Coop

Hi guys,

A few weks ago I got a ticket for crossing the double line HOV lane on the LIE, near the villiage of Lake Sucess. The firm officer gave me a ticket and seemed upset that I am from Toronto, Canada and my rental was from Florida.

I was driving (plus my six co-workers) to the East Hamptons for quarterly sales meetings.

I have been told in Toronto, that this is a major ticket. I could really use some help and advice regarding payment of this ticket and or representation of this case (?) I really do not know the next step and would like to maintain a ticket free driving record.

Any NY State R-Listers out there who could help out? Any lawyers who could advise / represent a fellow R-Lister?

Please feel free to PM me or post.

With thanks,

Coop

crw

I grew up on Long Island - it's all about Monday.

Any attorney in that area can make the ticket go away, but not the fine.

Since you are from Canada it may be a hassal wehter or not they want you in court.

Coop

Thanks crw. Im ok with paying for the fine. I just want the ticket gonzo. Could you refer me to an attorney? Any idea on his/her costs?

terbiumactivated

I live in NY, they will not discharge the fine but as others said any good lawyer will get that ticket negated. Having said that, I would ask someone you trust in the office who to hire, like any other profession there are quality differences and the lawyers that have the relationships in the courthouse are the ones to ****.

Ed Hughes

I don't know what that ticket could be "reduced" to? Crossing the double line into HOV lane is a pretty big ticket, usually. If you are ever driving at speed in the HOV in SoCal next to crawling traffic in the other lanes, and someone slides over to the HOV, it is evident why. But, I've no experience on hiring attorneys for tix. Good luck

LI911

I'm assuming it was a Nassau County (Highway Patrol) ticket? If so and you go to court (Cooper St.) they'll very likely reduce it to a parking ticket ~$100 and no points....assuming your license is clean you won't have to say a word, the ADA normally just tells you what he or she can do....no reason to pay tickets in Nassau without going to court, they always get reduced (within reason) - if it was a village ticket, then I have no idea. Suffolk is totally different, they won't reduce it.

I got the same ticket in Nassau (crossing into the HOV) and this is exactly what happened - parking ticket no points

Matt Lane

After last nights Leafs/Habs debacle, I would have thrown the book at you, personally.



Cheers

Matt

NYC993

First, I'm surprised NY and Canada DMVs communicate like this.

I'm from NJ, and got ticket in NY. NJ and NY do exchange information (CT for example doesn't). My ticket wasn't major, but still carried 2 points. Here is what I did.
When I got my letter with pre-court date, I called the court and found out number/fax of District Attorney.
Sent a fax saying how the situation was questionable and that my attorney thinks that ticket won't hold up and that i have clean driving record and intend to preserve it, but that I understand that this will require time and money on both sides and would be willing to pay non-moving violation ticket (e.g. parking ticket), which doesn't show up on driving record. Plus I live 3 hours away and it's very difficult for me to spend 6 hours going there and back for court.

Then I called district attorney, who sounded like a young woman. She asked me a couple questions, and said she would fax me new form with parking violation and that I would just have to sign it and send it to court. I did that, and then a week later got a letter from court asking me to pay 75 bucks (as I understand court decides how much you have to pay, so I had no idea how much ticket would be). I'm pretty sure that's all attorneys do, They probable know all DA's and take them our for dinner once a week.

The rumor I heard why this works is if your ticket is given by state trooper and you pay, money goes to the state. If ticket is local (parking ticket) money goes to town where court is. So the DA and courts have incentive to give you non-moving violation ticket.

Hope this helps.

crw

I haven't lived on LI in 23+ years.

When I was 21 I got a (speeding ticket) 55mph in a 25mph zone in a speed trap town called Orient Point on the north shore of LI.

The office told me to just go to court and say that "I might have been going 5mph" over the limit.

It was kind of like the Dukes of Hazzard:

- the town had 2 offices
- 1 judge
- 1 DA

Prior to the hearing, the DA came out and asked the crowd of 50 people (all of who had speeding tickets) if any wanted to discuss their case.

They changed mine to a tailight violation with a $150 fine (which was alot of $ back in the '81).

Alos, I had to do a defensive driving class - but no license points.