Traffic court for talking on cell phone, what do I say?

I wouldn’t think there is a lot you can do if you were caught red-handed. The only thing I can think of is that you get a medical certificate or something with more weight if you can, to say you were going through an emotional break-up and your behaviour was not usual for you but was a consequence of your emotional state. Seriously though, I don’t hold out a lot of hope that it would work. You need to speak to a lawyer to get some real legal advice. Obviously the police officer felt there was some wriggle room.

What are the penalties for talking on your phone while driving where you are?

Say “I’m very sorry I was talking on my cell phone, and I’ll never do it again.”

Judges hate to hear excuses all the time. Be straight forward and honest. Ask if he can reduce the fine or accept community service.

It might depend what state you’re in.
In California I think you can do traffic school to remove it from your record but you have to pay the entire fine plus pay for the traffic school up front.
When I was growing up in Oregon you could tell the judge you were guilty with an explination and ask for a reduced fine.
Good luck. Getting a ticket sucks. I hate that the fines aren’t on some sliding scale based on ability to pay. For some the fine is nothing while for others it can devastate your life.

I expect that he was giving you a coded message, which he dare not say aloud and so directly: “If you show up in court to contest the ticket, I won’t be there to support it. The charge will be thrown out and the case dismissed.”

At least that’s how I read his insistence that you appear in court, combined with his lack of an assertion of your oral guilty plea to him.

As for why he issued the ticket, that’s pretty obvious, too. If he was “on the lookout for cell phone talkers” then he has effectively been issued a quota by his department to “write tickets”. So, he did his thing, finding you and writing the ticket. That doesn’t mean that the jurisdiction necessarily has to collect, though. And he couldn’t very well have wasted his time with you and simply not-issued the ticket. He had to justify his presence to his superiors, and the stop was logged when he pulled you over, so he had to issue the ticket to verify that it was a bona fide stop, and not just an abuse of his authority to try to get face time with you.

Go to court, and if you’re required to testify – which would be a surprise to me – you may be able to claim that this was an emergency circumstance (you may have to explain some of the circumstances, which may be embarrassing – and you need to be honest), and have the charge reduced. It means a potentially lower fine and reduced points against your insurance (if that counts in your state).

@CWOTUS, you sound like you know what you’re talking about. I’d certainly be inclined to trust advice that sounds so knowledgeable.

CWOTUS,

That was my feeling too. He was extremely insistent that I show up in court even though I was clearly okay with just paying the fine and pleading guilty.

And he did tell me he was doing a specific patrol for cell phone talkers and had “no choice” but to issue a ticket. Hmm.

The personal crisis was pretty embarrassing but if I have to explain it, I will. It did have to do with my mental health in a way. Although I doubt I could get any medical note or anything.

In my state, I think you pay around $100 and then it’s 2 points on your license. I’m in NY.

I’m not really “all that knowledgeable”, but I’ve had a traffic stop for one thing (speeding, for example), where the officer actually admitted to me “I didn’t want to be on the highway in the rain today, because it’s so dangerous there” (it was), “so I’ve given you this ticket for a secondary infraction, not wearing a seat belt. The fine is lower and there are no points.” Since that was out of state and I didn’t want to take a full day off work to make the out of state appearance, and the fine was “only” $25, I paid it, but grudgingly. I was “speeding” about +5mph, which is “going with the flow” everywhere, but since it happened on the exit ramp, and she was sitting at the end of the ramp, she had me.

The first appearance in court is where you say guilty or not guilty. No cop needed. If you plead not-guilty then the cop must show for the actual trial. This is a can of worms you don’t want to open. I have sat through many afternoons of people in court where people plead not guilty for minor shit and were led off in cuffs when they could have said guilty and walked out with a fine and a payment plan.

Explain yourself, show remorse, and pay the fee the judge orders that is generally much less than the ticket.

I am not a layer. Just a drunk that has been in some legal trouble before.

In my state, you don’t go to traffic court to plead guilty. You have to do it by mail to plead guilty.

If you contact the court like I did and you sent up a court date it’s an automatic not guilty plea.

I think you are thinking about other, more serious offenses where you have to go to court no matter what you’re pleading.

In my state, you can show up in court to negotiate on a traffic violation. You usually say you are guilty but remorseful and ask if you can pay a higher penalty but not have points on your license. That’s how it worked for my son. I’ve always found honesty and contrition go a long way.

I can’t imagine any court in any state leading a defendant away “in cuffs” for a traffic infraction that hadn’t resulted in arrest in the first place, @johnpowell. We’re talking traffic court here, not criminal.

Just eat it. And pull over next time. You can then devote your whole brain to your family crisis without endangering anyone, especially cyclists.

I agree with @CWOTUS, but would like to add that you were doing something illegal… you were driving while distracted. This has been found to make you more likely to get in an accident. You could have hit another car or a pedestrian, or even driven off the road and hit a house or place of business. You could have caused a lot of damage up to and including taking the life of yourself or someone else.

I understand that $100 and points seem like a lot to you… but you got off. You escaped without causing damage. Please approach court with humility and apology. And please do not drive while distracted again.

When you go to court (in my experience) you won’t have to discuss details with Judge. You will see cop in hallway, he’ll “bargain” with you as to what you’ll plead to and what he’s willing to let you plead to. It will be a reduced charge like failure to obey a traffic signal or something with less points. You’ll go up in front of Judge, DA will say “your honor, Ms. Seekingwolf will plead guilty to failure to obey a traffic signal” and that will be that. You pay the fine. No discussion in front of judge will take place.

In my town, the traffic court works like the one that @janbb describes.

When I got my last ticket, going 40 mph in a sneaky one-block stretch marked 30 mph, the young cop was also very insistent that I show up in court.

So I did. He got me aside and told me he would change the charge to a “non-moving violation and that I should plead “Guilty/”

The judge doubled my penalty but kept the info out of the system so my points didn’t change. The main goal was to help fill the town coffers due to so many budget cuts from the county and state.

I had a blank check with me (one more reason to keep a few real checks) so was able to expedite the transaction.

This was a less serious crime, however, than talking on a phone while driving.

Ask the judge to consider deferred adjudication. That’s where it comes off your record if you stay clean for 6 months or whatever.

I admit I too have been caught holding my phone talking on speaker. I think the reason the officer said to go to court is because you might be able to make a deal with the DA before you go before the judge. Might save you points and maybe time but it might cost you a heavy fine. I was going to do this with my ticket but unfortunately I was sick with 104 degree fever and just wanted to go home and back to bed. See if you can talk to the DA before you see the judge. Good luck.

If I were guilty, I’d accept the repercussions and just pay it.

I can’t plead guilty now. By setting a court date, I’m entering a plea of not guilty. Seems like a waste of my time to go to court just to say “Oh please give me the full fine/points! Thank you so much.”

Ifs easy to say you’d plead guilty when $100 is pocket change. Not so for me. I can afford it but if I have a chance to reduce it, I’d be a damn fool not to.

Wanted to update.

Actually, the mobile phone thing, you can’t plead down like a speeding ticket. It’s like the only violation that you can’t plead down. Actually, it’s the same thing with running a red light.

I’m glad I went to court though. My fee was supposed to be like $200. I paid $25. I got only a couple points. The governor of my stated upped the penalty but I did it before he upped it so it doesn’t apply to me. Hahaha, narrowly missed that one!