Whooo Hooo, Traffic Court Went My Way!

[G-Man]

Figured out how to have a speeding ticket dismissed.

Got a letter in the mail saying my license will be suspended due to failure to appear for a seatbelt ticket received in 2010.  Went to the courthouse today and clerk said I had a speeding ticket from 2009.  I forgot all about that ticket.  We were in the process of changing insurance companies and didn't want the speeding ticket to appear on my record until after the change was made and then just forgot about it.

Traffic court is a joke in NY.  EVERY ticket is pleaded down to a reduced fine and EVERYONE agrees to it.  The prosecutor dismissed the speeding ticket because it was 6 years old and reduced the seatbelt ticket to a parking violation with no points.  It did cost me $150 for the reduced fine, but that was OK with me.  Seems the fine is at the discretion of the judge because some folks before me paid more and some paid less for the same thing.  Aaaaaand, there were no court fees on the fine because there were no fees back in 2010.

[Oss]

Yes outside of NYC that is pretty much it

Lucky for you the license was not suspended. If so you MUST pay money regardless of its your fault or not

What town? 

[G-Man]

Yes outside of NYC that is pretty much it

Lucky for you the license was not suspended. If so you MUST pay money regardless of its your fault or not

What town? 

Greenburgh.  Yes, if the license was suspended it would have been $70 to remove the suspension.

And everyone is so polite.  The motorists are happy because nobody gets a speeding ticket to jack up their insurance, less points (if any), and less of a fine than they expected.

But nobody goes to trial.  No LEO's have to waste a day.  I wonder if they actually save money??  If you add up just the reduction of all the fines for everyone who get a ticket, would it be more or less than the cost of all the cases actually going to trial.  Now I know someone is thinking, I'm sure they've done the cost analysis and they know what they're doing, BUT…………..This is gov't we are talking about.

[DK]

We used to call it a "Civil Penalty With SIS (suspended imposition of sentence)" back when I was a Prosecuting Attorney. The "Penalty" was higher than the appropriate misdemeanor fine plus an "administrative fee" was included in leu of court costs. If you didn't get another ticket in that jurisdiction for a year, all records pertaining were expunged.

The driver had the option of accepting the lower priced misdemeanor but it was reported & the insurance companies ultimately picked it up. In the long run this was more expensive. The civil penalty was not available for DUI or Reckless Driving.

It was a much better answer than being leaned on for selective ticket fixing, most of which came from cops or local politicians.

The Cities & Counties bad needed the money & were very happy to have the additional funds.

Dan