In Oklahoma first timers can request driving school. It's an 8 hour class......I hear it's mostly watching saftey videos.......anyway, you get a certificate upon completion and you take it back to the courts and bye bye driving record. They wipe it clean. You can only request this once every three years here. Might see if they offer that. Good luck and slow your a$$ down .........................I do understand being behind gravel trucks and to be honest I would have done the same thing.

 

I think NJ has something like that also, you should contact the DMV or DOT to find out before you go to court. As for the testing/certification of radar. In NJ, the police need a daily radar test chart showing "before and after" light tests and calibration tests (done with tuning forks). As for inspection of the unit, the radar unit itself needs to be certified only once a year (unless it needs to be sent in for repairs) as well the tuning forks need to be certified yearly too. Not all states have a "no contest" plea so it may not apply to Pa. One thing that might work to get out of the points is: speak with the prosecutor and make a deal to pay an enhanced fine for a downgraded non moving violation. The town/city could care less if you get points or not, but it does care how much money in fines it gets. In NJ I've seen this many times and btw, a lot attorneys will deal like this as well. I also agree with davisinla not to use the "had to pass them" defense because they don't want to hear that. There are two choices, speed up or slow down and thats what a judge will ponder. Good luck and let us know how it ends up.

 

Ok I should have read the earlier posts more carefully.........since your state doesn't offer traffic court I recommend this..............Go to your court date, usually you can talk to the municipal DA prior to the actual trial.......be honest, be humble, and basically throw yourself on your sword. Pay the fine and I seriously doubt they are going to place it on your record. Good luck!

 

If you go to court, dont forget that you will have to pay additional court fees on top of the fine. Another trick you can do is file for a continuance once you receive your court date and make up some reason for it. Usually a traffic cop tries to get all his tickets done in a couple days and makes sure that everyone has court dates in the same few days span, if you change that date on him and he does not show up, ticket is thrown out (still have to pay court costs ) but no points and no ticket at all on your record...

 

I read all these posts about having the police officer present while trying to fight a ticket in court, but I can tell you here in Maryland they do not have to be present in order for you to still be fined/lose the case. I'm sure it has to be like that in more places. Just something to think about.

 

You’re in PA, your screwed bud. Do what I did and get the heck outta there! I moved to Texas, lots of good driving schools, long straight roads, and it’s a red state to boot!

 

I hear ya on that one! Id love to get out, but its not exaclty my choice to be here in the first place. I live with my parents and go to college here, so for now at least I have to stay here. In a few more years though that all changes and you better believe Im moving out of this state to somewhere warm all year long.

About a court date, if I pay the fine right now, is there any chance I might be able to get a court date around Christmas time as this would increase the chances of the cop not showing up? Ive also heard that I should try to postpone the court date as long as possible to increase the chance of the cop not showing up or him just forgetting much info about the incident, is this true?

 

Really? I live in MD and it has been quite some time since my last ticket, but the first one I ever got the cop did not show and the ticket was thrown out, the only thing I had to do was pay court costs ($70). Course if you settle before being called to the dockett then the cop does not need to be there...

 

Whats the deal with the "infamous Va reckless driving ticket"? Does the rest of the country have higher limits?

 

hope you dont live in VA, they just passed a law for "road improvement" that tacks on an additional fine of various amounts based on what the offense was, DUI being the heftiest. Article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...062201781.html

 

Get a traffic lawyer to take care of the ticket for you. Pay a little more up front, save a lot later. Make sure though, even if the lawyer tells you that you don't need to go to court, at least call the court a few days before your court date and confirm. I know of many people that paid the lawyers big $$ to take care of the ticket, and the lawyer screwed up somewhere. The person ended up having a Fail to Appear Warrant for their arrest, and got hooked up and taken to jail for a night or two.

 

Go to traffic school or at least that is what is done in the state of Kentucky

 

Traffic tickets suck, plain and simple. I'd say youre best bet is to go to your court date, unfortunately you cant really change the date, however, you can call the office, and see if the judge will see you early, because of a event that you must attend. Just plead guilty, and explain the story, you have the advantage of being in college, usually judges go a little easier, bc they know we dont have a whole lot of money, that was a pretty sweet advantage. Good luck with this.

Edit: I just thought about something, it wont help in this case, but I wonder how much your speed could vary on the speedometer when you have brand new/really old tires. From a radius standpoint, it couldnt be more than a half inch or so difference, but when you extrapolate that out the 400 tmes or w/e that the wheels spin, could it make a difference?

 

Yes, actually I do, and the who came up with the idea would be D.B Albo

 

TrafficFighters.com Last April I got ticketed for doing 60 in a 40 with LIDAR (lasar enforcement). Officer told me to just pay it.. that I can't beat LIDAR. Ticket was over $300 (with a clean record). Contacted TrafficFighters.com, and for first time clients, fee was $98 for them to fight it. They filed a "Trial by Written Declaration" and told me to NOT go to court. (Officers are paid OT to show up in court to respond to your plea... however, they must respond to the Trial by Written Declaration" on their own time.. and from what I gather, the law firm buries them in paperwork). Anyway, my case was dismissed (ticket bail was refunded... no points... no record violation ever took place). All it cost me was $98.

 

I think traffic school is mandatory here in PA? Why don't you just borrow some cash from your parents or something? Whats the fine?

 

My ticket, 60 in a 35, can cost me as much as $3500. I aready have a lawyer and I'll take a driving class before my court date in hopes of getting it lowered to speeding.

+1 on your signature?

Good luck with yours, BTW.

 

I got a ticket about three years ago for doing 52 in a 40. Was acutally going 64 but the cop said he was giving me a break. The fine was supposed to be about 70-75 bucks plus point's but I made a deal for a no points violation but a $250 fine and $30 court cost. When I went to see the DA at my court date she asked me if I had any ticket's in the past and so forth so i had not had a ticket for like 7 years, so that was the plea she came up with. That was fine with me cause it didn't add any points to ye ol licence . Just be honest and don't BS when you meet with the DA and usually they can be reasonable. It may cost you some money up front for the fines and such, but it beats getting point's and a hike in your insurance.

 

The fine for the ticket itself is $185, not cheap but its the least of my worries. My real concern is the points and the insurance increase they will hit me with. Thats for all the suggestions guys, Im trying to take them all into consideration and figure out the best plan of action here.

 

Thanks for this site! Im giving it a look right now. Can you give me a little more info on exaclty how it works, do they just charge you a fee up front and then provide you with a lawyer to handle the rest? This looks like something I am interested in doing but Id just like a little more info on exaxctly how the process works, any info you can give me would be great! Thanks!