One speeding ticket . . .

[CarreraS]

I have several friends who are police officers...here is their advice:  First, if you have friends who are cops, ask them for a "courtesy"/PBA card.  When you are pulled over, hand that card along with your license and registration to the officer.  Apologize for your transgression, explain your friendship/relation to the officer who gave you the courtesy/PBA card and then apologize again and ask if there is anything he can do such as give you a warning instead of a ticket.  This has worked EVERY time for me with both local and state police.  One exception was when I was doing triple digits on the NE extension and the trooper let me slide but confiscated my beloved courtesy card.  That sucked because he mailed it back to the cop who had given the card to me with a note that said, "tell your idiot friend to slow down."

OK, as already mentioned, if you don't have a friend in blue and a ticket is inevitable, be polite and ask if he would consider giving you a ticket with an indicated speed that is less than 5 MPH over the limit.  Explain that you don't mind getting the ticket, but you don't want your insurance to go up.  You get no points in PA, (not sure about NJ), and it should not affect your insurance.

Another alternative is to say to the officer, "I heard from a friend who is an officer that there is a ticket called "Failure to Obey Traffic Control Devices", that has no points attached to it.  Would it be possible to get a ticket for that instead?"  Again, you pay a fine, but no points.

Darren, the problem with many municipalities, particularly in NJ, is that if the officer doesn't show, they just tell you that you need to re-schedule.  It is part of their strategy not to show.  The hope is that you don't want to be inconvenienced again so that you'll make a deal with the prosecutor on the spot for a lesser/no points offense.  Either way, they get their money, the officer isn't paid OT to come to court or come off the road from giving other people tickets! 

Be polite to the cops, be polite to the prosecutor, be polite to the judge, pay the fine, hope for no points and that's the best you can do.