ok, so i got a speeding ticket today on the way back from Alabama. I couldn't find my insurance card (you'd know why if you saw the inside of my car) and the officer got me going 16 mph over on I-65 (he was on the other side of the highway, turned around and "chased" me for 4 miles). he said both could be erased from my record if i payed $105 for traffic school in Giles County. Ok here's my only problem with this. Mboro cops said my 1st ticket wouldn't show up if I went to traffic court and payed court cost. Well, a few months later, my insurance rates went up b/c they magically found out. sooo, if anyone has experience with this I'd be more than gratefull if you could shiine some light on the situation...

No. The ticket doesn't get reported to insurance ONLY if you go to traffic school. If you went to court, they should've offered you traffic school if it was your first offense in that jurisdiction. Did they not? If you just went to court, pleaded guilty, paid the ticket and left, it would still be reported to your insurance. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about that one now. But you should definitely go to Giles County traffic school for this ticket. Traffic school for a morning is always better than higher insurance premiums for five years.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 8:21 pm on May. 26, 2003)

the good ole city of mboro doesn't offer us driving school, instead they claim they will dismiss the ticket if its your 1st offense, and you only pay court costs, not the ticket itself. i guess something went wrong, but my insurance company found out anyway. when i asked my insurance guy about it, he said that the company still finds out about the ticket, but that the points aren't counted against your license thats why i was wondering if the traffic school actually completely erases it or just does the same thing. hope this makes sense...

Right. It's still "on your record," but no points are counted against you, which, for insurance purposes, is like it never happened. That's wierd about that Murfreesboro ticket. Did your premiums go up because of it? If so, you should contact the city government and tell them about it.

yup, and it also went up for two other tickets I had dismissed earlier this year; one for expired tag, and another for a broken tail light. my parents said one more ticket and my car is downgraded. sooo, if this one sticks, i'll be riding a bike or driving one of those awesome flinstone cars. I guess thats why I'm so worried bout this one showing up.

My one and only "citation" for speeding has been in Murfreesboro. The story goes like this:

I was in Franklin with the friend I wa staying with (who lives in the Boro) and some other friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. The friend that I was staying with left early so that I could go see some things at the other friend's place in Franklin. I eneded up staying there too long and sped my way back to the new 840 connection.

BUT WAIT: I missed the exit for the 840 connection, and the next exit is like 28 miles down the road in Columbia. So I drove nearly 60 miles out of my way to get back, and sped all the way to the boro.

Once in the boro, I was sane enough not to speed, I know that to be the biggest mistake one can make shy of speeding in Brentwood, or Collegedale, Tennessee. But I hit a bridge on a major street (the name escapes me now) and on the bridge the speed limit drops 10 mph. The cop cited me for 12 over the speed limit on the bridge, so technically I was exceeding the speed limit I expected by 2mph.

The cop asked me why I was speeding and I explained politely that I was coming from Franklin, missed the exit, and drove out of my way, and was trying to make it back because I knew my host was waiting up for me, and not getting sleep that he needed for work at 9am the next day. I explained that I knew it wasn't an excuse, but that it was true. He asked me if I'd been drinking and I said no, and he said, incredulously, "Not been drinking?" Then he asked me if I'd ever been cited for speeding and I said no and he said, again incredulously "never been cited for speeding?" He checked my record and when it came up clean he excused me and I don't think my insurance ever even found out about it. He was nicer than I expected.

On another note, my roommate just got pulled over in either Wilmette or Winettka, his first ever citation and not a good place for it. He'd run a red light and had never been pulled over before. He knew immediately why he'd been pulled over and so ran out of his car to the police officer to apologize. Halfway to the squad car, the officer got onto his loudspeaker and announced "GET BACK INTO YOUR CAR! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND WALK SLOWLY BACK TO YOUR VEHICLE!" I found the story to be rather funny.

Will

sorry, the only thing i can share with you is the unfortunate experience of getting speeding tickets for many miles over and not being able to find your insurance card......(24 over in a neighborhood) and we will see what comes of that june 10th.........woo, life is GRAND

I find your friends story funny as well!!!

I got a ticket like 2 years ago for not coming to a complete stop! It was one of those streets that goes like this...........*Stop sign*...............*Stop sign*......... and it was like 8A.m on a Sunday Morning no other cars were there and I brake adn slowed down to like 2mph but didn't stop completely and then I saw THE LIGHTS thoose flashing lights just scare me man! It was my 1st ticket I picked trash on the side of the roads for a day an it was taken off my record after a year.