Speeding Ticket - Court on the 13th

[RyanNicholson]

So a month or so ago I got a ticket on I93 right by the I89 junction headed north doing 88 in a 55. (55mph on a 6 lane highway = bs).

it was like 530am and i was the only one on the road.

I've got court July 13th, its just the arraignment but I'm still trying to figure out what to do to get out of this as easy as possible. I haven't had a ticket in like 4 years and I was thinking I should take the safe driving class before my actual court date. I've had some friends meantion trying to get the penalty suspended with probation, and I called a lawyer about it but he basically told me I was screwed because I was going 33mph over.

Any other advice???

PS - after the cop wrote me the ticket (he was being nice about it) he told me that I shouldn't go so fast on a motorcycle because it doesn't have the stopping power that a car has HAHA idiot

[DucDave]

Ryan...no tickets in 4 years? Wow. Thats pretty impressive! I don't know anything about beating tickets. I keep showing up and sometimes I get a free skate, and sometimes I dont. Usually, if I am polite and contrite, they'll let me plea it to something a little less. (Still a moving violation though!)

I doubt that taking the class will help.

You could show the judge your LRRS/CCS Road Racing license and tell him that as a licensed racer you are qualified to speed and shouldn't be ticketed at all!

[Kitt]

I just got my 144 reduced to a 70.... I'd go to court. Also had a wheelie ticket last year that was criminal, then fines suspended while I was on a 3 month probationary term.

I'd go to court. There's a lot of ways you can contest the accuracy of radar and laser, and since you've behaved well, you should see some leniency.

The lawyer wants to scare you into hiring one.

[RyanNicholson]

haha i thought about bringing up the racing, but i wasn't sure if it would help or hurt my cause lol with my luck i'd have a helicopter following me around for the rest of the season

and the lawyer actually told me not to hire him, he just said dress well and treat the cop w/ respect and hope for the best. I'm not TOO worried about it...but we'll see.

[beet]

I do like 20 mph fucking traffic.

[SSearchVT]

Make sure to tell the judge about all the cool modifications you made to the bike to make it faster too...

Seriously - show up dressed professionally, on time; use the words Sir, Your Honor, and Ma’am profusely - and roll the dice. I've had tickets dismissed completely, reduced, and paid the piper. Good Luck...

[Awesome]

You have a few options. Get in touch with the prosecutor and ask if he'd be willing to place the ticket on file and give you a court fine and safe driving class. Otherwise you can try fighting it. I believe NH roads are recommended speed limits but when the officer takes the stand he will state that the speed was unsafe and unreasonable for the circumstances. You could attempt to counter that with the empty road, 6 lanes, and maybe even that you have special training in the form of a national race license. No telling if that will work though. Try to talk to the prosecutor and work something out.

[Currently]

I would not mention that you have a race license.

Given the prevailing attitude towards squids and bikes that run from cops,
I'd say you are inviting the judge to throw the book at you if you did that.

Hessogood has good advice. Be polite, contrite and address the court with
respect. They already know the highway was empty at that time of the day.

You go nothing to lose at this point and a lot to gain.

[RyanNicholson]

yea exactly, that was basically my plan

the weird part was on the ticket, he marked the traffic as "medium".....cars were maybe 2 mins apart haha (530am on a sunday)

thats what i was thinking about the race license, just because i'm experienced and comfortable going fast doesn't make it any more legal lol

[sanfelice]

"Your honor, I saw no cars in front of or behind me at that point in the morning and I got a little carried away. It won't happen again. Thank you for your consideration."

[RyanNicholson]

yea pretty much, i was actually freezing my ass off and wanted to get the damn trip home over with asap

[Doc]

"Your honor, I saw no cars in front of or behind me at that point in the morning and I got a little carried away. It won't happen again. Thank you for your consideration."

Ditto

[OreoGaborio]

HesSoGonetocourt1000times and sanfelice got it right...

keep it simple, something like "I'm sorry, I got carried away because I was freezing, I just wanted to get home & the roads were empty. I'll save my speeding for the race track, that's why I spent all that money & went through all that race school training. I should have known better, it won't happen again"

[keeena]

"Your honor, I saw no cars in front of or behind me at that point in the morning and I got a little carried away. It won't happen again. Thank you for your consideration."

Yup + what HesSoGood[atbreakingthelaw] said.

Don't contest radar/laser/etc... You're no expert/authority. Don't make it into a "cop was wrong/I was right" argument.

Be honest. Tell them you were a little carried away. Mention how you felt you were still operating safely...stress your good record, yadda yadda. Offer the safety classes or probation. Be honest that you just are concerned w/ insurance (maybe just cut down to a fine or donation to MADD/DARE or something). Best of luck.

[keeena]

HesSoGonetocourt1000times

HesSoGood[atbreakingthelaw]

Jay, you got a bad rap.

[RyanNicholson]

yea theres no way i would try to argue w/ the cop or deny that i was speeding. he was standing outside of his car (with 3 others) with the gun and i just pulled over haha there was no denying it.

should be interesting.

[DucDave]

I would not mention that you have a race license.

...that was a joke...

[catch2otwo]

also ask if instead of getting fine/points if you could go on a probation program for 6 months or something if they do decide to give you the ticket. basically you dont get in trouble for 6 months and the ticket gets thrown out. they might go for it since you have a good record. good luck

p.s nice to see people taking responsibility for their actions instead of blaming everyone else.

[RyanNicholson]

i've had a few ppl suggest trying for that....i'll talk with them and see. the lawyer i talked to said that up until the actual court date the cop is considered the prosecutor. I was thinking about giving him a call and trying to work something out before we even go to court. He was a nice guy.

[catch2otwo]

the only thing the cop can do for you is throw the ticket out completely by not handing it in. thats how people who have the hook up get out of tickets. their friend on the force talks to the guy who gave them the ticket and they never hand it in. wouldnt hurt though. how would you get his number?

[GonePhishing]

I've gotten my share of speeding tickets and court appearances. It all comes down to to the mood of the judge and if they are having an off day.

In RI we have a "good drivers statute" where a ticket can dismissed if you have a clean record for a couple of years, but it is ONLY at the judges discretion. If you're running at over 100mph, the judge can decide it does not apply (which is what happened in my case, where I was subsequently fined to high hell, and had my license suspended without my knowledge, only to find out a year later when I was pulled over again that I had a suspended license and a new series of outrageous fines and BS.... and I am not even Asian! lol).

Here's my tips for going to court.... dress nice, but not too nice (don't want the judge to think you're just going to laugh off the fine, so leave the Rolex and gold chains at home). Clean up / shave / remove any piercings so you at least look like you have some level of respect to the court- pony tails don't go over too well from my experience (not that I have ever had one, but the guys I have seen with them then to get the book thrown at them). Be early - court room doors close when the session begins and no one is allowed in. Put on your best contrite / puppy dog face when addressing the court, and act humble. Body language counts. You want to look pathetic and like you actually are scared of the big bad judge.

Be prepared to answer questinos like "where were you going?" "what was the rush?" and "why were you speeding". "I was heading home after a hard night of partying" is not a good answer. "why were you speeding?" hmmmm, no good answer there so just be honest. this is where the judge is looking for your sincerity.

extra pathetic-ness / sympathy points are earned if you ask about some sort of payment plan. if you can work in some sort of pregnant wife / girlfriend into your excuse, you can sometimes pickup a little good will.

also.... if the officer wrote you up for 88, the judge is going to assume that you were going much faster and the cop gave you a break. if this is the case, be prepared to respond to that sort of inquiry.

good luck. my perspective on tickets / court is that you have to pay to play. Every once in a while you're going to get caught, its just the nature of the game.

[Kham]

also ask if instead of getting fine/points if you could go on a probation program for 6 months or something if they do decide to give you the ticket. basically you dont get in trouble for 6 months and the ticket gets thrown out. they might go for it since you have a good record. good luck

p.s nice to see people taking responsibility for their actions instead of blaming everyone else.

it all depends on the magistrate/judge and the cop. last time i ask for no points, she said everyone is asking the same thing and we can't do that but we'll reduce fine for you. when my lawyer tried to talk to the cop, he turned his back on her. nice!

ps. must blame yourself at all time. the system is perfect. everyone else is right. really the responsible thing is to just send in the money and next time you realize you go over the limit, just report yourself to the nearest police station.

[RyanNicholson]

good info. you're def right about the pay to play thing...thats why i have no problem with the fact that i got it....shit i sped around for 4 years without getting caught, once isn't so bad.

still costs me more to do it on the track lol

[GonePhishing]

the only thing the cop can do for you is throw the ticket out completely by not handing it in. thats how people who have the hook up get out of tickets. their friend on the force talks to the guy who gave them the ticket and they never hand it in. wouldnt hurt though. how would you get his number?

yes indeed, but you have a very small window of opportunity to have your friend intercede. in many instances, an officer will turn in his tickets at the end of his shift. so someone needs to get in touch with him prior to the end of his shift.

of course, in a similar fashioin, the officer who wrote up the ticket could be asked to not show up for the court date if you have a friend who is friendly with him. however...... the judge could choose to continue the case and be a hard ass and give a second chance for the officer to appear or demand it (which is what happened to me once in college when I was barrelling down the Escape Road in Narragansett - I wanted to see if I could bury the speedo on my Chevy Caprice station wagon on the road, and there was a DEM cop at the end of the road who nailed me). That Chevy Wagon had some balls. For some reason *cough cough*, the when ticket came to court, the DEM officer was absent. Instead of being dismissed, the judge threw a nutty and demanded an explanation from the DEM etc. She warned me..... "when you come back, your license is gone". All righty then. Things dragged on, and the DEM officer retired, and poof, I walked.

[Suf Daddy]

There is no magistrate in a NH case. Its a one shot deal.

PM me.

you NEED to use the NH Motion form and get a continuance MONDAY the 1st.

there are several ways you can do this, but PM me ASAP. You have ~ 2 weeks to get a continuance.

You need to know some of the info BEFORE you walk into court.

Its time to level the playing field for you.

-Suf Daddy