speeding ticket

I sent you a PM in regards to this

 

There are several legal plans out there willing to defend you for several hundred dollars.

I myself used a company called "coast to coast" for a speeding ticket I received in Ohio. Going 70 mph in a 55 would have been a major hit to my mvr as well as my personal car insurance back home.

My cost for the service was $310.00 The attorney that was hired on my behalf was able to negotiate an alternative ticket and fine amount. The ticket was changed to a headlight out and my fine was 210.00 total. Pretty expensive I know but well worth the cost.

There is a prepaid legal plan out there as well that charges like 3 bucks a week for an attorney (basically on retainer). In the event you get a ticket they charge you a flat 100.00 to defend you. If its an accident I think they want 250.00 to defend you from start to finish. I have never used this service but I hear the fella that runs it (Jim Klepper) each week on Sirius 147 extolling the virtues of his drivers legal plan.

I know there are others out there and if neither of these are adequate you can look in the classified section of any of the trucking magazines for other companies that defend drivers after they receive a ticket. You can find these magazines at any truckstop.

 

A couple of years ago, I too got a ticket in Ohio.
In a 55 mph zone (I was doing 45), the light changed to yellow (for 2 seconds-timed by the cop) and I couldn't stop. (wgt=78,500#). He ticketed me for running a red light.

I hired a legal firm I found on a truck stop bulletin board. They cost me $300. Reduced my citation to bad brakes, which cost $70.

It was worth every cent of it though, as the ticket was reduced to a Non-moving violation, and my record remained clean.

It's all about revenue. Expensive, but your license is your livelyhood.

 

When I started driving in 1980,I had no clue on what to do with a ticket.I just assumed that I was guilty.I paid the fine,got the points on my license and that was it.What I learned later on was that this is a dumb thing to do.For the most part you do not need a lawyer,unless it was serious violation.Traffic court is pretty simple.Sign the summons,check the box where it says not guilty.Mail or bring it to the court before the due date.You will be notified of your court date by mail.Moving violations can be plead down to non-moving violations.It's very common.On your court date,arrive early,talk to the police officer or the prosecuter.If you were polite during your traffic stop and polite while asking for a plea down,it will proably happen.Now,I haven't had a ticket since since 1989.I do have a 21 year old son who seem's to get ticket's on a regular basis.We have plead down all of them to non-moving violation's.This has kept his driving record clean.This equal's no point's and no increase in insurance cost's.The fine's for pleaing down are high,higher than the original violation.They like to call it a surcharge.Example.My son was charged with driving the wrong way down a one way street.That fine would have been 75.00$ and 2 point's on his record.It was plead down to a simple non-moving violation.Now the fine came to 389.00$,but with no point's and no increased insurance cost's.Kid's?you have to love them or you would proably kill them.Good luck.

 

lol jeesh, I think Im in far left in this topic. I hate it that people have the opportunity to get their tickets and moments of realization that they were driving recklessly knocked down to something that they werent even doing. Driving 120 in a 30, fought down to a parking ticket...DWIs brought down to a seat belt issue. I mean, there is a reason that it should ding your driving record. Heck, I want it to affect the driving record and insurance costs of those who drive dangerously. I don't know how many people I have heard talk about...basically bragging how they fought 'the system' and continuously get tickets for wreckless driving, DWIs, etc...fought down to a mosquito fart...and their record remains spotless.

In Vegas a few years ago, I ran a red light. I could have fought it down to a parking ticket I later learned...but I didn't. I didn't NOT run a red light...I did exactly what I got a ticket for. After hitting Bambi last spring, I got a speeding ticket the next day. Heck, as soon as I passed the cop and saw him moving, I immediately pulled over even before he turned his lights on. Got a ticket for speeding because that is what I was doing. Kind of pointless to kick and scream and try to get out of something I was caught doing.

Lol yes, I hold myself responsible for my own actions.

 

ziggystyles,
what about this, the only two tickets were in speed traps. one the officer told me I could either take it to mayors court and loose or I could plead guilty on the spot to a bad windshield wiper and pay the fine,on the spot.
the other I took to court where the prosecutor met me before court and told me that she would drop the charge if I was willing to pay 250.00 court costs.
Now technically as i found out later in both instances i was speeding but in both instances the signs were obscured and hard to read, now I could have gotten an attorney and chances are that I would have beaten the charges but since both of them only wanted the money it was better and cheaper to pay them than to fight it. Its wrong that this is allowed to happen but it does and you just make the best of it,the price of doing business.

 

Get a ticket in Arkansas in a CMV and there is no reducing it.
Many counties in MO are the same. Greene Co. (Springfield) is one of them.

 

You're very unusual and old school - BRAVO!!!

You can't reduce tickets here from what I know - never heard of it happening. You get a ticket, you pay the fine AND you lose points on your record. You get three tickets, your license is suspended for six months. You do NOT want traffic tickets here (moving violations).

I didn't realize you could get a ton of tickets in a lot of States and not lose your license. Where's the incentive to behave???

 

Ziggy,You have a lot to learn about the "system".Pleaing down a ticket is very common,as I said earlier.Prosecuter's and law enforcement do this as a courtesy.This, for the most part is for simple moving violation's.Serious violation's,however,DUI,excessive speed,reckless driving and anything involving an accident caused by your negligence will proably need a very good lawyer to dispute the charges.Most county's and local goverment don't have the resources to take every ticket on the docket to trial.It's a budget issue.They don't want to have a prosecuter tied up on something that could be resolved quickly.Law enforcement,doesn't want an officer tied up in court either.They get their revenue and you get some relief on your record.I am all for safe trucking, but even we do make mistake's.Ziggy,you may want to plead guilty to any ticket you get,but you will proably not last in trucking.Just play along with the system.Your moral values sound good but get into the real world.I have family in law enforcement,metro and state.Their advice is what I stated in my post.One other thing,before I ramble on,if you do get a ticket,it's just a summon's to appear in court.Be polite when getting the ticket and in court.Your not guilty until the judge says so.Plea it down.Moral's,values,Yes.but I also have a family to feed.