Discussions

Has anyone gone to court to get a speeding ticket reduced and were you successful? My friend who had a perfect driving record for over 20 years sped up to pass someone and got a ticket from the oncoming police car. Were you successful or is it a lost cause since she was definitely speeding?

Speeding up to pass, the cops, usually give you a little leeway, so she must have been going pretty fast for the officer to give a ticket, and not a warning, Once it gets to the magistrate they assume the officer thought it warranted a ticket or they wouldn't have written it, so its going to be hard for her to convince them she doesnt deserve one.

My first ever traffic violation, I was caught speeding on highway 2 near Glenboro. I pleaded my case to the JP and had my ticket reduced by a whole $10. The JP asked if I was driving over the posted speed limit...and I replied that if I had I would have hit the on coming vehicles approaching. The JP’s excuse was that I have only been living in Manitoba for 5 years, so he couldn’t be certain that I’m a clean driver.  
 
good luck!

I was passing a vehicle when I was caught speeding.

This is vague, not enough information for myself to come to a conclusion, so your friend got pulled over, okay, how fast was the vehicle in front going, to be honest if the vehicle in front of you is going well below the posted speed limit( take pth # 10 for example) 100kmh is the posted and most will drive 10 kmh over the posted( not all) which translates into, based on the lack of information given, if you friend had to speed up that much to warrant a ticket could mean 1 of 3 things. 1) passed when it was unsafe to do so. 2) the driver in front was doing the speed limit and not 10kmh over. 3) your friend is just in to much of a hurry to get behind the person, who is in front of the person they past.

Tell your friend to fight it. They’ve got nothing to lose, except potential money off the ticket and demerits

A friend got hers lowered from 315$ down to $100. So well worth a shot.

PrimeConvoy said "I was passing a vehicle when I was caught speeding. "

According to the Highway act, you cannot exceed the posted speed limit while passing another vehicle. If you o speed, then it is not a safe time and place to pass.

Speeding is illegal period. Highway traffic act clearly states that you can’t exceed the posted speed limit, even when passing.

I hate when people say speeding is illegal...have you not done anything in your life that is not the law or the rules.  
The op knows that and the question was what to do not if it is illegal or not.

Fight it! It will probably get reduced. He/she can plead guilty but say they weren’t going as fast as the ticket says, or maybe they’ll just get lucky and the officer won’t show up for their court date in which case the ticket gets thrown out(I think)

zach240 said "Fight it! It will probably get reduced. He/she can plead guilty but say they weren’t going as fast as the ticket says, or maybe they’ll just get lucky and the officer won’t show up for their court date in which case the ticket gets thrown out(I think) "

I see this kind of response all the time, and I genuinely don't understand it.  
 
You (or the OP, or whoever) admits you're guilty. And yet, you occupy the court, the officer's and the judge's time (and incur the taxpayer the associated expenses) to attempt to pay less then the prescribed fine for something you already admit you did.  
 
If you're fighting it because you're in fact innocent, that's one thing because you're trying to remedy an injustice (and why the court exists in the first place). But to do anything else... just seems like an abuse of the court and frankly costs the rest of us money because someone has to bear the costs.  
 
Just pay the fine. Consider it a lesson. Stop wasting everyone else's time and money.  
 
/rant

ProfessorFaulken said "    PrimeConvoy said "I was passing a vehicle when I was caught speeding. " According to the Highway act, you cannot exceed the posted speed limit while passing another vehicle. If you o speed, then it is not a safe time and place to pass. "

Thank-you for pointing that out. The fact that the OP's friend has an "perfect" driving record is irrelevant, the fact of the matter is (by their own admission) that they broke the rules and got caught.  
 
And this is not a matter of "oh, haven't you ever done anything illegal in your life...". That's not the point, because most people do break laws (especially traffic laws) from time to time. The point is that they got caught, but are trying to escape the consequences.

Everyone who got a speeding ticket went to court they would be so backed up in the system they’d stop giving out tickets!

plus zero said "I hate when people say speeding is illegal...have you not done anything in your life that is not the law or the rules.   The op knows that and the question was what to do not if it is illegal or not. "

doing something wrong in your life - I am sure we all have.  
 
But that has nothing to do with the fact or the term - speeding is illegal...it is.

Your friend has nothing to lose by going to court. She should go in plead her case .accept she was speeding, give mitigating curcumcircums such as passing another vehicle. While this isn't an excuse for speeding it is better then just flying down the highway speeding with zero reason for doing so .it's a first offense so I believe a judge will take it easy on you.  
So many people are self righteous on here especially when it comes to something being "illegal" or "breaking the law" everyone makes errors in judgementE, Everyone has made a mistake EVERYONE deserves a break .  
If you were coming on here saying your friend got their third, fourth, fifth ticket I would say suck it up but a first offense could and should be given a little bit of leeway even if it's just a reduced fine .  
 
Good luck to your friend.

If you have to speed to pass a vehicle you shouldn’t be passing. Pretty sure that’s what I was taught in drivers ed. I doubt that excuse will get you off a speeding ticket.

It's an explanation. Not saying it makes it right but it's an explanation. I'm almost certain they will get the ticket reduced if they go to court. I know people that have gone in with literally no excuse and the defense that it's their first offense and they get the ticket reduced.  
Nobody is disputing the fact that you're not allowed to break the speed limit to pass someone. The question is if anyone has successfully got off a ticket or had a ticket reduced for a first offens and the answer is yes people take tickets to court and yes people get them reduced.  
If she goes in shows it was a first offense and the fact she was speeding up to pass (yes, yes still illegal but mitigating) I'm sure a judge will be lenient.

plus zero said "I hate when people say speeding is illegal...have you not done anything in your life that is not the law or the rules.   The op knows that and the question was what to do not if it is illegal or not. "

Guess we are even, I say it all the time, and it bugs me that people waste my tax dollars fighting to reduce a consequence of breaking a clearly stated law when caught.

melsey said "    plus zero said "I hate when people say speeding is illegal...have you not done anything in your life that is not the law or the rules.   The op knows that and the question was what to do not if it is illegal or not. " Guess we are even, I say it all the time, and it bugs me that people waste my tax dollars fighting to reduce a consequence of breaking a clearly stated law when caught. "

Can you explain how it's wasting your tax dollars.  
 
Judges are paid a salary regardless if they're in court or not they're making the same money. Court staff who are paid by the hour have a set schedule to be at the court house so it makes no difference if 100 people come in to fight a ticket or non at all the court staff are there all day and the judge is getting paid tbe same if they hear 1 case or 100 cases.  
I see nothing wrong with Asking for leniency for an error in judgement or a mistake or whatever you want to call it. It's then upto a judge to make a decision on what they feel is fair and just.  
I pay taxes and for all the things I think are an absolute waste of any tax payers money this isn't one of them.

one more thing.. said "    melsey said "    plus zero said "I hate when people say speeding is illegal...have you not done anything in your life that is not the law or the rules.   The op knows that and the question was what to do not if it is illegal or not. " Guess we are even, I say it all the time, and it bugs me that people waste my tax dollars fighting to reduce a consequence of breaking a clearly stated law when caught. " Can you explain how it's wasting your tax dollars.     Judges are paid a salary regardless if they're in court or not they're making the same money. Court staff who are paid by the hour have a set schedule to be at the court house so it makes no difference if 100 people come in to fight a ticket or non at all the court staff are there all day and the judge is getting paid tbe same if they hear 1 case or 100 cases.   I see nothing wrong with Asking for leniency for an error in judgement or a mistake or whatever you want to call it. It's then upto a judge to make a decision on what they feel is fair and just.   I pay taxes and for all the things I think are an absolute waste of any tax payers money this isn't one of them. "

We can agree that we live in a country where we are both free to share our differing opopinions. Happy Canada Day.

Was this anyway on the number 10 about a week ago ish. I was first in the passing lane and there was a semi with a car passing it. And a undercover passed me and when he passed them I saw him hit his breaks and pulled around with lights going and pulled this car over.first thing I thought was bullshit because those semi drivers are a**holes they speed up to 110 or faster at the passing lane then slow down to 80 afterwards I hate this. So anyway i 5hought it was retarded on the cops behalf also the cop had lights going and i could see in my rear view he was pulling over the line a bit so the semi driver could see him to pull over to let him pass needless to say after a few solid minutes the semi driver didnt pull over and the cop went around him saying this the semi driver should be the one getting pulled over. My role of thumb Is anyone that drives for a living is horrible but especially semi drivers. Anyway i could go on but rant over.

I got a ticket on 26th street school zone, I was just on my way to SDM to pick up my pres:cription. 5 min before I was at the walk-in feeling like Sh*t, lapse in concentration due to my medical condition. Got a print out from walk in, pleaded my case to the JP and walked away with nothing to pay, no demerits. I did learn my lesson though, always conscious of School zones now.

rdp said "Was this anyway on the number 10 about a week ago ish. I was first in the passing lane and there was a semi with a car passing it. And a undercover passed me and when he passed them I saw him hit his breaks and pulled around with lights going and pulled this car over.first thing I thought was bullshit because those semi drivers are a**holes they speed up to 110 or faster at the passing lane then slow down to 80 afterwards I hate this. So anyway i 5hought it was retarded on the cops behalf also the cop had lights going and i could see in my rear view he was pulling over the line a bit so the semi driver could see him to pull over to let him pass needless to say after a few solid minutes the semi driver didnt pull over and the cop went around him saying this the semi driver should be the one getting pulled over. My role of thumb Is anyone that drives for a living is horrible but especially semi drivers. Anyway i could go on but rant over. "

Not all semi drivers are idiots, however, most are. I love it when they see a car coming from behind on hwy 1 and they start swerving on the shoulder, so that all the rocks fly towards cars behind them.