<p>I think cartera is right. The cop told me paying the ticket would get 2 points. He said going to court with my record would likely be PBJ or max 1 point.</p>
<p>And, I don’t have the ticket with me now, but I’m relatively certain the fine is less than $100. Sorry NewHope33.</p>
<p>DB - Going the PBJ route involves your returning a copy of the citation with that choice acknowledged. Be sure to follow the directions on the citation. You will be put on a separate docket for a hearing rather than a trial.</p>
<p>I got my last speeding ticket about 5 years ago–No impact on insurance I could see. A couple points is nothing. In a few years it will be gone.</p>
<p>Um, this may (or may not) be on-topic. Our family’s policy is to contest the first citation we receive in the state we’re living in. The purpose is to get some experience with the process in each local court. DW contested a “parked in red zone” and got the fine halved to $75 from $150. Her (accurate) perspective that she’d parked legally in her usual spot at work was rejected, but at least she saved $75. So when DD got her “partying without a fire permit” citation, I recommended she pay the fine UNLESS everyone at the party was squeaky clean AND the entire group was willing to protest the citations en masse. They weren’t, so …</p>
<p>Anyone know how VA works? I’ve got the identical problem-never a single violation until now. The trooper asked why I was speeding and I answered truthfully. I was trying to get away from a car driving erratically. He answered that he thought that was what I was doing. I had tried slowing down but the driver slowed when I slowed and sped up when I sped up. She also spent a few miles driving down the center of the road. He actually told me to come to court and he would make notes to remind himself. The other driver told him she was late to work and showed him her makeup case. He pulled us both over. It’s an hour from home so it’s not terribly convenient to travel there to fight it unless I think I may reduce the points or fine.</p>
<p>Virginia is tough. How much over the speed limit were you going? The fines and points are typically on the high end in Virginia. It is also a state that really takes care of its lawyers and many recommend that you take one with you, even to traffic court.</p>
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<p>For attending?? It wasn’t her party?? Every time you see a fire you have ask the host to prove they have a permit?? You even need a permit for a fire on your own property??</p>
<p>Land of the free, I don’t think.</p>
<p>Virginia- ahhh. Good luck. Varies by county, but NOT a good state for the speeder. Someone near and dear to me got a major ticket in VA in a particularly bad county and even WITH a well-connected lawyer had to serve a sentence of a night in jail. That was a GOOD result! I think the state has eased up on the consequences for residents- for awhile it was absurd and followed you for years!</p>
<p>You’re right MOWC. I have friends whose kids have spent the night in jail after being caught speeding on the way back to college. At one point, the fines were in the $1000s. Still, if you are caught going over 80, it is reckless driving and a felony.</p>
<p>^^^ Group of teenagers who thought the get-together was at the back edge of private property … instead it was about twenty feet onto state land. Everyone at the party was ticketed. (The fact that the group declined to protest en masse suggests to me that there may have been some illegal beverages involved … and that the officer felt obligated to ticket them for something and chose “open fire without permit.”)</p>
<p>Thanks, MOWC and catera. Maybe I’ll just mail in my fine and be done with it. $116 and I believe 3 points. Jail? Fines in the $1000s? Wow. I know a few families that have had college students with speeding habits. They have managed to hang on to licenses and do traffic school unless it’s upped to reckless driving. </p>
<p>I thought the trooper was trying to tell me he’d put in a good word for me. Maybe not. The driver that was also stopped took pics of the back of my car with her cell phone. I was a little creeped out by that and asked him why she might do that and he was very friendly and nice while we had a conversation about it. </p>
<p>I think I may just drop a check in the mail tomorrow so I can forget about it. Until the insurance bill arrives, anyway.</p>
<p>I would go in, Zoey. Every county is a little different and if you can get off or get it reduced, it’s worth the drive over. I would do it.</p>
<p>Three pages of comments and nobody (other than cartera45) recommended HIRE A LAWYER to handle a LEGAL MATTER? This is especially so for your first one. If you plead guilty on your first one because it’s “only” your first time, the next time, when you do have a lawyer, the prosecutor will look at your lawyer and say, “She’s a repeat offender.” HIRE A LAWYER.</p>
<p>I’m a lawyer and I don’t think the OP needs a lawyer for this particular ticket.</p>
<p>Here in MA the fine wouldn’t be your biggest problem. It would be the $50 surcharge on your insurance every year for the next 6 years. That’s why people appeal tickets here.</p>
<p>I have been stopped twice in my life, but got off with a warning both times. The first time I was 18, cute, and very apologetic. The second time I had two little kids who were properly strapped into their car seat and booster seat. Both times were similar to the OP, I was going maybe 10 miles over the limit in a low-speed-zone area, and I think the cops were just aiming to remind folks to slow down in those areas.</p>
<p>Who hires a lawyer for a ticket? Worst case is you show up and stand in front of some bored magistrate for 2 minutes.</p>
<p>I got out of a speeding ticket by requesting a deposition when I returned the ticket and requested a court appearance. When I didn’t receive the deposition, the court had to throw the ticket out.</p>
<p>My older son also got out of a ticket exactly the same way.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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The surcharge in MA can be a lot bigger than $50/year. For a 2 point ticket it’s a 30% increase on certain parts of your insurance, which can add up in the hundreds. For six years.</p>
<p>And if you are under 18, your first ticket comes with a 90 day suspension and a $500 reinstatement fee, in addition to the fine and the insurance charges.</p>
<p>With those kinds of costs, a few hundred for a lawyer might be a good investment.</p>
<p>I didn’t recommend hiring a lawyer - not in Maryland anyway. In Virginia for a reckless driving, felony citation - yes, hire a lawyer. As I have said before, Virginia is very lawyer friendly. You are expected to have a lawyer there for many things for which there is no such expectation in other states. You can hire a lawyer to take care of a speeding ticket for you in Virginia and you don’t have to show up yourself. Hiring the lawyer will pretty much ensure that points will either be dropped or significantly reduced and the lawyer will make arrangements for a driving class in the state in which you live. The fine will still be high and there will be the lawyer’s fees but that might be worth it to reduce the points. </p>
<p>You cannot take the advice of people who do not know a particular jurisdiction about whether to hire a lawyer or not. There is a huge difference in the way speeding tickets are prosecuted. There are jurisdictions in which your fine will be increased on the day of the trial or hearing if you have not done what is expected of you in that jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Edited to add - magistrates do not handle speeding tickets in Maryland. The trials are handled by District Court judges.</p>
<p>“Who hires a lawyer for a ticket? Worst case is you show up and stand in front of some bored magistrate for 2 minutes.”</p>
<p>I have one answer to this. My last insurance company bumped the insurance premium 15% for the first ticket within three years, and 50% for the second (which is one of the reasons I dumped them for my current insurer … but I digress). The first ticket only resulted in a few hundred dollars more, but the second was punishment in the thousands. Five hundred bucks to avoid that makes economic sense to some “speedlimit-challenged” drivers.</p>