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[Astral]

So I've been driving for nearly 9 years now, and generally am a careful driver. I've been in a single wreck with my pprevious car of 6 years, but that was entirely the fault of the guy behind me on his cell phone.

However, today, I was on 4 hours of sleep, and felt the need to pass the people in front of me, going (allegedly) 73 MPH in a 55 zone that regularly has traffic going 65-70, after just getting on the interstate ramp. As my luck would have it, a state trooper was in wait, and I got to feel the fear and humiliation of getting pulled over by a cop, and sitting for ten minutes (whuch felt like longer) as he slowly wrote everything up.

Prior to this, I had not received a ticket. What do I do to address this, how best do I go about doing so, and is there any way to prevent it from affecting my insurance negatively?

As a final "fuck you" the guy also tested the tinting on my window and found it to be too dark, so I have to check in with my dealership who sold me the car after the above mentioned wreck; luckily they're good people, and should help me address it at no charge to me, but that's what I get for buying a car whose previous owner was from California.

Best of all, I was en route to the airport at the time for a business trip, so I won't even be in the state for the next two weeks. The court date appeared to be in January,  though I am unsure if that is an exact date or a "before this time" sort of thing.

[BurnedToast]

There should be instructions on the back, if not check your state website and they should have a section for speeding tickets. IIRC you just sign the ticket (admitting guilt), then mail the ticket + a check to the courthouse and that's it. You might even be able to do it online these days.

You don't actually have to go into court unless you want to contest it, but unless you have a good reason (and "everyone else drives 70!" is not a good reason) your only chance is just hoping the cop does not show up, so I'd just pay it and get it over with (especially since you're out of town).

As for the insurance company, the state does not inform the insurance company you got a ticket (and afaik you aren't legally obligated to inform them either) so they won't even know unless they check your record. Since they have to pay to check it, they typically don't check very often (once every few years). On top of that, many insurance companies won't raise your rate (or raise it only a trivial amount) for a single speeding ticket, especially if you are a long time customer with an otherwise clean record.

Edit: if you're really worried about the insurance, most states have some sort of safe driving course you can take to get some or all of the points removed, and you can look into that. But I wouldn't worry about it too much if it's only a few points.

[Thief^]

(and afaik you aren't legally obligated to inform them either)

Really? In the UK it forms part of your insurance contract. If you don't tell them your insurance is invalid!

[BurnedToast]

(and afaik you aren't legally obligated to inform them either)

Really? In the UK it forms part of your insurance contract. If you don't tell them your insurance is invalid!

Yeah, really. Here in 'merka you can just keep your mouth shut and it's their responsibility to check.

A further google search suggests that the rate insurance companies check varies drastically. Some *never* check unless you get in an accident or something major (so they may never find out about it), while some check every time you renew so they will probably discover it before the points are removed (and may or may not do anything about it). Other just check people randomly so who knows if they find it or not?

So I guess cross your fingers and hope you have a lazy insurance company I guess, or look into the safe driving class (or whatever your state calls it).

[Zangi]

Depending on the state you got your ticket in... how much you go over the speed limit determines the amount of 'points' you get.  I know for a fact that you get points if you go over 20 in New York state.

As for your state, it may or may not have different tiers of speeding.  (In NY, it is 5, 10 and 20.)  So check which one you got hit with, either a 10 or 15... or more? 
Best bet is to check with a local lawyer who knows the speeding laws of the state.  You'll probably have to throw in a consultation fee and what not.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer.
1. Find out what you are getting charged for.  The ticket should(? Depending on state?) have the codes for whatever infractions you are getting charged for.  You can look it up online, maybe.(You can in NY)
2. Determine if the tickets will give you points or not.  (Lawyer will probably know.)
3. If it does give you points, maybe you should contest it...
4. Contesting a ticket and showing up, either yourself or having a lawyer go in your place has a higher chance of bringing the ticket down to a moving violation or at least something that won't give you points.  (IF you are not a repeat offender, also if you were not an arse to the cop, if he shows up.)
5. If you just plead guilty, you'll get hit for what the ticket says.  No contest.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer.

[Orange Wizard]

Not sure if it applies in Glorious Murica, but in NZ you can get some convictions and minor crimes removed from the record so it doesn't impact stuff like insurance or employment further down the track.

[nenjin]

In America, points lost from your license are returned after 3 years. Not sure if that's a state-by-state rule or not.

[gimlet]

SOME states have a procedure where you can come to court, plead guilty and get some kind of deal to keep the points off your record if you don't get another violation in some period like 6 months.  I know in Indiana it was called "supervision", some states require "traffic school".   Well worth doing if you've got the time to show up in court, increased insurance rates suck...

[nenjin]

It's called STOP Class here. Basically, you don't go to court, you don't get the fine. You have to sit in a class for 8 hours and get taught, again, how not to break the law. You can only do it once every couple of years, but if you do it the whole charge is waived.

[Astral]

I suppose the worst part of it was twofold; not only was I literally just off the ramp (not even on that stretch of highway for 30 seconds) but he also didn't like my window tinting, using some device to test it, which was unchanged from when I bought the car about three months ago.

I also couldn't hear him well over the traffic going 60+ MPH next to us, so I don't know if I screwed myself by signing the tickets he gave me, nor what he meant about my tinting. Basically, I succumbed to the fear response of signing whatever the big scary police guy gave me to sign, with no real knowledge of what it meant.

Thanks for your advice, guys, though as I mentioned it will be at least another week or two (not counting the holidays) until I'll even be able to address it while back in my state, so any more ideas, point of views, or prior experience would be welcome.

This whole ordeal is starting to stress me out, as I'm not home,  in a hotel, and on a daywalker sleeping schedule, whereas I normally go to bed at 6am, not getting up then, so I'm not sleeping all that well. At least thinking about it as a problem to solve, with a possibly good resolution,  makes me feel a bit better about it.

[nenjin]

I also couldn't hear him well over the traffic going 60+ MPH next to us, so I don't know if I screwed myself by signing the tickets he gave me, nor what he meant about my tinting.

All that signature means is that you agree to appear in court to address the ticket, IF you decide to not pay the fine directly instead. It's not an admission of guilt. Paying the ticket is.

If you'd refused to sign that ticket, he probably would have hauled you off to jail. (Assuming, that is, you're white.)

If this is outside your home state....you can try to just leave the state and not pay the ticket. But I wouldn't recommend it. Many states have agreements to share traffic data, and so an infraction in one state CAN affect your driving record in your home state if they have such an arrangement. It was less common in the 90s but I imagine it's way, way more common now. If your states don't share that kind of data, then you can (sort of) ignore that ticket if you want to roll like that.

[smeeprocket]

I wouldn't bother with your tinting, unless you are really worried about a future fine. That's all you'll get and that is very unlikely.

[nenjin]

It's also a move every cop who just wants to fuck with you will try. I get pulled over regularly for no front license plate (it's the law here, and I have a fiberglas bumper I'm not about to drill into.) Every cop that stops me for it asks me the usual question (why haven't you done anything about it), and then proceeds to go "I'm going to check your tint too."

One cop even tried to tell me my tint was too dark and I told him point blank "Look, the [local tint shop] said that was as dark as they legally could make it. If it's too dark, that is on them." That tends to get them to go the fuck away.

[Zangi]

This whole ordeal is starting to stress me out, as I'm not home,  in a hotel, and on a daywalker sleeping schedule, whereas I normally go to bed at 6am, not getting up then, so I'm not sleeping all that well. At least thinking about it as a problem to solve, with a possibly good resolution,  makes me feel a bit better about it.

There really isn't much to be stressed about here, except for the fact that you gotta pay someone some amount of money.  Its not going to land you in jail or someone's shit-list(unless you are/were a douchebag to the cop/judge...).

Just think of it like having to go to school and sitting in a crowded room full of other students waiting to present their project to the teacher while you sit through it.  (I reckon the judges tend to go through the 'easy' stuff like traffic tickets before going on to other lengthier stuff.)
That is if you plan on showing up yourself.  (There is always the option of getting a lawyer to go in your place.)