speeding ticket information

What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

I was issued a speeding ticket in Grant County Wisconsin. I will be contacting the prosecutor to discuss a couple of things about the way the ticket was filled out that I have questions on:

1) the officer said he got me on radar doing 16 over the limit, but he wrote the ticket for 15 over.

2) The officer wrote the date my license expires in the date of birth box on the ticket - according to the ticket I have not yet been born.

Are both of these things enough to get a dismissal? If not, what are my chances of getting the ticket reduced? I'd be ok with paying the fine and not being assessed any points against my license.

hdfxd said:

1) the officer said he got me on radar doing 16 over the limit, but he wrote the ticket for 15 over.

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It could be that he cut you a break ... the difference between 15 and 16 could be afinancial one, or one that makes you ineligible for traffic school. Or, he just likes numbers that have a multiple of 5. It certainly isn't cause for dismissal of the citation.

2) The officer wrote the date my license expires in the date of birth box on the ticket - according to the ticket I have not yet been born.

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A clerical error is also not generally a cause for dismissal. If your license number is on the ticket, this can be cleared up quite easily. It is not an element of the offense though it could be an element of indentification. And with the correct license number, name, address, etc. this is also a moot point.

Are both of these things enough to get a dismissal? If not, what are my chances of getting the ticket reduced? I'd be ok with paying the fine and not being assessed any points against my license.

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Dismissal is not likely. And "reduced" ... to what? I'm not sure if this is negotiable in your state. In mine we cannot negotiate to remove points (at least not that I have heard of), though we CAN negotiate to reduce to a lesser offense.

Maybe the prosecutor can answer that for you.

- Carl

Thank you Carl. My objective is to get the points eliminated or at least reduced. The officer told me he gave me a break by reducing the mph he reported to save me about $30. It was still 4 points either way. I appreciate the fact he did this but I have heard that some judges feel they are the only ones who have the authority to reduce fines/points - not the officer. Lower/elimininating points is my main objective, not the fine. If I can achieve this by negotiating to a lesser offense, or by attending traffic school, or dismissal then that's ok with me. I do have an excellent driving record.

hdfxd said:

Thank you Carl. My objective is to get the points eliminated or at least reduced. The officer told me he gave me a break by reducing the mph he reported to save me about $30. It was still 4 points either way. I appreciate the fact he did this but I have heard that some judges feel they are the only ones who have the authority to reduce fines/points - not the officer. Lower/elimininating points is my main objective, not the fine. If I can achieve this by negotiating to a lesser offense, or by attending traffic school, or dismissal then that's ok with me. I do have an excellent driving record.

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Well, the judge does not usually have the option of charging higher than what is presented to him so he would be out of luck.

Not knowing how the point system works in WI I can't guess as to what is negotiable. In my state you would not get away with less than one point (most moving violations ARE only one point here, anyway) as the prosecution can only reduce the violation and not the points.

If I had to guess, I'd say that your only chance to avoid points would be to take traffic school.

- Carl

hdfxd said:

Thank you Carl. My objective is to get the points eliminated or at least reduced. The officer told me he gave me a break by reducing the mph he reported to save me about $30. It was still 4 points either way. I appreciate the fact he did this but I have heard that some judges feel they are the only ones who have the authority to reduce fines/points - not the officer. Lower/elimininating points is my main objective, not the fine. If I can achieve this by negotiating to a lesser offense, or by attending traffic school, or dismissal then that's ok with me. I do have an excellent driving record.

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Go to court and ask for Defective Speedometer. It's 2 points, and the best deal you're likely to get. They won't give you a zero point deal. They may counter offer a 3 point amendment to Failure to Obey Sign. Take it.

CdwJava said:

Well, the judge does not usually have the option of charging higher than what is presented to him so he would be out of luck.

Not knowing how the point system works in WI I can't guess as to what is negotiable. In my state you would not get away with less than one point (most moving violations ARE only one point here, anyway) as the prosecution can only reduce the violation and not the points.

If I had to guess, I'd say that your only chance to avoid points would be to take traffic school.

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There is no Traffic school as you understand it in Wisconsin.

That state assesses points for various violations. Accumulate 12 in a 12 month period, and your license is suspended for 60 days.

WI's is called "Point Reduction School". Taking the course removes 3 points from your record. The catch: you can only attend ONCE every 5 years. It's recommended that you save it until you're in danger of losing your license.

I'm not quite sure why our OP is overly concerned about obtaining the points on his license especially since he has a "clean" driving record.

Points are nothing more than the DOT's in-house administrative assessment in order to determine whether a person's driving behavior is classified as a habitual offender.

The previous post to this one is correct, and it takes 12 points in a 12 month period to have your license suspended. In reality, that is quite generous.

ptlmego,

thanks for your input. My concern over points has to do with insurance rates and such. It's my understanding that with a certain combination of unfortunate events, such as getting a speeding ticket and getting into an accident (even if no fault of my own) that my rates will go through the roof.

hdfxd said:

thanks for your input. My concern over points has to do with insurance rates and such. It's my understanding that with a certain combination of unfortunate events, such as getting a speeding ticket and getting into an accident (even if no fault of my own) that my rates will go through the roof.

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That depends greatly on the individual insurance company. Some will, others won't. It's definitely not a "raise it for sure" thing. Ask your agent. That's what he's there for.

That's why I recommended asking for Defective Speedometer. The insurance companies usually look at that as an equipment violation, not a moving citation.... unless you manage to rack up more than one or two.

Even if you accept the offer of a three point non-speeding violation, it's still better than a four point speeding ticket in the eyes of your insurance.

Would I need to prove the speedometer was defective?

hdfxd said:

Would I need to prove the speedometer was defective?

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No.... not unless they refuse to offer it. That violation is simply used as a convenient way to reduce a speeding ticket. They just amend the charge in court.

I see a lot of DS convictions coming out of Milwaukee County...they're usually pretty generous when it comes to that.

As for the insurance rates, one SI conviction on your record shouldn't jack them up. That's how it will be reported on your record as well, SI which stands for speeding intermediate. That means anything from 11-19 over, so, your insurance company, should they review your record, wouldn't know where it fell in that range anyway unless they decided to get a copy of the citation back or something strange like that.

I doubt your insurance company will even bother to check your record though unless you give them a reason to. My wife managed to add an SI entry to her record over a year ago and my insurance has actually gone DOWN. Figure that one out.