NY got me! But I don't know for how much. No seatbelt! WTF!

Are you really willing to drive back to a court in NY to fight this? I suppose it depends where in NY you got the ticket, but if it's out west you'll spend as much in gas and tolls as the ticket was (and you might lose, and you'll waste a day of your life).

Bummer.
ALL the tool booths lanes, especially the EZ Pass ones have cameras, a couple guys (not from here) i work with (Not familiar with EZ PASS) blew thru them and in a month or two got tickets in the mail.

I`m not sure how N.Y. laws are on this & for that matter Pa. either but I know in Pa. they couldn`t pull you over for just a unbuckeled seat belt, if you did something else they could add that on but it might have changed by now. Not to critize but why didn`t you have it on, its kinda like that do the crime pay the fine type thing. All states nail the out of state people knowing that it would cost you more to fight than pay. If you just took it off to reach for your wallet to pay the toll & wanted to get moving before being rear ended that might work, but everything anywhere near the booths is on disk.

SMITTY wrote::eek2: Guess I should be counting my blessings, as I averaged 80 mph the entire length of time I was on 90 in NY!

That would have REALLY sucked - $600 would have made the whole purpose of the trip be for naught!

I am waiting for the day, state turnpikes/toll roads calculate your average speed and issue you a speeding ticket, sent in the mail, days after you drove the highway. The tools are their now....

Hey Cap, They were doing that 30 yrs ago here in N.J. I don't know if they still are.

I think the State of Wherever has made their point......wear the seat belt......use hands-free cell phones.....
I got stopped in Maine for not wearing my seat-belt....was a nice officer, got a warning. Cell phone stops are really a PITA!
Go hands-free, it's cheaper. These laws aren't going away....waiting for a seat-belt and airbag law for motorcycles...then lawn tractors....then 4 wheelers.....then baby carriages. This issue can be resolved in any November election. Waaaaaaaayyyy past the time to start. You can't legislate unless you enable or disable legislators.

PS: Even here in 'Cow Hampshire', you are 'ON CAMERA' at all the toll booths. You may think no one is watching, but it's 24/7, it's hands-free, and the USPS will send you a surprise in a few weeks. The cities all have camera monitors in discrete locations....we are on notice.....
Here's one for you: Did you know your vehicles critical info is tracked on the on-board computers in you vehicle?
Speed, G-force, seat belt activation, air bag status....all the critical factors. Like the Aircraft Black Boxes.....in every vehicle made. Smile, you ARE ON CAMERA! No one fingered salutes either, that's another 500 bucks......

up in Buffalo, they just passed the NO TEXTING while driving as a Primary Offense, which of course is different then "talking" on your Cell phone which of course is banned now in NY except for hands free. WTF? What's the difference, you are still distracted.

Texting is much worse than 'jackin' your jaws'. What the hell happened to just driving the damned vehicle.....many can't even do that!!!! How about the folks you look at using their laptops while mobile......

You mean like cops?

My advice would be to check "not guilty" and to fight the ticket. Here in NY EVERYONE pleads their ticket. If you are lucky, you will pay less. If you are not, then you will get less/no points. If there are no points associated with the ticket or they won't affect your MA license it might be worth it to just pay. Another thing, here in NY, if you accumulate 6 points or more there is an ADDITIONAL surcharge starting at $300. Since most tickets have a ridiculous number of points (hence, why most people plead them) all you need is 2 tickets and you are socked for another $300

If you don't pay they will suspend your NYS driving priviliges. Big whoop right? Wrong! If you get caught driving in NYS with suspended driving privilidges you get socked but good.

One more thing. Here in NY they target out of state drivers. They always deny this but it is true. When I first moved back to NYS from PA it was amazing how much attention my PA plate got from the constabulary. They even followed me around waiting for me to go too fast or to roll through a stop sign. Amazingly, once I got my NYS plate, they were no longer interested.

I can tell you in Vermont they won't remove points unless the officer doesn't show at the court date. They can and may lower the fine but the judge will sit right there and tell you that the points are the points and cannot be lowered/dropped. Hell, that's the only reason to fight a ticket to me, the money isn't worth taking time off.

If you did check not guilty make very sure of the court date and more importantly the time. I took a day off years ago to drive 5 hours for a 7:00AM court date. I was there at 6:30AM and waited patiently until I saw life at the courthouse. When I asked when the judge would be in I was informed that it was a strictly night court and the officer should have checked the PM box but must have forgot.

Cost me a day of work, which was more than the ticket would have been I later found out.

Good luck with this ticket.

Oh man, that bites! I hate when state uses the cops to collect taxes. If it were me I'd just pay it and move on. If I'm guilty I don't fight it. I just chalk it up to experience I guess.

smitty, welcome to the holiday travel season in ny. i am a lifetime ny'er and every year for the last 10-15 yrs. they have a click it or ticket campaign,and they are watching for anything that can be written up.i was pulled over by a trooper that "did not notice if i was wearing a seatbelt". BS. my belt was on but the shoulder belt was not on my shoulder.to bad for me,that was not acceptable, belt MUST be worn as intended. my fine according to the judge was reduced, he "cut me a break" since i sort of was wearing it. i plead guilty with an explanation,and he fined me $85 total that was appearing on the court date to answer to the judge. you can plea these tickets but with travel and no definite outcome it may be cheeper to just plead guilty and pay the fine. my son-in-law just got a seatbelt ticket and he is being told $75 court fee and fine will be over $100 . Good Luck and Happy Thanksgiving!! Beware in nys. because every holiday week all year they increase patrol and are looking for those seatbelts or any other offense to write a ticket for. aggressive driving is another one that they are talking about quite a lot.

Not worth it for me to go back & fight it - I was caught red handed anyway - would be sort of foolish to contest it ( if it were MA you bet your ass I'd try! ). Just cuts into my profits. Bought a rolling chassis of a dirt bike that I have at ton of parts for. Only paid $56 for the bike, $43 in gas, probably $10 in tolls no doubt, so I was only into this thing for $109 ... now gonna cost double! Next time I'll have it shipped if it's in NY .... or better yet ... I just won't buy anything there. Hope the gov't thinks it's worth it - I was spending alot of cash there before!

I usually get bagged around this time of year in MA, but as long as I'm driving the '07 I'm all set. MA has a secondary enforcement law for seatbelts, so the can't just yank you for that. (our lovely gov't has been fighting for years to make it primary .... it's coming -- after all, they enacted the secondary enforcement law after hours, after VOTERS VOTED NO on it - 3 times prior !!)

If your driving an older car in MA, your guaranteed to get yanked -- and that goes for any time of the year ...... I think their logic is that your not paying your fair share (vehicle valued less, so less excise taxes), so they're gonna extort it from you. every single time I drive the '86 Merc, we get pulled over. I say it to the wife every time .... "how much you wanna bet we get yanked today?" I win every time, so the Merc stays parked.

Cap wrote:I am waiting for the day, state turnpikes/toll roads calculate your average speed and issue you a speeding ticket, sent in the mail, days after you drove the highway. The tools are their now....

MA did this too about 25 years ago - I thought they still did it. I think if you maintain 95 MPH then run through the exit toll in record time, your probably going to get something in the mail, I would expect. I remember one state (might have been this one -can't remember) years ago would hand you a slip saying the time you got on, & the time you got off, then gave you a speeding warning if you got there faster than 55 mph. States don't make enough money off us I guess!

One more thing Smitty. Check the website for the county you were ticketed in. Some county DAs allow you to submit a plea request by mail. This allows you to complete everything by mail and you just might get a reduction. Even if you don't like the offer you receive back from the DA's office is not binding and you can always go to court or just plead guilty.

By the way, when I lived in NJ and PA if I was guilty I just paid the fine. Here in NY the fines, surcharges, and points are outrageous. Even if you are guilty you are taking a chance not to plead it since a subsequent ticket may put you into the 6 points or more category.