So... I got pulled over for a "moving violation"

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Weak440

Weak440

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I have been coming in to work a couple hours early and working a little late this week. It had been going great. We have been making great progress on a project we were working on.

I live in a rural area. About 25 minutes from the nearest town and about 15 minutes from the nearest highway. I left at my normal time, got out on a rural county road. I crossed a set of tracks and pulled up to a 4 way intersection. I looked over my left shoulder and didn't see any traffic so I rolled through the stop sign. I glanced back over my shoulder like I always do and say a Sheriff's Deputy sitting just out of sight on the road that I pulled out on.

I got about an 1/8 mile before he caught up to me. Yep... He got me for failing to stop at a posted stop sign. I was honest with him. I wasn't going to lie or argue. I really did roll through it.

When he handed me the ticket I was biting my tongue in frustration. This is my first ticket... EVER! He said this is your court date. It is at 6:30pm. He said, Trust me You are no the only one I got this morning. I don't think any one stops there. Then told me to be sure and stop at the stop signs. They are there for a reason.

It wasn't until I got moving again that I realized he didn't say anything about just mailing in a payment and being done with it. When I got a stop light in town, I made sure I was STOPPED and looked the ticket over. It doesn't give a price or any details really. Son of a... I think that I have to go court?!?!? Seriously? :wack:

Talk about a bad way to start a Friday...
 
I guess he wants you to be a guest of the judge. Is it for 6:30 tonight? Must have had someone file a complaint or an accident there to prompt action.
 
check your local laws. because here in WA you can write "No Contest" on the back and sign it the mail it in and they send you the bill. idk if that works where you are best to be sure. "no contest" means you basically plead guilty and can only be used in non-criminal traffic violations just fyi lol
 
Yeah, The court date is in early Feburary at 6:30pm. Isn't that like 4 months away?
 
Weak440 said:
Yeah, The court date is in early Feburary at 6:30pm. Isn't that like 4 months away?
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then it will be another 3 or 4 months after that for another appearance, ive seen those drag out for a year or better when they are contested
are your courts even open at 6:30 PM ? ours close at 4:30
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Must have had someone file a complaint or an accident there to prompt action.
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Doubt it. They want money, they know the little "honey pots" to go to; rural country roads where people roll stop signs when theres literally no other cars within half a mile. Happened to me. Yea, I broke the law and paid my ticket. But it was 4:30 am, noone was around except for the sheriff who was blending into the business parking lot by the sign. I feel so much safer knowing he was sitting there ticketing all those pesky stop-sign rollers at 4:30 am (he said sarcastically)
 
73AbodEE said:
then it will be another 3 or 4 months after that for another appearance, ive seen those drag out for a year or better when they are contested
are your courts even open at 6:30 PM ? ours close at 4:30
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Traffic courts around here are usually open that late, sometimes they go until 9, but not civil or criminal courts
 
I pay for a legal service, it's not too expensive and they can help with all kinds of things like wills and such... AND traffic tickets. I think my wife uses it about once a year for minor traffic stuff. The ticket usually has three choices:
A) not guilty (go to court, then it's the cop's word against yours & you lose)
B) guilty with an excuse (still guilty - pay & points)
C) guilty (pay & points)
What a lawer can do is go and negotiate with the prosecuting attorney. What I usually want is that there is no effect on my insurance so I'm willing to pay a fine since she really was "caught" doing something. But I don't want any points or anything permanent on the record. I think it kinda sucks that as a regular citizen I can't negotiate this way.
 
Ehh, you admitted that you rolled the stop sign and the cop did his job. You say that this is your first ticket but if the police didn't write tickets to those with clean records then everyone would have a clean record. I've never seen a ticket around these parts that had a fine cost on it, you have to call the court house to get that info.
 
You can try to move it to another date as much as possible which will more than likely not work for the officers schedule and you will be able to beat it. If you don't want to do that just pay it and be done.
 
You might get "lucky."Lol something like that type of ticket here, you will get a letter in mail from ***'t district attorney. It will say something like due to clean driving record, it will be considered for a pre trial disposition hearing. Basically, you pay a fee-somewhere around $139-to and wait for 6 months. If no other violations happened with within that 6 months, the ticket will disappear off your record. Actually, never gets on record to start. They keep your pre trail disposal fee....
 
Around here, the game is they will send you a notice in the mail with your fine/bail amount. You can pay it and move on. OR, you show up in court and appear, usually the in court amount you need to pay is less than 1/2 of the initial notice.
 
I must be lucky or something.
Got radared accelerating to 70 in a 45, and they gave me a ticket for "Wasting finite resources"
It was a mail in $35 fine. :)

Hey Rob, did you armour all that window ledge?
 
I called the court house # that he had written on the ticket. I asked if this was something that I was required to show up in court for or can I just pay a fine?

The woman at the court house acted like the Officer should have told me and what my options were. She also commented that they only hand write tickets when they have to. I got the impression that they had given out a ton of tickets in this spot.

Anyway, it is a $125 fine...
 
73AbodEE said:
man , that is pricy ....i bet you dont do that again..at least not there LOL
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thats an itty bitty fine compared to here; if they catch you here without a seat belt its $225 and thats the starting point; fines go up from there all the way to $2500
 
While the police themselves roll through stop signs on a daily basis and don't give respect while acting all so indignant towards a long haired bearded ol'dude as if they got it all together. Got a speeding ticket some years back by a woman state trooper for a hundred sometin in a 65 zone while driving my Mecedes, she started being a pain in the *** from the get-go and asked me if this was my car while holding my registration and I looked at her and said " what the f is this, a trick question, she got all uppity and said she didn't appreciate the language and I said act like a lady and not wise *** and you'll be treated like a lady. Bottom line, ticket cost me a hundred, never showed up on my license. Small town with small minded people running it. I pinstriped the car collection of the governor of that state and he took care of me well beyond what I spent to get there...
 
66plyValiant said:
thats an itty bitty fine compared to here; if they catch you here without a seat belt its $225 and thats the starting point; fines go up from there all the way to $2500
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Baxter61 said:
I wish mine was $125, it was $289!
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Really ? man , it was $75 the last time i ran one here in CO. that was only a couple years ago.
 
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