How bad....
 

How bad is a $85.00 careless driving ticket?
The reason I ask is today coming out of the quakerbridge mall on the stupid exit onto Rt 1 S towards 95 I was going down the exit ramp as I came up to the person at the bottom they let off there brakes and started to take off, as such I tapped my brakes so slow down and looked over my left shoulder to try and find an opening assuming they where going to take off apparently they didn't and they hit there brakes just as I was turning back and I ended up rearending them no one was hurt there was minor damage to there trunk I caleld the police to report the accident and the cops said.
"Unfortunately the city requires me to give out this ticket when an accident happens and it is apparent that there brake lights work, so it leaves you at fault and I am giving it to you."
I have never been in any accident and haven't had a single ticket for almost 5 years now,should I just plead guilty and pay the fine or is this one of those that is going to tack on 3 points and I should go to court and try to get it changed.
Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

well its 85+ 2 points. BUT If you've plead down a ticket before less than 5 times you can have it dropped to a $100 unsafe driving. how ever if you do so there is a $250 court charge ontop of the $35 court fee.

I've never plead down a ticket before,so it would end up being the $85.00+ fee plus the 250.00 plus the 35.00 to avoid 2 points?
Is it worth it?
How bad does 2 points screw you up?
and wouldn't unsafe driving still add points as it is a moving violation?

dmv and insurance surcharges will kill you with the points. was this accident in your formula?

nah the 85 gets changed to 100. it ends up being like 380

If you have an otherwise clean driving record you can more than likely talk to the officer and the prosecutor and they will knock it down to something with no points.

The ticket isn't what gets you and if you have a good insurance company they either won't raise your rates or won't raise them much over one accident. The state surcharges are a different story, they can bang you up to $250/yr for 3 years on top of whatever your insurance does.

Be sure to call the court and let them know that you want to plead not guilty, if you get there and they don't want to work with you you just get a "court fee" on top of the ticket. It really is worth trying to talk to them, just be honest and they will most likely help you out.

i just got done with my careless driving ticket... they drop it down to unsafe operation of a vehicle.... its $106 fine, $250 surcharge, and then $33 court fees (depending on the court, this was in hamilton, it looks like you will be in lawrence i believe). while sitting in court, (i was the absolute last person to go) i basically heard every type of case being talked about with the prosecutor and judge.... the person you hit will show up, they will call the person you hit up to talk to the prosecutor, then you, then the prosecutor will ask the person you hit if he agrees to have it knocked down to unsafe operation... you both sign a slip... you talk to the judge he asks you if you were driving unsafely and what was unsafe about it... says ok and you are on your way.... in hamilton they want you to pay at least 200$ of it that day and then figure out a payment plan for the rest, or pay it all off... i just paid it all at once, it was $389.

thanks bob that's exactly the info I was looking for.
and thanks to every one els that replied.

That's probably the most common form of accident or fender bender. You think the person in front of you is going and merging in and you look back for an opening and suddenly realize they are still in front of you! I've come close a few times. Are you with NJM Insurance, the points might not cost you too much then.

you can plead to unsafe operation of a motor vehicle twice every 5 years. close though.

you can always plea bargain, there is no limit. its whether or not the prosecutor agrees.

wow another thread about a ticket? wtf is goin on lately?

they're out there lately, i definitely noticed a higher presence of cops lately

Uh the OP rear ended someone and then called the police to report the accident, of course an office will arrive & give out a ticket its almost his civic duty in this case to determine who is at fault.

it's actually 200 + 250 FYI

did i question that?? he obviously also did something to deserve the ticket.... i was just commenting that there was yet another thread about wat he should do with a carelss ticket

and my statement was that I noticed more than normal presence of cops all around lately, at home and at school

I haven't noticed any more presence than normal, might be giving out more tickets than normal or it could just be people are posting more about getting tickets than normal :lol:

I'm sure states are hurting for money more than ever right now so it would be inline that they are enforcing traffic crap more since thats where the money is.

I still don't think I deserved to get a ticket as I stayed there reported it and didn't run off or anything and hell I wasn't even driving carelessly just going down a retarded intersection.
Just let this die as I got my answer thanks.

You rear ended someone who was waiting to merge into traffic and you don't think you deserve a ticket?

I understand that you thought they had already merged, but when driving you should always account for the stupidity of other driver's on the road.

- Justin

:nod: right on my man! its to be expected.

as justin said, what you did was careless. staying there was a good thing to do. leaving the scene of an accident is a HUGE ticket. just hope that the person you rearended doesn't take you to court.

Yeah unfortunatly when theres an accident theres someone at fault & someone not at fault, its up to the cop to determine which one is which & issue tickets to the person responsible for the accident. For the most part if you rear end someone you are at fault as the person in front of you has the right of way.

With that said that on ramp at QB all can be a pita though, I've almost rear ended people once or twice but thankfully didn't.

:nod: i hate that ramp!

I'll give you a short story about an accident I was involved in.

I was coming down QB road one day, lady goes to make a left hand turn, the two or 3 cars in front of me see this & move to the right lane, I didn't realize it till the last second & swearved to the right hand lane & clipped her right rear tail light cracking it(usually about $100 for a new taillight).

So I tell her my insurance co is about 100 feet away and we can go in there & call the police(this was before cell phones were available to the masses) or I could give her what I had on me ~$120 and call it even. My car had no damage as the drivers mirror folded in so no damage was done to it.

She wanted to go through the police, she gets a ticket for her not changing her address on her license within the alloted time period and I get a careless ticket.

Anyways I fought my ticket & won & she had to pay her ticket. In the end my insurance didn't go up and I didn't have to pay a dime and she was the only one that really had to pay anything :lol:

good times...

hahaha good story. also i believe there are no fault accidents in new jersey.

I could have sworn I read some place that NJ was a no fault state.