Speeding Ticket Help
Here are a few simple points if you need speeding ticket help.
Well now you have one of the friendly reminders to watch your speed and now you are not sure what to do next. Whatever you do, do not pay the ticket without going to court! It’s not just the $150 and the points on your license you need to be concerned about. The end cost also includes a $900 increase in your insurance over 3 years! Let’s not forget that once you have points on your license, your ability to talk yourself out of future speeding tickets is greatly reduced because you can no longer claim a clean driving record. The officer pulling you over in the future sees your previous tickets and will assume that you have not learned your lesson! While you may not be able to avoid the $150 fee, there is a good chance you can get rid of the other negative effects.
When I lived in Saint Louis, I had 3 speeding tickets and ended up with a completely clean record. In each scenario I was clocked between 8 and 15 miles per hour over the speed limit. Of course, like you, I was totally guilty! I had no problem learning my lesson and paying the state their money, I just did not want to have the license points and the expensive insurance premiums. Therefore, I fought the tickets on my court date!
The thing to keep in mind when fighting a ticket is that the state just wants their money. Most courts don’t really care about giving you points on your license and they have no interest in seeing your insurance premiums increase. If you walk into court expecting to pay that fee you have a good chance of having the other negative effects reduced or eliminated.
I addressed this in two different ways. When I received my first ticket, my current girlfriend’s dad happened to be a lawyer specializing in traffic law. I handed it over to him and paid his $50 fee plus a check for the $130 ticket and “Presto!” my ticket was now a non-moving parking violation! Neat, huh? Well it turns out that this little trick is not reserved for those with connections to traffic lawyers. In Saint Louis, and quite a few other states, traffic lawyers congregate around the prosecutor’s office pleading out fines and cases instead of having them appear in front of the judge at their appointed time.
The standard practice is to simply show up about an hour before your appearance time and to find a lawyer in the line. You should ask them if they would represent you that day and plead your case out with the prosecutor. In 2000 the standard fee was $50 for representation, but not by a significant margin. When I took this approach, I ended up paying the same thing as when I had the “connection”: $50 lawyer fee + my $150 ticket resulting in a non-moving “noise violation”. Excessive noise? Great! Whatever makes them happy: As long as I get zero points and no insurance increase, I am happy! Good luck with your ticket.
About the Author:
Whatever you do, DON'T pay that speeding ticket before you read this free report! Don't forget to visit my website for lots of additional information to get out of speeding tickets
More articles by Austin Kepler
Print Article | Download PDF | 13 views | Jul 06 2008
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