What if I Paid My Ticket but I Got It Again

There's nothing fun about the feeling you become when those blue lights flash behind you lot on the highway. Nobody wants to get a speeding ticket, and for skillful reason. If you're convicted, a violation volition:

• Affect  your driving record , mayhap resulting in suspension of your license.

• Cost money upfront:  Yous'll pay the speeding ticket and any court fees.

• Price more than money long term:  Subsequently a ticket, your machine insurance rates tin ascent by hundreds of dollars per year.

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It's possible to lessen the impact of a speeding ticket or erase it, though doing so may be difficult. Here's what to know nigh your options.

On the day you're pulled over

It'southward likely you're reading this because you've already gotten a speeding ticket, and then file away these tips in case it happens over again:

• Ask which method the officer used to determine you were speeding and write it down afterward.

• Say as little as possible. Anything you lot say can be used confronting you if you go to court.

• Exist polite, don't fence, and endeavour to be unremarkable. If the officer tin't recollect y'all, he or she might fail to think details in front of a judge.

• After, write downwardly everything about the incident, including the time of twenty-four hours, location and anything that might have afflicted the circumstances, such as obscured or missing speed limit signs.

You tin then choose to fight the ticket in court, negotiate a lesser penalty or pay the speeding ticket and accept the ding to your driving record and the college insurance premiums likely to issue.

If you decide to pay the speeding ticket

Although paying a $l ticket might non seem that bad, consider the true cost of a speeding ticket. Likewise paying the initial fee, later a ticket, your automobile insurance rates tin rise by hundreds of dollars per year.

For case, NerdWallet'south 2020 rate study found that:

• A 40-year-old commuter with good credit and full coverage will pay $355 more than per twelvemonth after one speeding ticket, on boilerplate.

• On average, a twoscore-yr-old driver with adept credit and minimum coverage will pay $148 more per year with one speeding ticket on their tape.

If yous do end upward accepting the speeding ticket, it'due south crucial to compare car insurance quotes ; some companies volition raise your rates more than others.

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If you decide to fight the ticket in court

If you plan to fight the ticket, you'll take to go to court, where a prosecutor volition have to prove yous were speeding. Even if y'all think the ticket is unjustified, speeding violations are hard to shell.

If the officer doesn't testify upwardly at the hearing, you could be off the hook, only don't rely on that. If you lot inquire for a hearing, plan to brand your case and be questioned earlier a judge. Check the ticket to find out whether a state, county or local officer issued it and search online for traffic procedures in that jurisdiction. Wait upwards your state'due south motor vehicle lawmaking, carefully read the speed police force you allegedly bankrupt and set to argue that you lot didn't.

As yous prepare for courtroom, y'all tin:

• Filibuster the hearing.  This will requite you more time to build your case.

• Assemble bear witness.  Your best chances to win the argument volition be if y'all have physical proof y'all weren't speeding. Evidence could include dashcam video or GPS information from a smartphone app, or photographic show that a speed limit sign was obscured.

• Research speed equipment. Wait upwardly the method the officeholder used to clock your speed, note its weaknesses and gear up to present them. Instruction manuals include maintenance schedules yous can question the officer about, and they may note radar gun weaknesses, for example.

• Make witness arrangements.  You can call in witnesses, including any passengers in the car when the ticket was issued.

• Plan your questions.  Y'all can question the issuing officer, including near his or her memory and grooming with speed-clocking equipment. Stick to questions with short answers and avoid asking "why" questions.

Deciding whether to become a lawyer

If all this sounds similar more than than you'd want to handle on your own, you tin can enlist a traffic lawyer to help you. These lawyers typically specialize in DUIs and more than serious cases, but some take speeding ticket cases. Considering the costs, hiring a lawyer is likely worth the coin if your ticket is specially expensive or could event in the loss of your license.

A traffic lawyer costs between $250 and $350 on average nationally, co-ordinate to Thumbtack, an online market place for service professionals. A speeding ticket costs anywhere from $50 upwardly to $2,500 in some states in the severest cases.

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If yous decide to negotiate the penalty

"Mitigation" is making a deal with the prosecutor and court; it saves the jurisdiction money by avoiding a hearing while lowering your penalty for the ticket. You may be able to request a negotiation before or at your hearing, simply it's the courtroom'south decision, so check on the courtroom's website or telephone call to be sure. In some areas, you must request mitigation in writing.

Typically in mitigation, yous acknowledge to the offense and nowadays data that would lead a judge to grant you leniency. Outcomes may include:

• You pay all or some of the ticket, but it doesn't bear on your driving record.

• You lot accept a driving course instead of paying the speeding ticket.

• The ticket is reduced to a bottom fine.

• You're given extra time to pay the fine.

Other possible outcomes

In that location are other possible ways your speeding ticket tin can shake out. For example, depending on where you live:

• Your state may waive your first moving violation if you take a driving grade.

• You could receive a deferral, in which case typically you'll pay a fine and your ticket will be dismissed later a period of fourth dimension if in that location are no further offenses.

Any you do, don't ignore the ticket. It won't simply go away on its ain, and you'll be in much bigger trouble with the police. How much trouble depends on your land: You could be arrested or have to pay larger fines, or your license could be suspended.

NerdWallet writer Philip Reed contributed to this report.

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Source: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/auto/how-to-fight-a-speeding-ticket

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