re: Going to court for a speeding ticket

Just curious. What kind of vehicle were you driving?

Got one in Quitman a month ago. I had the cruise set at 68 in a 65. He “clocked” me at 77. I tried explaining I was being passed by two vehicles when he “clocked” me but he didn’t care. Small towns are the worst. I called the following Monday and spoke to the mayor. When I asked about contesting it he laughed and said you can try! He reminded me they calibrate their radar guns daily which I said I’m sure you do. When asked if it’s possible the cop stopped the wrong vehicle he said maybe but good luck proving it. Needless to say I had to pay. Ridiculous.

More than likely you can plead guilty along with some article to get it moved to a non-moving violation. Do some research and keep it off your insurance...but yea your going to have to pay

Your best bet is to talk to the prosecutor and ask them to change it to a non-moving violation like a broken taillight or something similar.

You will still pay the fine - but your insurance won't be affected.

If you really don't want to pay the ticket - get a lawyer and go for it that way - but you'll probably pay more for the lawyer than for the ticket.

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Considering its the only ticket I've ever received and don't live in La anymore. Worked out for me quite nice.

Well outside the two tint tickets in Livonia hahah.

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Good point. Our judges here won't do an 894 in cases where the defendant is not put on probation (they assert that 894 requires probation).

Most places in Louisiana will take your money and keep the ticket off your record. There's a huge political furor over "D.A. diversions" (where the D.A. takes the ticket money and puts it in the DA's budget).

Was this in St. Gabriel? I did the same thing. He didn't even question me. I showed up to court and went up to the DA and said that I was a good, poor college kid who made a mistake and cannot afford the insurance increase. He changed it to a seatbelt violation and still made me pay $180 for the speeding ticket.

ETA: It was likely the Prosecuter that I spoke with at the court. I'm not sure.

BlueBoxer FTW

The date on your ticket is your arrangement. That’s when you go in and plead guilty or not guilty. If you plead not guilty and they will set another court date which will be a trial date then you have to go and plead your case and more than likely the cop will show up and show that you were speeding and you end up having to pay the ticket anyway

Just either give the ticket to a lawyer or go see the DA and get it reduced to a non moving violation

Occasionally you can beat a ticket (I have) if you can prove there's something wrong with the cop's case. Notice I said "prove". Claiming that you set the cruise control at 70 will be ignored since everyone lies in a courtroom.

In my case, I had a cop clock me doing 55 in a 35. I was able to prove the legal limit was actually 55 by doing this:

1. The cop claimed the limit was posted. I asked him where the sign was, and had county records on hand proving that he was lying. I took pictures as well showing there was no sign present.

2. Those pictures also showed the road I was on was a four lane divided highway. The prosecutor initially reacted to #1 by noting that by statute the law stated the limit was 35 if unposted. I responded by noting that same law said the limit was 55 if unposted on a four lane divided highway.

3. Having established that the limit was actually 55 and the cop had clocked me at that speed, the case was dropped.

That is how you get out of a ticket. Saying "but I thought my cruise control was set at 70" will be ignored, plus it's an admission you were speeding, just at a lower speed.

They will unlikely drop the ticket altogether, best case scenario would be to show up and hope that they require you to attend a defensive driving course in place of the fine.