goin2drt

Preface this by saying I am speaking from experience in CA not Georgia so I do not know how your system works.

First get your appearance date. For us we have to first send in the "bail" or ticket amount and plead not guilty. You will then get a court date. Wait 15 days before the court date, not less than that or you will not be granted an extension (its actual 10 business days). Get your second court date. Then do that one more time.

Now you are going to your court date. About 60% of the time (in my experience, not fact) the cop doesn't show and you are free to go. If the cop shows you then have a couple of options. The judge will offer you traffic school BEFORE you can and try the case. You pay the fee and you go to traffic school online. The second option is to go up and try the case. You will not win because you were speeding. You can try to get the fine reduced and you can HOPE The judge will lower your fine and grant traffic school but no guarantee, 100% based on the judge and like going to Vegas, win some lose some.

Now the other thing you can do in CA. When you first get your ticket they send you the ticket fee and a date you have to submit your plea by. On that date you can go to court to submit your plea in person. At that time is when the judge will "offer" you a deal. He will say if you plead guilty he will reduce your fine and grant you traffic school. They really don't want to brings cops into court. They try everything to settle without taking them off the streets.

Good luck.

clubrcr

Thanks, all this information is helpful.

The court date, or appearance date is written on the ticket. I am being told if I take it to court and I am not represented, and considering the officer shows up, the best I can hope for is paying a fine and court costs that fits the speed I was doing. With this, there is a possibility of nothing be placed on my record for insurance purposes.

As goin2drt pointed out, I have read that postponing the court date is a great strategy to hope the officer will not appear. I am thinking that might not work since this is a very small town and unlike a big town, the police could easily change his schedule to be there.

If I go with an attorney, there is a possibility that the ticket could get thrown out over inconsistent data on the ticket vs. what actually happened, i.e. radar was not used and he said it was and it was marked raining and it was not.

I guess it's a crap shoot, but I am just stubborn enough to pursue going to court.

clubrcr

If I hire an attorney, which I am thinking to do but have not done yet, I personally would not have to go to court, as he would go and represent me.

goin2drt

In CA the officer WILL NOT be at this date. This is your court appearance date to say guilty or innocent, then the judge provides a trial date if you say not guilty and that is when the cop shows up.

clubrcr

In Georgia and Florida, you automatically are given a court date. They give you plenty of time to pay the ticket before that date. If you don't pay the ticket, you are expected to be present on the court date. I imagine that court date is the same for a period of time that the officer has written tickets, so it makes it easier for him to attend.

If you ignore the court date and not pay a fine, they will put a warrant out for your arrest and automatically suspend your license until you present yourself in court.

goin2drt

Ok if you are sure great. That is what a lot of folks think here, believe me I was in the court room and every one thought they were fighting the ticket that day. When the judge told them it was just there plea date, lots of folks disappointed.

Good luck with your fight.

I hadn't had a ticket in 20 years and over the last 1.5 yrs I got two speeding tickets. Both got dismissed for the cop not showing up luckily. Hope yours goes as well.

clubrcr

You could be right, I just read that Georgia will set an other court date if you plead guilty.

Mike Murphy

Right. Which saves you time but not money. However, in my experience, the costs aren't that far from each other. $450 is what we paid an attorney recently for a ticket, versus $350 when I didn't fight one. Since it's a pain to go to court, take time off, the attorney route for you might be better. You might not even have to take the class.

clubrcr

Give me your insight. Last night I was going through my phone and remembered I have Porsche Car Connect. I had been playing around with it a few weeks ago and set a "Speed Fence" for 85 mph. Speed Fence gives you a notification if the vehicle goes faster than the set speed. I am curious if I can use this information, since I did not get any notifications. Any thoughts....