According to autoinsurance.org,
U.S. vehicle drivers attract 34 million speeding tickets every year, generating
about $5.1 billion in revenue to the exchequer. While being ticketed for speeding
itself is galling, what should irk you more are the associated other hardships.
For one, there is the trouble of paying the fine or fighting it in court and
for the other, an increase in your auto insurance premium. For repeat offenses,
there is the threat of losing your license.
Therefore, be prompt in attending to a speeding ticket and
minimize its effect on you as far as possible. Here’s what you can and can’t do
when you receive a speeding ticket.
Take action
The first thing you must do is consider these three possible
actions:
- Pay the fine
- Fight the ticket in court
- Mitigation
Each of these actions has ramifications and these are:
Pay the fine
If you know that you have overstepped the speed limit and
you don’t have sufficient defense to fight in court, then the best course of
action is to pay the fine and face the consequences. The consequences are the cash
outflow to the extent of the fine and
negative points on your license, which will most likely cause your auto
insurance to go up by a substantial amount. Unfortunately, each
state has its own fine mechanisms and some could be quite steep. If
you take this option, ensure you pay the fine well before the pay-by-date.
Fight the ticket in
court
Sometimes, it is possible that the speeding ticket has been
issued to you wrongly, because of a mechanical/electronic fault in the speed
gun, or the ineptitude of the officer who gave you the ticket, or the absence
of a speed limit sign. According to Jonathan Rosenfeld, in
such cases, if you can prove your averments to the judge, there is a good
chance you can be exonerated, and no black mark will appear on your license.
You can also fight your own case without hiring a lawyer. If the fine is too
high perhaps you could consider hiring a lawyer.
Mitigation
Seeking a reduction for a fine, or mitigation, is a good
option when you have a good driving history, without a blemish, and the
speeding ticket is your first one, or the fine is abnormally high (as it is in
some states). In such cases, the judge can reduce the fine, or give you more
time to pay the fine, or order you to attend a defensive driving course. Remember
though, if you go in for mitigation, you are accepting the speeding
charge.
Other possibilities
In some states, you could pay the fine and get your ticket
dismissed after a cooling-off period, provided there are no further offenses.
What you can’t do
Not taking action on the speeding ticket is a definite no.
If you think the speeding ticket will speed away into oblivion, you are sadly
mistaken. It will come back to bite you with stronger incisors. There are some
states which could arrest you for not taking action on the speeding ticket.
So, watch out and see that you immediately take one of the
actions mentioned above. You would be the best judge. Consider your options
carefully and recall the circumstances under which you exceeded the speed limit.
If you have a fair chance of convincing the judge, you could take the option of
mitigation. Of course, not taking action is not an option at all. Be careful,
it’ll get compounded.