Fighting A Speeding Ticket in MA

[MHanrahan]

So comes the close of a real crappy day. It was supposed to be my day off, I got screwed into working, and had to stay an hour late. Well coming back from picking up my skis, I happened to be going 58mph in a 35, when the blue lights started to flash. Well I apparently am 205 dollars in debt to society. I'm planning on taking it to court, attack the whole radar thing. Any other Ideas, think I should plead not guilty, or guilty it's my first ticket? Oh yeah and I can't hope for the cop not showing up to trial, because according to Massachusetts law, as long as they have my ticket, the cop doesn't have to even show up. I don't care about the $205 as much as I do the insurance. Please help

 

[Blueoval]

2 tickets in one day (In Mass)

Hey where did you get pulled over? I live in Plainville and got pulled over right near RTE 1, the cop took my licensce because it had a crack and said i need another (BS) So then i was cruizin down 495 S towards tauton and got this @$$hole on my butt so i sped up to get out of his way, next thing i know i see blues come out behind the overpass. I got another ticket. TWO tickets in 10 mins!!!!!!!!! All I wanted to do was visit my girl at work and bring her a rose. Lets just say that rose was pretty expensive.

Oh ya i fought them and got serious amount of $$$$$$ taken off. Seriously think about appealing it, at the least the judge will take some $$$$ off for showing up. The cop wont be there just you, a judge and a state offical all in an office. Realy easy. If you still dont agree and want to fight, appeal the decision in court. Ya the cop will be there, but its your word against his. And if you do go ask him if the radar gun was callibrated. It must be done every morning before the gun can be used, also if it the weather changed at all that day the gun MUST be reset due to the thickness of air.
Well i hoped this helped a bit, let me know if i can give any more advice. BLUEOVAL

 

[MHanrahan]

It was at the junction of rte 140 and 32 or something in princeton, my friend got pulled over there abouta year ago, I think he got like a $275 dollar ticket. When you went to talk to the judge, what did you say? My only defense was going to be the radar thing, I have 20 days to pay or file for court.

 

[Steve94LTD]

one of the physics teachers in @ my school got out of a radar enforced ticket one day while it was raining. He told the cop to clock a tree... and the tree was "moving" 7mph. The cop let him go make sure to find out what his calibration records are.

 

[Raceit]

Here in Kansas we have a pretty cool thing called a diversion. I had one speeding ticket basically dropped because of this.

In Kansas you can apply for this "diversion" though like a county clerk. It was a $25 (non refundable) application fee. You pretty much type up why you think you were wronged and why you are don't deserve the ticket. It took a few weeks and for me they accepted it and all I had to do was pay another 100 bucks. So the total out of my pocket was 125 bucks. That was actually cheaper then the original ticket!
But the way it works I think is since that $125 goes straight to the county instead of the state itself or something. So they are happy because they have more money and it doesn't tie up the courts with a petty crime. Plus I'm happy because the ticket was dropped and my insurance never finds out.
The only catch is that they put you on a "probation" of sorts. If you get any ticket or get in trouble within a year (or some set of time) the original ticket comes back along with what ever you just did. So I got lucky and kept from getting caught speeding for a while. Nock on wood. So that's a diversion in a nutshell. You might want to check with some county or city offices and see if they have something like that. If they do it might not be called a diversion. It varies from state to state if they have it at all.

Good Luck!

 

[Steve94LTD]

oh yeah, and get a lawyer, they are great

 

[Kontrol-Trak]

Just pay for the ticket. If the cop shows up (and it's very unlikely that he will not), there's no point in fighting a $205 ticket. I'm sure you will be able take driving school so that your insurance will not be affected.

 

[MHanrahan]

After I did some research I found out Massachusetts is just a great place to live. Because first the officer doesn't need to be present, only the ticket, and second I can't defer to traffic school, I'm either responsible, or not responsible, so those are the judges only choices. I'm an EMT, so I know quite a few cops, I'm hoping one of them knows someone who can conviently loose my ticket, if there's no ticket there's no evidence. Does anyone think if I plead guilty that the judge may drop it because this is my first time?

This is another thing I heard, does anyone know of it's true. Basically I heard nothing goes on your insurance untill all transactions are complete, so if I appeal it, hopefully at least get some money off, an then write a check for one more dollar than what it is I owe them. Now they have to send me a check back for one dollar, and transactions won't be complete untill I cash the check, which I never will? Does this make sense? Anyone ever heard of it or tried it?

 

[Steve94LTD]

sorry dude, I know a friend on another board who tried that... it doesnt work

 

[Kontrol-Trak]

Originally posted by MHanrahan
Does anyone think if I plead guilty that the judge may drop it because this is my first time?

I'm not familiar with your traffic laws, but I highly doubt it.

This is another thing I heard, does anyone know of it's true. Basically I heard nothing goes on your insurance untill all transactions are complete, so if I appeal it, hopefully at least get some money off, an then write a check for one more dollar than what it is I owe them. Now they have to send me a check back for one dollar, and transactions won't be complete untill I cash the check, which I never will? Does this make sense? Anyone ever heard of it or tried it?

No, it doesn't work. I've seen that a few times on the internet but the truth is there is no such loophole anymore, if it ever existed at all.

 

[Kontrol-Trak]

Speeding tickets are extremly hard to beat and they aren't usually worth the time & money. unless you were doing like 110 in 35 zone, you've been put in jail, and your license has been revoked.

I got a speeding ticket for the very first time for doing 51 in 35. $210 plus $60 for traffic school. That is alot of money to pay out of my own pocket because I'm only 18. I'm also paying for my truck & insurance. But I know I was in the wrong and the cop was just doing his job.

Definately try to have your fine lowered, but don't try to get out of it. When you do something wrong, you pay for it. Everyone pays.

 

[diablo5969]

I once saw a show on TLC about speeding tickets, and the guy was saying there are about 30 documents that should be on public record so you can ask for them, but the documents are like really obscure stuff. It's all sorts of weird stuff, everything like the officer's diploma from officer training to the calibration of the radar gun to the latest emissions check of the police car he was driving. I don't remember what they are exactly. But anyway, the point is that if you ask for all this weird crap, then the court must present it to you. It will take the court a while to find this stuff, so that'll give you more time to think. Plus, this is really obscure stuff so a lot of times the court can't come up with one or two of the documents, and the second that happens you got a free ride, ticket disappears because court can't come up with the papers, even though the papers have nothing to do with your actual ticket.

Also, go to a bookstore and check if they have any books about speeding tickets. Before I went to court in October I got a book called Traffic Ticket Defense by Mark Sutherlind. It explains exactly what will happen in court and what are some good ideas to use to try to prove your innocence. It helps a lot.

Also, no matter what the people on the board say, go to court about it. You've got nothing to lose. You might get lucky and get it reduced or maybe even removed. And hey, there's nothing wrong with trying to just clog up the system that gave you a ticket.

 

[MHanrahan]

Thanks for the advise Chase, exactly my thoughts, the system is there, I might as well use it, the worst that happens is that I end up back where I started. I'm going to check out that book tommorow, good thing I got 2 gift cards to barnes and noble.

 

[diablo5969]

Anytime. I had enough court experience back in October, I hope I won't be gaining anymore anytime soon. But I do definitely recommend looking into a book for it, so that's a good idea. And yeah, might as well show up at court. At least then you will have done something interesting that day, at the very least

 

[gfisch]

Just plead "not guilty" originally
go to court
talk to the oficer/prosecutor(whoever you talk to in MA)
Usually they will drop it down to a lesser charge. I just got a ticket dropped to a parking ticket a couple weeks ago in Albany,NY.
Dont try to fight the radar thing unless you plan to spend a lot of time in court and are willing to pay for a lawyer(which would probably cost more than your ticket) unless you are on the borderline of losing your licence because of too many points or somethin like that. Not worth it.
Well, thats just my $.02.

Greg

 

[mahieber]

When it's a "Penny for your thoughts" and you "Put your two cents in", where does the other penny go anyway???

 

[Steve94LTD]

i got a ticket for a 60 in a 30.. he reclocked me and caught me @ 57 in a 30... I kissed his ass, came up with a good story, and got him down to a 45 in a 30, which put me in the first ticket bracket..

went to court with a lawyer (I work for him) and because it was only 15 over and supposedly my first offense (second in 9 months), I got a $40 fine, and 3 months supervision... ahhhhh gotta love the system

 

[jjr007]

The last time I got a ticket (I live in Mass) I told the judge, actually the clerk magestrate that I had on snow tires that were taller than the stock tires, I showed him the formula whereby the taller tire had a bigger circumference throwing my speedometer off by x miles per hour. He ended knocking 90 bucks off the fine.

 

[jjr007]

Oh by the way, I forgot to say that it really didn't effect my insurance that much, just reduced my safe drivers points a little.

 

[Campo]

I got a ticket a few months back in Bonner Springs KS, and did exactly what gfisch stated.. I went to night court and the judge called my name and asked how I wanted to pleade and I asked if I could talk to a prosocuter, the judge handed me the ticket and I stood in line, I asked the prosocuter how much this would cost and he told me $158 and 2 points on my record I was only doing 70 in a 60, So I asked him if there was any other way to take care of this other than giving me a continuence and coming back to court.. he said how does $58 plus court cost ($25) and no point's sound.. I said SOLD... payed and left.. if you talk to a prosocuter or some other court official usually you can atleast get the points dropped.