“Fight My First Ticket? 128 In 100”

I got my first ticket about a week ago where i was going 136 in a 100 zone. I'm guessing that the officer lowered it to 128 because it was my first ticket (i'm 22 and i've been driving since i was 16) and this was his 'warning' for me. Everyone i've known told me to fight a ticket no matter what, but this being my first ticket i don't think it's worth fighting it over ~$100+taxes and maybe having them bump it back up to 136.

The reason i'm asking though is because that was easily the fastest i've ever gone in my life. I only sped up to that because there were two cars almost fighting in front of me and i just tried to get out of their way. Of course i sped up ahead for 5 seconds to get away from them and that's when i got caught. The 'fighters' got away with it and went off. I didn't mention this to the officer because it was my first ticket and i didn't know what to do. I told him it was my first time and he came back and lowered it to 128 so that the fine wasn't too much... Any advise to my long winded question?

Also, if i do decide to fight the ticket, the court is almost 1.5 hours away from my home. Is there anyway to change that place to somewhere closer or would i HAVE to go to the place mentioned? I'll probably just pay the thing if i have to drive down there...

edit: also forgot to mention, it should be 3 demerit points for going 28 over but do they disclose that i was actually going 36 over to my insurance company? I'm sure my insurance won't go up because of this first offence in my 6 years of driving so i hope the 3 points + ~$100 is all that i suffer from this ticket.

Normally you have very little to lose fighting a ticket except time wasted in Court. Reduced speeding tickets are a bit of an exception since they can be raised back up to the original amount at trial. Still though, theres nothing wrong with requesting a trial and reviewing disclosure. Just don't actually go ahead with a trial unless you think you can win. In regards to Court, you will have to travel to the Court where the offence occurred. The trial cant be moved to where you live for convenience sake, though you can sometimes negotiate with the Crown prior to trial by phone.

In regards to your explanation for speeding, its not a defence in Court. Speeding is whats known as an absolute liability offence, meaning you either were speeding or you werent. The" why" doesnt really matter unless it was an actual emergency. To beat the charge you'd have to review disclosure and see if there's any weakness in the Crown's case. Most speeding cases are won simply because the reasonable doubt is raised, either about the accuracy of the device (i.e. not calibrated) or correct vehicle stopped (i.e. lost sight of person prior to pulling them over).

In terms of your insurance company, they can only go by what youre convicted of, not the actual speed you were stopped at. 28 over should be considered a minor offence, which could result in a minor increase in your premiums. Check with your provider (anonymously if needed) to be certain.

Hmm thanks for the information. I think i'll just pay the ticket and be done with it. I really don't have the time to travel 1.5 hours to court and review everything and honestly i can't really think of anything that I could argue other than what i already mentioned. I doubt i'd have a good argument to make because i actually was going a little too fast. My best argument would be to look at my clean history in the past but other than that the best i'd hope for is that the cop doesn't show up which is a long stretch i'd assume...

Anyone else have an opinion on this?

Also, is http://www.paytickets.ca/ legit? You'd think that they'd mention that site on the pay slip for ease of use