Headin' up to the folks house on Thanksgiving morning, a chippie pulled me over to give me a love letter. He pretty much busted me red-handed, as there was no one else on the road and he was coming down a long hill (Hwy 1 just north of the 1/101 interchange, for those that care - Dwayne's neck of the woods) and I was proceeding to climb it (read: going fast).

He clocked me at 83 and wrote me a ticket for 80 (gee, thanks! ) the unfortunate part is that it was a 55 zone, not 65. Not having had a speeding ticket in almost 16 years (the last one I was doing about 100 on my motorcycle) I'm curious as to what this one is going to set me back. I'm guessing about ~$400 or more. Can anyone that has had to deal with a similar experience recently enlighten me? There goes my merry christmas to me! -Jerry O.

 

He did do you a favor, you can do traffic school if you are going 26 or less over the posted limit.

My last ticket for 59 in a 40 (Speed trap) was about $210 (Double fine zone) plus $50 for traffic school.

 

Set me back exactly $200.00 including the extra assesment for the privlage of going to traffic school. Plus $35.00 for the traffic school class. And to you other old timers on the board - Remeber back when if you went to traffic school you would get all your bail money back? Now the greedy bastards keep the fine plus charge you an extra $20.00 if you choose to go to traffic school! - Bruce

 

I didn't know that. I guess he did do me a favor!

 

If I can get off for around $250, I'd be a little relieved... but it's still $250!

 

Ahhhh, I remember those good ole days. Get ticket, pay $20 to go to Traffic School, do not have to pay fine.

I guess they figure there's more incentive to slow down by making you pay the fine on top of Traffic School.

 

Like I said in my earlier post, I just went to traffic school and we discussed weather or not you can go to traffic school if your going more than 25 mph over the limit. The insructor said it is not true. It's all up to the judge. If it is not an option on the bail notice that the court sends you, then you can go to court and explain your situation to the judge and request traffic school. As far as the state now keeping the fine even when you go to traffic school, I think they figure that asking for traffic school is the same as pleading guilty. So you pay the fine and go to traffic school just to keep the violation off your driving record and save thousands of dollars off your insurance premiums over the next 4 years. The instuctor also mentioned that the CHP will not be giving many warnings anymore. Due to the huge budget deficit in California they are going to write every ticket they can to increase revenue. They will also be writing tickets for slower speeds. Don't think that if you keep it under 75 mph you will be safe. Those days are gone. The instuctor said he is seeing way more people in his classes that got tickets for as little as 5 mph over the posted speed limit. - Bruce

 

That's pretty f**kin' weak if you ask me, but I agree that more tickets = more revenue for the State.

I'm just glad you can do the traffic school thing online now. Hmmm... let's see: the better part of a day spent bored out of mind in a classroom OR an hour spent on the computer whenever I feel like it, drinking a beer while I'm doing it!

I remember the days when you didn't have to pay the fine if you went to traffic school as well. Infact, I remember as a teenager complaining to a judge once that traffic school was going to cost more than the bail! (he almost didn't let me have the option of traffic school after that stupid comment... )

 

I'll give you one even better. Rather than doing online traffic school, you can order a "take home" test. You get to read thru the book and answer the questions at your liesure.

When you're done, you just mail the completed exam back to the traffic school and they send you a certificate of completion. From there you just send the certificate in to the court.

The school I used was California Jammin' Traffic School. Do a search online and you'll find their web site. They are located in O.C. IIRC and it only takes like a day to receive the booklet and exam.

 

I got a 85 in a 65 on the 5 fwy and it was 153.50.

Never went to court and got a full refund and was found not guilty.

All thanks to Trial by Written Declaration

 

do elaborate! trial by written declaration?

I just got my notice in the mail today: $182 + $31 fee for traffic school + whatever traffic school costs. Not as bad as I thought, but I'd rather be spending $200+ on my car rather than giving it to the state. Oh well...

 

TicketAssassin.com
It has all the forms and information on it. It also gives you ways to write your facts and all. And for the few bucks, it saved me 150 on a ticket and more with insurance that would've gone up.