Adrian Peterson: Speeding and Knowing Your Speed

The hot traffic court story of the week is Vikings running back Adrian Peterson ticketed for going 109 mph in a 55 zone. See the story on ESPN.My favorite quote from the story is this from Peterson: I need to be more aware of the speed I was going ....I should add this to my speeding ticket excuses post, because I've heard it before. "I didn't realize I was going that fast."Maybe this excuse

NY Tickets and NJ Insurance

We spoke recently with a NJ insurance agent. He had received a ticket in NY which was an 1110a. This was a "road-side writedown" where the cop was giving him a break from a speed. The agent told us that an 1110a would increase insurance rates by as much $900 per year for three years. He said he wished the cop had written him for a low speed because ...NJ insurance companies treat a first-time low

Do Points Transfer? Out-of-state tickets are not that simple ...

If you have a ticket in New York, please check out our New York Traffic Lawyer page.This is one of the most common questions we get: Do points transfer? Or: "Will the points transfer to my home state?"The short and misleading answer is No. The points themselves do not transfer to other states.So what does happen? In most situations, the state where you got the ticket will report any conviction to

Why shouldn't I hire a lawyer to beat my ticket?

Saw something on the web that got me laughing. Back in '05 I did a post about lawyer marketing on the web. I critiqued some websites that claimed to help people with their tickets.Well, someone from speedticketbeaters -dot- com tried to post a comment on that old blog post. I don't allow these sites to promote themselves through my blog. But it was funny. The comment asserted, among other things,

A Visit to Massachusetts Traffic Court

We took a little excursion yesterday to see how things work in Massachusetts Traffic Court. It was educational. Massachusetts speeding tickets and other tickets matter to drivers from there and from other states.For MA drivers, most moving violations put two "surcharge points" on your driving record. Major violations, such as a DUI, are 5 points. The official explanation is at the Massachusetts

Speeding ticket and DWI data

Interesting data on the web about speeding tickets on the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle website. There's another data set on DWI: RocDocs DWI.Now, I say the data is interesting. Partly that's because it doesn't look accurate to me. For example it appears there are more DWI arrests in Albany County than in the Bronx. And there also appear to be no speeding tickets in New York City.But it's

Florida Speeding Tickets

Just added a page to the Redlich Law Firm website about Florida speeding tickets There seems to be a lot of tickets written there, so much so that I saw a TV show (or internet version of a TV show) about one of the traffic courts there.Interesting thing for us concerns how we handle NY tickets for Florida drivers. A common reduction on speeding tickets in NY is the infamous 1110a. This appears to

Are police tougher on out-of-state drivers?

Just read an interesting statistical analysis about speeding tickets by Professors Michael Makowsky and Thomas Stratmann. They both appear to be economics professors at George Mason University.They analyzed a database of Massachusetts speeding tickets. Police there can choose to issue a fine or just a warning on the ticket. They found that police are more likely to fine out-of-town drivers and

Speeding tickets: One opinion

Saw this article online about whether it's worth it to fight a speeding ticket:">MSN Money article on speeding ticketsNot sure I agree completely, and also not sure that all the comments apply in New York State. Still, a cautionary tale for those who get a ticket.

Virginia Speeding Ticket Fines Make the New York Times

Seems the State of Virginia has decided to up the ante on speeding ticket fines. According to an article in yesterday's New York Times about Virginia speeding fines, getting ticketed for a speed of, say, 20 mph over the limit, carries a civil penalty of over $1000, plus the fines from the Court (up to $2500 more), and then maybe court costs too. Ouch!!So as a result, of course, we are working on

Article about lawyers in the Wall Street Journal

Saw an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago and was waiting to write about it. The article is written by Cameron Stracher, titled "Meet the Clients". Stracher criticizes law schools for not teaching law students practical skills, and for "giving students the false idea that being a lawyer is all about intellectual debate."I mostly disagree with the article, but it is a

Someone should have hired a lawyer sooner ...

I'm often asked by prospective traffic ticket clients as to whether they really need a lawyer. The answer is no, but that depends on your definition of the word need. The other day I saw someone who didn't think she needed a lawyer. She was wrong, and the consequences were severe.I walked into this small-town court a few minutes after the session was supposed to start. The judge was sitting at

Pleading guilty to speeding tickets

In contrast to my earlier post today, something in the same ballpark just popped up.In this case, the client pled guilty by mail to three speeding tickets between 5/04 and 9/05 (within 18 months of each other). Under NY law, you get your license revoked for that. Each of his speeds were relatively minor (81-85 mph in 65 mph zone).Had she hired a good lawyer to handle these tickets, each would

Speeding ticket websites

I knew this kind of call would come someday. It came today.Caller: Do you handle appeals of speeding tickets?I asked him to tell me more about the situation. He had gotten a speeding ticket in Athens Town Court. Athens is in Greene County, a bit south of Albany. The ticket was for 90 mph in a 65 zone.He went to trial himself, using the Tipmra method. He seemed surprised I'd never heard of it.Of

Speeding tickets

With all the traffic on the Speeding Ticket FAQ page on my main site, I figured I should add more information. Plus, I get calls occasionally from people with tickets in other places that I don't handle. I've had calls about Georgia, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and many for New York City, Long Island and Westchester.So I've added three new pages:New York City speeding tickets,New Jersey

Speeding tickets and insurance

Update (12/08): I've been told that Insurance Law § 2335 has expired. I'm not sure if this will have an effect on insurance rates in NY. In the short term, probably not. In the long run it's hard to say. Original post follows.-----People often ask me how their speeding ticket will affect their insurance rates. There is actually a specific provision of the law, Insurance Law § 2335, that addresses

Speeding Tickets in New York

Just some thoughts on speeding tickets. Got a call this morning. I get calls like this regularly. The caller, from New York City, got a speeding ticket in the Town of Bethlehem. She wanted to know how much to pay. Unlike other states, New York traffic tickets do not list the fine.Here's how it works in New York traffic courts. First you plead -- guilty or not guilty. While the ticket says to

Speeding tickets and out-of-state drivers - update

Following up on recent posts about out-of-state drivers and speeding tickets, I just got a new client with a NJ license. The driving record does indeed show a NY ticket. Below is how it appears:********** Driving History **********VIOLATIONS:(1) STATE:NY VIOLATION DATE:02/26/2001 CONVICTION DATE:04/17/2001POSTED SPEED LMT: 55 ACTUAL SPEED: 84STATE DESCRIPTION: SPEEDING 25+ OVER THE

Speeding ticket lessons

Tough night. I had two clients (sisters) who had been driving together and got pulled over for a fairly high speed on the Taconic in a town in Columbia County. Showed up in Court and the Trooper gave me a harder time than usual. Don't get me wrong. The Trooper was a decent guy. But the facts turned out to be worse than usual.Their speed was high, more than 30 mph over the limit. Then the Trooper

Interesting article on speeding tickets

Saw this site - "Ticket Killer". They sell themselves with AdWords (Google Sponsored Links). They have an interesting page where they compare themselves with other options, including lawyers.Their page is: ticketkiller.com/ticket-beater-comparison.htmlHere's what they say, with my criticism:>In most traffic matters, attorneys are not a practical choice, since they often cost more than the fine