Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Posted by MsSissy

Posted by Momof3boys

Wow, tough crowd!

Shocking for LIF, right?

Again, if you have a clean license it's worth it to try and get it knocked down.
I had a speeding ticket knocked down to a parking ticket. No points, much cheaper and it doesn't show up on my license.
Well worth it.

Yeah Yeah...I know I was guilty.
So are a lot of criminals who still fight to get a lesser sentence

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Posted by MrsProfessor

See, I feel like you're expected to fight tickets though I have very limited experience with this.

Last year I got one for running a stop sign (and I did stop because it was at a busy spot and I always have to make a full stop and wait) but I knew it would be the officer's word against mine and I didn't want to be bothered. It was the first ticket I'd gotten in 20 years.

I went to the town court to pay, handed the ticket to the officer doing the security checks, who handed it back to me and said, "You want to plead not guilty. Check here." So I did it and got a court date in the mail. I was too surprised to tell him I just wanted to pay it. Since I had a good record the town attorney knocked it down to 'parking on pavement' and I paid $175. It can't hurt to go to court.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Posted by chilltocam

Posted by MsSissy

Posted by Momof3boys

Wow, tough crowd!

Shocking for LIF, right?

Again, if you have a clean license it's worth it to try and get it knocked down.
I had a speeding ticket knocked down to a parking ticket. No points, much cheaper and it doesn't show up on my license.
Well worth it.

Yeah Yeah...I know I was guilty.
So are a lot of criminals who still fight to get a lesser sentence

I agree. People fight all kinds of charges - from the most severe to petty violations. I don't know if it will wind up being worth it for you but tickets often get reduced. And we all make mistakes. No need to explai yourself or beat yourself up over it.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Posted by Momof3boys

Posted by chilltocam

Posted by MsSissy

Posted by Momof3boys

Wow, tough crowd!

Shocking for LIF, right?

Again, if you have a clean license it's worth it to try and get it knocked down.
I had a speeding ticket knocked down to a parking ticket. No points, much cheaper and it doesn't show up on my license.
Well worth it.

Yeah Yeah...I know I was guilty.
So are a lot of criminals who still fight to get a lesser sentence

I agree. People fight all kinds of charges - from the most severe to petty violations. I don't know if it will wind up being worth it for you but tickets often get reduced. And we all make mistakes. No need to explai yourself or beat yourself up over it.

Thank you! I am so upset over it! If I was speeding that's one thing, but this was an honest mistake. There was even traffic in the lane, lol!!

Just wondering if court takes a long time! If it's 30 min in and out that would be nice. If it means sitting in room all day, I would just send the money. My husband is telling me to just pay it and not think twice but it's so much money!

Lesson learned: stick to the northern state next time!! :)

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

I would just pay it. It was a mistake, sure, but you're guilty. That's really all there is to it.

I may be part of the tough crowd, but people are constantly b*tching about government handouts and taxes and having to pay for others, but will do anything to get out of paying their own fines that they earn. It's hypocritical. I'm not saying YOU, the OP, but generally speaking this is true - you find it all over LIF and in life.

I've paid about $500 worth of tickets (all earned by my DH) in the last year so I'm quite literally putting my money where my mouth is.

Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

I agree that while yes, it's a mistake, adding in all the excuses is what annoys people. Just own up to it and move on Hopefully you can fight it.

Message edited 3/9/2016 10:15:23 AM.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

I would just pay it in order to avoid the hassle of going to court. If you do go to court or get a traffic lawyer to go for you they may plea it down to a lesser charge.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

i would look at it as, is it worth it to have to take a day off of work to go to court just to say, yes i did it but i was tired and hope you get a sympathetic judge who will knock the fine down a bit...if yes, go for it, you have nothing to lose.
For me, if i know i was in the wrong, i would just suck it up and pay because i wouldnt want to spend the day in court waiting and waiting

Message edited 3/9/2016 10:45:58 AM.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

If there will be points on your licence I might go and give it a shot.
Otherwise, the hassle and time of dealign with court isn't worth the money IMO.

I know everyone fights tickets, and that is your right, but what irks me is when people blatantly get there and lie.

Dh would write tickets for red lights, stop signs, whatever. Then they would show up in court and say, no I didn't run that light. Blatently lie. Pretty much calling the cop a liar too.
As if DH just felt like randomly writing a ticket to an innocent person that evening. That is what make me

Other situations, like yours, where you admit you were wrong, but wasn't aware of the law, well that doesn't make you innocent but at least you are admitting guilt but asking for a little leniency.

Message edited 3/9/2016 11:52:11 AM.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

if there is no points I would just pay it simply because I wouldn't want to deal with court. if there was going to be points I would def. try to fight it even if I was wrong.
I wouldn't mind paying the money I just wouldn't want points on my license.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

I would fight it. I have seen drivers on the LIE do FAR worse things. In fact, I've seen more accidents in the 1.5 years I've been on LI that I had in my previous 29 years of life. Are these crap drivers getting tickets for causing accidents? No.

You made a mistake and the remedy to that mistake would have been to cause an unsafe environment, which you avoided. That's more than I can say for most of the drivers I've seen around here. So honestly? Kudos to you for not driving like a d!ick like everyone else.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Fight it. If a murderer can ask for a reduced sentence, you are certainly entitled to try the same tactic. Everyone makes mistakes.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Fight it, you were in the HOV lane, you didn't commit a cardinal sin. If you can get it reduced why WOULDNT you fight it. Sh!t happens, doesn't mean you didn't make a mistake but to save money and points, yes fight it. Absolutely.

To those who would pay the full amount and take the points, good for you, seriously. I am not one of those people.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

I am confused. She admitted she was wrong and asked only if people thought it would be worthwhile to avail herself of something that she is 100% entitled to use, or if it would be too much of a hassle to justify the outcome.

She didn't ask what people here thought ought to happen to her morally, whether she as a person was "worthy" of using the system, or how much she "deserved" to have to pay.

She admitted she was wrong. She'll never do it again. I seriously don't get the public flogging.

ETA: I am as against rule breaking as the next person, but if she's asking, she should definitely do all that you can do to try to reduce or eliminate points. If the system allows you to, why wouldn't you?

Message edited 3/9/2016 4:27:59 PM.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

As a previous poster said, it's the excuse that is what is getting people annoyed.

I don't think you can really fight it, TBH. This would be in Suffolk county and they don't lower tickets, IIRC. They'll also add in an extra fee.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

I can tell you what happens in NYC when you fight a ticket.
The cop is expected to get on the stand and give a certain testimony. The testimony is almost like a script and it has to hit all points.
Example- I observed said vehicle 15 feet from the marked crosswalk travelling in such and such direction and entered the intersection against a steady red signal...." and so on
If the cop misses one point or messes up the testimony at all, the person is found not guilty.

I used to laugh at how ludicrous it sounded was when DH told me about it. It was like they had a script and if you were "good" at testifying you never lost, if you were a rookie or messed up, the person got off.
Nothing to do with wrong or right or having a lawyer etc.

He told me that highway cops were "pros" at testimony and rarely every lost in court. The regular patrol cops, maybe not so much.

That's NYC though. No idea how it works out here.

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Re: Fighting Traffic Ticket - Worth it?

Double post

Message edited 3/9/2016 4:59:26 PM.