First Traffic Ticket :( ... Pls Advice

Go to traffic school. My mom did as tickets are ridiculously expensive in California. Apparently they have themed traffic schools in CA - comedy, pizza, etc.

The only thing that will save you money is the traffic school. Not on the front end but it spares you the points that will raise your insurance. Regardless of how you slice it you will pay that fine because you did the crime! Say it with me, I was speeding and got caught. Say it as many times as you need to until the idea you can get out of this goes away.

If you hire a lawyer you pay the lawyer and you still pay the same fine.

Courts sometime allow you to make payments but you will pay the fine one way or another. What ever you do do not ignore it. You will get a failure to appear which is usually another couple hundred and sometimes they take traffic school off the table so to get rid of the points you have to pay a lawyer.

Just want to add when they are amended by an attorney or luck, the fine is still the same.

And really, speeding through a stop sign in a residential area is a big deal. It shows you are totally not paying attention.

Traffic school in California is $22.95
http://www.dmv.org/ca-california/traffic-schools.php

You may have been confusing that with a driver's ed course which can be around $500-$600.

You probably need to go to traffic school to keep it from affecting your insurance. You can do an online traffic school, which isn't too painful.

Also, you need to go to court, and throw yourself on the mercy of the judge. What you do is explain your circumstances, and ask if you can use community service to pay some or all of it off. The last time I got a traffic ticket, I did 25 hours of volunteering at a thrift store to take approx. $300 off my fine. They give you a few options of where you can volunteer, and you can usually work it around your schedule over a period of a few months. Usually when you spend the time to go to court, the judge will reduce your fine somehow.

It takes some time and work to reduce your fine, but if you can't afford it, it's worth it. Traffic school costs quite a bit, so it might depend on your insurance company.. Some of them will not raise your rates for a first ticket.

You can try to contest the ticket if you feel you have a case, as well. But few people win these things, because usually they did whatever the infraction was, and the judge has heard it all. It's actually kind of amusing listening to everyone's stories in court.

i've found that going to court is your best bet. dress conservatively, plead guilty, and throw yourself on the mercy of the judge.
if you get REALLY lucky the cop won't show up and you could just walk. but the very act of showing up and showing contrition is a big leg up for most judges to make life easier on you.
khairete
S.

I am not in CA and don't know the judges there but one piece of advice: take your day in court and do not whine about geting the ticket. If you just were not paying attention, say so. A friend's daughter got a ticket for the same thing. She was not paying attn at all. luckily no accidents and no one wanted to cross. However, when she got to court, she gave the judge a "poor me" excuse about it and he gave her the fine and traffic school---no online for her either. If this is your first ticket, then you may have a chance of reduction--at least in my area you might.

Make an appearance on the day of the hearing. The hearing date should be on the yellow copy you were given by the cop who pulled you over. If the cop doesn't show, you automatically win by default and you won't have to pay anything. But the court date that the cop gave you is probably the date that he knows he will appear at the hearing (cops set aside days to make all day appearances at hearings for all the tickets they gave out).

You can try to call the courthouse and try to change the date of the hearing with the hope that they will reschedule you to a date when the cop is off duty (and will likely not show). However, the chances of you getting a date when the cop is off duty is slim.

Once you make an appearance, the judge will ask how you will plead. You can say guilty or not guilty (or no contest, but that's basically the same as saying guilty). If you say not guilty, another hearing date will be set and you will get your "day in court" - you get a chance to present evidence to prove that you're not guilty. However, this means you will incur additional fees (the court will ask you to pay a fee to get a hearing date). Another option you have is to draft a letter indicating why you're not guilty, but I think this also requires a fee.

What I suggest is to just say guilty then explain to the judge your circumstances and ask him to reduce the amount. The judges almost always reduce the amount. Just keep in mind that even if he lowers the fine to the minimum, administrative fees will be added on, which will likely increase your fine by a few hundred. You can request a payment plan, too. Also tell the judge that you want to do traffic school.

Online traffic school will prevent a point being added to your driving record as insurance companies will definitely use this to increase your premium.

FYI, bail is basically the fine in this case.

Everything Julie S. said.

Do the traffic school. It's the only way to ameliorate the points on your license, which will cost you in insurance long term (for a few years before the points fall off).

If you pay an attorney, you will pay the attorney PLUS the court fees (even if they drop the fine b/c you plead nolo contendre, they will assess court costs, and they will likely be the same amount of money). In many cases, you won't have points assessed in that scenario, but you don't know. It's a gamble, unless you have an attorney you know and trust who will tell you straight up what the court will do/assess.

If it were me, go to traffic school and pay the fees/fines. Make sure you follow and jump through every hoop to avoid the points on your license.

ETA:
I also am of the mind that the court views speeding infractions a bit differently than infractions involving running a stop sign/light. Why? Because it really is a bigger deal and much more dangerous. Probably incurs more points, too.

Take the ticket down to the courthouse and ask them what you need to do and if you can arrange a payment plan.
$600 seems rather steep for a red light and speeding unless you were about to become airborne.

That's an expensive ticket!
Last ticket I got cost me $178.
Though I think it's MUCH worse if you do something like that near school property.
The fines are steeper because they don't want kids getting run over.

I once successfully contested a ticket and won (got it reduced to a loud muffler and took driver improvement class).
The road I was on had horrible pot holes they could EAT small cars alive.
They said I was clocked doing 55 in a 35 zone.
I told the guy at court that he could get into my car and TRY doing 55 on that road but it's physically impossible - and he agreed with me.
I was doing more than 35 but no where near 55, so as long as I wasn't trying to get out of ALL of it, he was willing to negotiate.

I've had a few other traffic tickets (maybe one every 10 yrs or so) and I just paid those rather than go to court.

Have you got your green card yet?
Unresolved traffic tickets can get in the way of obtaining a green card.
You want to get this resolved as soon as possible, get on a payment plan, etc and show good faith that you want to obey the laws and pay the fines for infractions.
Otherwise you might get denied with an explanation of something along these lines :

"You have committed unlawful acts, which adversly reflect upon your moral character. In addition, your DMV abstract reveals you failed to answer two traffic violations during the time set by the court. You receieved a ticket for utilizing a mobile phone on July 29, 2006 and you took nearly 3 years to resolve it. On a different occasion, your drivers license was suspended on july 28, 2008 due to your failure to answer the summons issued for utilizing a mobile phone on March 11, 2008. The ticket was resolved only after you were issued another traffic summons in Northvale, NJ for making an improper turn and driving on an expired license on February 22, 2009.

Considering your past driving history/record and taking into account the standards of the average citizen in the community of residence, you have failed to satisfy the good moral character requirement under the Act.

You have not established your eligibility for citizenship under the provisions of section 316 of the Act, supra. This denial is without prejudice to filing your application for citizenship when you become eligible under the applicable provisions". "

The last time I got a traffic violation I got stopped for speeding while in a town 3 hours from where I lived. I was supposed to have a mandatory court appearance in the county I got stopped in. I had no problem paying the ticket or dealing with the consequences because I was actually speeding, but I couldn't take time off of work to get to the courthouse so I called an attorney just to see what my options were. He ended up getting the ticket dismissed. I paid less for the attorney than the ticket would have cost me, I didn't have to show up in court, and I because it was dismissed I didn't get licence points or an increase in insurance rates. Of course this was 20 years ago and in NC, so things may not work out the same for you, but my advice would still be to call an attorney or two or three, that offer free half hour consults and see what your options are. Good Luck!

I've contested a ticket before - there are set hours at the courthouse (if it's not on the back of the ticket, then check on line or call ahead). Probably you would go before a magistrate (not a judge) and argue your case. That's how it is in my state. You may, for example, successful claim that you were not going as fast as the officer said, or claim that you were (perhaps) inching into the intersection vs. blowing through the stop sign without slowing. The penalties would be less. Sometimes they just compromise with you if you dispute it, because they really don't want you to take it before a judge and make the officer appear. You have to be totally respectful/deferential, but something you might consider is that this is your neighborhood, you care about safety of the kids and adults in the area, you're a dedicated and responsible citizen, blah blah. They don't want an elaborate song & dance, but something that shows you are reasonable might not hurt.

You certainly can do a payment plan - they may suggest something but if it's not doable due to your income limitation, propose something else.

I don't know why bail would be involved. Find out.

Traffic school might make sense because of the insurance surcharges which will follow you for a long time.

If you want to get the fine lowered, you will have to appear in court. I would first check the court's website for information on what to do; failing that, then call the traffic division of the courthouse in the county you were cited, and ask them if you just show up for court on the date shown on the ticket, or if there is some other procedure for contesting a traffic matter. Then, just go to court and ask the judge to lower the fine and set up a payment plan. NOTE: most California courts stop answering their phones at around 2:00 so if you have to call, do it before that time. I'm pretty sure the website will be able to answer most/all of your questions.