1180D for Ontario driver in Dunkirk, NY

[navkay]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ticket in NY, Ontario resident.


Ontario driver got speeding ticket in Dunkirk, New York
Hi all,

I got a speeding ticket on 25th Dec 2009 on I-90 near Town of Dunkirk for doing 90 mph in 65 mph zone.

I am an Ontario resident with driving license from there driving an Ontario plated car.

The section quoted on the ticket is 1180D. They gave a court appearance date of 25-Jan-2010 or mail a guilty plea and then the court will tell what the fine would be. I callED them to ask what the fine is AND she did not have the ticket yet in the system, but said an estimated fine is $300 plus $95 surcharge. In NYS this type of offense gets you 6 demerit points.

In Ontario a similar offense get's one 4 demerit points.

Can anyone give me a suggestion on what to put in Section A - Plea of Guilty under "Additionally, I make the following statement of explanation", so that this not show up my Ontario record and I have to pay the least amount of fine.

I have been licensed in US first in 1998 and then moved to Canada. So in the last 11 years of driving, I have never got any type of ticket. I was thinking of writing that and maybe mention that I had a 4 year old with me who had just woke up (it was 9:30am, we started driving from Toronto at 6am while he was still sleeping) and needed to go to rest room right away.

Other thoughts that come to mind was that a freezing rain was forecast in that area, so I was trying to get out of the area quickly, as we had to drive all the way down to Bethesda, Maryland.

Any advice you guys can give will be appreciated. I am really frustrated that I got this ticket, when it was all good for 11 years of driving.

 

[FlyingRon]

There's no excuse for doing 90.
I can't envision anything that you could write that would be mitigating. Your excuse of the weather is particularly lame.

 

[HighwayMan]

There is no good excuse.

If you are not willing to appear in court in person, or by attorney, to attempt a plea deal just mail it back in. Makes no difference whether you plea "guilty" or "guilty with an explanation".

 

[navkay]

There is no good excuse.

If you are not willing to appear in court in person, or by attorney, to attempt a plea deal just mail it back in. Makes no difference whether you plea "guilty" or "guilty with an explanation".

Thanks HighwayMan for the reply. If it makes no difference, I am atleast thinking of writing that this is my first ticket in 11 years of driving, so request some leniency in fine amount and demerit points and see what happens.

My honest reason for going at that speed was that the road conditions at that point were good and a freezing rain was going to come into that area shortly, so I wanted to drive faster to get out of that area.

It's not like other cars were not speeding, it's just that I was the first one for him to point his laser gun at.