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Traffic court advice- CA
jillahh
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
I'm looking for some advice on pleading not guilty on a speeding ticket I received a few weeks ago. Thanks in advance for your help!
First off, I was ticketed going 75 on a 65 mph freeway, I live in San Diego where 75-80 is usually the flow of traffic.
Next I'm a student and a first time offender, the ticket is for $350 or $418 if I complete traffic school. Ideally I'd like to get that waived or reduced..
Also, this happened on labor day evening where there were a lot more cops on the road than usual. I'm wondering if that is an angle to argue (ticketing being more aggressive than usual) or if that would upset the officers.
Any advice??
First off, I was ticketed going 75 on a 65 mph freeway, I live in San Diego where 75-80 is usually the flow of traffic.
Next I'm a student and a first time offender, the ticket is for $350 or $418 if I complete traffic school. Ideally I'd like to get that waived or reduced..
Also, this happened on labor day evening where there were a lot more cops on the road than usual. I'm wondering if that is an angle to argue (ticketing being more aggressive than usual) or if that would upset the officers.
Any advice??
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From what I hear (and I'm sure others will come to support this) if you show up to court dressed nicely and are apologetic and polite they may waive it or at least waive the point on your record. Your only other real option is to suck it up and pay and do traffic school, because you have no ground to stand on for arguing that you weren't doing something wrong.
When you go to court, there are only three things you need to say:
1) You know you were in the wrong.
2) You are sorry and you won't do it again.
3) You want to pay, but you don't have the money.
You need to be polite, humble, and apologetic.
That said, you might be able to get this dealt with without even showing up to court. Call the court clerk, say the three things above, and ask them if there's any way they can reduce the fee.
They might just tell you to go to court, but it's worth a try.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
if you've had a clean traffic record in the last 18 months, doing traffic school would get your ticket dismissed, and the points for a ticket would not be put on your record.
yeah, paying $418 now sucks, but paying high driver's insurance premiums because of speeding points later will turn out to be much much more expensive.
just suck it up and do this route. http://www.idrivesafely.com offers a cheap course you can do online at home that is accepted by CA traffic courts.
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You were speeding and a law enforcement officer caught you. Arguing that there were too many cops around so it wasn't fair that you got caught since they aren't usually there definitely won't work. Arguing that everyone else was speeding too won't work.
Your only mild chance is just explaining that you didn't notice you were slightly exceeding the speed limit (since, to me, 75 mph vs 65 mph isn't all that different and I could see a person not really noticing for a moment), explain that you have never had a ticket and are a very safe driver, and just request some lenience for a first time offender that has otherwise always tried their best to uphold and respect the law.
Also, dress nice.
pretty much with speeding tickets, the only recourse you have is to hope for a merciful judge, and like everyone said, be apologetic etc. in MD i know, as long as you have a clean record, you aren't getting points, but you will have to pay the full fine.