HELP - Traffic violation

[raine]

Back in September I got a ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign. I know this sounds really silly but somehow I missed a red flashing light on a small residential street. It was late that night and I was extremely tired. I recently got a letter with my court date and my offence as stated in the letter was "disobey stop sign"

When I got pulled over, I got the opportunity to talk to the officer and told him that it was my first offence and actually asked him if I should hire an ex copper and to my surprise he told me to just simply take it to court and that there was a 90% chance that he wasn't going to show up.

I am writing to find out if you guys can tell me whether I should take his advice and fight the ticket on my own or should I hire an ex-copper. My court date is scheduled in 2 months. I also recall reading on a forum how some ppl would reschedule their court date hoping that the officer would not show up on the new court date. Any suggestions would help. Thanks!

[Wild Weasel]

Never ask the officer giving you a ticket for advice about what to do about it. That's not his job.

[ptfire]

They would like it for all of us to go to court because they get paid a minimum of 4 hours just for showing up.

[Cardinal Fang]

I am writing to find out if you guys can tell me whether I should take his advice and fight the ticket on my own or should I hire an ex-copper. My court date is scheduled in 2 months. I also recall reading on a forum how some ppl would reschedule their court date hoping that the officer would not show up on the new court date. Any suggestions would help. Thanks!

Whether you decide to hire a 3rd party or show up to fight your ticket you should always fight your ticket. More often then not the ticket will be reduced for extenuating circumstances. My advice to you is to figure out how much your time is worth. The 3rd party services run around $300.00. They get paid if they get your sentence/penalty reduced. That's it. They do not guarantee to get the charge thrown out. That would be a bonus.

The issue of the cop not showing up is meaningless. When I went to fight my a speeding ticket my wife got in TORONTO. The Justice of the Peace/Judge was convicting people who had shown up to fight a ticket even though the Police Officer was not present. Unless the person is contesting that the incident NEVER happened the officer's statement (ticket) will hold up. The days of tickets being dismissed because the officer is not there are not as frequent as people will have you believe.

[p-o-g-i]

I've had various traffic violations resulting in tickets here and there and I normally take them to court. The end result for myself has ALWAYS resulted in one of the following:

- ticket gets reduced by the prosecution (they normally call you up right before the proceedings to see how you will plead).
- officer does not show up and my ticket gets thrown out. I normally check around to see if the officer is in attendence before I go up to see the prosecution before the proceedings.

I know alot of people will not agree with how I handled my situations... and that's fine. I'm just saying that through my personal experiences, that's how every one of my traffic violations have resulted.....

[Malcolm991]

I've had various traffic violations resulting in tickets here and there and I normally take them to court. The end result for myself has ALWAYS resulted in one of the following:

- ticket gets reduced by the prosecution (they normally call you up right before the proceedings to see how you will plead).
- officer does not show up and my ticket gets thrown out. I normally check around to see if the officer is in attendence before I go up to see the prosecution before the proceedings.

I know alot of people will not agree with how I handled my situations... and that's fine. I'm just saying that through my personal experiences, that's how every one of my traffic violations have resulted.....

I totally agree with this, I always show up for those reasons and it works

[raine]

Thanks a lot guys! All your feedbacks were very helpful and appreciated. I was also wondering if anyone has heard about changing the court date with the hopes that the officer will not show up. I was told that an officer prefers to make a trip to the court once with all the tickets that they have written up therefore with the change in court date, there may be a likelihood that they won't show up. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks guys!

[bj21]

imagine a world where nobody was accountable for their actions....a pretty scary place don't you think??

what's wrong with paying your ticket, stopping at stop signs and keeping the courts clear of this nonsense?? in the end it costs everyone

my .02

bj21