speeding. I just dont want her to effect me. I can get a lawyer for around 100 bucks do you think its not worth getting it reduced with a lawyer?


Are you familiar with how marriage works?

All to well.

 

[Trajan]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Here is what I would do:

1) Show up in court, they will most likely plead it down if first offense. Maybe the cop will not show up and it will be dismissed.



Depends. Philly has a cop assigned to the court room, so the one who issued the ticket does not have to be there.

Wasn't always like that. Got six tickets tossed because the cop never showed. But that was in 1987.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: ram_man
I just dont want her poor choices effecting my rates to much.


Youre married and share a household, right? Unless you lie, youre stuck with it. I learned that with a cellphone ticket my wife got four years ago, when we changed insurance companies...

Sorry, she did wrong and should have known better. Id recommend that you have a written budget, and sit down together, figure out how to pay this (and the recurring costs) and equate it to how many extra hours she has to work to pay for this mistake.

Not a lecture or attack on her, but you two working together on paying the fine, on the same team, and her hopefully realizing her mistake and what it means in terms of cash flow.

Then I'd go to court and plead innocent, if you can, and plead for it to be thrown off the record because of an otherwise clean record (this wont obviously work if she has past issues) and it being inaccurate so the data must be thrown out. You two are a team, so make sure she understands that you support her (especially as you two go through your written monthly budget and explain to her how many hours she needs to work to pay for this). I anticipate that she will be still hit with a fine (hopefully so its a learning experience), but it will not be a recorded violation so hopefully the insurance won't get wind of it...

I believe the judges have leniency with that kind of stuff - I know once they changed a sign from a yield to a no right on red, and one night, very tired, I just went on red and got pulled over. I went and explained the situation to the judge, and they hit me with a no point, no record ticket, but assigned me something like a $75 administrative fee so the ticket was thrown out but I still had a fine. Honestly from a learning perspective that's what I hope she gets - sorry, bud, I know its painful to have to pay anything, but it sounds like she wont learn otherwise.

Good luck.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Speeding should only be done if you're more important than the other people on the road with you. Driving 10 to 20 mph over the speed limit could save you several minutes but people will often get in your way. That happens a lot with important people. When your'e late or haven't finished your makeup (mostly for women) you can make up the time on the road. Isn't that what insurance is for, if you get distracted and cause an accident. People will just have to learn to get out of your way. If you get a speeding ticket the first thing to remember is that this is just another road block in your way. All this safety stuff is overrated because injuries always happen to other people.