Speeding ticket

[lock n' load]

I was pulled over today in Rossville, Ga for speeding. The officer said I was doing 48 in a 30 (I wasn't paying attention to my speedometer). Anyways, he ran my license but never asked about my TN HCP. I had just left work and was not carrying therefore I didn't mention it, otherwise I would have. I do have several questions though. 1. How much does a speeding ticket cost in GA? There was no fee on the ticket. The officer told me to call a number on it to find out how much I would pay. 2. Would I be better off paying the fine or fighting it in court? 3. If a person has an out of state HCP, does it not register when they run your license? This is the first ticket I have ever gotten since I started driving 15 years ago.

[Garufa]

I was pulled over today in Rossville, Ga for speeding. The officer said I was doing 48 in a 30 (I wasn't paying attention to my speedometer). Anyways, he ran my license but never asked about my TN HCP. I had just left work and was not carrying therefore I didn't mention it, otherwise I would have. I do have several questions though. 1. How much does a speeding ticket cost in GA? There was no fee on the ticket. The officer told me to call a number on it to find out how much I would pay. 2. Would I be better off paying the fine or fighting it in court? 3. If a person has an out of state HCP, does it not register when they run your license? This is the first ticket I have ever gotten since I started driving 15 years ago.

Question: How much does a speeding ticket cost in GA?

Answer: The officer told me to call a number on it to find out how much I would pay.

How are you going to fight 18 miles over the speed limit? Pay the fine and move on. Chances are your insurance will never know. Out of state violations have never been made known to mine. Even in this day and age, all LE agencies are not linked by some great common computer system. Chances are your HCP may not have even registered when he ran your DL, or he just did not care.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Garufa

[vontar]

I have had 2 moving Violations, one in KY and one in OH, both many years ago, neither effected my insurance. My insurance even found out about the on in OH, as I was blamed for a non contact accident. I got a failure to yield ticket. I had to tell my insurance agent about it. My rate never changed. The one in KY was speeding, 65 in a 55.

[vontar]

Actually check this out

Driver License Compact - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All states are members except for Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee (dropped out in 1997)

You might be good, pay it and not worry. Lesson learned.

[kb4ns]

I've never been able to figure out exactly how it works. I can say, though, that many times when I run a DL, I see out of state violations on TN DLs. When the history comes up, there are multiple columns (one for the event date, one for the action date, one for the offense description, etc.). One of the very last columns is "County". If, for example, you got a ticket in Shelby Co, it shows a "79" which is the county number for Shelby Co. I often see a state code "AR" or "VA" or whatever in the county code column.

So the best statement would be "maybe it'll show up, maybe it wont". If GA doesn't participate in the compact, there's probably a better chance of it not showing up. My guess is that if another state bothers to tell TN, they'll put it on your record, but if the other state doesn't report it, you're in the clear.

[EMTRN]

Dispatch gives me HCP status for TN whenever I run a DL. I have to request out of state HCP status.

[USMCJG]

I can say from personal experience that several years ago some out of state speeding tickets would show up on your license and insurance. Kentucky and North Carolina both showed up on mine, but Virginia did not.

As for whether or not you should fight it, that depends on a couple of things. Do you have any points on your license? And is your insurance likely to go up over a single speeding ticket? If the answer to both of these questions is no, then just pay the fine and go on with your life. If the answer to one or both of these questions is yes, then it might be best to lawyer up.

It will ALWAYS cost more to hire a lawyer than it will to just pay the ticket. In my experience, if you do hire a lawyer it will ALWAYS reduce your penalty- significantly. Don't ask me how I know all this.

[VERO1]

Just curious, If you fight the ticket, what will your defense be?

[lock n' load]

Thanks for the info everyone. I guess I will just pay the fine and go on. I really don't want to have the added expense of court costs added to it by going to court or getting a lawyer. What was weird was he passed me going the opposite way and must have turned around. Do they have radars that detect an oncoming vehicles while they are in motion? I always thought they would have to be parked somewhere with a radar gun but maybe technology has changed with radars. At any rate, the officer was polite and professional and even though I don't like the fact I have to pay a fine, I know that he was just doing what he was paid to do...enforce the law. I guess I will have to try harder to slow down even though it is hard to do sometimes.

[EMTRN]

. Do they have radars that detect an oncoming vehicles while they are in motion?

All day long!

[Pain103]

Radar works moving or stationary. It can get readings from car going away, coming towards, in front in same direction, and in rear same direction. Just my opinion if it were me I would pay an out of state ticket and be done you got about a 50/50 shot if TN finds out and puts it on your driving history. Now if it was in TN I would say do the driving school and keep it off your record.

[strickj]

I was pulled over today in Rossville, Ga for speeding. The officer said I was doing 48 in a 30 (I wasn't paying attention to my speedometer). Anyways, he ran my license but never asked about my TN HCP. I had just left work and was not carrying therefore I didn't mention it, otherwise I would have. I do have several questions though. 1. How much does a speeding ticket cost in GA? There was no fee on the ticket. The officer told me to call a number on it to find out how much I would pay. 2. Would I be better off paying the fine or fighting it in court? 3. If a person has an out of state HCP, does it not register when they run your license? This is the first ticket I have ever gotten since I started driving 15 years ago.

In Rossville you're better off paying the fine. Small town courts, yanno!

[kb4ns]

All day long!

Even on Sundays!

[Guest Glock23ForMe]

Even on Sundays!

And they can even be ASLEEP in the car and still know how fast you're going...

[kb4ns]

And they can even be ASLEEP in the car and still know how fast you're going...

Not sure exactly what you're referring to.

I do, however, miss the good old days when you could set the squelch on a radar unit to not activate until a target was going over a certain speed. You could pull up on the side of the road and snooze undisturbed until something came along that was stop-worthy.

[vontar]

However, Speed detectors can be wrong.

Slip effect. Wrong car targetted.

not blaming LEO's, but the machines are not prefect.

This video is from England but it shows the principle.

[Guest Glock23ForMe]

Not sure exactly what you're referring to.

I do, however, miss the good old days when you could set the squelch on a radar unit to not activate until a target was going over a certain speed. You could pull up on the side of the road and snooze undisturbed until something came along that was stop-worthy.

That's exactly what I was talking about.... They can't do that anymore?

[kb4ns]

However, Speed detectors can be wrong.

Slip effect. Wrong car targetted.

not blaming LEO's, but the machines are not prefect.

This video is from England but it shows the principle.

"Slip" effect is something that someone pretty much has to try real hard to do. Most units used by US law enforcement agencies will not allow it. If I try to do it with my Laser Atlanta unit, it will give me an error code. I tried it when our motors units got a Kustom Signals unit and couldn't get it to do it either.

That's exactly what I was talking about.... They can't do that anymore?

Nope. They haven't made a model that can do that in a looong time. It leads you to operate radar without a tracking history, which is the wrong (illegal) way to do it. That bs flew in courts for a while, but not in the past decade or two.

[kb4ns]

Just to clarify, "tracking history" is where the officer actually observes you speeding, estimates your speed, then uses radar (or lidar) to verify your speed. There's more to it than that, but that's an overall idea. I could write speeding tickets all day long without a radar or lidar unit if I wanted to. All the radar does is give an exact number to put on the ticket. After a while, you get quite good at your speed estimations. I can sit on the side of the road without a radar and tell you (within 3 mph) how fast every car is going. All the radar does is tell me to put "56" on the ticket instead of "55".

Hope that helps. I know that a lot of folks who aren't LE are really confused by how radar and lidar works. I'm a Radar/Lidar instructor, so if there's anything you're curious about, holler at me and I'll be more than happy to help out.

[TNRobocop]

If you get a ticket in GA, it will go on your TN DL record, but only if Rossville reports it.

My wife got a ticket when she was a Doctoral Intern in Augusta and some pissant PD was patrolling the interstate highway and gave her a ticket in 2008. It showed on her TN DL early 2009.

So yes it will show from GA if they report it.

If you fight a ticket in court, expect to lose and additionally expect to pay court costs on top of the ticket of at least $50.

Pay it and forget it if you were actually doing the speed they cited you.

[Links2k]

Not sure exactly what you're referring to.

I do, however, miss the good old days when you could set the squelch on a radar unit to not activate until a target was going over a certain speed. You could pull up on the side of the road and snooze undisturbed until something came along that was stop-worthy.

I thought only us old MPs did that while working the midnight shift. Those were the days.

[Pain103]

Looks like he is panning the laser/lidar unit the video cuts from him as he begins moving the unit. This is improper operator handling and may cause a false reading that is not a hidden secret and we as radar/lidar instructors teach officers not to do that. If some citizens were to be introduced to how officers are properly trained and the principles behind the units I would say there would be a lot less doubt about them. But you always will have people arguing about something.

[tnhawk]

I've had tickets in TN as well other states that didn't get reported. Unless you've got a very good reason to convince a judge to dismiss it, why add court time and costs to it. After hours of researching radar and loosing a half day of work, I did get a speeding ticket dismissed for court costs. Savings (fine minus court costs) - $5.00. Gas - $14.00. Time off work - $136.00. Experience - priceless.