Today on my way to work, I had just turned a corner and was heading down a hill and about two or three seconds later (and much to my surprise) an unmarked cop car with its lights flashing started chasing me down the street. At first, I wasn't sure if it was chasing me or not, so I turned onto another street where I could safely pull over, if needed. Well, it was most definitely after me. So I pulled over, put my hazard lights on, rolled down my window, shut off the engine, and grabbed my papers. I tried my best to co-operate as much as possible and only spoke to the cop if spoken to (this was the first time I was ever pulled over).

Anyways, I didn't have any problems with the cop, but to make a long story short, I realize I may have been going too fast (in what was a pretty clear lane) and am willing to take responsibility for doing so , so don't try thinking that I'm trying to get out of a $230 CAD ticket. I wasn't sure if I had to show up in court like in the States since I was driving outside of my home province (where we don't have to show up in court unless we contest a ticket), so I asked the cop and he said "no." Like I mentioned, this is my first ticket, so I'm not quite sure if I should just pay it outright (which may or may not increase my insurance premiums, which are already insane as they stand) or try to contest it in court (though, I'm not quite sure what my argument would be). I've had my license for a little under four years now, if it matters. Any suggestions for a n00b?

I don't know about Canada, so perhaps someone who knows the courts there can pipe up. However, here in the US, I always contest the ticket. Since traffic courts are *very* busy here what with all the horrible drivers on the road (I haven't gotten a ticket in 8 years, knock on wood), it's always best to go and plead not guilty and get that second court date. Usually on or before the court date, you will be contacted by the state's attorney (in some jurisdictions you can actually do it on the date you plead not guilty - it was odd, to say the least) and you can plead it down to something that costs about the same, but won't be a moving violation (parking tickets, etc). The state gets their "driving tax", you get to keep your insurance down. It's a total f*cking scam, but those are the rules you play by when you don't follow the law, I guess.

My mother in law always asked me why I never went more than 5 over on the highway and *never* on side streets, until she got a ticket last week for going 7 over in a 35. The fine? $436 dollars for the ticket and her insurance went up almost $20/month. So, those points won't come off for 3 years, so she'll be paying $720 over the next 3 years in insurance increases, the $436 dollars for the ticket itself, and she'll be out at least 2 days of work for court (here you have to appear, no matter where you're tagged - even out of state).

That's why .

Hold up a sec... $436 USD for going 7 mph (~12 km/hr) over the limit? Wow, and I thought I had it bad...

D'oh... Just checked out my car... Turns out I had my digital speedometer set to mph instead of km/h, so, technically I was following the posted limit, just in the wrong units... Must have happened while getting into the car. So much for having a Civic... *facepalm*

In addition to what Cluberti said about the court system... It also differs by state. Let's take New York for example. How it works is that speeding is a state law, not a local law. It doesn't matter if you get pulled over by a local, county or state officer, they write the state ticket. But here's the trick, they set your court appointment for the town or city you received the ticket in. So for example, let's say I get a speeding ticket in Buffalo (which I never have), the officer writes a state ticket which says to report to the Buffalo court building or office or whatever.

Now, if I were to outright pay for the fine instead of contesting the ticket, you either pay at the office indicated on the ticket, or send a check in the mail to the address indicated. If done this way, that money will go to New York State. Now if I contest the ticket in the Buffalo court, the option is to plead guilty to a lower offense, such as a parking ticket. Now, yes the court system is very busy like Cluberti says, so 99% of the time the judge will approve the parking ticket. Another reason for this is because the lower offense (speeding is the lowest state law) is actually paid to the municipality, so that money would go to Buffalo instead.

There is an additional reason why pleading down a ticket is accepted, besides where the money goes. Each division (city/town/etc) gets New York State benefits based on a tier system of how many arrests, convictions, tickets, etc are done. So basically, they get more benefits from the State if they plead speeding tickets down to parking tickets than if they didn't. Those benefits may include grants, upgrades to buildings, cars, equipment, additional employment benefits, vacation, etc.

So its like a scam in the US, or at least in NY.

Interesting, because it seems that I was written a provincial ticket, yet the ticket states that I can contest it at the local courthouse. I wonder if the same thing would apply. In all honesty, I would rather show up to court, plead guilty, and pay a lesser fine (or the full fine) than have to pay the full fine AND get points.

good to know
im from rochester

and sometimes it's just the cop.

I have been pulled over several times. I have gotten one speeding ticket (legit but it was a trap), one warning and let go the rest of the time.

Worst case for me without the ticket was passing through a very small town at about 2:00 a.m. I was doing 80-90 mph in a 35 zone. In the back of my mind, something said that there was a cop car. Soooooooooo, I slowed down and pulled into a derelict gas station and waited. I followed the same procedures here as gamehead did. In the rearview mirror, I saw the leaves on the trees pulse with light as the cop approached around a corner and suddenly I saw his headlights and then they quickly pointed towards the ground as he stood on his brakes. He pulled up behind me, got out, walked up to my car and asked me 'Why did you stop?' and I replied 'I knew you were coming'. He then asked me if I was going to speed again and I said 'No'. He let me go. I honestly think that he never had a chance to get a radar gun on me and he never had the chance to get behind me to clock my speed. Stopping first saved my butt.


Mark

I had a friend in a situation a couple of years ago that ended both good and bad. He's the same age as I am (24 now - 21 then), and through impressive skills in yoyoing (yes... yoyoing) at the Calgary Stampede he managed to save up enough money by the end of high school to buy himself a 2001 Audi A4 - in bright Tropicana Green.

Vancouver is fairly well known for it's street racing, so the cops are always on the lookout for "young hooligans" in their "sports cars". I personally wouldn't call a stock A4 a "sports car" or a "racer", but whatever. A cop ends up pulling him over for doing 53 km/h in a 50 zone. Yes... 3 km/h over the limit. Sadly, in BC, radar gun speeds are taken as perfectly accurate (which they never are), and my friend ended up contesting the ticket.

The judge at the ruling was very fair. He asked my friend if he had any evidence to show that he was not over the speed limit, which there was none. The judge said that he didn't like doing so, but he had to rule in favor of the ticket, but he also warned the cop not to waste the time of the state or the courts for such a simple matter. It's the only driving violation that my friend has ever recieved, and I can attest that he's an excellent driver, unlike some of the others in this city...


I'd suggest you go to the courts to plead not guilty. I'm not entirely sure about the laws in Ontario (Quebec?), but in BC if the cop doesn't show up to the hearing, the ticket is rendered void and you go home scott free.

In the states I've lived in (NY, IL, WA, FL, and NC) here in the US, that is also the case, and they do so on their own time (they can't go to court for a ticket they wrote while they're working). However, they get 3 strikes - if they don't make it on try #1, you get a new date - lather, rinse, repeat. If they fail to appear the 3rd time, you're out of the ticket (if you plead not guilty, you have the right to confront your "accuser", in this case the officer, on your own time for the both of you). However, I've always found that the cop shows up the second or third time, and you lose (the court will almost always believe an officer of the court over you, especially when his gun says you were speeding and so does he) and you're out 2 or 3 days of your own time.

It's always best to plead "not guilty" (always! even if you *are* guilty) and see what the court offers. Honestly, they would rather plead you out then go through a "trial" for a little speeding ticket. You will end up paying a fine, but you'll keep a speeding ticket off of your record and save on insurance money when you turn 21 and 25, respectively. It's *always* better to play the system.