HOW SHOULD I PLEAD?

There are four types of pleading available to you that you can enter for your ticket.
Guilty. I made a mistake, here's my money, raise my insurance.
Guilty with an explanation. I made a mistake, but let me tell you why, before I give you my money, and you raise my insurance.
NoloContender. It's the Latin translation for "No Contest". All right I'm guilty, but I just don't want to tell you. Here's my money, raise my insurance."
NOT Guilty. This is what you should be interested in.

Not guilty does not necessarily mean that you did not commit the crime. All it means is that the Prosecutor now has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you DID commit the crime. The Prosecution has the burden of proof, not you. If the citing officer does not show up for the trial, that's not your problem, it's the prosecution's. All you have to do is, enter a simple motion to dismiss due to the lack of prosecution's witness.

DO YOU NEED A LAWYER?

You're only going to need a lawyer if jail time is possible with your sentence. Some of the citations that could involve jail time would be a DUI or a DWI. Driving a vehicle on a suspended license, an accident involving a hit and run, or if a felony was committed while you were using your vehicle. Drug or weapon possession, robbery, manslaughter, hit and run, anything along those lines. If your case involves any of these points, a lawyer is definitely recommended. If not, figure out the cost of the attorney's fees and weigh them against the fine and how much you'll be paying in insurance premiums. Some attorneys specializing in traffic tickets will charge between fifty and one hundred dollars for their services. You may be able to plea bargain for a driving school certification in lieu of a larger fine.

You really can't handle the above without the use of an attorney. Secure one for these purposes. Most attorneys have a pretty good relationship with prosecutors, and they know their way around the court system far better than you possibly can. If you feel that the pricing is okay, and the services that you will be retaining will assist you in making a good settlement, consider one of these people and utilize their specialties to help you out, simply because it's easier on you in the long run.

Once you hire an attorney, you have lost control over how your case will be handled because he will be the one taking care of it for you. However, you do gain the advantage of his knowledge of the legal procedures and you're the one with the most detail as to the events surrounding the particular citation.

Industry statistics states that if you do testify on your own behalf and you ultimately convict yourself by stating the wrong thing, about 9/10ths of all traffic cases would not have benefited from use of an attorney.

DRIVING SCHOOL

One of the most popular forms of plea bargaining available to you is referred to as driving school or, another variation of the same thing. You, the Defendant agree to attend a driving school and they provide a completion certificate from a school that's licensed in you local jurisdiction. If you attend and pass, the charges against you will be dropped. Usually you're allowed to participate in this program, once yearly. Sometimes you can get a discount on your car insurance by mentioning that you have successfully completed driving school. Just don't tell them that you went because of a speeding ticket. Usually, this is the most painless way to get rid of the charges that are against you. Driving schools normally cost $35 to $50 to attend. It's possible that a court cost will also be included or added to this fee. Usually, the total cost will be less than your speeding fine. You might want to consider this possibility, if you feel that your case is weak and you may not have a chance of winning. If you've got a good case built up, save the option of the driving school for another time when you may need it.

SPEED DEFENSE

Speed defense implies that your need to speed was a determining factor in protecting yourself. Perhaps you were doing 55 in a zone where everyone else was doing 70, and in order to avoid the potential of an accident, you had to accelerate to match the speed of the surrounding traffic.

You might also have a tail gater behind you who is coming up rather quickly and you had to accelerate to get out of their way, in order to protect yourself. These defenses don't usually work. Don't feel that your case will be dismissed simply on the evidence that you may present about these particular situations. It's not a good option for you to pursue this type of defense.

There are some areas in New York State that give you an unusual opportunity to beat your speeding ticket. The cities of Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and New York City are four of these cities that give you the opportunity that we were speaking about earlier. In general, if you receive a ticket in those cities, there is no way of fighting it. You don't get to see a real Judge, you don't get a chance to appeal, you can't plea bargain, and you don't have any right to discovery. The courts are required by law to maintain a 65% success rate on convictions in order to maintain the revenues. The only good part of this whole system is that since you won't be seeing a Judge, but rather an Administrative individual, they don't have the power to put you in jail. Your only hope for success in this type of situation is to continue to postpone your appearance as many times as possible and hope that the officer who issued the speeding citation does not show up on the appearance date. That's the only way you can possibly manage to win in a situation like this. The system is legal, it's constitutional, and efforts to change this system have been vetoed by the Governors for years. Simply because they know that it generates a lot of cash flow. Just try not to get a ticket in any of these locations.