<p>OP, you are very brave to share. I have sped, especially where there was open road and no other traffic. Now, I rarely ever go much more than 5 miles above the speed limit. Most of the time, the roads are too crowded with cars and nearby pedestrians to consider shortening reaction time. </p>
<p>I have no idea what speeds either of my kids have ever driven, but am grateful they have never injured anyone and am keeping my fingers crossed that none of us do. I try to have them always drive within 5 miles of the speed limit but believe they go about 10, to keep up with traffic. </p>
<p>It is hard when you and your spouse aren’t on the same page regarding speed and other important aspects of child-rearing.</p>
<p>Its probably not likely the courts would believe that an orthopedic boot would cause a person to have a lead foot on the pedal, as it were. Driving 40 miles over the speed limit is a lot, as you realize. Hope the attorneys can work this out. A friend’s son had a similar experience with a big speeding ticket. Not only did my friends immediately yank the car, but they made him take a safe drivers class and write a paper on the dangers of speeding BEFORE the court appearance. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Thanks HImom - I really appreciate the understanding.
Jym626-you’re absolutely right - I don’t think any court will cut her any slack because of the foot injury on her non-driving foot. One attorney I spoke to did mention an online safe driving course - If she gets the probation before judgment, this may be a requirement. No one do far has asked her to write anything before court, but I’ll ask her to be ready to list all the things that can go wrong when you’re driving at that speed.</p>
<p>Too, ask the attorney you hire point blank if he’ll absolutely be in the courtroom standing next to your daughter at the hearing if she ends up having to appear in court. Some attorneys on a relatively small deal like this will bug out on you at the last minute and just tell you what to say in court by yourself, or they’ll hand your daughter’s case file to one of his buddy lawyers to handle before judge at the last minute in the courtroom hall so he can run off to lunch or to run back to his office to handle a big case that is on fire back at the office.</p>
<p>There have been other threads about speeding tickets. The judges take this very seriously, and want to see that the parents and the student do as well. How old is your daughter? In some cases, states will require a parent to be present if the accused is under 21.</p>
<p>I repeat- doing as much as possible BEFORE the court date shows that you and your child understand the gravity of the situation. Also, if the safe driving course is required (it would be very surprising if it is not) then your daughter is probably going to have to do all the things required and then return to court again a second time with the proof of completion. If you do it BEFORE and have the documentation, you may be able to get closure in one court date, unless there is going to be community service required in addition to the fine and required safe driving class. You want to do as much as you can and have as much documentation with you at the time of the court date to hopefully be able to get them to reduce the charges, fines, points on her license and increase in insurance premiums, as well as helping her understand this was a big error in judgement to drive that fast, especially with one foot impeded.</p>
<p>“I don’t think any court will cut her any slack because of the foot injury on her non-driving foot.”</p>
<p>I know there’s nothing funny in this situation, but one of these days, you will look back at this, and there will be a great joke in there, somewhere!</p>
<p>“I repeat- doing as much as possible BEFORE the court date shows that you and your child understand the gravity of the situation.”</p>
<p>It seems like that would really enhance the possibility of the judge taking it easier on your D. To know that she is doing as much as possible, that would really cover her bases. If she impressed them enough, maybe they would even reduce the speed and give her a deferral (though I realize that’s a stretch). But for some reason I was thinking the court date was tomorrow, which obviously would make it too late to do much. Perhaps she can at least have signed up for it?
Good luck!!</p>
<p>Is the court date tomorrow or next Thursday? If she shows up tomorrow to clarify and its not til the following week, she might ask to speak to the solicitor informally. However, she needs to talk to her attorney first.</p>
<p>Court date is next week – July 25 – even though the state trooper made it sound like it was tomorrow.</p>
<p>jym626 and busdriver11-- great advice about doing everything possible BEFORE the court date – I agree – but I don’t even know if there is a specific online course they will suggest/require and/or if there is a specific online course vendor??? I will ask her to at least research them and come with a list of ones she is ready to sign up for.</p>
<p>lizard – good point about attorney being there. The one I’m going with said he himself would be there.</p>
<p>I kind of wish it was tomorrow. Couldn’t sleep last night at all.</p>
<p>IMO even if she cannot find who they consider an “approved vendor” (though hopefully she can do so) showing that she is doing all the right things beforehand (and not just to please them, but to address the gravity of the situation and take ownership of remedies) will help her case. Plus, it will help reduce your insurance premium if you provide this documentation.</p>
<p>Classof2015, you might call your auto insurance company for recommendations on online safety courses. Our company recommended this as a way to reduce premiums. (I’ve been meaning to do it, and have H do it, but haven’t gotten to it yet.) They told me how to find a list of approved courses. I don’t remember now where it was, or I’d tell you.</p>
<p>If you do call your insurance company, pretend that you are looking for a way to reduce premiums (don’t mention the current situation!)</p>
<p>It is a miracle that awful things don’t happen more often to risk-taking teens. I remember well how invulnerable I felt at that age. This thread reminded me that I did once have to go to court for speeding, 80mph, I think! I’d forgotten. My mother went with me and offered me a tranquilizer! I remember that the policeman was very nice, and stressed that he had seen too many bad accidents and didn’t want the same to happen to me. I was 18 at the time. Had absolutely no fear about driving fast, but I was shocked to hear how fast I was going. I never drove recklessly again.</p>
<p>I actually would NOT recommend doing a course in advance. Or- at least check with the attorney. Sometimes the court will require that, but it has to be after the judge rules. </p>
<p>This all depends on the county and the judge. In the VA county where my son went to court, there was no benefit to any courses and the only benefit after the fact would be for insurance purposes. The court simply wasn’t interested. The lawyer did go in with my son’s transcript of college grades (he was a sophomore) and general evidence that he was a decent kid. That helped get the sentence down to 1 night from a usual absolute minimum of a week. Virginia is notoriously strict, and it varies by county, too.</p>
<p>I’ve had PMs from other parents on this forum needing lawyer referrals in VA, MD, CT and NY for speeding tickets. Some of the kids got off with just a fine, some had much more severe consequences. The fines were extremely high. One got off with barely a slap on the wrist in CT because the lawyer and the judge were chummy. It all matters.</p>
<p>If it were me, I’d make the priority a school/course that is approved by the STATE and then check with that company to see if your insurance company accepts their course. Be prepared, as an aside, that your insurer may drop your daughter if she gets a big adjudication (ie reckless driving) or a suspension of her license, or a boatload of points.</p>
I agree that the attorney should be asked first about this, but how can it hurt, other than to possibly have to repeat it (hopefully not) to have done this? </p>
<p>If it were my kid I’d probably have them do the class for my own comfort level. My kids had to take a driving class as part of their initial license aquisition and had to sit through gruesome videos of awful crashes. They also, separately, took some in vehicle defensive driving thing that was fun- on a big racetrack with cones and foam on the track to make it slippery, etc. In one case the instructor stood on the track and they had to stop short and not hit him. He was a brave soul! </p>
<p>My older s’s car was older and the course, while fun, caused a leak in one of the brake lines!!</p>
<p>Few years back when D1 got a speeding a ticket, driving without seat belt and H also got a speeding ticket, our insurance went sky high. We all took an online driving course one weekend and our insurance premium came down to the previous level.</p>
<p>She’s 20; clean record – no previous tickets, ever. First attorney seemed to be fairly confident of getting the probation before judgment option which would have conditions to be met (one of which I’m sure is completing a course) and she may very well then have to re-appear to prove the conditions have been met.</p>
<p>But she doesn’t have a Delaware driver’s license, she has a New York driver’s license. Delaware can’t put points on or suspend an out-of-state driver’s license. All they can do is impose a fine, suspend her driving privileges in Delaware, and pass along information concerning the conviction (assuming that’s the result) to the New York DMV, which is perfectly clear it doesn’t add points for out-of-state moving violations unless they involve drugs or alcohol, or if they occur in Ontario or Quebec.</p>