Let me preface this by saying that I fully understand this is not the place to look for legal advice. Just thought the crowd here may have some insight, or this can be a thread for general discussions/brags/beats of traffic tickets etc.
Last week I was pulled over for the first time in my 14 years of driving, not counting when I once had a headlight out. The officer saw me talking on my phone, which I was. I’m almost always hands free but took a quick call on my way to work at a bad time. He issued me a summons with a mandatory court date.
From what I have been able to research, it looks like I can expect a $200-$400 fine plus court fees. Obviously I’d prefer not to pay that. Do I have any options or best routes to take to achieve that goal? Will I have the opportunity to ask the judge for lenience based on my clean driving record? Will the officer being there or not being there matter? Forgive me for my ignorance, but this is new territory for me.
This happened in a relatively small town that gets a lot of tourist traffic, so I suspect they make a lot of their money from traffic violations.
I appreciate any insights you can give, or just troll me. Either way, thanks for reading my woah is me tale.
It’s going to depend on your jurisdiction. Here if you show up and have a clean record the judge will almost always reduce the fine and eliminate the points. The officer being there or not might matter, but again it’s jurisdiction dependent. In PA they would generally dismiss the case right away if the officer didn’t show. In MD if there’s a good reason they’ll ask for a postponement.
If it’s worth it for you to miss a morning of work for $200 or whatever, go in and ask the judge for leniency.
This is in a NJ shore town. I won’t be missing work, but do have to drive an hour there. The officer said it’s a no points offense, so I don’t have that bargaining chip.
What’s a mandatory court date? You can’t reschedule? That’s the only trick I know of, they will give you a court date that the cop will be there for, you reschedule and the cop is rarely there and boom dismissal. Call them up and say you can’t make it that day and need to reschedule.
Maybe “mandatory court appearance” is a more accurate term than “date”.
Definitely no risk of jail time unless I lose my shit in the courtroom. I think it’s a mandatory appearance because it is an escalating offense with steeper penalties for subsequent violations.
Lol yea I’m a really good driver. I take pride in being a safe and smart driver. Not like in the grandma sense, but I don’t go too much faster than the speed of traffic, I use my blinkers, and I follow most of the rules.
Newish New Jersey resident. Got a ticket for expired registration and plates with that same mandatory appearance. Postponed it twice (it took awhile to update all my Nevada information) but eventually did appear.
A whole lot of phone violations. None got a break. $200 fine minimum. A couple got a payment plan. One seemed contested and was continued rather than dismissed.
On the other hand, a lot of the other violations got deals of some sort. Because I got my paperwork in order I only paid one ticket instead of 2.
So, you will have to appear. Talk to the prosecutor before court starts, try to convince him of something but probably get nowhere. Pay $200 fine.
Thanks for the info. That was my assumption. I’m mentally prepared to pay $400 + court fees so anything less with be easier to swallow. The nature of the town this is in makes me feel as though the chance of leniency is very slim, and they will charge whatever the maximum allowable amount is.
When I was ~19 living in Detroit I got pulled over for speeding(?) and they zapped me for expired tags and no proof of insurance. I think the insurance thing meant mandatory court appearance.
At the courthouse everyone had 3-5 different citations stacked up, usually some moving violation along with tags and insurance. The judge kept explaining that no insurance was a mandatory fine ($100+ at the time) with no ability to reduce the fine, but he usually reduced whatever other fines there were.
For a few people the cop who wrote the citations wasn’t there and he immediately dismissed all charges. My guy wasn’t there, but the other cops in the courthouse kept saying “he’ll be here shortly…” Eventually the judge announces “Everyone here with a citation written by Officer SoAndSo, your case is dismissed. You may go.” Saved me about three fiddy.
That’s not being a dick. It’s true. But it would be dumb for me to not at least gather information on my options before going to the court.
I’m a huge proponent of never texting/emailing/dialing etc while driving. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves of other drivers. I’m fully aware of how bad it is and in no way feel that the ticket is unwarranted. Just annoyed that the one time I’m not hands free for a 30 second call is when I pass a cop