Got a ticket tonight

[1972LT1]

for careless driving. The Trooper said it was 2 points and a fine,but if I showed up to court on the date and time listed on the ticket, that it would only be a fine. Anyone know about how much. I've got a clean driving record and would like to keep it that way.

[KirkEvil]

I think a careless is around $300 to pay your way to of the points. Its not the fine that costs you, its the insurance increase for the next 3 years.

[S.J.SLEEPER]

$250 + court costs of $30 = $280.00 an kirkevil exactly right.... its the insurance premium that jacks you up for 3 years and don't forget NJ's Bullchet State insurance "Surcharge" that will cost ya a couple bucks too!!!!

[btownws6]

yea it will be dropped to unsafe operations which also carries a surcharge of 250 along with court fines

[Stevoone]

Did the fees change recently? I got a careless about 6 years ago, plead it down and ended up paying ~$400.

[sweetbmxrider]

unsafe is in the $400 area with no points which is what you will plea bargain to when you speak to the prosecutor at court.

[r0nin89]

unsafe is in the $400 area with no points which is what you will plea bargain to when you speak to the prosecutor at court.

O.O My reckless cost me $400 + Court fees to plea down to unsafe with no points.

I always thought careless was $120 if you take points and $250 for the no point plea?

[sweetbmxrider]

unsafe operations is $400ish no matter what its originally pleaded down from. its a money maker statue. they split it $200ish for this and $200ish for that but its a $400 ticket. reckless is a 4 point ticket and careless is a 2 pointer with their own respective fines.

different municipalities may have different $$$ with their ticket but every unsafe i've seen is a $400 guy.

[btownws6]

yea and you can only plead to unsafe 2x in a 5 year period and then you end up with 4 points on the next one even if it's a careless it sucks but worth the extra money to the court then the ins company

[xrelapse13]

yeah i think it's something like $85 to take the careless/2 points and in the range of 400 to plead down to unsafe operation. Your better off getting a lawyer and paying him in the range of 500 to drop down to a non moving violation.

[fmybody]

last time i went in with points and came out with none i paid 400 to the court

[jts98z28]

unsafe for me wwas 400 both times

[ws6 jim]

I had a careless, but since I had a clean record the court dropped it to obstruction of traffic small fine and no points. Good luck.

[1972LT1]

Went to court last Thursday . $89 fine for obstruction of traffic and court fee. The prosecutor dropped it to that because the Trooper didn't fill out the ticket properly and he didn't feel like filling out the ton of paperwork he would have to do because of it. And thank you to my lawyer for dropping that ton of paperwork on him and then some.

[1998chevycamaroz28]

my buddy just got the same ticket in Little Falls about 3 months ago, they drop it to unsafe driving and its like a $300 ticket, then they hit you with a $35 court fee, and then a surcharge, by the time you all done its around $560. a cheaper way to get around it is pay the ticket (i think someone said around $85) and sign up for the driving class on dmv's website...the class i think is around $50, its an all day event (6 or 7 hours) but it drops 2 points off your license.

[1998chevycamaroz28]

sorry, didnt realize you already went to court. Congrats on getting off cheap

[Frosty]

I'm not completely familiar with the NJ driving laws and stuff but if I remember correctly you can only do the driving school thing once every few years, no?

[JW]

May be used to subtract points once every five years for Defensive Driving.
http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Violations/penalties.htm

I have gone twice now :)

JW :D

[r0nin89]

Yes but that wont help your insurance rates like having the points dropped will.

Ya know I find it ironic that you were able to point out a flaw in the ticket and have it dropped to avoid paperwork. My girlfriend got slammed with 4 BS (and I mean bs not the typical wahh I got a ticket BS) in sparta on 15. When I was reading over the ticket I noticed the cop wrote the court date as a sunday.

I told her to show up at the court on sunday and when they called her to find out why she no showed whenever the real date was to tell them she promptly showed up on the date on the ticket and to push to have them dropped because of the error.

Well she didnt want to fight the machine cause shes a push over about defending herself but I always wondered if perhaps that would have worked.

Mind my asking what was incorrect on your ticket?


O and after rereading I see you got a lawyer. Ya know they probably would have told you to **** off about the error w/o having a lawyer. I'll never understand how the court system can strong arm un-represented people like that...

[1972LT1]

To answer your question rOnin89, the cop failed to fill in all the blanks. If they catch you speeding they have to check the box how they got you(radar,pacing,etc.). He also wrote down the wrong mile marker where I was pulled over.