That new car got the better of you, Glenda!

How fast did you go? and what was the limit?

Maybe you should consider this one as past due? I bet, you were speeding quite often the last few years. :)

Moni

OH, lets not forget to go to court on this. Often the officer giving the ticket is not there, which often makes it a non issue. Or, you might at least be able to talk the fine down?

Too bad. How much is the ticket for? I still remember years ago how upset my Mom was when she got a ticket. She even showed the cop her safe driving award she had gotten in the mail.

2 in 71 years isn't too bad of a record. I don't think they let too many people off the hook this late in the month... they have quotas to meet from what I've heard (or at least they do where I live).

U can pay online, and I just went and I'm not in the system yet.

Anyone have any idea how much speeding tickets are?

I was on a country road in another town, he passed me, turned his lights on, turned around and I turned off onto a side road.= to stop. was hoping he would just give me a warning. NOT

going 55 in a 35 mph zone. I was busy talking with my friend.

Told me the court date and that I could pay online

So how much, eh?

Depends on your area. Here in ND tickets are so low it is NOT funny, but they are pretty strick on breaking the law. Of course snow and ice does slow us down a bit.
Hope things work out. Sometimes you can go to driving school and it will be taken off the record and insurance. (Calif) Will this be points against your insurance?

Glenda, go to court. Plead "I am so sorry" haven't had a ticket in like forever... and promise to stay within the limit.

I bet, you will get it waived or reduced. Cheaper than paying online.

Moni

Court date is for April 7 at 3:30.

Found the cost

Fine $20
Court cost $123
Total $143

geez louise

Dayum!!!!

Well...if that is all it is then count your blessings...no harm no foul!! Here where I live you would have had a ticket for speeding AND a ticket for talking/texting while driving!

That's pretty good, actually. I paid over $250 in FL last year for going 10 over.

>> going 55 in a 35 mph zone. I was busy talking with my friend.

Glenda, sorry to say it, but that means you were going 20 miles over the speed limit and, more importantly, distracted and not paying attention to your driving ("I was busy talking with my friend"). You don't say whether your friend was in the car with you or on the phone, but either way, you were distracted. I think this might've been a good reminder that distracted driving is dangerous.

And the $143 is pretty cheap, compared to what you've have been find in MA. Thank goodness being distracted didn't result in an accident.

The important thing about going to court is that the judge will usually waive the points on your license. Important for insurance reasons. Do you know anybody in the police department or someone who does? Not that they can "fix the ticket" but they can give you good info on whether or not you should go to court.

My friend and I had just gone for a nice drive about an hour away, in the country to have pulley bones, and good ole country fixings, at a wonderful restaurant buffet.

Thank goodness we had already eaten.

We were admiring the beautiful countryside, on a straight stretch of the road.

My foot obviously got heavy to the pedal!

Glenda - what are pulley bones? I live in Seattle and never heard of them. Might be a regional thing?

Here that ticket would have been at least twice what you're being charged! 20mph over the speed limit? What were you thinking??!

I can't say I feel sorry for you.

Whoever said I was asking for pity, eh?

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride in the country with a friend.

$143 is cheap! Would have cost you at least twice that here. And it should. Going 20 mph OVER the speed limit is dangerous to everyone! Talking with a friend to the point you weren't paying attention is negligence.
So no complaining about the fine for your wrongdoing.

Well, we'are all guilty of talking to fellow passengers while driving. How weird would it be to sit in complete silence? And I feel sorry that you have to pay that big ol' fine, but it would've been double that in Florida. Guess we have to have some way of supporting the state since we don't have a state income tax. Yet!

A pulley bone is part of a chicken breast. It depends on how you cut the chicken up whether you have on or not. Mother always cut a chicken into at least 11 pieces, including a pulley bone. Two people can pull on the ends of the bone and the one who gets the longest part gets his/her wish.

I love the pulley bone but haven't had one in ages. Glenda, where do I have to go to get pulley bones?

Linda

Is that what they call a wishbone? Anyway that is what they call it in CA

Well I feel sorry for you. That's a lot of money but it would be more here. I know I've been guilty of going 20 over the limit a few times myself. It can happen.

Glenda, about a year ago I went with a friend to court that was fighting a speeding ticket. There was lots of people in court fighting their traffic violations. Anyway, apparantly here if you go 20 miles over it's an automatic lose of license for six months. Hope that doesn't happen to you. I was quite surprised by this. I would have thought it was just a fine. I talked to a man who said when he was pulled over the officer did not tell him this but he recieved the fine in the mail along with a note telling him he would lose his license for six months unless he went to court.

I can say that all the people I watched on that day had their suspension at least reduced and some were waived. I think it depended on their driving record and how much faster they were going.

That ticket sounds cheap to what I've heard others pay ($200 range) I can't believe your fine was so low, but sadly, I can believe the court costs are so HIGH! Here 20 miles over the speed limit is considered reckless driving. And you pay the court costs whether you go to court or pay ahead (online).

Because you have such a good driving record you could go to court and show them that. They would most likely offer you driving school and waive the points, or reduce your ticket to "Failure to obey highway signs" meaning the speed limit signs-happened to me once and the fine was a little bit lower, but basically they were cutting me a break. Also, if you do go to court, there is a chance your officer may not show up (if they have an emergency or such) and I believe your ticket is waived?

Maybe I'm strange but I used to like to go to court and hear the other cases going on, usually just traffic court, but once in a while General District. Saw someone escorted out in handcuffs one day!

You got off cheap. Here in my metro area (Norfolk), if you're caught doing 20 or more over, you can face jail time, lose your license, etc. It's reckless driving.

The ticket here would probably be well over $200 - if you just got the fine. Plus, there'd be mandatory "day in school" for you.

You really got off easy - all things considered.

If you show up in court and just ask for mercy, the judge will probably reduce the fine a bit. Not many folks show up in court to contest tickets.

Plead guilty and pay the fine. Last summer I ran a red light. I looked and there was no one around . Except a COP. I got a $245 ticket. Yours is cheaper. By the way, it was my first ever ticket (except parking tickets at work) in my life of 58 years. And I've been driving since I was 17.

I'm just wondering how great the scenery could have been if you needed to get past it that fast! :D

Do you have to go to court? Or can you just pay the fine and be done with it? I don't even know how it works here. I drive like a pregnant duck, so rarely have a chance to get a speeding ticket ;).

I am pretty sure that here you get the ticket and only have to go to court if you want to contest it for some reason. It's all drawn up about the fine and the points, so little discussion about that sort of thing.

Dances.

Cynic...you crack me up!!
I wondered the same thing. LOL

in most states anything 10mph and over the speed limit is reckless driving. in FL reckless driving charges stay on your record, even after paying the charges (which are closer to $250+) and attending either an online course or in person. insurance companies are also informed of those charges.

i had a CDL A driver once who was clocked in his personal vehicle doing 20+mph over, got a ticket, paid it, did a class and my employers insurance co found out. we had to basically fire him since he was a driver and insurance would not allow him to drive our trucks. i doubt the amount will be reduced, cities need that $$ that's why they are on heightend patrols. heck my orlando burb has a camera system at just 1 light that nets us $30,000 a month YEA! BTW orlando is ranked #4 nationwide for speed traps :-) i don't speed because the thought of wasting the $250 on a ticket when i could buy a purse w/ that $$ kills me LOL! i also drive thru alot of residential type areas and it irritates me when people behind me ride my bumper when i do the speed limit (in the right lane only), i like to follow the limit just to be annoying too ;-)) especially in 2 areas on my way home from work that are speed traps that everyone knows about, well not everyone since there is always a couple cars pulled over LOL... BTW soon in FL you can get a ticket for being in the fast lane going too slow :-0 ~ liz

That's pretty spendy IMO.
My DH got a ticket for going much faster over the limit than you were and it was a lot less $$. I really can't remember the exact amounts here but like 90 in a 55 and paid $100 fine. He has gotten picked up in my car twice, he blames my little car and big engine! It rocks!
However he had something like 7 points against his licnese. The points and the fine are one thing.
The insurance is what torked him off more. I have no idea if it is the same everywhere, but our agent told us years ago for every speeding ticket it would go up 25%, and stay that way for 3 years! Yikes! We've both had speeding tickets, my last one was about 10 years ago. DH has had 2 or 3 big tickets! Driving faster than he normally does, much faster.
Nobody is perfect. So no one should pass judgement here IMO. You may do things that *I* wouldn't do. I may do things that you wouldn't do.

Glenda, don't feel bad. Just think of it as a learning experience. We've all speeded at one time or another, intentionally or not. Just not all of us have been caught.

A long stretch of road like you said you were on is easy to pick up speed without realising it.

Just glad no one was hurt.

Pay it and be done with it.

Your driving record up to now was pretty good. Don't kick yourself over it.

"Well, we'are all guilty of talking to fellow passengers while driving. How weird would it be to sit in complete silence?"

But Glenda wasn't just "talking to a fellow passenger while driving." She was so distracted by the conversation that she was going TWENTY MILES PER HOUR OVER THE SPEED LIMIT. People have been killed when hit by vehicles going as low as SIX miles per hour. To be going 55 in a 35 mph zone is serious, indeed.

There's an awful lot of law abiding drivers here....I'm impressed. Before reading all these posts I thought to myself 'there isn't anyone who hasn't exceeded the speed limit at some time or another, they've just been lucky not to get caught'. Also, I can't imagine that everyone hasn't let their mind wander while driving on occasion. Guess I'm wrong.

My DH got a ticket in New Jersey for speeding, it cost $250. He paid it in case he ever goes back to that state, and gets caught again. Not likely, I think we were at a funeral for a distant relative. But it didn't put points on his license because we live in New York.

I just had to click and see what your "first on over 30 years" was! Sorry it was a speeding ticket! Just pay the pay fine and be done with it. Could have been worse. It's pretty scary when you see the flashing lights!

I've had 2, one was nearly 40 years ago when I was a kid that I actually lost my license over and one a couple of years ago. We have a speed trap here, in one direction the speed limit goes from 45 to 25 without warning and the cop sits right there and waits..... from the other direction it is 35 to 25. But he got me because I was last in a line of 5 or 6 cars and I was the one that stopped when he turned on his light.

Nodak, I guess I did not realize you had speed limits, or was that Montana that had 'safe and prudent'?

I think I would go to court to try to avoid the points--and the increase in insurance premiums.

I've been driving for 47 years, and have never had a speeding ticket. Thank goodness for cruise control! Before I had that, my cars had "speed alerts"--you set a dial on the speedometer to the speed limit, and it buzzed if you exceeded that limit. I don't know why they stopped putting those on cars--they were wonderful.

Glenda, if it's been more than 30 years since your last speeding ticket, I'd say you are a pretty good driver.

Lynn, yep we have speed limits in ND. 55 MPH to 75 MPH

Actually I learned on another forum Montana does have speed limits now! LOL It was changed in 1999. They are pretty much the same as ours.

Here is a link that might be useful: Montana

My last one was in Waxahachie, TX 7 years ago and it was $160 so yours sounds cheap. I was about 10 miles over. Now we have a radar detector which has saved DH many times because he thinks he's Speedracer.

Geesh, Glenda, I don't think you did anything that bad!! The cars today have a lot of get up and go and you can be going at a pretty good clip before you realize it. Considering it was a long open stretch of road, I don't think you were putting any lives in danger. And I agree if this is only your second infraction, good for you!!

The first ticket I ever got was when I was 19 and I got pulled over for doing 50 in a 35 - on a parkway. Well, I was so shook up that I sat there and cried while the cop was giving me the ticket! My dad made me go to court. I was terrified. I don't think they cut me any breaks either. Probably trying to teach me a lesson. It worked. It took me a long time to get the next one.

I'm sure you will be the model citizen in the future. You couldn't be driving this long with such a good record if you were a reckless driver. Must be nice to be as perfect as the naysayers!!!