NH ticket question

[Degsy]

i disagree, a 100 dollar ticket quickly turns into a 1000 dollar ticket when you factor in your insurance. just go to court. worst case senario you have not lost anything. best case they either drop it (pulled over 5 times in the past year, no conviction) or reduce it. it is a no lose situation.

I'm a step 99. I'm allowed one offense without surcharge. I'm alos an old bastard who gets to insure his 2008 gixxer750 for $400 a year full coverage. They can only load my primary vehicle, which is my truck. I just finished paying for that so it's going to minimum coverage anyway.

I'm gonna fight the ticket though, just for shits and giggles.

[Crash Dummy Denno]

I'm gonna fight the ticket though, just for shits and giggles.

i totally dig that about you

[TheIglu]

Degs,

When I got a ticket in Woodstock with KB/Jay/Jen/etc etc etc way back when, I first filed a continuance to buy me more time. Then I sent a certified registered letter to the chief in that town asking to pay the amount equivalent to the fine to his/her local charity of their choice opposed to paying the ticket. I got a call from the officer herself (who got me in the wrong, was nice, fair, etc) and asked why I just didn't pay it if it was the same money wise. I explained how the $175 ticket would of been more than a thousand due to insurance. She told me I could just write an apoligy to the town judge for my wrongdoing (which I didn't actually admit anything in) and the ticket would be wiped if I didn't get another one in NH for one year.

It's worth a shot. Sometimes those NH people don't understand just how much a ticket costs to us MA people.

I love being in the step 99 club, don't you?

[drop]

i do not know about NH but in mass the trooper is not required to show up in court. they just send one cop from the department to handle all the tickets.

a town representative is only valid for the magistrate hearing. if you disagree with the magistrate's decision & make it to a courtroom with a judge, the trooper must appear or your ticket is dismissed.

[tsanto]

i do not know about NH but in mass the trooper is not required to show up in court. they just send one cop from the department to handle all the tickets.

In MA when you check the request hearing box on the back of the ticket, you meet with an officer from the deparment and a court magistrate.

If you appeal the magistrate's decision, then you appear in court in front of a judge and the ticketing officer must show up or your ticket is thrown out.

It's ALWAYS worth fighting a ticket. Not only does insurance go up, it stays on your record for ever and everytime you get pulled over they see it and can use it against you in deciding to give you another ticket.

[tls25rs]

Derek,

A combination of everyone's responses is correct. If you contest the ticket in NH you will be given a date for a hearing. On the date of the hearing you will go to the court house where typically you will meet prior to the hearing with the prosecutor/representative for the town/district/state. You will discuss a plea with the prosecutor/representative, this is typically where they would look at your good driving record and agree to go before the judge with a continued with out a finding for a period of one year. Basically putting you on probation in NH for a year in regards to tickets. If you can reach this agreement and the judge buys into it you are scot free. If the judge nixs the idea though there can be some interesting consequences. If the judge declines the plea that the prosecutor/representative presents to them you typically go back to talking to the prosecutor/representative where you can decide to pay the fine or continue to fight it. If you continue to fight the ticket and try to plead your case in front of the judge, the issuing officer is usually present and the judge will hear their side and then your side and make a decision. The interesting part comes in if the judge finds you guilty as charged and levies a fine. The fines listed on the back of the tickets issued in NH are not set in stone, the ones listed on the ticket are suggested fines and can be modified by the presiding judge. The judge can at their whim bump the fine to a maximum of $1000 and also suspend your license for a period of time.

For example, if a person were to get a running a stop sign ticket for let's say $72 dollars and fight it all the way to the judge and lose, the judge might bump the fine to $300 and suspend their license for 30 days. I saw this happen to a kid that was fighting a ticket when I went to contest my last speeding ticket. The kid was being an ass and deserved it but it made me happy, that after the prosecutor/representative attempted to plead my charges to a continued without a finding and the judge nixed it, that I just payed the fine that was levied on the ticket and left happily.

Obviously, like Clayton mentioned, sometimes these things can be taken care of prior to the hearing date and sometimes you have to go through all of the above. Whatever you wind up doing, good luck! It sounds like you are a great candidate for the continued without a finding so I would probably contest the ticket and see what happens.

Oh yeah, the way MA insurance works now is that they surcharge all of your motor vehicle policies not just the most expensive one, like they used to. I have three motor vehicle policies that are a great example of that.

Later

Joel

[Awesome]

Just about. 'Continuance without a finding' is a mass thing, I think but I'm not sure that it only applies to criminal charges not traffic violations. In NH it's called 'placed on file'. And you won't always meet with the prosecutor/rep/officer before the court goes into session. Only if they're planning to offer you something, otherwise you have to track them down and make the offer.

[Jaynnus]

boobs make all the difference

not in my case

Good luck Derek.

[irzar6]

I got one in NH- i had to take a Safe Driver Course that you can do online for like 29$- easy test, send restults to the court and you are all set! but you have to go to court and the same trooper who pulled me over was there too... so, go to the court, its worth it! Because it will not be the last ticket... as we all know.... fight them all!

[gsxr1000babe]

If the state trooper doesn't show up you could leave the court room with your 100 dollars still in your pocket.Or you could just keep puttin off the court date calling them and telling them that you can't make it that day so you need to change it and they will change it and the more you change it the more likely the cop won't show up and you'll get off of it like nothing happened..