51 in a 35mph zone

I was going to work today and decided to stop at the bank before clocking in, so I hoped onto the bypass (easiest way) and get off on a small road that leads into town. Right when I'm about to enter town a cop passes me, turns around and pulls me over. He tells me that I was doing 51 in a 35mph zone. I don't recall check my speedometer before he pulled me over, but I suspect it to be correct. This is my first ticket, so all of this is kind of new to me. I believe in taking my medicine, so I will pay the ticket fee. I'm hoping someone could give me advice on how to go about things in court and I'm worried about how much it will affect my insurance. I'm 19 and live in VA. Any advice would be great.

I'm not sure about VA. But look into a law regarding ticket deferrals. In Washington State you can defer one ticket every 7 years. You pay the fine in full and it doesn't go on your record if you are clean for a year. No insurance rate change at all. Just don't get another one within the year or you'll be in sad shape. If that isn't possible, you could always fight it and hope the cop doesn't show up to court. Other than that, I think your best bet is to just pay it, since you are so young your rates could go up quite a bit. Not sure how bad on a first offense though.

Best thing to do instead of just paying the full price of the ticket and then having it on your record for a few years and not to mention your insurance rates rising check with friends that have gotten speeding tickets around there and see if driving school is an option. I live in TN and if you can take driving school it's a 1 hour course here and about 50 bucks but the ticket doesn't go on your record and doesn't change insurance.

You cannot do traffic school in liew of the ticket becasue of your age. Anyone under 20 that receives a ticket has to do a mandatory 8 hr. traffic school. Take a copy of your record to court and ask the DA if he will consider reducing it to a nonmoving violation. If not, try for a 9over violation which is only 3 points. It is worth going to court. Good luck and let us know what happens.

Yeah, plea not guilty. They will set you up with the DA, assistant DA, or the cop who pulled you over, prior to any trial. 99% of the time they will offer you a lesser charge or fine. Remember, the fine isn't what hurts...it's the insurance hike, so focus on getting the points reduced. Try and negotiate with whomever meets with you. Tell them you are willing to pay the fine, you just don't want your insurance to go up. Many times, they will drop the points entirely and just charge you a fine.

This way, you get a lesser charge, you don't waste the court's time, and the county still gets their money. Everyone ends up relatively satisfied.

Like I said, that is how it ends up 99% of the time. If for whatever reason, it does go to court, just try and ask the judge for the same thing.

Remember to dress up, be polite, and don't use any stupid excuses. They have heard them all before, and don't want to hear them again.

If he didn't get you on radar, definitely follow Igovert's advice -- you may get out of it entirely if that's the case.

here in England tickets don't affect our insurance but it can't be that much. Im amazed he actually bothered to turn around, ive pasted police cars at much faster speeds and they never seem to do anything

I'd say he got him on radar if he immediately turned around and pulled him over, unless he was just making up a random number after he saw you going "fast"; Anything's possible, though.

I was going to work today and decided to stop at the bank before clocking in, so I hoped onto the bypass (easiest way) and get off on a small road that leads into town. Right when I'm about to enter town a cop passes me, turns around and pulls me over. He tells me that I was doing 51 in a 35mph zone. I don't recall check my speedometer before he pulled me over, but I suspect it to be correct. This is my first ticket, so all of this is kind of new to me. I believe in taking my medicine, so I will pay the ticket fee. I'm hoping someone could give me advice on how to go about things in court and I'm worried about how much it will affect my insurance. I'm 19 and live in VA. Any advice would be great.

My first ticket was 54 in a 30 in April 05...I cooperated and paid the fine and got my license suspended for 20 days (I was 16 and that's the law in NH)...In August 05 I got pulled over in Maine for 52 in a 35 (I didn't realize how fast I was going...Woops)...I went to court because there was no way I could afford a $180 ticket. In Maine, it's not the actual cop who pulled you over that shows up...It's a county person or something. In court, they asked if I wanted a full trial or a negotiation. I negotiated with the cop to reduce the ticket.

Basically explain the situation calmly and you can get it reduced or not have to pay at all. They do care that you took the time to fight it.

As for my insurance, it increased 5 bucks a month after my first ticket and it will be not increasing for this coming year. Things are probably different in VA but I wouldn't worry too much about it.