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Speeding Ticket

Joined
Aug 15, 2003
Messages
71
Reaction score
1
Location
Northwest Houston
First Name
Kelly
I posted this on HSN but thought I would do the same here for other opinions.

I got my first speeding ticket today... 45 in a 35. :shock: I was actually clocked doing 47 but he wrote me for only going 45 because he was nice.
My question for everyone is, will the judge offer me the chance to take a rider course or defensive driving or is that something I have to request?

Don't laugh to hard :-D

Kelly
 
Call the judge's office and tell them you want to take a riders course to satisfy the defensive driving option. They will tell you what you have to do to meet their requirements.
 
Ok, holding back my laughter...
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Sorry to hear that Kelly. I haven't noticed you going too fast when I've ridden with you. Maybe you need some luggage!
I don't have any experience with the ticket dismissal thing, haven't needed it yet. Did you try the old public-service-bretheren line? Flash your badge? (Does HFD have badges?)
 
Yea, us HFD types have badges and ID cards but that didn't do me any good sitting in my wallet by the bed while I had just my money clip on me this afternoon. :roll:

Maybe I should get a Tatoo on my forehead that states "Iam a Firefighter so please don't ticket me for being foolish" :-?

Kelly
 
Request the defensive driving course (basically, the MSF's one-day Experienced Riders Course) when you appear before the judge in court. I'm assuming this is in Harris County. You'll have a certain amount of time to attend and complete the course after the court date. If no traffic citations within a year, you'll have the citation removed from your record.

Don't sweat it, I got tagged for doing 9 mph above the limit down Allen Parkway on a weekend evening. And other cars were going 20-25 mph faster than I was :angryfir: . I took the ERC for that ticket (my one and only ticket so far, knock on wood).

Frank
 
Hey Frank maybe the same cop got me. I was heading south on Hieghts Blvd from Washington going to Memorial. He caught me right as I was trying to get in the right hand lane to take Memorial west bound
 
Kelly,

It may or may not be the same officer, probably not. This was several years ago on a Halloween weekend, the same weekend when the city held the Indy Car racing downtown for the first time. Perhaps he was scouting the area for out-of-town speed freaks or local racer-boy wannabees. I don't know. All I know is that I was taking a leisurely ride down the Parkway, with other cars passing me, when I got nabbed. He didn't seemed to be in a mood to hear out my arguments.
 
If you've got a clean record ask about deferred. Of course if you screw up during your time, you'll be looking at 2 convictions and probably max fines, but if you can stay out of trouble it's much easier than having to jump through hoops for DDC.
 
10-95,

What is Defferred and how does that help me as far as the fines go and the Insurance thing??

Thanks for your input,

Kelly
 
Basically it's a no-contest plea. You agree you won't get any more tickets for XXXX amount of time (in Bryan it's usually 6 months) and pay some fees. If you complete the period with no tickets the original charge goes away. If you get additional charges you get the original charge and all associated fees plus the new charge. Kind of a gamble, but worth it IMHO.
 
As a recent ticket recepient thanks to the National Forest Service Police (69 in a 60 on 149) I, like you, have been debating the best way of going about and taking care of this ticket. A lot of people have advised me to take the Experienced Riders Course to get the ticket dropped. Here is a web-link I got giving me more information.

http://www.awesomecycles.com/ercschedule.htm

I'm probably going to take the ERC in June. Maybe I'll see you there.
:mrgreen:
 
I found the documents that I had stored away for my speeding ticket back in '99. On your court date, appear before the judge and ask for the defensive driving course (again, the ERC). He'll have you sign some documents. It is my understanding that you will still have to pay for the speeding ticket on that day. By doing this, you are waiving trial by jury and entering a no contest plea. You'll then have 180 days to obtain a copy of your driving record from DPS in Austin, and to complete the ERC course. Send your completed ERC certificate and DPS record to the court within that 180 days. If the above is done as scheduled, your ticket will be cleansed from your record, thus no insurance increase. If the above is not completed within 180 days, the ticket dismissal is voided and you'll be fined mucho money, along with being served a warrant for your arrest.

So basically, the same as what 10-95 told you. Sorry for the wordy explanation, but I figured you want to be specific as possible. :-)
 
One other thing, you can only take one defensive riding course within a year to get a ticket dismissed from your record. Meaning that if you had taken an ERC in Harris County eleven months and twenty-nine days prior to the date of your citation, you'll be denied if you request the course again in court. So the probation period is one full year.
 
I am a pretty experienced ticket recipient...for the longest time I used to get at least one a year, mostly when driving a car though. I have gotten better in my old age and had not received a ticket in something like 4 years. But I got my first motorcycle ticket within a week after getting my R1. There a few ways to take care of your ticket. Most of the courts have changed the deferred adjudication process. Back in the day you could request deferred adjudication, pay the fines(which could be a little pricey depending on the court), then the court would basically place you on a probation period from 30-180 days and as long as you did not get another ticket, it would be dismissed. Technically you were supposed to not get a ticket at all, but since this was before computers had connected everyone to each other, it meant do not get a ticket in the same county. I think I was on deferred in 4 different counties at the same time once(That was a bad year).

I digress! Anyway, the last couple times I have asked for deferred(once in Dallas 4 or so years ago, and just recently here in Austin) the clerk informed me that I would actually have to go before the judge and request it, and if granted I would still have to take Defensive Driving. Back in the day the clerk would grant the deferred, and although the fine was usually higher than taking Defensive Driving it was worth it to me to not have to sit through 6 hours of Defensive Driving. Now, as long as you have not taken DD for a ticket dismissal in the last year, it is easier, cheaper and quicker to just request DD and be done with it.

When I received my speeding ticket on the motorcycle I just requested defensive driving...it is cheaper than any of the motorcycle courses and I had alreay taken the Motorcycle Safety Course...and if you have not taken Defensive Driving you can turn the certificate in to your Auto insurance and get something like a 10 or 15% discount.

Phew! That was a lot of words just to say "Request Defensive Driving and you will be fine!"

Louis
 
:tab Interesting that they make you pay for the ticket?! Are you sure that was not court costs? By paying the ticket, there is no legal basis to have you take the ERC or anything else, or to arrest you. The fine is the full punishment for the offense. Now it could very well be that the court costs run about the same as the fine.

:tab This whole DDC and ERC thing is quite the scam. I think it started out with good intentions. The thinking being that if we could get some people "educated", they would be better drivers and thus there would be a reduction in infractions. However, very few people take the DDC class seriously. It is just a beaureaucratic hoop to jump through to keep the ticket off your record and the insurance premiums from going up. Back in the early eighties, it was $10 court costs and $20 for the class. Then somewhere along the line, folks figured out that there was some serious money to be made here!

:tab Folks will pay a lot of money to keep a ticket off their record. So gradually, the court costs have kept rising, now close to the cost of the fine. Also, the costs of the classes has gone up. Now we have a thriving industry! But it seems the original intent has long since vanished.

:tab I recall the last time I took one of the regular DDC classes some years back, NO ONE, not even the instructor, really took it serious. It was just a dog and pony show, sit here the required hours, take a test so easy you could pass without the class, get your paper rubber stamped, and off you go! At least with the ERC class, for now anyway, you are likely to learn something that might actually come in useful.

:tab But!!! I could just be a cynical skpetic :shrug:

Adios,
 
I've never had to go before a judge to request a DDC. It was always by mail (there were always instructions on the back of the ticket) and never any hassle, except actually having to pay the "court costs" and class fees, and sit in a class for however many hours are required! :roll:

Been a while since I've gone through it (knock wood) but I'm not aware of any change in the process.
 
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