Failed to Stop at Stop Sign

[LB3]

Got a ticket tonight for failing to stop at a stop sign. Didn't see the sign till I was passing by it.

 

Is it worth it to plead not guilty? I definitely ran it so I'm not sure. He told me that he was sorry that he had to do it because it was right in front of him.

Edited December 2, 2020 by LB3

[Sherpa]

Probably not worth fighting unless the sign was obscured and you have pictures attesting to that.

Not a pro, but when each of my three kids got their licenses, I made them go to traffic court to watch the goings on.

Probably heard thirty contested traffic charges.

Some really funny, but unless you can show the sign was obscured, you are not going to win.

 

Not that I am one to give advice, but I highly recommend taking a newly minted driver to traffic court if you care about them. 

[LB3]

6 minutes ago, Sherpa said:

Probably not worth fighting unless the sign was obscured and you have pictures attesting to that.

Not a pro, but when each of my three kids got their licenses, I made them go to traffic court to watch the goings on.

Probably heard thirty contested traffic charges.

Some really funny, but unless you can show the sign was obscured, you are not going to win.

 

Not that I am one to give advice, but I highly recommend taking a newly minted driver to traffic court if you care about them. 

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I just thought I remembered a member here once mentioning that if you plead guilty and the officer doesn't show, that it gets thrown out. I'm really not too concerned. I have no points on my license currently. I'm unsure if it would have an effect on my insurance.

 

Edit: The sign wasn't really obscured. It's just on an unlit corner in the city I live in. My cloudy headlights don't help.

Edited December 2, 2020 by LB3

[mead107]

Ask to have it reduced to parking on the highway. No points. Big fine. 

[LB3]

9 minutes ago, mead107 said:

Ask to have it reduced to parking on the highway. No points. Big fine. 

That would be tough because I was within city limits near no highway.

[LeviF91]

What state do you live in? @LB3

Edited December 3, 2020 by LeviF91
Tag

[LB3]

7 minutes ago, LeviF91 said:

What state do you live in? @LB3

Central NY.

[LeviF91]

Just now, LB3 said:

Central NY.

Unless the cop who wrote you dropped it down then and there you never plead guilty to a moving violation in NYS. 

[LB3]

1 minute ago, LeviF91 said:

Unless the cop who wrote you dropped it down then and there you never plead guilty to a moving violation in NYS. 

Thanks. Appreciate it.

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

Plead not guilty, go to court, ask the Town Attny for an alternate plea to parking on the highway.  In many cities and towns, the $$$ paid for the parking ticket stays local, while disobeyed traffic device is split with the state.  My son got 3 speeds in about 6 months, all in town, all plead to parking.  I considered telling the attorney to thrown the $#&ing book at him on the third visit, thankfully that was the one where he finally woke up.  
 

Worst case scenario, you burn a couple hours in traffic court and pay the same fine you would if you plead guilty now.  
 

On the flip side, if you’re a safe driver with no issues, the disobeyed traffic device isn’t a huge issue.  A couple points, prob no impact on insurance, and 18 months from now it’s gone anyway (NY, and could be 36 mos but I think for DMV it’s 18). 
 

I picked up a speeding ticket driving from Oswego to Albany a couple years back, an 83 in a 65.  It was snowing, the trooper gave me the short version lecture and I was grateful to be on my way.   Drove to traffic court, Town attorney offered anyone with a clean abstract the ability to take def driving and have ticket reduced to parking.  He told us we might have compelling stories of miscarriages of justice, but they would not be heard that day.  A number of folks went up and tried to negotiate, he reminded them this was not the adjudication in front of the judge, just an offer to move on.  
 

When I met with him, he said “Mr. Skin-red, what do you think of my offer? “.   My reply was “I think it’s a score, I get an 83-65 knocked to a parking ticket and save some $$$ on insurance with the course?  Sign me up.”.  He smiled and sent me on my way.  
 

It’s not always about the revenue, but in our town, it most definitely is. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by leh-nerd skin-erd

[LeviF91]

Copied and pasted from a poast ATOP for similar situation:

 

Don't EVER plead guilty to a speeding ticket.  Depending on where you are there's a whole process for the state to basically collect court surcharges (plus a little extra for the county) with no points on your license.  Some places you show up to court on the day indicated on your ticket and the prosecutor will sit down and say "ok plead guilty to parking on pavement there's no points judge will tell you your fine" or you might have to show up a few times after pleading not guilty the day of.  Sometimes the cop who wrote you will drop by the 2nd or 3rd court date and talk with the prosecutor (seems like that's what he's indicated) and work out a lesser, probably non-moving, violation for you to settle on and pony up some cash (much less than your speeding ticket would have been).

 

All that fails, you can go have your day in court with a little trial for your moving violation.  If the officer doesn't show up - you win!  If he does show up, there's all sorts of stuff the state has to prove in order to make their case.  Why would you gift them anything?  Our legal system is set up to help defendants more than anyone else.

 

Way too many good outcomes to showing up and pleading not guilty.  

 

Edit: as mentioned downthread this advice is for NYS ONLY.  Other states have a different way of doing things.

[snafu]

19 minutes ago, LeviF91 said:

Copied and pasted from a poast ATOP for similar situation:

 

Don't EVER plead guilty to a speeding ticket.  Depending on where you are there's a whole process for the state to basically collect court surcharges (plus a little extra for the county) with no points on your license.  Some places you show up to court on the day indicated on your ticket and the prosecutor will sit down and say "ok plead guilty to parking on pavement there's no points judge will tell you your fine" or you might have to show up a few times after pleading not guilty the day of.  Sometimes the cop who wrote you will drop by the 2nd or 3rd court date and talk with the prosecutor (seems like that's what he's indicated) and work out a lesser, probably non-moving, violation for you to settle on and pony up some cash (much less than your speeding ticket would have been).

 

All that fails, you can go have your day in court with a little trial for your moving violation.  If the officer doesn't show up - you win!  If he does show up, there's all sorts of stuff the state has to prove in order to make their case.  Why would you gift them anything?  Our legal system is set up to help defendants more than anyone else.

 

Way too many good outcomes to showing up and pleading not guilty.  

 

Edit: as mentioned downthread this advice is for NYS ONLY.  Other states have a different way of doing things.

 

All this AND adjourn the date a couple times in case you do wind up with points.  They’re retroactively applied to the date of the offense and will come off your record that much quicker.

 

[GG1]

41 minutes ago, LeviF91 said:

Copied and pasted from a poast ATOP for similar situation:

 

Don't EVER plead guilty to a speeding ticket.  Depending on where you are there's a whole process for the state to basically collect court surcharges (plus a little extra for the county) with no points on your license.  Some places you show up to court on the day indicated on your ticket and the prosecutor will sit down and say "ok plead guilty to parking on pavement there's no points judge will tell you your fine" or you might have to show up a few times after pleading not guilty the day of.  Sometimes the cop who wrote you will drop by the 2nd or 3rd court date and talk with the prosecutor (seems like that's what he's indicated) and work out a lesser, probably non-moving, violation for you to settle on and pony up some cash (much less than your speeding ticket would have been).

 

All that fails, you can go have your day in court with a little trial for your moving violation.  If the officer doesn't show up - you win!  If he does show up, there's all sorts of stuff the state has to prove in order to make their case.  Why would you gift them anything?  Our legal system is set up to help defendants more than anyone else.

 

Way too many good outcomes to showing up and pleading not guilty.  

 

Edit: as mentioned downthread this advice is for NYS ONLY.  Other states have a different way of doing things.

Do you consider Diblasioburg part of NYS?

[Just Jack]

48 minutes ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

Plead not guilty, go to court, ask the Town Attny for an alternate plea to parking on the highway.  In many cities and towns, the $$$ paid for the parking ticket stays local, while disobeyed traffic device is split with the state.  

 

My last ticket I didn't even go to court. I looked up who the local DA was that handled traffic court, sent him an email with the info from the ticket, asking if there was anything he could do so I wouldn't have to come to court. Never asked for any reduction. He emailed back saying he was reducing it to two parking tickets, and mailed me the "bill". Still cost me about $300, but not having to change my schedule to make a court date was worth it. 

[Ann]

5 minutes ago, Just Jack said:

 

My last ticket I didn't even go to court. I looked up who the local DA was that handled traffic court, sent him an email with the info from the ticket, asking if there was anything he could do so I wouldn't have to come to court. Never asked for any reduction. He emailed back saying he was reducing it to two parking tickets, and mailed me the "bill". Still cost me about $300, but not having to change my schedule to make a court date was worth it. 

My husband did the same thing with his last ticket, same result. An email and a few months later they emailed him a parking ticket and a bill. 
 

[LeviF91]

20 minutes ago, GG1 said:

Do you consider Diblasioburg part of NYS?

lol no. 
 

TVB is an entirely different animal. No plea bargaining allowed. Best bet in TVB is what snafu suggested - delay delay delay. Still want to plead not guilty but TVB rarely, if ever, dismisses a ticket for cause. It’s almost always a technicality and you’ll need an attorney to figure that out. Otherwise just keep kicking the can down the road until the points aren’t even an issue anymore. 

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

14 minutes ago, Just Jack said:

 

My last ticket I didn't even go to court. I looked up who the local DA was that handled traffic court, sent him an email with the info from the ticket, asking if there was anything he could do so I wouldn't have to come to court. Never asked for any reduction. He emailed back saying he was reducing it to two parking tickets, and mailed me the "bill". Still cost me about $300, but not having to change my schedule to make a court date was worth it. 

Frig, that’s a lot shorter story than mine, and I drove 2 hours back to attend court!! 
 

JusJ: phone call, 15 minutes, $300 total 

 

LS:  $35 gas, $8 toll, 6 hours commute/trial, $25 online class, 6 hour virtual classroom that took me 15,  $150 fine.  
 

The town attorney must have thought “What a rube, you coulda just called in fukkah!!!!”

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

23 minutes ago, Ann said:

My husband did the same thing with his last ticket, same result. An email and a few months later they emailed him a parking ticket and a bill. 
 

Apparently everyone knows this trick, even an Amish survivalist who grows her own sugar beets.  Wtf you can’t drop a brotha a line?? 

[LB3]

8 hours ago, Just Jack said:

 

My last ticket I didn't even go to court. I looked up who the local DA was that handled traffic court, sent him an email with the info from the ticket, asking if there was anything he could do so I wouldn't have to come to court. Never asked for any reduction. He emailed back saying he was reducing it to two parking tickets, and mailed me the "bill". Still cost me about $300, but not having to change my schedule to make a court date was worth it. 

Did you mail in the not guilty plea (my ticket says to mail within 2 days) when you sent the email? Or did you just plan on attending court on the date provided if you didn't get a response in time?

[LB3]

@leh-nerd skin-erd I missed you mentioning it yesterday but my ticket is in Oswego.