A friend of mine got a speeding ticket in Jefferson County, AL while driving on the interstate on November 20th. Supposedly she was driving (86-89) in an area that was posted at 70 or 75. She told me that she remembers being on cruise control before the speed limit changed, but she swears she did not have the cruise control set about 86, nor did she push the gas peddle down any farther to make her go faster than what she set the cruise control. Anyways, I told her that she and her husband need to figure out the calibrations and if it is possible to get from one speed to another between point a and point b in a certain amount of time.
Anyways, she called me the other day ago because she was wondering what to do about her ticket. On the ticket it said that her court date was Dec 17th. The last time she got a ticket was more than 3 years ago. She said that she would rather just plead guilty to the ticket and pay it off, have her insurance go up a little bit, and not have to miss work.
She told me that when she called the court and ask to talk with the clerk or whomever deals with traffic citations payments that when she ask to pay it off, that she was not allowed to pay it yet, because it was not in the system. My friend is worried about this. I told her that I got a continuation for my stop sign infraction. So, I was in a bit of a different circumstance. I told her to talk with a lawyer and see what they have to say.
Is there a chance that the officer forgot to put in the information after her pulled her over? Actually it would have been a sheriff or state trooper I think, because it was for the county and not a municipality. Could the officer have realized he made a mistake and decided to drop the charges or what ever you call it. Did he loose his "discovery". If my friend keeps calling the court or decides to go the court house to pay it in person before Dec 17th, but the clerk tells her that it is still not in the system, does that mean my friend should assume that the ticket does not exist and should not even pay the find or show up on Dec 17th or should she show up anyways, don’t pay the ticket but go in front of the judge and explain to he/she what happened. I would hate for to think Oh well if its not in the system Im not gonna pay for it and think she could get away with not going to court about it.
Has anybody here been in that situation before or know of anybody else? Are there any law enforcement officers or lawyers that would know what to do in this situation.
After I get some of your opinions (I hope), Im going to tell her to talk to her cousin who she told me was coloring a clients hair when the police came to her salon and too her away because she she had not paid off her ticket and did not show up in court that day. Maybe she will know what to expect if that occurs.
well, I don’t know if Florida Law ill work in Alabama. I think there are general rules that cover all states but I think there are rules for each state that are specific to that state and not others. just like municipality tickets might be treated differently than county tickets.