Just wanted to provide the final disposition of this incident. Hired a lawyer, dropped the charge to a non-moving violation. All in, between lawyer and fines, around 1500 bucks. Fine was a bit higher for the non-moving violation, and the lawyer fees, of course, weren't cheap.
All told, good learning experience, slow down, be more aware and, find the right attorney if you're in this situation. Called a few who said "we can get it dropped to a lower speeding ticket". Then I found one who said they could get it "gone" for the right price. And gone it now is, never happened.
What a system. You only have to have a few experiences like this before you start to sympathize with those who espouse the "eat the rich" viewpoint. So ridiculously unfair, but, hey, worked out in my favor this time (certainly didn't when I was younger, poor and couldn't afford an attorney for this kind of issue). Speeding (and a few other victimless crimes) are just so open for abuse, when nobody cares (in fact, nobody even knows other than you and the police officer) you've committed a crime it's just open to this kind of "disappearing" for the right price.
Guess I suffered enough as a young/poor kid in the system, now it's my time to be "that guy" who buys his way out of trouble. Hopefully this will be the last time I need to do it, trying to be much more mindful of the speed signs (so at least I know when I'm over!). I did install a radar detector (Valentine 1) and am running a great app called JBV1; perhaps the best feature, it announces speed limit changes and also displays heat maps for radar traps. Very, very helpful, and absolutely would have prevented my 1000+ dollar education.
All told, good learning experience, slow down, be more aware and, find the right attorney if you're in this situation. Called a few who said "we can get it dropped to a lower speeding ticket". Then I found one who said they could get it "gone" for the right price. And gone it now is, never happened.
What a system. You only have to have a few experiences like this before you start to sympathize with those who espouse the "eat the rich" viewpoint. So ridiculously unfair, but, hey, worked out in my favor this time (certainly didn't when I was younger, poor and couldn't afford an attorney for this kind of issue). Speeding (and a few other victimless crimes) are just so open for abuse, when nobody cares (in fact, nobody even knows other than you and the police officer) you've committed a crime it's just open to this kind of "disappearing" for the right price.
Guess I suffered enough as a young/poor kid in the system, now it's my time to be "that guy" who buys his way out of trouble. Hopefully this will be the last time I need to do it, trying to be much more mindful of the speed signs (so at least I know when I'm over!). I did install a radar detector (Valentine 1) and am running a great app called JBV1; perhaps the best feature, it announces speed limit changes and also displays heat maps for radar traps. Very, very helpful, and absolutely would have prevented my 1000+ dollar education.
