pay the ticket learn the lesson quit whining
YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER PAY A TICKET. Traffic tickets are nothing but a money grab and a way to generate money for the municipality and the insurance companies. Ask any cop, paralegal, or any one who is in the business. YES - there is something to be said for obeying the rules and traffic safety and so on. There are some idiots out there who deserve to get hammered, which should be up to the cops discretion, however, cops are pushed to give out tickets. Is the soccer mom driving 65 in a 50 or 55 in a 40 really endangering society? Or if she happens to roll two inches past the striped line and the cop sitting there nails her?
Here's my advice:
I used to always go to one of those paralegal organizations to fight my tickets. However, I realized that there is absolutely nothing they can do for you that you can't do for yourself as long as you know how the system works. It's like going to the stealership to get your car serviced, before you discovered TDI club
There are basically two ways to fight a ticket. 1. You ask for a court date and hope the cop doesn't show up. This costs you absolutely nothing and you have a so so chance of getting off; more thin these days than in the old days, but it can happen and does happen all the time.
2. You go to the court and file for disclosure of evidence. You will be provided with the cops notes and hope that he either didn't take any notes, or made a mistake in his notes. Sometimes during those traps cops process so many people so quickly, they forget to or don;t take detailed enough notes. If you can identify a mistake in his notes, which is his only evidence, you fight it and try to get off, still nothing to lose over just paying the ticket, unless the ticket was reduced in which case the Crown may ask that you be found guilty of the original speeding offence, not the reduced charge. Even then in most cases, the JP, unless a complete dick, will deny the Crown's request and you'll be charged with the original offence. Now almost always, if you fight your ticket and you go a bit early before the JP enters the court room and speak to the prosecutor, the prosecutor will offer you a deal of a reduced fine and reduced points, and in most cases no points at all depending on the charge, if you plead to the reduced charges. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FREE and you have accomplished the exact same thing any paralegal would do for you for $250 plus dollars. The prosecutors offer the deals because they just want to move you through the system quick, grab your money, and get your ass out. Contested hearings take up court time and in the end probably nets them less money, than offering you the quick deal and having you out and on your way, with the easy money in their pockets and you feeling like they did you a great f*king favour. Further, depending on your buddies driving record and age and so on, generally speaking the amount a paralegal charges you to fight your ticket,will most like be more than the amount your insurance company would raise your rates for the ticket.
3. The other way to get off, is if the cop made a mistake on the ticket. But the mistake has to be a critical one such as wrong time, date, location, wrong charge, or wrong wording of the charge, or if the ticket was not signed. A simple typo such as mispelling a name, plate, or driver's license number, will no longer get you off as they changed the rules, and the JP will simply ask the cop to amend the ticket in front of your face and the trial will continue.
My advice is for your buddy to fight it himself as described above. He will probably be offered a deal by the prosecutor for $60.00 exactly and no points. I know this, because I just fought the exact same ticket last week. He will pay $80.00 in total with taxes, court costs, and any other sh*t they can add on there. The one question I have is how the F*CK can they charge tax on a fine? Which is basically a government tax anyways. So it's tax on a TAX! You gotta love it. GOOD LUCK!!
The other thing I wanted to add to this is that most insurance companies will allow two minor tickets on your record, without nailing you, this is directly from my insurance broker's mouth. A lot of tickets take up to a year to get to court and it is only entered onto your record upon conviction and then it stays on your record for three years from the date of conviction. So if you juggle things right, and delay a conviction while you are waiting for something else to clear, you will avoid rate hikes. If you already have two tickets on your record and they are both recent, you better play nice till they clear! Ask me how I know all this!