Best way to handle a CMV speeding ticket?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by 541johnson, Jun 13, 2012.

  1. Pedigreed Bulldog

    Pedigreed Bulldog Road Train Member

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    15 mph over the speed limit is a serious traffic violation....and you DOUBLED that. Convictions for any combination of 2 serious traffic violations in 3 years and you are DQ'd for 60 days. A 3rd conviction and every additional conviction thereafter inside 3 years and you sit an additional 120 days. The list of serious traffic violations is found in 383.51

    This is why a lot of companies won't hire you if you've got a serious traffic violation on your record...they are hiring you to work, and you aren't going to be doing much work for them if you're DQ'd.
     
  2. Winkjr

    Winkjr Road Train Member

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    You should try to talk to TVC I hired them once in the late nineties to take care of a ticket for me in TX And it only cost me $250. Reduced to a fine with no points it was worth the money they did a good job. This was before I was a member. After that I joined but when I later got a local gig i dropped them but hey did me right.
     
  3. MNdriver

    MNdriver Road Train Member

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    BEST way to handle a speeding ticket? Don't get one.
     
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  4. CAXPT

    CAXPT Road Train Member

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    At that price difference, check out their references, state bar. Ask around to make sure you're getting quality legal for the higher fee and not just taken because you need someone there, and that the lower price isn't someone just out of law school.

    By the way, is that Avatar just a random selection, or were you Aviation Ordnance?

    Good Luck.
     
  5. Shoestring

    Shoestring Light Load Member

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    [h=1]Waldo, Florida[/h] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Waldo is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. The population was 821 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 784.

    The city has received national attention and earned the ominous distinction of being one of only two official speed traps designated by the American Automobile Association (the other being Lawtey a few miles to the north)[1], due to the city's strict enforcement of the local speed limit on U.S. Route 301 as it cuts through town.


    If I remember correctly, the speed drops from 55mph down to 30mph with no warning. The 30mph sign is hidden behind another sign, if you pass the sign without dropping your speed first they are sitting there waiting. once you are able to see the sign, you have less then 50-60 feet to slow down.
    At 1 time over 85% of the towns revenue was generated from speeding tickets. So yes speed traps do exist.



    As for the OP. Lawyer up, the $$ you spend even if its $2k is going to be less then the money you lose from being unemployable as a driver.

     
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  6. Pumpkin Oval Head

    Pumpkin Oval Head Road Train Member

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    On Tuesday, I paid an attorney $500 in Tenn. to get a 70 mph ticket reduced to 49 mph in a 45 mph zone while driving my car at night...I came off a posted 65 mph zone with the car cruise set at 70 mph and was too busy watching the road and I missed both the 55 mph and the 45 mph signs. I was very tired and I was watching the road and the curve, just making sure I stayed on the road. All my fault, but I did not see the signs and this was my first time driving that road at night. It was an isolated area with no lighting and no traffic.
    I do not exceed any speed limit by more than 5 mph when I drive a truck. The traffic judge said this was the best he could do due to the Patriot Act, which prohibits courts from dismissing traffic tickets from CDL holders.

    I had no experience dealing with traffic court, as this is my first ticket in 30 years of driving, so I got a lawyer. He called the officer that wrote the ticket and he talked with the judge before court, and he told me that this was the best he could get due to the Patriot Act. The lawyer spent 30 minutes with me waiting for my turn to talk to the judge. Had to be the easiest $500 he has ever made, for one call and one conversation with the judge, but then he did what needed to be done. I was paying for his knowledge and connection with the judge. I think the $500 lawyer fee in Tenn. may be lower than many other states, based on what you have found.

    If I were you, I would go for the attorney charging the least amount. They will all do the same thing and have the same outcome....they will call the officer and talk to the judge. If you get the ticket reduced to 4 mph over the speed limit, that would seem to be the best you could expect.

    I had a good record before, and I can take the 1 point I will get for this ticket. I have always been a careful driver, now I will be even more careful if I am driving at night, as I am new to this area.
     
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  7. Pumpkin Oval Head

    Pumpkin Oval Head Road Train Member

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    I just moved to northwest Tenn., and I have found the highway markings in the state to be poor compared to Iowa. Here you can drive for miles and not see a speed limit sign. There is a construction zone that did not have a reduced speed limit posted for months, but I would slow down to 55 mph from the posted 70 mph speed limit. Then one day a 55 mph speed limit sign appeared in the center of the ditch in the middle of the four lane (construction is almost complete, and now they put up a sign??). No sign on the right side of the road, just on the left side....wtf is that?

    They have detour signs here without a highway number on it, so you think you have to turn off the road you on because the sign says "detour". No....the detour is off to the right a couple of miles where a bridge is out???

    They have more signs on the roadside that are not traffic related than are. There is a church on every road so every mile or so there is a sign for a church. All the sports victories take up about 4 signs on one road. Signs are different heights and different distances from the roadway. Some places there are so many signs they block the view of the other traffic signs.

    One town on the main route to Jackson is notorious with the locals and anyone that drives it, as the speed limit goes from 65 mph to 45 a mile or so outside of the town, and then goes down to 40 mph for a ways, and then to 35 mph for a ways, and then down to 30 mph. What's with the 5 mph increments in dropping the speed limit.....just drop it 10 mph at a time like everyone else does......geezzzz.
     
  8. MNdriver

    MNdriver Road Train Member

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    I'd raise cain then for poor signage. Especially if you get a ticket. There are minimum standards for signage and I driver around and see so poor planning on the part of the construction companies it's pathetic.
     
  9. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Had to be either Goldfield or Beatty on 95, drops from 65-25 in 10ft increments, and Johnny Law is always hanging out in the scrub.
     
  10. 541johnson

    541johnson Bobtail Member

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    6531 O level ordnance on the barriers. Spent 4 years in sunny Yuma AZ. IYAOYAS!!!