Atlanta Speeding Ticket (Savannah, Brunswick: insurance, lawyer, DMV) - Georgia (GA) - City-Data Forum

Vcize · 07-20-2011, 07:35 AM

So I'm not normally much of a speeder, but I did get myself into a mess this time.

I was making the trip down from Chattanooga to Florida, cruising along on the highway at 80. I was kind of zoning out listening to an audio book, and didn't realize that the speed limit had dropped to 55, and I got nailed for doing 80 in a 55 which is a massive $728 ticket plus I'm sure some really jacked up insurance rates.

It's not that I don't know it changes to 55 in Atlanta (I've driven through there plenty of times before), there was just no real traffic on the road (it was a Sunday at 11am) and I wasn't paying attention. My fault, and I'm not disputing that I deserved a ticket for it and I understand that it's my responsibility to pay attention to the changes in speed limit, but $700 plus thousands in insurance rates seems pretty hefty for an honest mistake that wasn't really endangering anyone (road was empty, and the people that were on it were all crusing at 70-80 as well).

So what are my options? I have a good record (only other speeding ticket in my life was 7 or 8 years ago, but it was in Georgia too), and I called a traffic lawyer and they said there was a 75% chance that they could get it knocked down to 14mph over, though my fees would actually end up being higher than the $728 in exchange for saving the insurance hike.

If I go to court myself and plead guilty what are the chances they knock it down that far? How does it all work? Do I just say "guilty" or do I get a chance to tell my story?

Also, what exactly does pleading "no contest" mean? Would that prevent the insurance hikes. I don't really care about the points because I'm not planning on accumulating more of them, but I'm mainly concerned about the insurance rates. 25mph over usually implies some really aggressive speeding and swerving in and out of traffic but this was pretty tame, I was going maybe 3mph faster than the few other cars on the road.

The device he hit me with was a lidar.

yankeegirl73 · 07-20-2011, 07:38 AM

You have 11 posts on here, and this is the second one for a speeding ticket. And it's pretty much common sense that you don't do 80 in a major metropolitan area. You do, you're taking a risk. Perhaps you should slow down or pay more attention to what you're doing.

Vcize · 07-20-2011, 08:06 AM

Oh man I had totally forgotten about that little $40 camera ticket for going 10 over at the bottom of a giant hill in a well-known speed trap in Chattanooga when I was new to the area. That thing sends out like 3 dozen tickets a day, heh.

Your post wasn't really helpful. I already admitted that I was not paying enough attention to the speed limit change. It didn't help that I was in a new 2011 Altima that we had just bought either (in which 80 feels like 45 did in our old low to the ground Eclipse).

It's not like I was in downtown Atlanta, this was in the outskirts of town where the speed limit changes because there's usually heavy traffic there, but this was off hours so it looked just like the rest of the highway.

I'm all for taking your lumps and moving on, but $700+ fines and thousands in insurance rates are usually reserved for the folks swerving in and out of traffic and endangering lives. I was doing neither, there wasn't a car on that road doing less than 70.

Heck, I've driven through Atlanta enough to know that if you're doing 55 in the HoV lane in light traffic that's a lot more dangerous than doing 70-80 lest someone run right over you.

RocNY · 07-20-2011, 08:37 AM

Lawyer up

ecuresident · 07-20-2011, 08:40 AM

Hey Yankee girl if you have nothing productive to add, how about not posting at all? TOns of people drive 80 on 75 and 85 all day long. I would go to court, a lot of times the cop doesnt show up and if he does plead no lo. I am not 100% sure how it works, but on North Carolina I think you can plead it once every 5 years, and the ticket drops off if you dont get another ticket for 3 years. Hopefully someone can chime in with a little more info or try the archives.

onemanarmy · 07-20-2011, 08:48 AM

Ok, I've been in a similar incident. I was doing 84-55. Go to COURT, ask the solicitor if you can reschedule and you will take a Defensive drivers class in the interim. Ask them to lower your ticket to 65(stretch) or 70(likely). The class is around $100.00, the difference in ticket is around 300.00. Then plead nolo, so you won't have an insurance problem. Now remember this requires 2 court dates, and a defensive driving class, so if you are employed it might be cheaper to pay the original fine and just plead Nolo.

rcsteiner · 07-20-2011, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yankeegirl73

You have 11 posts on here, and this is the second one for a speeding ticket. And it's pretty much common sense that you don't do 80 in a major metropolitan area. You do, you're taking a risk. Perhaps you should slow down or pay more attention to what you're doing.

FWIW, 80mph seems to be very commonly met or exceeded on the west side of town going between I-75 and I-20 on I-285. I try to go 70 or 75 on that stretch so as not to be too much of an obstacle, but people were blowing by me yesterday evening like you wouldn't believe...

fearnofish · 07-20-2011, 05:22 PM

Believe me about everyone we stop says 'they never speed' or 'i was putting anyone at danger'. It pretty much sounds like you are going to have to deal with the consequences of your driving. The judge may lower the fine if he sees fit.
Pleading no contest basically means you are not admitting guilt but realize there is a enough evidence to find you guilty.

son-house · 07-20-2011, 06:21 PM

It's my understanding that GA does not conduct "mandatory reporting" of moving violations to insurance companies, therefore your insurance company may not ever learn of the infraction.

Typically they'd only learn of such points-related infractions when doing a search on a _new_ customer, or if you should happen to file a claim for which they might need more specific driving history.

Good luck. Slow down.

crazynip · 07-20-2011, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by son-house

It's my understanding that GA does not conduct "mandatory reporting" of moving violations to insurance companies, therefore your insurance company may not ever learn of the infraction.

This is correct, I got a 75 in a 55 (this was before the super-speeder law), 4 or so years ago, and while I had to pay the huge ticket, Georgia is one of the few states that does not report infractions to out of state DMV's or insurance companies.

The ticket was complete bull****. I was speeding, but I was on US 17 inbetween Savannah and Brunswick, which is a 2 lane straight as an arrow road and you can literally drive 20 miles without passing a single car, but it's a stupid ass 55 mph. Had the cruise control set and got hit by some pig (GSP) at 7am on a Sunday morning sitting in the weeds eating his donuts and drinking coffee.