Hello,

 

Being a transplant to NJ, how do these tickets work? I grew up in Orange county, NY and you could "negotiate" with the officer at court before it started. Usually resulted in a "broken speedometer or emergency brake cable and a small fine and no points. My wife got a ticket saturday and it looks like it is $130 fine and 2 points. Is there an option at or before court, or should we just pay it and send her to defensive driving? thanks

 

TripCarl

Plea it down to Unsafe Driving. In NJ the first 2 offenses are higher fines, but no points.

http://www.njlaws.com/unsafe_driving.htm

NJ is making the crosswalk violations a big deal. They amended the law a couple years ago to make it more strict. What may happen is it could get plead down to unsafe operation. No points but the fine will be heavy. Maybe two to three time the ticket price. They just want more money don't care about the points.

If the officier does not show up, respectfully request the judge to dismiss your ticket because you are unable to question your witness. State that you have made the effort to show up today. They will probably not reschedule you. (please do not take this as legal advice.)

For this you would have to plead not guilty and then receive a trial date. The officer will then be subpoenaed for trial. If he can't show up for any reason you will be rescheduled. Officers are given multiple opportunities to show up before a case is dismissed.

For this you would have to plead not guilty and then receive a trial date. The officer will then be subpoenaed for trial. If he can't show up for any reason you will be rescheduled. Officers are given multiple opportunities to show up before a case is dismissed.

yes, keep rescheduling. they can't possibly show up to every ticket they write. the judge would crazy to reschedule you more than 3 times.

You will stop getting rescheduled if YOU keep rescheduling. Sometimes if it's local the officer can be called in off patrol if a trial is started and the officer is working. If you go to trial and lose then you get the fine,points and court costs which will probably be the same if you just take a plea right from the start.

You will stop getting rescheduled if YOU keep rescheduling. Sometimes if it's local the officer can be called in off patrol if a trial is started and the officer is working. If you go to trial and lose then you get the fine,points and court costs which will probably be the same if you just take a plea right from the start.

no way they are coming in off patrol. traffic court usually starts in the evening & there are way too many tickets to challenge by officers.

I never heard of court costs in traffic court. there are probably 150 people at any one session. are they going to charge everyone who loses?

There's always court costs.....

There's always court costs.....

ask the traffic court lawyers. many times you will be faced with a reduced fine from the judge. they just want to move things along cause there's a ton of people waiting.

Demand a jury trial.

 

no way they are coming in off patrol. traffic court usually starts in the evening & there are way too many tickets to challenge by officers.

I never heard of court costs in traffic court. there are probably 150 people at any one session. are they going to charge everyone who loses?

 

It happens. Trust me I have been to court enough. Most people don't want a trial so it's not an issue.

 

 

ask the traffic court lawyers. many times you will be faced with a reduced fine from the judge. they just want to move things along cause there's a ton of people waiting.

 

Again wrong. If you take a plea on a mover you incur a higher fine. If you fight a ticket with a trial you will pay court costs.

It happens. Trust me I have been to court enough. Most people don't want a trial so it's not an issue.

often time there are 150 people in the courtroom challenging their tickets & you only see at most 3 or 4 cops on the side.

wouldn't you think you'll see at least 15 cops if each cop issued at most 10 tickets?

due to scheduling & when you received the ticket, it's difficult if impossible to have a 1 cop ratio per 20 or more challengers in the courtroom.

do you work for the town or something?

Most take plea deals and only if a trial is scheduled will a cop be called in. An officer is not required on a first appearance for a defendant. Im not going to keep going back and forth on this and derail a thread. Think what you want

Most take plea deals and only if a trial is scheduled will a cop be called in. An officer is not required on a first appearance for a defendant. Im not going to keep going back and forth on this and derail a thread. Think what you want

ok, no one is right. different towns do things differently.

you & I have positively offered the originator different views & good points.

I bid you the originator of the thread GOOD LUCK

Hello,

 

Being a transplant to NJ, how do these tickets work? I grew up in Orange county, NY and you could "negotiate" with the officer at court before it started. Usually resulted in a "broken speedometer or emergency brake cable and a small fine and no points. My wife got a ticket saturday and it looks like it is $130 fine and 2 points. Is there an option at or before court, or should we just pay it and send her to defensive driving? thanks

 

TripCarl

Looks like a $200 ticket and 2 points.

 

My advice would be to check with your insurance company to see if they are going to surcharge you for this minor infraction. Most people want to dodge points because they are afraid of insurance surcharges without realizing that not every ticket or accident causes their rates to go up.

 

If they aren't going to surcharge you, pay the ticket and eat the points. It will cost you less money and the points go away after a while anyway.

 

NJ LOVES people who accept pleads to non point violations. The surcharge the state collects dwarfs the amount of the regular ticket fine and people think the State did them a favor because there are "No Points" associated with the ticket.

 

So I'd check out how much the ticket is actually going to cost you (fine plus insurance surcharge < if any >) and make your decision based on that.

 

Naturally, if you wife didn't do it then fight the ticket. That can always be fun too.

schedule the court date for the ticket with an initial not guilty plea. Go in, you will talk to the prosecutor first and he will probably plea down... If your not satisfied with what they offer either plead not guilty or guilty to the original ticket... Set up a court date and let it dragg out for a month or 2.trust me these towns get pissed when u try and work the system... They will get the cop there even if it takes 2 months and if he shows up you just wasted all that time fore nothing and get no plea deal. i've seen friends get court dates re-scheduled 3 times just to get the cop in the court room.

I got this twice last year, one for stopping about one foot in the crosswalk, judge amended the charge to obstructing of a crosswalk, $85 and no points plus $30 court cost, second for not stopping while they were trying to cross.. if ur wife was stopped at the crosswalk I say asked for that amended charge, if she was driving and passed by while pedestrians were trying to walk, like I did the second time, then tell the judge that the officer didn't see that the pedestrians stopped and motioned with their hand to let her go through, that also worked for me. Good luck

 

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Appreciate all the advice, I'll compile our options. In New York State, (Not NYC) it was pretty simple, speeding ticket or other minor traffic issue, plead not guilty and speak to the officer at court before called, and they would reduce it to avoid points, town got its money and driver left paying a fine and the double the amount in court costs. No points

As pointed out, I am sure the prosecutor will negotiate. Last week I was in court for a cell phone ticket from a Monmouth County city. I tried to negotiate but the prosecutor said he couldn't do anything and in fact the costs went up to $139 instead of $130. I spokw with him again outside and it went down to $58 for court costs. The officer showed up and it was squashed. Btw, This officer was the one who told me to fight it AFTER I was written the ticket and we talked. He saw my FL CCW and we talked. He wasn't a douche bag by any means but wasn't the best starting off. I was on a conference call on my cell while driving. I was dead wrong.

 

Granted, this took 3 hours to take care of, but if I had to pay the fine, I woulda been there another hour cause the line was very long.

 

Do not plead to unsafe driving. The costs will be about $500. reserve that for 4 point violations. If you didn't feel like negotiating, then just pay the fine and do the safe driver course. Another thing to remember is that with that course, there is a certain amount of time you can't get a ticket..Not 100% sure but there is fine print on it.

Do not plead to unsafe driving. The costs will be about $500. reserve that for 4 point violations.

 

Yeah - I did that for a 3 pointer.

Another thing to remember is that with that course, there is a certain amount of time you can't get a ticket..Not 100% sure but there is fine print on it.

4 years before you can dip into that well again. better off saving that for the big one.

4 years before you can dip into that well again. better off saving that for the big one.

 

You can have use two unsafe drivings before points are assessed within a five year period. Once you have your third, it's a 4 point ticket anyway. The statute, 39:4-97.2 give you five years before your records is basically wiped clean of them.

 

Also, prosecutors are reluctant to downgrade 4 point tickets to unsafe driving. It happens, but not all the time.

Also, prosecutors are reluctant to downgrade 4 point tickets to unsafe driving. It happens, but not all the time.

 

I Lawyered up - they did it for a 3 pointer.

The Ridgewood prosecutor will likely offer you unsafe which will be 0 points the first time with a $50-100 fine to the town and a $250 surcharge to the state (plus court costs)

 

Any charges settled in court will always incur the additional $25-30 court cost

 

But keep in mind that insurance companies in NJ are just as likely to assess surcharges on unsafe as they are your original charge. The unsafe charge may even carry more "insurance points" than your original moving charge even though there are no MVC points attached

 

For a 2 point crosswalk ticket I think it would be cheaper in the long run to pay the smaller fine and take the 2 MVC points which will expire from the MVC on the one year anniversary of your summons, provided you don't receive additional MVC points in the meantime

 

If you really know what you're doing it would be worth it to pay the $30 court cost so that you can plead NG and talk to the prosecutor and beg for your charge to be amended to the old fashioned 39:4-67 "Obstruction of traffic" which is around $50, no MVC points and almost certainly no insurance points. This is not a beginner move

 

Only get a lawyer for this if you're sure they play golf with officers of the same court on the weekend. Otherwise it's a waste of money

 

In my roaring 20s I was invited to visit almost every court house in Bergen County and a fair amount of others throughout the state. Let me know if you have any questions about this side of the bench

often time there are 150 people in the courtroom challenging their tickets & you only see at most 3 or 4 cops on the side.

wouldn't you think you'll see at least 15 cops if each cop issued at most 10 tickets?

due to scheduling & when you received the ticket, it's difficult if impossible to have a 1 cop ratio per 20 or more challengers in the courtroom.

do you work for the town or something?

 

This is how it works in all the towns I've been to:

 

Defendant shows up for their court date as required or to fight their ticket. The prosecutor chats with each one and they do a little wheel and deal and try to work something out. If they can't work something out, the defendant waits until all the people that made a deal go before the judge and then they plead not guilty. The judge then schedules a new court date.

You can have use two unsafe drivings before points are assessed within a five year period. Once you have your third, it's a 4 point ticket anyway. The statute, 39:4-97.2 give you five years before your records is basically wiped clean of them.

 

Also, prosecutors are reluctant to downgrade 4 point tickets to unsafe driving. It happens, but not all the time.

 

Not true. I did a 97.2 a few months ago on 4 points. Prosecutor said he would drop 2 points. I asked for the 97.2 and he said if you want to pay the fine and surcharge he had no problem with that. Cost was $365. Better than having the points and higher ins costs. Funny thing he told me was that in NJ ins companies usually forgive the first 2 points. I said. Ya right! I told him they look for any way to jack up ins rates so I took the 97.2.

Not true. I did a 97.2 a few months ago on 4 points. Prosecutor said he would drop 2 points. I asked for the 97.2 and he said if you want to pay the fine and surcharge he had no problem with that. Cost was $365. Better than having the points and higher ins costs. Funny thing he told me was that in NJ ins companies usually forgive the first 2 points. I said. Ya right! I told him they look for any way to jack up ins rates so I took the 97.2.

 

I didn't say it never happens. The word "reluctant" implies that it does happen. Depends where you are. I know in the courts I appear in on a fairly regular basis, that they don't do it as a matter of course.

 

 

Not true. I did a 97.2 a few months ago on 4 points. Prosecutor said he would drop 2 points. I asked for the 97.2 and he said if you want to pay the fine and surcharge he had no problem with that. Cost was $365. Better than having the points and higher ins costs. Funny thing he told me was that in NJ ins companies usually forgive the first 2 points. I said. Ya right! I told him they look for any way to jack up ins rates so I took the 97.2.

I've gotten 4pointers knocked down to unsafe... If the state can get money they will take it... I've even been offered it for a 3rd time and I told them no because of the 5 year rule. t