good luck ... palisades is always crawling with cops ... and with alot of tree coverage, it's easy for them to hide

 

Ok, for those interested in the outcome of my speeding ticket on the Palisades Parkway- I finally appeared in court yesterday. You definitely do not need a lawyer with you. The prosecutor came out and told everyone that in the interest of saving time (since there were so many people with speeding tickets waiting there to meet with him) he would offer plea deals to everyone. I had to wait 4 hours standing in line before I got to talk to the prosecutor, but when I did get in front of him, for my 72mph in a 50 zone ticket, he offered me the no points plea (careless driving) for a $380 surcharge. I took the deal and went on my way. You can take this sort of plea deal (no points) in NJ up to 2 times in a 5 yr. period.

Some tips if you ever do have to go to court to fight the ticket-
1) Don't show up in shorts like I did. There's a dress code there: no shorts or tank tops. The court officer told me I wasn't dressed properly because I had shorts on. It was 90F degrees with no a/c in the hallway where I had to wait, so I'm glad I did have shorts on but he asked me, "..what?..you think you're going to a BBQ or something?!" Jerk! I decided to stay there with shorts anyway and the Judge didn't say a thing to me about it thank goodness.

2) Bring a book to read or something. The process took me 4.5 hrs total. You first go into court room and wait to be called. They call your name and you plead guilty or not guilty. If you plead not guilty, you wait outside to speak to prosecutor (4 hrs wait for me). After you make deal, you go back in court room and wait for the Judge to call you up to see if you agree to the plea deal (duh...didn't I just agree to it when I spoke to the prosecutor after the 4 hour wait?!). Then you wait again until your name is called so that you have the honor of paying your fine.

3) Don't just not show up. Judge ordered $350 bench warrants if he called your name twice and you didn't answer.

4) Just don't speed on the Palisades Parkway. It ain't worth it.

 

when he asked you if you were going to a barbecue you should have told him it was a pig roast. Thanks for following this all the way through for us. I think you're now the ticket guru of the palisades. But I agree it's tough to speed on the p.i.p. the cops are everywhere. I'm on it at least twice a day.

 

Haha...damn...wish I though of that at the time! Yeah, that was a pretty pain the **** experience. No more speeding on the PIP for me.

 

boxtaboy: Did they give you the court date over the phone? Or via Postal mail? (And how long have you waited for the court date notification?) I am still waiting for my court date notification.

Thanks,

David.

 

I got a ticket in Jersey. 1XX in a 55. I have a NY license. I paid just pleaded guilty, paid the ticket.

No points on NY side.

 

If you have a NY license you should have just paid the ticket if it was from NJ, no points will go on your license as they do not report points to NYS unless there is alcohol or drugs involved.

 

I had my car impounded in spring valley for "speed not reasonable and prudent." 50 hrs of community service and a 200 dollar fine. I just hope you weren't nabbed by officer Katz.

 

Thing is, I was moving from NY to NJ at the time, and didn't want anything to show up when converting my car's registration and license to NJ when my insurance co. would do their standard checks.

 

After calling them to tell them I was gonna plead not guilty, they sent me a new court date via mail, but you can call them to find out the court date. If I recall correctly, the whole process took 4 months. They're backed up with all the ticket writing they're doing.

 

Well, I finally got it done after 5 months. The court apprence process that I went through was different.

A) Almost everyone has a lawyer for the session that I went to. I guess that they wrote so many tickets that they grouped the lawyers together to gain some efficiency. Some lawyers have 5-6 cases.

B) Almost all of the lawyers knew the drill. They lined up at the prosecutor office before the court started. By the time the court started, 80% of the lawyers already talked to the prosecutor.

C) Court started and the judge went down the list by alphabetical order to check who were there. Many "No show" - bench warrants were issued. (30 minutes)

D) After the first round, another round of call by alphabetical order to answer to the charge/plea. Each lawyer took turn. The lawyers answered all of the questions from the judge. No clients spoke. Almost everyone agreed to the plea. (20 minutes)

E) 5 minutes after the plea, paid the fine. And out the door.

The entire process took around a bit over an hour.




Note:

• Don't just "no show". The judge is very serious about that.
• Get a certified copy of your driving record. This will help your lawyer to prepare your case.
• Get a good lawyer who have been in that court. You can definately tell that some lawyers are VERY regular, and some are not as they did not line up by the door.
• You MUST be there. The judge will not hear you case if only your lawyer is present - unless you live in FL or something.
• Cash or check only - no credit card.

Good luck - I won't speed in PIP anymore.

 

thanks for the info...glad its resolved

 

Can anyone recommend a good lawyer.. Got nabbed on the PIP 83 in a 50...

 

Good luck to you poor guys. One more reason not to live in NY/NJ.....