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

tsb wrote:If he didn't have a camera, mark it not guilty.
You just unbuckled to reach for a map ?
If there is a hearing, he'll have to appear ?

Pay the fine and get if over with. Chuck Schumer needs a new pair of shoes.

He's got you on CAMERA At the EZ pay lane...
Pleading "not guilty" could mean that you are going to pay court costs on top of your seat belt fine...
Unfortunately, I think your *beat*...

Bob

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Not if you plead. Usually there is just the mandatory outrageous surcharge.

A buddy of mine has a method for fighting local tickets....he gets his court date & an hour before court he phones & says he can't make it. They reschedule.... of course the cop still shows at court as he doesn't know you postponed. Then.... do it again. The third time you go to court, it's been a year or more now. The cop may or may not show up...the last two times you didn't show so he may not. If he doesn't, you win! If he does, you start asking details and of course he can't remember. It's worked for my buddy twice on speeding tickets.

Freddy wrote:A buddy of mine has a method for fighting local tickets....he gets his court date & an hour before court he phones & says he can't make it. They reschedule.... of course the cop still shows at court as he doesn't know you postponed. Then.... do it again. The third time you go to court, it's been a year or more now. The cop may or may not show up...the last two times you didn't show so he may not. If he doesn't, you win! If he does, you start asking details and of course he can't remember. It's worked for my buddy twice on speeding tickets.

Nice, I like it!

Just saw this. If you haven't already sent it back, here are a couple tips from the "sleazy NY lawyer" on the board:
1. Never plead guilty. You give up all negotiating leverage you have.
2. Check off the box for the "supporting deposition." The ticket itself is a "defective charging instrument." Why? For precisely the reason you were guessing about above, namely, that it has insufficient detail on what evidence they have against you, so you can't adequately defend if you don't have the more complete sworn "supporting deposition" of the arresting officer. If they don't timely supply it, I have a motion to dismiss that often has the effect of nuking the whole thing, because they then have to re-charge you (which is basically impossible for out-of-staters).
3. Seat belt can be 3 pts in NY. You should ck MA law on what it's worth there. Theoretically, that's your exposure. However, because point systems are different from state to state, and because there's never been much to be gained from the clerical work for the sending state, if you don't ignore the ticket, the points often don't follow you home. Besides, from what I can gather, MA and NY aren't in the same "interstate compact" (reciprocity regime) at this time. The only mistake you can make would be to ignore it.

But why get a ticket for a seat belt or cell phone violation in the first place? Wearing belts and using the hands-free gizmos are no-brainers even if there were no laws mandating them. And texting? What motorcycle rider has any sympathy for somebody driving a car while looking at a screen and/or keyboard instead of where they're going?????

PM me if you have any specific questions. Good luck.

Thanks for the tips stockingfull.

I'm looking at the paper now ..... it turns out there are two papers .... and one of them says supporting depositon on the top. They seem to have had this planned as a revenue generator from the get-go.

My plan was to just send it in blank - no signature, no markings. There is a Section A & Section B: A = guilty B= not guilty, with lines for date, signature, address, etc under each. I don't want to have to go back there to go to court to fight it - it will cost more in tolls & gas than it's worth. I just want to make it go away as easily as possible. My experience with fighting tickets in MA is you never win, unless you know someone with some "pull". I'd imagine NY is no different.

Success rates vary here. I wouldn't assume it's a done deal that you're toast if you defend. Most times, you can negotiate something with the officer just before the hearing. But even that can vary by county, depending on the policy in the DA's office. Remember, what they generally want is the money, not necessarily the tattoo on your backside.

But the practical consideration is the economics for you too. For that, the first step is to find out (a) whether it'll cost you points in MA if it gets back there, and (b) whether your insurance will be affected. The latter, of course, is the "hidden cost" which makes fighting tickets worthwhile.

Call your agent and ask a "hypothetical question" about your "brother-in-law."

I'm pretty sure that out of state tickets don't affect your MA driving record -- I had a couple speeding tickets in AZ & CA that didn't show up.

Going to have to wait until next week for a definite answer on that ..... I just called 5 different ins. co's & they are all closed today! Must be nice getting the day after turkey day off!

SMITTY wrote: Must be nice getting the day after turkey day off!

Believe me .....it is.

Seems like my no seatbelt ticket was around 65.00 - 85.00 about three years ago. And I was in the passenger seat.

I feel your pain Smitty. I got caught in August. I was driving back from taking my son to physical therapy. He droped his juice cup on the floor and I unbuckled, picked it up, and forgot to put it back on. I drove by a parked Trooper about 2 miles down the road and he pulled me over. I was puzzled. I wasn't speeding, tags were good, etc. He came up to the truck and asked the usual. I asked why he pulled me over. He said "seatbelt". I told him what I had done. He didn't seem to believe me. Can't say that I blame him. He's probably heard every excuse known to man. I usually keep my badge in my wallet when off duty. When I opened my wallet, my badge was in plain sight but I quickly covered it and handed him my license (I'm not the type to flash it around). He came back a few minutes later and gave me a $70 ticket and told me where to mail it. I asked him for a break, but he didn't make a peep.

5 days later I was at work and he walked in. I noticed he was staring at me with a puzzled look. I asked him if I looked familiar. He said "I know you from somewhere". I told him that he had pulled me over the week prior. He said "Why didn't you tell me you worked here". I said to him "Don't worry, I'll pay my fine". I then walked out of the room.

Anyone have any experience with camera speeding tickets? The fine folks of DC have them all over the place and if you are "caught" they send the ticket to the registered owner of the car - me. Fine - except I wasn't driving and I can't get a speeding ticket due to my Commerical Driver's License. My employer gets print outs of traffic infractions by employee license number monthly so even if DC doesn't report it to my insurance company I'm screwed. My college age daughter was driving our car but they only take a picture of the plate, not the driver. I haven't looked yet so I don't even know if there is anyway to appeal but you can bet I'll have to take the day off work and go downtown to fight this thing. Luckily, I can prove that she is the primary driver of that car because it's registered at her school which is 3 hours from our house. She was home for the weekend. What a pain? All the more reason to stay out of the District of Columbia. Lisa

Sounds like another case of big brother sticking his nose in where it's not welcome. There's something unamerican about camera speeding tickets. Where's the ability to confront your accuser? Sounds like one of the places I used to work. Lots of unsubstantiated claims taken for fact without proof or the chance to challenge it.

Good luck Lisa. Hopefully the bureaucracy in the DC area is not as bad as elsewhere.

They had those in AZ too. I remember this one backroad I used to rip down on my CBR600F2, near Alice Coopers home & the grandson of the inventor of Campbells Soup (a little trivia ...) in Paradise Valley ..... Every time I would hit this little crest in the road at about 70mph .... speed limit was 20 because it's millionaires row ...... & I'd see this blinding flash in my mirror. I had no clue what the hell it was until I mentioned the spot to one of my instructors ..... then they told me it was a camera! Never heard a thing about it, although I still has MA plates on at the time.

Lisa, you should be able to beat that one pretty easy, especially if they don't have a picture of the driver -- I'd fight that all the way. You could even say your vehicle was taken without your permission while you were on the road -- they can't prove a thing without a pic of the driver.

SMITTY wrote:-- they can't prove a thing without a pic of the driver.

I believe that true in NJ too. Some cameras are set up to take a pic of the license plate AND the driver.