Speeding Ticket and ticketing officer's advice

[lcerura]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

Hello, I'd gotten my very first moving violation driving along West Nyack, NY on a desolate road (yup, it's always desolate). Posted sign was for 35 and I was doing 53 according to the officer. According to him the 53 was from the radar detector he was using.

Well, the fella was really really nice and actually suggested to me that I plead not guilty if my record was clean so's to hopefully have the charge reduced for the sake of points and such. All as he mentioned dependent upon the judge. I asked how that would work out and he was even more pleasant and forthcoming in trying to explain things to me. In other words, the officer was pretty cool.

So, is it basically cut and dry? I mean, I pleaded not guilty and have a date coming right up. Do I just show up and ask the judge if the charge can be reduced and I'll pay the fine whatever the fine might be?

Mind you, I will be returning to the road soon to see what I can figure out from the signage and if there really was enough evident warning of what the speed limit was, BUT, I'd be happy with just paying the fine, that is, if the judge would reduce the charge. 'and yes, my record is clean.

Any suggestions? Is it just like that? Simply show up and plead for the judge to reduce the charge? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[rcdestroyer]

A:

Its been my experience (and all of these courts are different) that you'll have an oppurtinity to plea down the speeding ticket in order to reduce the fine, and avoid points on your license. 18 mph would put 4 points on your license.

 

[lcerura]

Thanks for the input rcdestroyer. Guess I've got a little bit of the jitters since it's my first time ever with anything like this.

Thinking of simply explaining how I wasn't aware of what speed I was doing since it'd been maybe 30 secs or so since I last checked and how with the road's incline the car automatically sped up a bit and I felt comfortably safe with the lack of traffic in that area. Then ask for leniency considering my perfect driving record.

I can only hope that the officer remembers how nicely we got along and his own advice to me that day.