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If you go to court and throw yourself on the mercy of the court, you need to know that ignorance of the law is no excuse. The fact that you didn't see the sign will probably not make a difference, but you can take your chances if you want. Read the info on the VA Driver Safety course. I know in AZ, if you go to court, you lose the availability of taking the course.

go to court. at the very least, your fine will be reduced significantly.

explain to the judge that I did not realize that the speed limit dropped right where I was and at the time I was switching lanes and must have missed the posted sign change.

Most likely the judge will not care. It is your responsibility to know the law. Sorry! It does depend on the judge. Some have sympathy and some are hard a$$e$.

Having said that DO go to court. In my experience it ALWAYS pays. Either the fine goes away and they only charge court costs, fine gets reduced, they allow traffic school, or they allow payments and/or extra time to pay. Just be remorseful. I would not take a child with me. I don't think most courts allow children anyway.

Definitely check the laws in YOUR state!

Good luck!

I just got my first speeding ticket. (I'm 52!) 50 in a 35 'town' on a highway speed trap.

I would have lost money by going to court and canceling on clients, so I paid it. It was about $215 or if I wanted to go to traffic school it was $282. I chose the latter to avoid the points and insurance hikes.

Traffic school was online, several hours of study and cost $33 additional.

On the ticket they described a payment plan but there was a $35 additional charge for using it.

This was California so it may be diff in Virginia.

In North Carolina you can pay an attorney to enter a prayer for judgment continued. It's not cheap, but if you go the set time without another ticket, the charge is dropped and in the meantime you do not get any points on your insurance. You could google to see if this is possible in Virginia. Around here you get letters from lawyers within two days of the ticket!

I don't know how it is in VA, but the fines in NC are pennies compared to the court costs. That's how they get the $$ - charge court costs regardless of how the case turns out. The ONLY way to avoid the court costs in NC is if the ticket is voluntarily dismissed. Unfortunately, the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. I'm sorry, Shelly.

IF it were me, I would take the safe driving course BEFORE your court date and bring the certificate of completion with you to court. You will likely get something like a "prayer for judgment continued" (PJC) is what it's called in NC and it's basically a "get out of the ticket" card. You won't be assessed points, but you WILL have to pay court costs AND the cost of the class.

They are gonna get their $$ some way out of you. The best you can do is try to minimize the long-term damage on your license and insurance.

Depends where you live. In the NE they have some BS non moving violation they substitute for everything except DUI and reckless.

Fine is double but no points. The prosecuter at court is a robot.

"This is a non moving violation we are willing to substitute for your [insert whatever] violation. It carries no points but a $250 fine. Agree to this and plead guilty to the judge. NEXT"

"This is a non moving violation we are willing to substitute for your [insert whatever] violation. It carries no points but a $250 fine. Agree to this and plead guilty to the judge. NEXT""This is a non moving violation we are willing to substitute for your [insert whatever] violation. It carries no points but a $250 fine. Agree to this and plead guilty to the judge. NEXT"

Go back to where you were stopped.

Is the speed limit sign clearly visible?

Do you see it reasonably far ahead before you pass it?

Is it visible if there is a large car driving on the other lane?

Is there any advance warning telling you about a change in speed?

What was the limit before the sign?

How close to the sign were you before you were pulled over?

How close were you to the sign when the officer claims to have measured your speed?

Look into all these issues. If you can create a case where you can show reasonable and sensible doubt on enough of the above issues you might be able to get the case dropped. For example; if you were stopped ten yards from the signal and the +10 was within the former limit you can claim you were decreasing speed because the sign isn’t visible in advance. Make entrapment noises… Judges hate that.

I once got booked for an illegal turn at a red light. My defense; there was a bus beside me so I didn’t see the no turn sign. Plus a police car pulled up behind me where I was waiting at the red light with the turn signal clearly showing where I was headed. Once I took the turn the blue lights came on and I was booked. Like I told the judge; a cop’s prime job is to PREVENT crime, they had a couple of minutes to walk over to my car (or scream through the bullhorn) that I was about to make an illegal turn.

Edited to add: The judge let me go and the ticket was dropped.

[This message edited by Bigger at 12:21 PM, September 3rd (Tuesday)]