Export thread

Doh. $287 by Aug 10th.

78 in a 55. No excuses... well, one excuse - I was trying to pass a truck in the right hand lane AND I had just checked my speed off of one of those radar boxes.. it said I was going SLOWER than I thought I was, by 5mph. Still speeding though, I admit that.

Does traffic court usually take payment plans?

I want to say they do. You'll probably have to go down there and talk to someone. check your ticket, it should have most of the info you need.

---------- Post added at 06:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:25 AM ----------

Also, in Texas, we can get a ticket dismissed by going to Defensive Driving. I still had to pay a court fee and combined with the DD fee it was almost just as expensive.

yeah, the court date is August 10th at 9am, be there (or send money in beforehand) or have a warrant issued for my arrest. I fully plan on pleading guilty and hoping for a reduced ticket.. the cop mentioned something called Diversion and a 2 hour class at our local community college to avoid it going on my insurance / driving record? (got ninja'd).. I don't know if I need to ask about this before I go to court or after I talk with the judge or what...

If it's anything like here, your ticket or some other piece of info the officer gave you should have a number you can call. Just ask them what exactly your options are.

You shouldn't have to go to court, and there's no need to if you're just going to accept the ticket. Call the clerk of courts for whatever county you received the ticket in, the number should be on the ticket. They can tell you what your payment options are. defensive driving won't get the ticket dismissed, but it will keep the points from being added to your license. You should be able to both pay the ticket and take the course online.

Disclaimer: this is all based on florida law, it could be different where you are.

in Texas, you can do Defensive Driving online. This will help counter the increase of your auto insurance (it can happen) most DD (in person, not online) provide dinner (consider the cost now-a-days) so might as well show up and get a meal too.

I've alwasy done defensive driving online in Texas. They have it as low as $25. The court administrative fees are as much as a ticket, but it keeps your insurance from going up or getting points on your license.

It's been almost 10 years since I've received a ticket (knock on wood), so my knowledge isn't as up to date. When I used to get tickets in Fort Worth, the administrative fee was always around $60. So, coupled with Defensive Driving or Deferred Adjudication (just the court cost on this one), I only had one ticket go against my driving record since I was 16. Generally, at least in Fort Worth, the ticket gets dismissed as long as you do not get another within 3 months.

Maybe court fees have gone up a bit, or Fort Worth was on the cheap side. I hope I don't have to find out.

Take the class or you'll be paying for it in your insurance for years.

I still don't know how I don't get a ticket everyday. I've not gotten one in 20+ years.

Wait, why are you going to court? You only go to court if you plead not guilty on the ticket. Otherwise, you just check off guilty and the sentence fine is the fine on the ticket.

Dave said:

Take the class or you'll be paying for it in your insurance for years.

Click to expand...

This. You'll pay the same amount out of pocket, but (in theory) your premiums shouldn't go up, and you shouldn't get any points on your license.

I have never gotten a speeding ticket before but than again I almost never speed

Hylian said:

I have never gotten a speeding ticket before but than again I almost never speed

Click to expand...

I almost never go the speed limit.

Dave;413405][QUOTE=Hylian said:

I have never gotten a speeding ticket before but than again I almost never speed

Click to expand...

I almost never go the speed limit.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone really?

Chazwozel said:

Wait, why are you going to court? You only go to court if you plead not guilty on the ticket. Otherwise, you just check off guilty and the sentence fine is the fine on the ticket.

Click to expand...

for a reduced fine.

Jiarn;413426][QUOTE=Dave;413405][QUOTE=Hylian said:

I have never gotten a speeding ticket before but than again I almost never speed

Click to expand...

I almost never go the speed limit.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone really?[/QUOTE]


Nope. Speed limits sole purposes has nothing to do with safety or gas saving or any of that bullshit the state governments would have you believe. It's all about making money. The world would not implode if speed limits were raised to 80 mph along many highways in the U.S.

Jiarn said:

That's what most people said when they raised the highways from 55mph.

Click to expand...

55 was ridiculous. I can't believe that I used to drive that and not speed. At least not speed by much... Of course the cars of the mid 70's to the early 80's sucked so bad that 55 made sense. Of course one of the reasons they sucked was because of the slow speed limit. I HATED the cars that only had 80 mph speedometers. There are times that you need to go faster, and it helps to know what you are doing at high speed.

Chazwozel said:

Nope. Speed limits sole purposes has nothing to do with safety or gas saving or any of that bullshit the state governments would have you believe. It's all about making money. The world would not implode if speed limits were raised to 80 mph along many highways in the U.S.

Click to expand...

That's not entirely accurate. Some highways have speed limits based off of visual and stopping distance calculations.

If you take the defensive driving (and you really should), you could bring the proof to court with you. You can either plead guilty, not guilty, or guilty with an explanation. If you do the latter, show the court that you took the course, that you don't want to dispute the speed because you were caught cold-busted. Most judges appreciate honesty and initiative. It probably won't get it tossed out, but it may end up going better for you than just pleading guilty.

Failing that, the clerk should be able to work out a payment plan for you.

I have not yet gotten a speeding ticket. I have received a ticket for driving with winter tires past the deadline (entirely the fault of my father, who's car I was driving while I was home for a few weeks), and a parking ticket for parking on the street in front of my house (during the winter parking-ban) at 2am when my stupid-ass roommate invited his friend to park in my spot of the driveway.

I maintain that either my roommate or his friend should have paid the ticket, but $80 wasn't worth the fuss as long as it only happened once ...