[Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Clay, Sorry to hear they got you. I do love those lightning blue Viggen's. Did you go with that or another color (the yellow seems to ring a bell)? In any case, beautiful car. Much, much more distinctive than my Aero but then, I'm trying to avoid notice from the police and a silver 9-5 is pretty understated
In any case, I don't have such a clean record myself (6 more months and it finally starts improving again, whew...) and last year fought a speeding ticket here in Minnesota. I have to second Jeff's advice (Jeff & Royce - thanks for your great site, has helped with my 85 900), get a membership with the NMA. You can go to http://www.motorists.org to sign up.
That said, your reckless driving ticket is probably substantially more serious than a plain speeding (it is in MN). I believe that the last time I looked at the points chart for Progressive (bad record, under-25 single male - Progressive's great), a reckless had the same point structure as a DWU/DUI. It's a serious ticket. In fact, any ticket is probably serious if your record is otherwise clean.
By the way, I believe 25 over or more in Minnesota is immediate grounds for a reckless ticket. You can certainly get one for less given other conditions.
Depending on your relationship with your insurance agent, you may be able to talk to them. I trust my agent and have recieved "hypothetical" quotes in the past without the company finding out. I don't know if this is just that I have a great agent or if they are required to act on your behalf or the companies. Given that, if you're comfortable, try to assess your costs.
As for fighting a ticket, with the NMA's assistance I went to a full trial. It's a long story (maybe I'll type it up this weekend - rather funny actually), but after 3 hours I'd proven with simply physics that it was just plain impossible that the officer got me as he testified. Of course, I was able to elicit the responses I wanted from him, some of which may have been been incorrect but it's his testimony that convicts or acquits me. In any case, the judge would have nothing of it and I lost. So, yes I did get the ticket and it hurt. However, 3 of 4 speeding cases that day were dismissed due to some portion of the prosecution (1 attorney and 2 officers) not showing up for court! Those are pretty good odds. I was the only one that could even go to trial. I think perhaps I pissed off both the attorney and officer with all my rescheduling so they may have been more likely to show up.
I also think that showing up for my pretrial meeting in a suit, briefcase, and palmpilot did not help. Perhaps the BMW 328i listed on the ticket had something to do with it also. I was never offered a chance to plea-bargain it down, even with a clean record. Bummer. I probably did a good job of casting myself in the "yuppie" role that the prosecuting attorney's office loves to nail.
As another possible benefit, I really learned a lot representing myself in court. I'm not saying you should do this but it was a great experience for me. If you can't really afford to lose, do not go this route. What's that phrase, "The lawyer representing himself has a fool for a client"?
Good luck!
Bryce
00 9-5 Aero
85 900S
, Thu, 30 Nov 2000 21:58:44
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
