Got A Ticket... yay

[Gothenburg]

So first off, please don't tell me about speeding is bad, unsafe, awesome, etc. I'm not looking for story time haha. I sped, horrible area to speed, night time, no one else on the road, prime scenario for getting busted. I live in St Louis, but got the ticket just over the river in IL. :spank:

What I would like is advice from those who have been in a similar situation.

I got clocked at 82 in a 55 zone, so 27 over. oops. I obviously want to try to get this "fixed". So:

-Should I call a basic "fix a ticket" place (Traffic Law Center around here) to get someone to fix it?

-Should I look at local law firms instead of the general places?

-What am i looking at for insurance increases if any? i.e. does the insurance still go up if it gets "fixed"?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. **Mega bonus points if the help is from one of my fellow St Louis area riders! :BLAA:

 

[Kaisersoze]

As long as you dont get points you should be okay on insurance. The primary thing a lawyer could do is knock points off/reduce violation. If you go to see the prosecutor alone (atleast around here) they will knock points off for increased money. Ive seen my gf get tickets reduced to stupid levels with an attorney. She made a 4 point ticket into zero and it went from a moving violation to something else. So, maybe an attorney is a good option for you but they do cost money. In truth, you pay either way though.

 

[ChevyFazer]

Your best bet is to go ahead and take a Defensive driving class before you go to court, but really there is no need to get a lawyer involved unless you alredy have a bad driving record, im 24 and have accumilated over 35 tickets since i have gotten my license and still have my license because of the defensive Driving classes, they have saved my tale many a times, as far as insurance goes i dont have a clue because in ga moto insurance is dirt cheep i pay only $170 a year and driving records dont get much worse then mine

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[Kaisersoze]

I dont mean to threadjack lol, but is that $170 with medical insurance? I pay around $154 for moto insurance but thats w/o medical. With medical I'd pay close to $1000.

 

[FinalImpact]

Over 450 a year w/o medical here.

Go to the court house and pay the fine with the stipulation that they record as points free cause its all about collecting the revenue and here you accept that you were at fault, pay the fine. It's the recording that counts. Some places CAN do this others can not. Family works in the insurance bizz so go talk to them.

 

[ChevyFazer]

I dont mean to threadjack lol, but is that $170 with medical insurance? I pay around $154 for moto insurance but thats w/o medical. With medical I'd pay close to $1000.

No thats $170 a year for just liability only i have a crazy good medical plan at work so im not worried about myself but that dose include up to $100,000 for the other driver if im at fault

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[ticktock]

In NJ there is a law that states you can plea to "Unsafe Driving" once every 5 years. The ticket is 0 points but carries a huge $500+ fine. I got a ticket for speeding in my car about a year ago (3 lane road, no speed limit sign, I assumed 40mph... turns out it was 25mph!!!), and used that angle and paid a huge fee but had no points.

Good luck.

 

[Dave.TX]

This site might give you some info on what you want to do: DMV.org

I'm sure there's other internet sites that can give info on how to pay the fine and not get points.

Here in TX where I work and hand out citations or warnings (depends) the tickets go to the Justice of the Peace judge and they decide what the fine should be. 27mph over the limit is borderline reckless driving here, which is worse than just speeding.

You'll have to check with the Illinois authority that's processing the ticket. You can always call ahead and ask. We give up to 30 days for someone to contact the JP here, that's the maximum amount we can do.

 

[chomorro]

I used a fix it ticket lawyer once. Cost me $60. All he did was keep showing up to court and if the cop showed up he rescheduled the date. Went for 3 reschedules until the cop didnt show then we won by default LOL. Not sure if its the same in other states.

 

[FIZZER6]

Look up your local driving point laws. Your DMV service should have information on it.

In Virginia we can accumulate positive points, 1 positive point per year with no violations. We can get up to 5 positive points which means you would have to be reckless driving to have any negative points on your record if you had been a good driver for 5 years. I currently have 5 positive points on my record so if I got busted for speeding today I would not have to worry about insurance hikes.

Also if you have a decent driving record for your age and go to court there is a good chance they will drop some or all of the points if you pay the fine.

 

[novaks47]

Your best bet is to go ahead and take a Defensive driving class before you go to court, but really there is no need to get a lawyer involved unless you alredy have a bad driving record, im 24 and have accumilated over 35 tickets since i have gotten my license and still have my license because of the defensive Driving classes, they have saved my tale many a times, as far as insurance goes i dont have a clue because in ga moto insurance is dirt cheep i pay only $170 a year and driving records dont get much worse then mine

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Holy cow, are you making a scrapbook? Something to show the grand kids in the future perhaps? LOL Just messin' around, the only reason I haven't gotten nailed that often is one part dumb luck, one part surprisingly forgiving officers(much appreciated), and one part good radar detector.

Wow, it's amazing how much traffic laws vary from state to state! Here in CA you can do traffic school once every 18 months to "erase" a ticket. After that enjoy your points and insurance hikes!

 

[marke14]

im 24 and have accumilated over 35 tickets since i have gotten my license

Seriously? Holy sh!t dude, be careful!

 

[ChevyFazer]

The sad part about that is only 6 of them are for speeding, 3 reckless driving, 2 hinder, 2 eluding, 4 laying drags but the rest of them are what i call bs tickets, tickets like unsecured load, seatbelt, failure to maintain lane, taking off too quick, brake light out etc etc etc. But i learned real quick to be kind and courtious and that has gotten me many warnings vs the actual ticket

Also i will say that i (knock on wood) have been riding for 3 yrs and yet to get a ticket on any bike all those were in cages
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[VEGASRIDER]

Everyone speeds (above the posted speed limit) or gets speeding tickets or at least have gotten one at one point or another during their life. Otherwise they are not normal people.

My advice, and sound like the area that you live allows it, is to get a lawyer who can reduce the ticket to a parking ticket. It's a minimal fee, $50-$75 here in Vegas and it's done! If this wasn't allowed, we would literally have no taxi or limo drivers, as they must have zero points on their driving record in order for them to drive. So traffic attorneys here are very popular.

No court, no traffic school, just pay the attorney and it's over. You can probably find a good cheap attorney on your local bike forum. There is a guy who does it for free here in Vegas, in return, if you ever have a need for his legal advise or services, they are hoping you will use their firm. One hand washes the other. Usually does, as the rider usually ends up crashing and then sues.

 

[fb40dash5]

My advice, and sound like the area that you live allows it, is to get a lawyer who can reduce the ticket to a parking ticket.

I don't think Vegas is quite as money-hungry as IL. Vegas has other sources of income.

Normally I'd say go to court, and plead guilty if you have a clean record, and usually get PBJ. No points, just the fine. I'm not sure I'd advise that in IL, though. I know in MD, the judge has the prerogative to keep, lower, or toss the points, and determine the fine up to $500 + court costs. Try it in front of the wrong judge and he may just decide to keep the points and max out the fine for 'wasting his time'.

 

[ChevyFazer]

If you do decided to go to court i would strongly recommend taking a Defensive Driving class before you go.and take the sheet with you to show the judge...every judge ive done that to eats it up, they look at as you taking responsibility for your actions and realizing that you screwed up, and more then likly will be willing to work with you on what you want vs what the law says
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[benjbong]

deleteddeleted

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I lived in vegas 5 years, did this twice where i got speeding tickets cleared. They reduce it to a parking ticket so its not a moving violation hence no points or insurance increase but you still have to pay an astronomical fine (like 300+) it's all about money dude. Nobody would say you were being unsafe going 20 over in an empty road but technically that's the law.

FYI - Craig p Kenney does NOT do that for free anymore, he hasn't for years. He charges $50 like everybody else now.

Like I had mentioned, the going rate is like $50 or $75. If you had to pay $300 for a reduced fine, you got ripped off.

I actually took my ticket to court and challenged it, just because I never been to court before. The DA actually offered the same deal, reducing my moving violation fine to a parking ticket and pay $75. Everyone in the room (about 20) took the deal in a heart beat, except for me so they scheduled another court date for me. When I showed up in court, the DA again asked me if I wanted it reduced to a parking ticket, and even told me the officer who wrote me the ticket was here, and I said no. I wanted my day in court.

 

[ELIZABETH]

-Should I call a basic "fix a ticket" place (Traffic Law Center around here) to get someone to fix it?

-Should I look at local law firms instead of the general places?

-What am i looking at for insurance increases if any? i.e. does the insurance still go up if it gets "fixed"?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. **Mega bonus points if the help is from one of my fellow St Louis area riders! :BLAA:

yes, fix it.

he is a nice young man who is reasonable and does good work on tickets



Stephen J. Hoffmann

Attorney at Law
105 Concord Plaza, Suite 209
St. Louis, MO 63128
Phone: (314) 729-0803
Fax: (314) 729-7474
HoffmannLegalServices.com


I want my mega bonus points! :BLAA:

 

[Grainbelt]

im 24 and have accumilated over 35 tickets since i have gotten my license

:squid:

It had to be said. I mean, really? Three a year, even more if you didn't drive until 16? You are either really unlucky, or a slow learner.