Thursday, May 15, 2008

I got a ticket!

On Monday morning I was very excited to sleep in an extra hour and go into work a hour later since I had to stay at work an hour later in order to meet my mom at Southcenter at 4:30pm. That excitement was crushed when I was pulled over by Fife Police. He wrote me a ticket ($189!) for speeding in a school zone. Since I don't ever drive to work that late in the morning, I had no idea that the school zone was in affect.

Here's my question: Should I take it to traffic court and explain my circumstances in exchange for a reduced ticket?

Other factors-
-never had a ticket or been in an accident
-the ticket is really large

7 comments:

Doreen T. said...

Absolutely take it to court to explain the mitigating circumstances! The high school was nowhere in sight and who would expect a school zone next to a K-8 school to be in effect at 6:45 a.m.(Just don't include the part that it was your mother's fault for wanting you to meet her for shopping.)

anne said...

YES! I agree with your mom.

Stacy said...

Take it to court! But research the Fife court system. It's unlikely you'd "beat" the ticket, but sometimes you can get your first ticket waived...but usually you have to choose that option before arguing your case, and in many areas it means that if you get another ticket within a year you pay for both. They do, however, still make you pay the court fee, which is usually like $45.

Stefanie said...

I agree, take it to court. I heard of someone getting out of a ticket once because she said the guy who radared (sp?) her wasn't the same guy who pulled her over...and voila, no ticket. I also once got a ticket, but at least got it cut in half. Go for it!

christy said...

Officer Buzz always gives this advice: Go to court, admit that you were speeding in a school zone (even though it was unintentional), apologize and ask that it not go on your record. Since it is your 1st they will most likely just let you go to traffic school, but you would still have to pay the ticket.

He used to be a traffic officer and had to go to court every time someone fought one of his tickets... this is what he said works.

Anonymous said...

Ktor that exact thing happened to me in the Fed last year. I decided to hire a lawyer instead of fighting it myself b/c you NEVER win on your own. The lawyer I used was Mitch Green in Tukwila. He charges $300 but totally refunds if he doesn't get it lowered. I figured $300 is better than increased insurance rates for however long.
Long story short...if you are going to contest, you need a lawyer. If you are just going to mitigate (which will lower the fee but will still most likely go on your record) go for it yourself.
Sorry!!

kel said...

1) Yes, I think your story totally flies, and should be considered.

2) Any time you can weasel your way out of something our government imposes on you, I'm all for it! (or it you're like me, you'd talk your college professors into cancelling final exams... yeah, I'm that good!)