First speeding ticket (insurance, how much, lawyer)

[metuchenrahway]

My friend recently got a speeding tkt for doing 45 in a 25 zone. Since this is his 1st tkt ever (in his last 7 yrs of driving history), will it do him any good if he goes to the court (alone), rather than just pay it online ?
What do you guys and gals suggest ?

Thanks.

[pbergen]

you should never blindly pay for a moving violation without first trying to find some sort of resolution that will allow you to avoid DMV points and insurance points. one of the best ways to do this is to go to court and ask for a plea bargain.

so the first thing you should do is to tell your friend to call the court, plead not guilty, and set up a court date.

on the day of the court appearance, he should make sure to speak with the prosecutor prior to facing the judge. this is standard procedure in most nj towns, which usually have no problem offering plea bargains so that the motorist's infraction is downgraded to a non-moving violation that does not carry DMV points or insurance points. this is because the judge and prosecutor don't care about a motorist's points; they just want to make money for the town coffers.

in exchange for accepting the deal, your friend will have to pay a higher fee than he would have for the original violation. it's worth it in the long run, though, since he won't have to worry about increased insurance rates from the points that would've been added to his record.

one final note:
i believe there is a limited number of times that you can take advantage of the plea bargain option in nj. if a motorist repeatedly gets ticketed for various driving infractions, at some point his insurance rates are going to rise, no matter what. at that point, the only other option (as far as i know) would be to take some defensive driving courses to get a few points knocked off of the driving record.

[captne76]

On tickets like this, if you go to court they will always offer your choice of either reducing the speed, which brings down the points and fine or else the other very popular special on the prosecutors's menu is this deal where they change it to Unsafe Driving, zero points, but that will cost you about $475 and you can only do it twice and it still shows up on your insurance driving record anyway.

With either of these they do not have to bother calling the cop into court, you wrk this out with the prosecutor in some little office then you just go back inside the courtroom, judge calls you up and makes it official.

If you just pay it without going to court you will be paying the fine and points on the full speed without any reductions.

You might get it knocked down to the lowest speed bracket then go online and take a course for $50 which knocks 2 points off and you should be back at zero.

If you're a local cop, fireman, your uncle is the prosecutor or something like that, they can change it to Obstructing Traffic, no points and about $75 to $90 and you're outathere.

Just paying it will not get you any of the "discount specials".
One court I went to the prosecutor basically would just about greet everyone with "I can make that no points for you".

[RedJacket]

I live in WI, but I image its pretty much the same in NJ. I got a speeding ticket about six months ago for doing 72 in a 55. I called the DA's office and made any appt to make a deal. However, instead of going to his office, I phoned in and made the deal. The woman I spoke with gave me the deal the DA had offered. His best deal. It did safe me some points. I then called the Clerk of Courts office and set up six monthly payments instead of having to come up with all of the $185.00 at one time.

[captne76]

Sounds like they are being efficient. If NJ tried that there probably would be lots of court officials going to trial for cashing the money in their accounts, lol.
"How much do you have?"
$xxx
"How soon can you send it in?"

[rscalzo]

Everything has to be done on the record in NJ. While you can speak with the Prosecutor beforehand, the actual case must be read into the record. Whatever deal he makes must be acceptable to the judge and is usually run by the issuing officer. In the vast majority of the cases, they wouldn't care.

This section in Title 17:33B seems to be little known:

<A name={66AD}>1. a. In calculating a <A name=FolioHit1>surcharge or other differential in rates based on motor vehicle penalty <A name=FolioHit2>points promulgated by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1982, c.43 (C.39:5-30.5), including any <A name=FolioHit3>surcharge or differential based on the schedule of automobile <A name=FolioHit4>insurance eligibility <A name=FolioHit5>points promulgated by the Commissioner of <A name=FolioHit6>Insurance pursuant to section 26 of P.L.1990, c.8 (C.17:33B-14), an insurer shall not consider any <A name=FolioHit7>points assessed for a violation of any lawful <A name=FolioHit8>speed limitation where the violator exceeded the <A name=FolioHit9>speed limitation by less than 15 miles per hour, except that, the insurer may consider any such violations, in excess of one violation, of which the insured has been convicted in the three-year period immediately preceding the issuance or renewal of the policy. This section shall only apply to violations that occur on or after the effective date of this act, but shall in no case apply to a violation of subsection a. of R.S.39:4-98.

b. As used in this section, "insurer" means and includes an insurer writing private passenger automobile <A name=FolioHit10>insurance in the voluntary market and any <A name=FolioHit11>insurance plan established to provide private passenger automobile <A name=FolioHit12>insurance pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1970, c.215 (C.17:29D-1).

While these no point deals seem good on the outset, they only eliminate the state points. Insurance companies can and do assess points for those Careless Operation deals. Lawyers don't want that known as it's a easy buck for them. A reduction to 39 in a 25 is the best bet. Or have them take a chance and plead NG and have a viable defense.

[metuchenrahway]

Thanks for the replies. I've conveyed the gist to my friend.
I had told her earlier that she might need a lawyer to go to court, but is that necessary ? Reading on the board, it seems that she can go on her own..is that okay ?

Also, the tkt mentions the date/time of the court appearance, but the box which says "court appearance required" is not checked!

[captne76]

The stuff about court appearance not required is normal. That means you can pay it without going to court but you won't get any breaks that way.

I think its only for certain more serious categories, maybe accidents with injuries or such where they check that you have to go in.

There are lots of lawyers who will be glad to rep you and you will probably get 5 to 10 offers in the mail, they get your info from the courts or some state mailing list. This is a run if the mill speeding / traffic ticket so the lawyer will probably not do anything better than you can do yourself.

I once told a prosecutor I wasn't speeding or even moving at all, told him I was sitting still in one place while the Earth was spinning underneath my car at 90 something. He laughed but still wanted the "donation". Did knock it down to 9mph over which is what they usually do.

Oh and the court date on the ticket usually gets changed, You have to call them at least 3 days before to tell them you're pleading not guilty, then they mail you what the real court date is. Gives you more time to make sure you have the $ anyway.

[captne76]

Here's the NJ official point sched from the DMV:

State of New Jersey - Motor Vehicle Commission

Looking at 39:4-98 you or she would be in for 4 points if you just leave it as is.

If you knock it down one category, 1-14 mph over, it's 2 points.
That is one of the standard offers.

Then if you click on here, is a list of Defensive Driving courses:

State of New Jersey - Motor Vehicle Commission

You can take one of those in person or online on your PC, I think they're about $50 and the 2 points come off, back to zero.

It's your or her choice but that's maybe what I would do.

The only thing better you could do is a
39:4-67 Obstructing passage of other vehicles or street cars prohibited; clearance of intersections. 0 points, but they do not hand those out unless they really have a good reason to or unless you know somebody, etc.
For instance you might walk in late, I should say happen to walk in late, find the pro, advise him you already had 2 of the Unsafe Driving deals before, ask him for the 39:-4-67 or else you want a trial, they might want to go home and not wait for the cop to show up in court, etc. What I mean is it's rare to get those but sometimes you get lucky.

[captne76]

BTW, yes I've been "gifted" with a few of those 39:4-67's, one time I was on a first name basis with the pros, the other time I just happened to be working late, the court was ready to close, I asked the pros, he said he didn't think the judge would go for it, the judge seemed ready to go home and didn't want to wait for a cop to show up and banged that ole hammer down, good bye. But don't expect that going in, they usually don't give those out like ketchup with fries.