Getting a traffic ticket dismissed?

[ladybrettashley]

I was pulled over for speeding this morning on my way to work. I was totally speeding - 59 mph in a 45. The officer was nice and polite and when he pulled up my record could see that I haven't received a ticket in 6+ years. So he gave me a warning for speeding, but gave me a ticket for "Obstructing traffic." I asked what that means and he said "It's a catch-all. You were obstructing traffic by speeding so cars in cross streets couldn't pull out." I was in the left lane and there were no cross streets on the left.

So I appreciate that he was trying to give me a break by not giving me the speeding ticket which would have added points to my record (the Obstructing Traffic ticket adds no points), but he clearly gave me this B.S. ticket just to collect $150 for the city.

He said I can either pay or go to court, and I'm thinking about going to court because I was not obstructing traffic in any way.

Would you go to court in this situation to attempt to fight it or just pay up and be grateful he didn't give me the speeding ticket?

Have you ever had success fighting a ticket in court?

[Velvetshady]

You were speeding. Pay the damn ticket.

[Deleted]

dude, you were totally speeding and the guy saved you points. I'd pay the $150 and be grateful someone cut me a break.

[limey]

You admit you were speeding, so be grateful you didn't get ticketed for it.

[kellbell191]

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

[Redpoppy]

Nov 28, 2012 12:19:26 GMT -5 tacom said:

dude, you were totally speeding and the guy saved you points. I'd pay the $150 and be grateful someone cut me a break.

I agree. The ticket and point would've been much more.

[cookies]

Fighting the ticket seems like a huge waste of time. I'd pay $150 not to have to bother with it. Especially if you were actually speeding and the officer cut you a break by writing you up for the lesser offense. (says the person who has to go to the bank at lunch to get a money order to pay a $268 ticket for the "coasting through a stop sign" ticket her husband got in place of the more expensive speeding ticket he could have received.

[kellbell191]

This reminds me why I fucking hate when my officers write people lower speeds or non points offenses. They feel like they're doing nice people a favor and people wind up acting like ungrateful entitled assholes about it....which means I have to deal with them.

[countthestars]

He didn't give you a ticket just to make money for the city, he gave you a ticket for speeding but was nice about it. Just pay the ticket.

[Deleted]

Can you take a defensive driving class or anything instead of fighting it? I know here, that "fighting it" can mean sitting through an hour long class about proper driving and such.

If not, well, just pay the fine. You were speeding.

[Deleted]

You always have the option of going to talk about it. They can look at your record and say "sorry, you need to pay" or sometimes they will make you pay something to avoid having your record dinged, but more than likely you'll have to pay something, so in this case since there are no points, I'd probably just pay it and avoid the hassle.

[mishap]

Fighting it will likely be a waste of time. You've already had your ticket reduced. The best you could hope for (since you admit you're guilty) is having it further reduced to a parking ticket, but I really can't see you getting off any cheaper.

[ladybrettashley]

Nov 28, 2012 12:20:10 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

This is my whole point. I am grateful he cut me a break, but if I show up and the judge dismisses it, then why wouldn't I go to court? If I show up and the judge doesn't dismiss it, I wouldn't be upset, I'd just pay the ticket.

[raangoli]

I'm with the others, just pay the ticket. It would have much more than $150 if he wasn't nice and gave you the speeding ticket, which you admit to doing.

[mishap]

Oh, and I once drove through a red light on accident -- was trying to beat an yellow and wasn't successful. I went to the traffic court and they reduced it to a parking ticket. But I still ended up paying more than $100.

DH is on the road a lot and he's gotten quite a few tickets. He always goes to court to see if they will reduce it, and they always have.

[chessie]

I would just pay it. If I am in the wrong knowing there are court fees anyway, taking a day out of work..realy is it worth it in the long run? No.

[Velvetshady]

Nov 28, 2012 12:24:41 GMT -5 ladybrettashley said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:20:10 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

This is my whole point. I am grateful he cut me a break, but if I show up and the judge dismisses it, then why wouldn't I go to court? If I show up and the judge doesn't dismiss it, I wouldn't be upset, I'd just pay the ticket.

Why wouldn't you go to court? Because it's better to not waste the courts time (and your tax dollars), your time, and the cops time than to be the ungrateful little snot that doesn't want to take responsibility for their actions?

[mishap]

I am dying at the self-righteousness in this post.

[Deleted]

Nov 28, 2012 12:39:03 GMT -5 mishap said:

I am dying at the self-righteousness in this post.

me too....

[kellbell191]

Nov 28, 2012 12:24:41 GMT -5 ladybrettashley said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:20:10 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

This is my whole point. I am grateful he cut me a break, but if I show up and the judge dismisses it, then why wouldn't I go to court? If I show up and the judge doesn't dismiss it, I wouldn't be upset, I'd just pay the ticket.

Because you have to pay fines + costs if you're convicted?

My comment that the Judge would dismiss it is based solely on your assertion that the code he wrote it under doesn't apply to your situation. I'd have to read the code and know your situation to know if it applies.

Our Judge will not reduce or dismiss a traffic offense that has been reduced on the side of the road. And I will often amend charges back up to what they should have been when someone shows up to contest them b.c. I don't like the practice of reducing on the side of the road.

[kellbell191]

Nov 28, 2012 12:40:08 GMT -5 flygirl said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:39:03 GMT -5 mishap said:

I am dying at the self-righteousness in this post.

me too....

My annoyance is 90% because I have to deal with speeding tickets a lot and people are annoying about them. The other 10% is that the officer gave her a huge break in terms of $, time, her record, etc. and she's still all up in arms about it.

[vegas]

Where I live most traffic violations are downgraded to parking tickets if you go down to court. There's no actual hearing involved. As an attorney I can go to a special "ticket session" that's basically a guy sitting in a room stamping the ticket as a non moving violation and issuing a fine. I just went yesterday--quick, easy, and for the driver it means no points and no traffic school.

Before listening to everyone here scold you for screwing the system, you may want to find out what is done in your jurisdiction. If your moving violation still comes with points and your courts allow it to be downgraded to a non-moving, zero point violation with little effort on your part or the court's, I don't see why you wouldn't at least try.

ETA: Nevermind, I just re-read your post and you said that your ticket is zero points. If that's the case, I wouldn't mess with it. He did you a favor. Even if the fine is higher, the points would increase your insurance and over time = more than the higher fine. Like I said, our courts typically reduce moving violations to traffic tickets, but there's still a fine and it's typically at least $250.

[jennistarr1]

I don't know...did he say how much the ticket would have been for speeding? He may have cut you a break on the points but the price tag could be higher. I'd go to court.

[aliciar6]

Nov 28, 2012 12:24:41 GMT -5 ladybrettashley said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:20:10 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

This is my whole point. I am grateful he cut me a break, but if I show up and the judge dismisses it, then why wouldn't I go to court? If I show up and the judge doesn't dismiss it, I wouldn't be upset, I'd just pay the ticket.

I will say going to court for that is going to be a big waste of time...quite a few hours of your time and it's going to be annoying and you're going to most likely be paying the full amount anyway.

I would be grateful it wasn't a speeding ticket and pay the money.

the only success you have going to court is usually to get points reduced or a deferment program where you pay more to get the ticket "removed" as long as you don't get pulled over again in a year.

so for that no, i wouldn't fight it. It's like when I'd get pulled over for speeding and I'd get an "unclear plate" ticket. thank you I'll take the $52 fine and the fact that it's not a moving violation any day.

it wasn't a "BS ticket to collect money for the city"

[Susie]

Nov 28, 2012 12:24:41 GMT -5 ladybrettashley said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:20:10 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

This is my whole point. I am grateful he cut me a break, but if I show up and the judge dismisses it, then why wouldn't I go to court? If I show up and the judge doesn't dismiss it, I wouldn't be upset, I'd just pay the ticket.

Why would the judge dismiss it? Because you said you weren't obstructing traffic? It's not going to fly. Especially if the judge knows you already got a roadside reduction, which he probably does. Nobody gets those "catch all" tickets for actually doing those things (and those things alone).

Pay the ticket and move on.

[Deleted]

Nov 28, 2012 12:24:41 GMT -5 ladybrettashley said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:20:10 GMT -5 kellbell191 said:

Pay the ticket. It sounds like he wrote you a non points offense instead of a points offense, not that he was trying to make $150 off of you. That is doing YOU a favor. I would be glad he did you the favor and pay it, although our judge would probably dismiss it if you came to court.

This is my whole point. I am grateful he cut me a break, but if I show up and the judge dismisses it, then why wouldn't I go to court? If I show up and the judge doesn't dismiss it, I wouldn't be upset, I'd just pay the ticket.

Don't you still have to pay court costs anyway?

[jewel]

Nov 28, 2012 12:40:08 GMT -5 flygirl said:

Nov 28, 2012 12:39:03 GMT -5 mishap said:

I am dying at the self-righteousness in this post.

me too....

OP - it's your piss poor attitude that's the problem here.

Going to court may work out well for you. It's probably worth a try.

And the police officer was not giving you a BS ticket to raise money for the city. If he really wanted to raise money, he could have done a lot better than that. He was doing you a favor. Keep that in mind when you talk to the judge or you're unlikely to get much pity.

[Deleted]

The point of going to traffic court isn't to get a ticket dismissed, it's to get it reduced, which the officer already did for you. My husband has his CDL and we get all of his tickets reduced to non-moving violations. You still have to pay the cost of the reduced ticket. The only tickets we've been able to get dismissed are those that we have hired a traffic lawyer to deal with, which believe me, isn't worth the time for someone who's livelihood doesn't depend on having a clean driving record. It also costs way more than just paying the damn ticket.

It's not a bullshit ticket. What's bullshit is that you think you shouldn't have to pay anything at all for something you did wrong. You got a reduced ticket. You still have to pay. That's what they call "consequences."

[biscoffcookies]

Early in my career, I prosecuted in traffic court. If you showed up and asked for a dismissal with this story, there's no way I'd agree to recommend that to the court. I'd also be incredibly surprised if any judge I appeared before would dismiss your ticket.

[aspentosh]

Pay the damn ticket.

Signed,
The woman grateful for a cop who gave her DH a ticket for "failure to obey highway sign" (what you might call a BS ticket) instead of speeding.