“Hand-held Device Trial - Need Help/advice From Anyone With Experience/knowledge”

Hello everybody, I recently just got my date for trail. My offence was driving with hand held communication device (my phone). During a red light, I looked at my phone to check google maps as I had destination set. The light went green really soon after so I was still checking it for like 5 seconds then I got pulled over and got a ticket for $490. I am an 18 year old college student and this is very difficult for me to pay, otherwise I would've just paid it.

I am going to represent myself in court. Should I plea guilty or not guilty? I was thinking guilty because obviously I was on my phone which is an offence. Does anybody have any tips for me? It would be greatly appreciated as I'm not certain of how the court process works.

Thank you

Here's a starting point on the process: