Tips for Negotiating a Speeding Ticket in Court
One of the first ideas begins at the scene
Remain calm and polite when the observing officer approaches you. Depending upon the extremities of your speed he may give you a break.
If he questions your speed don’t begin by making long-winded excuses about how you couldn’t find a bathroom, how your right foot is num, or about just getting your license. For starters, its no point. You were wrong. Number 2, if you babble on and make excuses you’ll probably upset him even more.
Don’t challenge the officer;
“I’ll see you in court!!!”
“You’ll hear from my lawyer, buddy!”
“My dad will have your a**!!”
“Do you know who I am?”
* None of these will do you any good. *
Taking it from the street to the courtroom.
The courtroom can be a scary place. They always call your case when you least expect it. Usually when they call it you were too busy zoning off and feel a little out of place when they begin to question your antics. Try keeping your cool. Even if you feel that the ticket wasn’t you’re fault or not, it’s best not to challenge the court officials.
They have small rooms for those who have trouble following rules. Now really, who wants to sit in jail because of a speeding ticket? In many cases you must come to grip, you are guilty, deal with it.
One of the very first questions court officials will ask you is how do you plead. You have two choices; guilty or not guilty. When a person pleads guilty that means he/she is admits to disobeying a law. If a person pleads not guilty that means he/she is not admitting to disobeying a law.
If you ever plead ‘not guilty’ you must be prepared to present every bit of evidence or necessary data to help fight your case. Pleading not guilty but having no relevant evidence is like entering a construction zone without a hard hat.
Generally the judge will ask you the reason for speeding. Keep in mind judges are very well educated at depicting liars and those who make excuses. Be honest and keep it brief.
Short example of a legitimate plea:
” Mr. or Mrs. ______ is this true? Why were you doing 50mph in a 35 zone?”
“Yes your honor, and I apologize for my wrong doing. I was running a little late to work, next time I’ll try to be more careful.”
It’s honest, sincere, to the point and likely to get you a lesser fine. Once again depending on the extremities of your speeding violation, and or # of offenses you may catch a break or you may not. The idea, however, is to make certain that this judge doesn’t get to see you again. Were not just telling him we’ll be careful just for the fun of it, we actually want to mean this.
Most judges are fairly cool and are a little less harsh on first time offenders; they may reduce the fine by a few bucks and exempt your license from receiving any points. As an offender of a speeding violation you might stand there only a total of 5 or 10 minutes. Next time, it may be even longer..
Drive safely! 🙂
