Any advice for traffic court for DS-17?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t believe an officer said that. They will purposely lower the speed amount hoping you just pay it and do t go to court. So if the ticket was for 41 in a 30 chances are good ge was probably going 50 in a 30. The Officer lowered it to give him a break. If he goes to court he’s going to be found guilty and pay the court costs in addition to the original fine and still get points.

This scenario would make more sense to me. 41 in a 30 is easily half the drivers on any multi-lane road on any given day around here. MoCo's speed cameras only trip at 12 over. Maybe VA is more strict because on most major roads in Montgomery County, if you're "only" going 5 over the limit, you're going to have a stack of cars behind you and a cop isn't going to pull you over for speeding, he's going to whizz past you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the whole going to court thing. Pay the fine and move on with life.

Never, ever, pay a traffic ticket without a hearing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to traffic court, especially if it he got it in one of the smaller municipalities in Maryland. A lot of times they don't show up to court.

I never had a case when the officer doesn’t show up and they dismiss the ticket

If you can reschedule, do it as many times as you can and hope that it ends up not being on the cop's court day

The officer will love you fir it. He gets three hours overtime every time you try that trick.

[Anonymous]

Take a driver safety course and let the judge know that your son takes this ticket very seriously. Judge may give your son a break. Hire a lawyer if the court is in close in VA

[Anonymous]

Where is the court? The last ticket I got (maybe 3 years ago) I had to show up in court to avoid points on my license, and was ordered to take a defensive driving class. It was the same when I was going 42 in a 25 in Tallahassee, FL by Doak Campbell stadium in 1997. I was 19.

This last time, I even went through the effort of finding and printing out my pristine driving record. No one cared.

[Anonymous]

I really wish more teens would get caught for speeding and get sent to court.

It's a real awakening that police IS watching and you're not above the law. As many have said above is a good lesson to "spend the day" at court.

This is not directed to OP. Just teens in general!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you go to court and lose, court fees will be assessed, too.

I went to court for a speeding ticket (first offense), and the court assessed court costs but no points, so it was worth it.

[Anonymous]

Is this the parenting you want to be delivering to your child? Assuming he was actually speeding, contesting the ticket is a terrible lesson about accountability and accepting the consequences of your actions.

[Anonymous]

Such bizarre advice on this thread.

Go to court, bring a copy of clean driving record, apologize for speeding, explain he has a clean record, this is first (any only!) offense, and ask judge to remove the points. 9 times out of 10 they will

[Anonymous]

Where we live, if you go to court (court is required if you’re under 18) they hand you a plea deal when you walk in. Usually the points are slightly reduced and it’s a lesser offense.

If you don’t take that, you go to a pre-trial conference, where you can ask to take a driving class in order to have your points reduced. There are different options for classes—the longer the class the bigger the reduction and you can usually get it down to zero points.

After the class is completed, you go back to court and that’s when you actually talk to the judge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to traffic court, especially if it he got it in one of the smaller municipalities in Maryland. A lot of times they don't show up to court.

I never had a case when the officer doesn’t show up and they dismiss the ticket

If you can reschedule, do it as many times as you can and hope that it ends up not being on the cop's court day

The officer will love you fir it. He gets three hours overtime every time you try that trick.

The officer doesn’t need to be present in court for a speeding ticket.

[Anonymous]

Consult with a lawyer who regular practices in traffic court and juvenile court. Many have free or low cost consultations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the whole going to court thing. Pay the fine and move on with life.

Never, ever, pay a traffic ticket without a hearing.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to court and lose, court fees will be assessed, too.

I went to court for a speeding ticket (first offense), and the court assessed court costs but no points, so it was worth it.

Why did you already have a ton of points to where your license would have been suspended. Other than that I don’t see it being worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to court and lose, court fees will be assessed, too.

I went to court for a speeding ticket (first offense), and the court assessed court costs but no points, so it was worth it.

Why did you already have a ton of points to where your license would have been suspended. Other than that I don’t see it being worth it.

No. Paying ticket was ticket + points. Court was equivalent to cost of ticket and no points.