Didn't Stop at Stop Sign Violation

SamIchi

SamIchi

macrumors 68030
Going to work last week, I got pulled over for not stopping at the stop sign. I don't really plan on fighting it. I probably didn't come to a complete stop, but what are my options?

- Plead not guilty, and fight the ticket.
- Plead guilty, and pay the fine.

I guess my question is about traffic school. Do I have to attend before pleading guilty? Or do I have to pay the fine then take a course? Does the court appoint this? Do they give this as an option or is it on my side to take care of it?

The ticket doesn't have the amount for the fine. Their website is like from the 90's and doesn't have my ticket on record. I've called the number on the ticket the past 2 days, with me waiting more than 30 mins to reach no one. So now I turn to you guys cause I just want to get this situation taken care of asap.

I'm not really sure what to do, last time I had a moving violation was like 6 years ago for speeding, so I'm kind of lost in this area. I'm in Ohio for work and school, I have a NY license.

I'd appreciate any advice pertaining to my questions or just traffic violations in general, thanks.
 
The court may give you an option for traffic school, it's up to the judge. You can ask at your court date.

I did it once. It's tied with jury duty for the most boring 8 hours of my life, but it kept the points off my license.
 
Plead "no consist" or something like that. You are not pleading guilty but not fighting it either. The traffic school part is something you do after that and often times you can take them on line.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
Plead "no consist" or something like that. You are not pleading guilty but not fighting it either. The traffic school part is something you do after that and often times you can take them on line.
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That's pleading "No contest." you want to check all your options, but it sounds as though traffic school would be good, if available.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
Plead "no consist" or something like that. You are not pleading guilty but not fighting it either. The traffic school part is something you do after that and often times you can take them on line.
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What does that do? The reasons why I want to plead guilty is so I can just pay the fine and get it over with. I would miss a day of work, and go to a court all day, not what I want.
 
SamIchi said:
What does that do? The reasons why I want to plead guilty is so I can just pay the fine and get it over with. I would miss a day of work, and go to a court all day, not what I want.
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Traffic school, at least in California, keeps the court from reporting your ticket to DMV as it gets dismissed with successful completion of traffic school. The big advantage of that is that if the DMV doesn't know about it, they don't report it to your insurance company. The insurance company is the one you take traffic school for, imho, to keep the d@mn thing off your record and to prevent them from upping your insurance premium.
 
I agree with others, that you should go to traffic school if it is an option. If not, just pay the ticket and be done with it.
 
SamIchi said:
What does that do? The reasons why I want to plead guilty is so I can just pay the fine and get it over with. I would miss a day of work, and go to a court all day, not what I want.
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That's perhaps your worst option. The rise in insurance premiums alone will bend you over. :eek:

Typically you can choose "deferred adjudication," or something similar, depending on your jurisdiction. You don't have to go to court to do this.

This is not unlike pleading "no contest" - you pay a fine and a fee, go to traffic school (you can do it online), and you're done with it - but with no hit to your driving record, and hence with no hit to your insurance premiums.
 
I will add online traffic school is a JOKE. In the 3 times I have done it I semi paid attention the first time I did it.
For 2nd time if they had one of those question about the slide before hand to see if I was paying attention I hit back read the stupid slide then went forward answered the question I did the same on the 3rd.

First time I read the slides while watching a move. 2nd time I had a time running telling me when to hit next and was working on homework. 3rd time I watch Star Gate Atlantis/ did homework/ cook dinner ect and would walk back in my room every so often to hit next. Time 3 took me a few days to finish it because I was not hitting next very quickly.

Needless to say for time 2 and 3 I did not read any of the slides and did not watch a single one of the "required" movies and passed NO problem.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
^^^ Maybe if you paid closer attention, you wouldn't have to keep taking traffic school.:p
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yeah but that not the point. It has been about 4 years since the last time I had to it. I went slightly ticket happy a few years ago getting 3 tickets in two weeks then a year later getting another one.

Stupid local law required if I took "deferred adjudication" required me to take defenses driving if I was under 25 and I had just used defensive driving for the ticket I got a week before hand. Needless to say taking defensive driving 2 times in 2 weeks suck.

oddly enough the 3rd ticket I got ended up saving me money in the long run because the city had screwed up and failed to remove my ticket off my record. Found that out when I got my driving record and when I went to the court house to turn in all the paper work for ticket 3 I pointed that out and spent a better part of an hour arguing with them and they found the proof in their system that they screwed up. They had records of everything being turned in to them but they failed to marked it in their system so the ticket got reported. They took it off and these kept my insurance rates from going up like 15%. and on top of that I got a 10% discount for defensive driving.
 
I don't know which state you reside in, but in California, ticketing for rolling stops is a regular occurrence. In Cali, we call it the "California Stop."

Last I heard, the fine is about $250-$350. You can go to traffic school to fight off the 1 point. With all that, you're looking to pay at least $300.

However, if you decided to contest it, you will attend court, the judge will ask if you contest or non-contest.

If you non-contest, you pay your dues and go to school.

If you plead contest, you will be arranged for a second court date where the officer MAY attend. If s/he shows up, you better have something up your sleeve to explain why. Depending on may factors, the officer may NOT show up, if he doesn't, you're off the hook and ticket is dismissed.
 
n8236 said:
If you plead contest, you will be arranged for a second court date where the officer MAY attend. If s/he shows up, you better have something up your sleeve to explain why. Depending on may factors, the officer may NOT show up, if he doesn't, you're off the hook and ticket is dismissed.
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Is this true in all states? I know it's true in Michigan (where I am), but I've heard that in some states, the ticket isn't automatically dismissed if the cop doesn't show.
 
Sanveann said:
Is this true in all states? I know it's true in Michigan (where I am), but I've heard that in some states, the ticket isn't automatically dismissed if the cop doesn't show.
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depends more on the court. I know some of the officer does not show up they will reschedule when it is. So it cost you more time. They also will give a huge window of time to give the cop PLENTY of time to show up.
 
If I was you I would pay the fine, lose the points and get it over and done with. It's not worth worrying about.
 
Funny story, I went today after work to go ask some questions about my options. After talking with them, I go back to my car parked on the street, and I have another ticket :mad: I was careless and read the wrong sign. Things aren't looking good. I'm looking at $200 for the stop sign violation, and 35 for parking ticket. What a bummer :(

n8236 said:
....

However, if you decided to contest it, you will attend court, the judge will ask if you contest or non-contest.

If you non-contest, you pay your dues and go to school.

If you plead contest, you will be arranged for a second court date where the officer MAY attend.....
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So when I went in today and told them I don't have time to show up on the given court date. The guy said I had 2 options, to pay the fine now and be done with it. Or try to fight it, and a later court date will be set.... so I'm not sure where not contesting it will fall.

macingman said:
If I was you I would pay the fine, lose the points and get it over and done with. It's not worth worrying about.
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That's what I'm thinking, but I want to make sure I have the option of traffic school, or at least a chance, so I'm not sure what I should do. I guess I should've asked them that when I went today. Bad day... I'll call them tomorrow.
 
The good news is the parking ticket is a non moving violating, so you can pay it, and your insurance company will never know it existed.
 
SamIchi said:
So when I went in today and told them I don't have time to show up on the given court date. The guy said I had 2 options, to pay the fine now and be done with it. Or try to fight it, and a later court date will be set.... so I'm not sure where not contesting it will fall.
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Did you ask them about traffic school options? Here in CA, we get another notice in the mail a couple weeks after the initial ticket that tells us if we qualify for traffic school. Paying the ticket (and pleading guilty) is a requirement for traffic school btw. Because there's no point in attending traffic school if you can't get that point taken off your record. And that point doesn't get on your record unless you've either pleaded guilty or the court has declared you guilty.

All going to court does is let's you contest. It puts it in the hands of the judge and pits you against the cop. Then you have 2 court dates - one for how you plead, and the other for the actual trial. And if the judge says you're guilty, it's up to him on whether or not you still qualify for traffic school.
 
State laws and options very WIDELY. Some of the advice posted here would be terrible in my state; perhaps it's bad for you as well.

You need to find out how Ohio treats this and what your options are IN OHIO.
 
iJohnHenry said:
The bad news is you better start paying attention to what you are doing.
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Situational Awareness is important attribute to develop . Being aware of where you are, what and who is around you and what they are doing is important from a tactical, survival stand point. It also helps your empathy skills when you can observe and take note of people around you, their behaviors, reactions, current emotional states, etc.

Plus, it helps you keep from getting tickets ;)
 
One ticket isn't going to do bad to your insurance if you don't have a history of tickets in a while. Just pay the ticket and get it over with.
 
iJohnHenry said:
The bad news is you better start paying attention to what you are doing.
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OP: Paying attention to what you are doing with your car just might save your life. I drive 100k+ miles a year and see lots of fine examples of what happens when you don't pay attention. Take the stop sign and parking violations as a sign to be a better driver before your inattention REALLY catches up to you.

I was first on the scene to a rolled truck this week, the driver rolled it because he didn't pay attention when the load "felt weird" and kept driving anyway.
 
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dontwalkhand said:
One ticket isn't going to do bad to your insurance if you don't have a history of tickets in a while. Just pay the ticket and get it over with.
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Generally bad advice.

Again, see what YOUR SPECIFIC STATE allows/offers. I really can't stress that enough.
 
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