Traffic ticket - worth fighting?

[pixelville]

Wow, that type of insurance increase is way too high IMO. You might want to get quotes from other insurance companies.

We got a parking ticket last year for ~$70 (I think) for meter expiring! Parking was only something like $2/hour but 1-2 hour limit. The meter maid waited for the clock to expire, while we saw her from a distance walking back to our car. She did not even get a chance to place the ticket on the windshield and handed directly to us. She had all the info typed up and must have hit print as soon as it expired. She said too late since ticket was printed before we got to the car.
We saw the same thing being done to other cars later in the day.
Revenue source for the government basically.
And, it appears, for insurance companies too (for moving violations).

 

[PhrugalPhan]

We never had ticket quotas. We could write as many as we wanted.

Seriously, there was never any incentive, spoken or unspoken, to write chicken poop tickets to raise revenue where I worked. There were so many blatant violations no one needed to. It was really like shooting fish in a barrel. I knew of no agency that did have any such incentive. But I worked in the Washington D.C. area and anyone who has driven around there knows how easy it would be to write lots of tickets that deserved to be written.

That said it would be foolish to claim that it doesn't happen as the evidence is plentiful that it does. I'm just happy I never was in that position.

As I live in the DC area, I know they do it (quotas) here. I got a ticket at an intersection where two cars were waiting. The other one quickly headed back to the station (1 mile away), and after getting the ticket, the other officer did the same. Apparently they got the one ticket written they needed. That was ok, I work 3 miles from the courthouse and had vacation time to burn that year so I showed up and got the ticket dismissed. Only cost me 4 hours of vacation time and $6 for parking. (That said, Walt is right, they drive abysmally around here)

 

[Walt34]

As I live in the DC area, I know they do it (quotas) here. I got a ticket at an intersection where two cars were waiting. The other one quickly headed back to the station (1 mile away), and after getting the ticket, the other officer did the same. Apparently they got the one ticket written they needed. That was ok, I work 3 miles from the courthouse and had vacation time to burn that year so I showed up and got the ticket dismissed. Only cost me 4 hours of vacation time and $6 for parking. (That said, Walt is right, they drive abysmally around here)

It could be, but it would be a surprise to me, or perhaps things have changed. Another possibility is that the station received complaints from citizens about a specific location. Residential streets were constants sources of complaints. As one traffic officer put it "When you set up radar and all the moms come out bringing you chocolate chip cookies you know there's a problem".

Depending of one's perspective this is called:

A. Being responsive to the community.

B. Harassing innocent people while burglars and rapists run amok.

 

[seraphim]

I agree. Years ago I was ticketed for speeding. I pled not guilty and went to court on the assigned date. The courtroom was packed and it became clear my case was not going to be called until late in the evening. The police officer pulled me aside and said "At this rate I will never get home for dinner. How about we reduce the charge to a seat belt violation? You will pay a fine, but no points." I have heard of many other examples of this arbitrariness.



The fact that local courts/prosecutors are so agreeable to plea bargain a traffic ticket so far away from the original violation as long as a fine and other costs are paid shows that the system has become more about revenue generation for cash-strapped municipalities then it is about traffic safety. How can this not degrade people's respect for law enforcement and their government over time?

It's called, in the legal arena, "let's make a deal". Generally, it's worked by the prosecutor and defense attorney to save court time. It can also save the defendant attorney fees, offer lower fines, and potentially reduced jail time. Saves taxpayers money as well. You hear about people pleading to a lesser offense all the time. It's generally a win/win situation for everyone. Victims have to agree to the bargain, or it doesn't get done, and often the arresting officer as well. Also, a guilty plea makes civil compensation easier for a victim. The offenders admitting to the offense. I've never heard of a police officer negotiating a deal. Often the cop's making overtime to sit and wait - easy money. Some like the overtime money, others prefer time with family to overtime. It's a sensible arrangement.


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[kombat]

I think there was at least a 50-50 chance I could have won my case.

What are you basing that on?

One solution that is slowly gaining traction in North America is the adoption of in-car DVRs (video cameras). In cases like yours, if you truly were innocent, you could simply bring the video evidence to your case and it would have been quickly dismissed.

On the other hand, I suspect that the vast majority of those video cameras (and I have one in both of my own cars) will simply show video of the citizen clearly committing the act they're being accused of committing. But at least in those cases, you could neglect to mention that you had video evidence of the incident and hope to argue your way out of it in the absence of such evidence.

 

[springnr]

It's called, in the legal arena, "let's make a deal". Generally, it's worked by the prosecutor and defense attorney to save court time......
I've never heard of a police officer negotiating a deal. Often the cop's making overtime to sit and wait - easy money. Some like the overtime money, others prefer time with family to overtime. It's a sensible arrangement.

Hmmm, might well have been the officer's wedding anniversary, daughters school play, or whatever. Sounds like a good time to whip out the kindle and announce, well I'm retired and this is as good a place to read as any, hey you want to grab some coffee?