NJ Speed Traps and Speeding Ticket Scam

The state of NJ has the biggest speeding ticket scam going. Since all the individual municipalities have to make budget, it's the same story for all of them. If you are going 39 in a 25 mile per hour zone, expect the cops to give you a speeding ticket that says you were doing 41. This allows them to say you were going more than 15 miles over the speed limit and makes the ticket a 4 point ticket.

You can then bargain with the Prosecutor’s office in the various municipalities to increase the amount of the fine, but buy down the amount of points. In other words, you can pay them to reduce the charges to speeding at 39, which is only 2 points on your license.

So if you're caught in a speed trap and the police officer has the wrong speed listed, why not protest that you were not doing the speed that the cop is writing up on the ticket?

Sigh...I've seen the result of protesting your ticket with a cop. My boss did it once. He'd moved from the Midwest and it was his second week at work. He told the police officer that he wasn't speeding as much as the officer was recording on the ticket. The cop stepped back, walked around the car and proceeded to write not one, but eight tickets. He got ticketed for everything from not having a NJ driver's license to under-inflated tires.

My boss had just done a benefit with the Mayor of Jersey City. So he called the Mayor's Office to protest. Guess what? Absolutely no help there. So, it doesn't matter if you are a millionaire or an average Joe Schmoe. Speeding tickets and speeding traps are increasing over NJ in leaps and bounds. They don't care; they just want to get your money.

Unless you have a video record of your driving speed, don’t argue with the nice policeman. And, if you do have a video, don’t tell the police officer, hire a lawyer and let them deal with it.

So, what are your options for a speeding ticket? Especially a speeding ticket that has enough points to suspend your license.

Hire a Lawyer
If you are getting enough points to suspend your license, hire a lawyer. I like lawyers, because they know enough about the system to beat it. It may take forever on their part, but they can keep delaying court appearances until the officer who ticketed you doesn't show up. They ask to get the ticket dismissed. On the other hand, who can afford a lawyer, in our current economic climate?

Plea Down Your Ticket
Double-check the court date and the information on your ticket as far as how much in advance of the court date you need to contact the Municipal Court. Talk to the Prosecutor's office to plea down your ticket. Be a humble as you possibly can without choking on your own puke. For a fee, you can usually plea down 2 points. This is why the cop who ticketed you wrote down a speed that wasn't accurate.

Don't get me wrong I like cops, too. But this type of scam is bread and butter to whatever town you live in. Cops have a quota to make and for some of them, if they have to cheat to do it, they will. After all, you were actually speeding and you’ve done half of their job for them.

Usually, getting caught in a speed trap means that you are making the transition from one type of speed to another. For example, coming off a major highway, into a business district. Or, going over the border from one town into another. Another place where they love to place speed traps is going over a hill. It can be 45 when you start up the hill and transition to 25 coming down.

The law in NJ is that if an area is not marked with posted speed limits, the speed is 25 miles an hour. Pay attention. If you haven't seen a posted speed sign in a while, slow down. A NJ speed trap may be just around the curve.

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