Demoh
Member
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- Location
- St Pete, FL
Very informative. I figured as much for the trooper being there.Just my .02
It just plain sucks to see what you have been put through. I do not have specific PA experience but will share general life experiences.
Traffic and Vehicle safety is under the guise of "public Safety" but is generally a revenue enhancement process. The fact that a contracted person issued the citations tell me he has only one master. His boss and the contract. The County probably like the increased fees and court costs so they recommend keeping the contract... There is probably already a cozy relationship and volume this agent/company gives the county and they get accustomed to the cash cow. Sure they might seem impartial but the deck is already stacked against you.
The State trooper was probably there in case you mouthed off, became belligerent, or constituted a public nuisance..... You can figure out the next saga.
You will spend a good amount of $ on attorney and travels/costs/fees/time away.
In like situations I wait till the documents hit the appropriate court jurisdiction and ask to speak to the assistant DA handling traffic cases. I try to make a pretrial conference on phone or in person stating I will pay the full court costs and fines but can they be pleaded down to non moving violations so it does not affect my insurance. The court and Da want the $, so they are still getting that and pleading down does not hurt them. They win and you get a smaller break. Figure which of these citations are the ones that will hit your insurance driving record and become the problem. Typically equipment issues are non moving violations and do not impact insurance unless you have a job that driving is part of the employment. Many states also have clauses that if there are no further citations in a period of times, the charges go off your record. In La, we have article that lets you get the charges removed off your record in 90 days is there are no other violations in the period. You have to ask for it and the DA has to agree to it so never act or sound stupid so they will be willing to work with you. Of course all fees and fines are kept by the jurisdiction. Work out a plea and never go back to PA....
You will end up paying one way or another big bucks, It is just a matter of what is in your best interest.
I look at this whole situation as a learning experience. Yes its a lot of money and yes its a real pita, but its really about how I move forward with the situation. I for dang sure will be making sure I have my ducks in a row.
Im thinking that best case I can prove that I am not commercial and the CMV stuff gets dropped. Doubt that will happen but wishful thinking. I do like the idea of trying to work with the DA. Im going to start looking into that. I am going to assume that this is all before signing any of the citation paperwork which will record pleading guilty or not guilty or if working with a lawyer to maybe instruct them on this is the direction I would want to take.
The best item for me would be points to keep the insurance down, I already have cheap insurance I dont need that to become like a house payment.