Why can't you fight a ticket in Georgia?

What is the name of your state? Georgia *My home state is Illinois and I was heading back to school in Florida.

It seems that every lawyer I've called keeps telling me they don't deal with speeding tickets and every single person I've called and tried to get information from seems to be very rude and they don't know much more than I do about it.

I got a ticket for 90 in a 70 in southern Georgia on Jan 3rd at 1am. I'm sure I was speeding some but there's no way I was doing 90+ because I saw some headlights coming up behind me and I had already slowed down some from the 85mph I was doing and I was going to move into the right lane. My guess is I was probably doing 80. The thing is, I wasn't using cruise control, the cop was in a SUV that was coming up behind me, my radar detector beeped for only a second with a very weak signal, and he wrote a couple wrong things on the ticket.

I wasn't sure if radar detectors were legal in Georgia so I knocked it under the seat just in case. He didn't use laser, he used radar. Now if he had really got me somehow while he was in the lane next to me coming up from behind then even in that situation the radar would read full strength.

He wrote on the ticket that it was medium traffic and it was 1am Sunday night, do you really think the traffic was medium? No, there weren't any cars within at least a half mile radius of me. He also said he clocked me at 95 but would knock it down to 90 to 'do me a favor'. He would be doing me a favor by giving me a warning since the conditions obviously weren't optimal in this situation. I'm pretty sure it was kind of foggy at the time too but he wrote down 'clear'.

The killer thing is that they want to charge me $327 for the ticket! That is insane. It seems like they make up prices depending on how much money they need because the only way to find out the price is by calling the number on the back. Of course if it was 1mph less and it fell into the other category then it would probably be normal price but no one will give me any information on how much other tickets cost and just general information about Georgia's traffic system.

I have called so many lawyers and people in Georgia and they have been the most rude and uninformed people I have every talked to. I'm about ready to send off the money order because the court date is Feb 7th and I have school full time and don't have time for this anymore. It sickens me to know they can slap whatever fines on you and whatever the cop says goes because it will cost a minimum of $400 for a lawyer to even do anything with a speeding ticket. I was hoping to take traffic school online to stop it from affecting my insurance but apparently no one knows anything about that either.

Well, I've typed a bit more than I wanted to but if anyone has any information on it or had a similar experience, please let me know.

Thanks.
-Andrew-

What evidence do you have that you were not speeding?

Once you cross the border into Georgia it seems like you have stepped into the Twilight Zone! The same thing happened to me the other night in good old Georgia! You got off easy with your fine and I'll bet you will probally get 2 or 3 points put on your licenes also . You need to call and check to see if there is any points on top of the fine.

Good Luck

militarybrats

Well I'm not sure what evidence I have other than my word that he was gaining on me the whole time so I'm not sure how he would get an accurate reading like that. If I lived near the area I would go up and take pictures and make measurements of where he said he got me and how fast I was going but it's a 4-5 hour drive up there.

Yes it is 2 points on my license according to Georgia but there isn't a points system in Illinois so I'm not sure what will happen. I finally got through to someone at the Georgia DMV to ask about a defensive driving course or something and she told me that more than likely I would have to set that up in Illinois since the info is sent there.

I figured it would have to be all taken care of in the state you got it and then whatever the outcome was it would be sent back to your home state.

I really wish I had my video camera on at that point in time since it was in the seat next to me and I was recording stuff earlier. If only....

I just can't believe how much their tickets are! I payed one of my tickets and the lawyers fees 2 years ago for less than the cost of this one ticket in GA. One of the secretarys at a lawyers office in GA told me she says it's usually half the price of mine. If he put down 1mph less then I would probably only have a $150 or less ticket. That must be how they afford such nicely paved roads all over their state.

Oh well, I will have to call back home tomorrow and get ahold of a drivers school there maybe. I just hope 1.5weeks will be enough time for the money order to make it there and i dont get in trouble for missing the date.

When I called to see how much my ticket was going to be I was told that if I was just going to pay the fine that the money had to be in the week before the court date. Hope that helps.

militarybrats

Yeah I just got a money order today and I guess I'll have to send it out tomorrow since I haven't been able to contact anyone back home that knows if I can take traffic school through Illinois or not. Apparently my bank has decided to start charging $5 for money orders now too, it's like there's always negative money in my wallet

Anyways, I kind of figured this would be the outcome so thanks for the info guys. It's been either 2 or 3 years since I've had a ticket so hopefully it will get lost along the way and my insurance won't notice. It probably won't happen but you never know. Next time through Georgia I will set the cruise at 69mph and keep my camera hooked up to my laptop to take a picture every couple seconds so I have proof. I should've been more alert I guess since both my neighbors had gotten tickets through there in the last year.

It's so weird getting used to 3 different types of driving everytime I head back home for a while.
Florida = free-for-all because cops are too busy taking care of the tons of accidents to have time to write speeding tickets or give tickets to the 4 people that go through every light after it turns red.
Georgia = too many tickets being issued for revenue as opposed to actual laws being broken
Illinois = "Stay within 4mph of the limit because we're following you since your car has tinted windows and we will get you when you slip up."
Every other state on the way = Normal/at least normal on the highways


Take care.
-Andrew-

"...Yeah I just got a money order today and I guess I'll have to send it out tomorrow since I haven't been able to contact anyone back home that knows if I can take traffic school through Illinois or not. Apparently my bank has decided to start charging $5 for money orders now too, it's like there's always negative money in my wallet..."

Now, a word to the wise:

Make a photocopy of every scrap of paper you send: envelope, money order, ticket, etc.

Send it certified mail return receipt requested.

After two business days, call to see if they got it.

Call every day until they tell you they have it. (Be exceptionally polite and understanding: you are dealing with bureaucrats.)

I found that extremely strange, as the GA CODE states the maximum fine for 19-24mph over is $150, unless it's somewhere else in the book :gotme:

GA CODE 40-6-1 said:

(b) Unless a different maximum fine or greater minimum fine is specifically provided in this chapter for a particular violation, the maximum fine which may be imposed as punishment for a first offense of violating any lawful speed limit established by or pursuant to the provisions of Article 9 of this chapter by exceeding a maximum lawful speed limit:
(5) By 19 or more but less than 24 miles per hour shall not exceed $150.00; or

Click to expand...

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=40-6-1

Oh man, why didn't I check this forum before noon today... I just sent it I thought it was ridiculous too but it would've cost me more money and hassle to fight it probably. I wonder if I can still do anything about it :-/ Probably not but maybe I can if I find out more information really fast and call the courthouse.

Maybe that rule only applies to GA citizens or something?

Thanks for the info, I'm kicking myself right now though because I hate to admit to and pay some overpriced ticket that was given off of unclear observations by the officer.

You must also keep in mind in that description sentence that it states these are the maximum fines unless noted elsewhere in the ga code

That can't be true!

I found that extremely strange, as the GA CODE states the maximum fine for 19-24mph over is $150, unless it's somewhere else in the book :gotme:

Click to expand...

That can't be true; I got a speeding ticket for 19MPH over and it was $202.50!!!

Court costs and fees are additional.

There shouldn't be any court costs since I don't have to go.

It says, "...unless specified in this chapter" so I searched the whole chapter (40-6) for 'fine' and 'maximum fine' and I couldn't find anything stating a higher fine unless someone was drunk or without liability insurance. :-/

Alka1ine said:

There shouldn't be any court costs since I don't have to go.

It says, "...unless specified in this chapter" so I searched the whole chapter (40-6) for 'fine' and 'maximum fine' and I couldn't find anything stating a higher fine unless someone was drunk or without liability insurance. :-/

Click to expand...

There are still costs associated with the ticket whether you show up or not.

My final guess for this is that he saw my ticket I had gotten over 4 years ago and decided to increase the price based on that. It doesn't specifically say in that rule that the first offense has to be in GA so maybe that counted against me. There's no way court costs are worth more than double the cost of the ticket so I don't really know any other explanation for it. It says it shouldn't exceed $150 unless noted in that chapter and it was only noted for DUIs and criminal offenses and stuff like that.

I don't have time to deal with it or anything so it has been put behind me now and I will just have to grab my ankles and succomb to the massive fine and insurance increase. Hopefully when I turn 22 this year I might get even more of an insurance discount or something :-/

Yet again I am left with a bitter view towards America's law enforcement. Sometimes I wish I could do a citizens arrest on police officers in Florida for some of the stupid things they do while driving on the streets here...

Anyways, thanks for the help everyone.