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Old 08-05-2008, 03:01 PM   #7 (permalink)
Jinn
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Location: Seattle, WA
My bet:

You won't actually make it to court. The district attorney or their assistant will see the ticket, read the back (the officer's comments about your behavior), and reduce your ticket to something without points or penalty. In return, you will agree to plead guilty.

I say this out of experience because I've been to court three times for moving violations:

1 - Ticket: 118mph in a 65mph zone, reckless driving
14 points and a $600 fine

Went to court, met the DA and it was reduced to a "Careless Driving" ticket, 4 points, $112 fine and traffic class, which cost $86 and was an AWESOME time - I thought it was fun doing the exercises we did.

2 - Ticket: 23 mph in a 10 mph zone (University roads are 10mph campus wide, uggh), 1 pt and $170 fine

Went to court, met the DA and it was reduced to Defective Headlight, no points, $87 fine

3 - Ticket: Illegal U-Turn (Failure to Obey Traffic Control Sign), 2 pts and $200 fine

Went to court, met the DA and it was reduced to "Obscured View" (cracked windshield), $21 fine and no points

As for the fines being ridiculous, they're the "market rate" state to state, in my experience. They're meant to be punitive. Be thankful you don't have a city which also charges muncipal fees for each mile over. In Colorado Springs, its the ticket fee + $10 for each mile an hour over. A 30 mph over is fee + $300, for example.
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