Is it worth it to fight this ticket?

[brichard]

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

I actually reside in Massachusetts and was just making a trip up north.

Received a 80 in 65 ticket. Speed tracked with laser from 601ft. Even though everyone says it, I was going with the flow of traffic and I honestly cannot say how fast I was going and I spoke honestly to the officer. He took my politeness and reduced the speeding ticket by 5mph.

My problem is this, I received one ticket when I was 18. I am now turning 26 and have not received one since. Therefore, no points on my licence. I would like to just pay this ticket and get it over with, but there is no way I can afford the insurance hike.

So my questions:

1) Being that my last ticket was over 7 years ago, it is off my record, right?

2) If it is off my record, does that mean this next ticket will be considered a non-surchargeable first offense?

3) Is it worth it to fight it? If so, should I find a traffic attorney, or drive the two hours to court?


I don't mind paying the fine, honestly. I am more concerned with the points. I guess my other question would be, if I fought it, would I be out of line to go to court and speak to the opposing attorney and specifically request to have them drop the ticket and allow me to pay the fine without the points?


I appreciate any answer you could all give me.

Edit: I had removed my dash over a month ago and when putting it back together the speedometer no longer reads the correct speed. It is always 5-8 mph above the actual speed. Due to this I have been using my GPS to monitor my speed. Probably stupid on my part, I have no problem admitting that. Is that something worth bringing up in court, though?

 

[TheGeekess]

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

I actually reside in Massachusetts and was just making a trip up north.

Received a 80 in 65 ticket. Speed tracked with laser from 601ft. Even though everyone says it, I was going with the flow of traffic and I honestly cannot say how fast I was going and I spoke honestly to the officer. He took my politeness and reduced the speeding ticket by 5mph.

My problem is this, I received one ticket when I was 18. I am now turning 26 and have not received one since. Therefore, no points on my licence. I would like to just pay this ticket and get it over with, but there is no way I can afford the insurance hike.

So my questions:

1) Being that my last ticket was over 7 years ago, it is off my record, right?

2) If it is off my record, does that mean this next ticket will be considered a non-surchargeable first offense?

3) Is it worth it to fight it? If so, should I find a traffic attorney, or drive the two hours to court?


I don't mind paying the fine, honestly. I am more concerned with the points. I guess my other question would be, if I fought it, would I be out of line to go to court and speak to the opposing attorney and specifically request to have them drop the ticket and allow me to pay the fine without the points?


I appreciate any answer you could all give me.

Ask your insurance agent.

Pay the ticket. An attorney in the jurisdiction will cost you FAR more than a speeding ticket. And 'because everyone else is doing it' is not an excuse for anything.

 

[Zigner]

Edit: I had removed my dash over a month ago and when putting it back together the speedometer no longer reads the correct speed. It is always 5-8 mph above the actual speed. Due to this I have been using my GPS to monitor my speed. Probably stupid on my part, I have no problem admitting that. Is that something worth bringing up in court, though?

You were cited for 80, you admit to 85 - but you want to argue that you THOUGHT you were going 90-93? Really?

 

[Cali408nia]

You really need to be asking your insurance these questions. Although Mass has insurance rates and surchargeable offenses regulated by the government, your insurance company knows best. Especially since this is an out of state offense, things may not be so black and white. Don't be afraid, they aren't going to do anything to your insurance rate for merely calling and asking what the possible outcome will be.

It's funny how you can afford the ticket but no way can you afford the insurance hike. You don't know all of the particulars yet, hard to come to that conclusion until you call your agent.

1) Being that my last ticket was over 7 years ago, it is off my record, right?

If that was your only ticket, then it sounds like it. Although the RMV probably still has it in their database, the points would be non-existent. A good idea would be to get a drivers record printout from them. Usually costs $5-10 in my state. The question is, was that last ticket a surchargeable offense or a non-surchargeable offense? It looks like there are no points associated with a first time minor offense, so there may have been no points to begin with, especially if you never had your insurance rates go up.

2) If it is off my record, does that mean this next ticket will be considered a non-surchargeable first offense?

See above. Just because the points are expired or there never was any because of a free pass, doesn't mean the RMV has deleted it from your file. If they did delete the event from your record after a certain amount of years, it would be possible to get more than 1 free pass, which is not how their policy is worded. I only find information about points being removed from your record, not events.

3) Is it worth it to fight it? If so, should I find a traffic attorney, or drive the two hours to court?

I don't see it being worth it to get an attorney. You could try to fight the ticket but it costs more than just 2 hours 1 way. You will need to make several trips. Oh yeah, you also need a legal argument against the ticket, which you don't have. Admitting that you knew your speedometer is inaccurate doesn't help you. But even that is irrelevant since you have no idea how fast you actually were going.

would I be out of line to go to court and speak to the opposing attorney and specifically request to have them drop the ticket and allow me to pay the fine without the points?

The points and surchargeable events system is regulated by the government of Mass. You are, I presume, going to be in NH court for the ticket. NH has no control whether MA finds out and whether MA decides to impose their rules on your record.

 

[Zigner]

OP, per his own admission, had indications of traveling in excess of 90mph

 

[brichard]

I am not admitting to anything. I was not looking at my speed at the time. There was a considerable traffic flow and I was going with the traffic. If I had seen I was going above 80, I would have slowed down. I am not an aggressive driver, as evident by 7 years without a ticket. I just don't see a need to attack me, I am ill informed about this kind of stuff and I was merely reaching out to people who actually know.

thegeekess - I know it's not an excuse, that's why I said I know everyone says it! haha

Zigner - I didn't think I was going any speed, I wasn't paying attention to speed, which is admittedly my fault, yes.

cali408nia - Thank you for the in-depth answer. I did not mean that I can just afford to throw away the ticket price. I mean that the insurance hike would likely be the biggest obstacle to overcome. From my very limited knowledge I gained from a little bit of research, I think the surcharge (assuming there will be one) would be about $500 a year. In the long run it's not a lot, per say, but it adds up. I'd rather put in a little extra effort, pay the $155 ticket, and not worry about the surcharge, especially since it would ruin my otherwise great driving record.

 

[Cali408nia]

brichard:
I highly advise you to contact a traffic attorney, your insurance, or do more research (or a combination) about whether your ticket in NH will actually translate to any points in MA.

There are databases that are designed specifically for exchanging traffic infraction information between states so that out of state violations are notified to the home state. These databases are the DLC (Driver License Compact), NRVC (Non-Resident Violators Compact), and the DLA (Driver License Agreement).

In order for infractions to be passed to each state, both states have to participate in the agreement. Mass does not participate in the DLC but NH does. Mass participates in the DLA but NH doesn't. Both states participate in the NRVC but it doesn't seem clear that the NRVC actually reports infractions. They seem to concentrate more on unpaid out of state tickets. Read this article for a complete overview http://autos.aol.com/article/out-of-state-speeding-ticket/. Then get on Wikipedia and check out those 3 databases to get more info.

It is unlikely that you will be able to convince the NH court to not report the infraction to whatever agreements they participate in. They don't just change the rules because it's inconvenient to you. But, a traffic attorney would know best, so a consultation may be worth it. A NH traffic attorney may have the best advice about whether or not you have a case in NH (you don't) or whether the court can be persuaded not to report your infraction. A MA traffic attorney would have the best answer about whether MA and NH communicate these infractions between each other if your insurance doesn't. It's definitely worth looking into.

edit: and then again, we've got the RMV drivers manual which says most out of state tickets get treated as if they were in state, pg 46 http://www.mass.gov/rmv/dmanual/chapter2.pdf. A clear black and white answer is not too easy to find without more effort.

 

[startedone]

An what would this "insurance hike" be? I doubt the OP knows .. he'll pay

 

[brichard]

startedone: You can leave your sarcasm at the door. I never said I would not pay the insurance hike. I have the money, I just can't necessarily easily afford it. I estimated the increase based on the percentage which your premiums rise with each point.

Cali408nia: I never expected them to change any rules for me, I had simply read something online about NH being one of the states would would allow you to substitute a 'defensive driving course' or something similar in exchange for not having points on your licence. More accurately, it may actually be that they add the points and then you can remove them with the course. That is what I meant. Also, I did not expect you to do any crazy research for me; I do, however, appreciate it. I looked into it a bit but figured I would ask people who might know rather than having to cipher through the random crap you find on the web these days. Thank you for your honest answers.

 

[startedone]

startedone: You can leave your sarcasm at the door. I never said I would not pay the insurance hike. I have the money, I just can't necessarily easily afford it. I estimated the increase based on the percentage which your premiums rise with each point.

Cali408nia: I never expected them to change any rules for me, I had simply read something online about NH being one of the states would would allow you to substitute a 'defensive driving course' or something similar in exchange for not having points on your licence. More accurately, it may actually be that they add the points and then you can remove them with the course. That is what I meant. Also, I did not expect you to do any crazy research for me; I do, however, appreciate it. I looked into it a bit but figured I would ask people who might know rather than having to cipher through the random crap you find on the web these days. Thank you for your honest answers.

Let me rephrase:

1) you do not know if this will affect your Ins rates -- have you called your agent? I don't think so or you would have written the $$$ increase .. it may not affect your rates at all

2) you'll pay the ticket (one way or another from what you indicated)

Not sarcasm ... just short prose