My worst ticket was 95 in a 60 in Linndale, OH (for those of you that aren't from Ohio), their jurisdiction is about 3 or 4 miles and they'll nail you for doing 63. The fine was almost 400 dollars.

 

My only ticket was 13 over in a 50mph zone while passing a buddy. 120 bucks and 2 points I believe. I was actually doing closer to 80 but I think he clocked me before I got going too fast. I was lucky there. Didnt fight it just in case he was giving me a break.

 

I got pulled over doing 57 in a 25mph zone in my parents mini-van a month after I got my license. The cop wrote me up for 5 over, and then when I took it to court the judge wrote me up for impeding traffic. $100 fine and no points. My parents' punishment was worse than the actual law ha!

But ALWAYS try to fight the ticket, whether or not the cop was giving you a break. They can't slap a higher charge than what you had originally been written up for. If anything the cop might not show up or the judge will lower the sentence like he did for me.

 

around here cops get days off without pay if they skip court so they always show up.

 

In my first Monte, i was headed out of town and about 10 miles out i met a State Trooper. He flipped it around and came after me. He wrote me a warning because my radar detector was in the middle of the windshield, therefore blocking my view of the road. Stupid. Then not 15 min later i was passing a truck and semi. As soon as i got back over, i went around a curve and there what ANOTHER State Trooper. I didnt have time to do anything. He clocked me 88 in a 65. $225 ticket. This day was also my 20th birthday. It was a bad day...

 

my worst ticket i got was about 190-210 in a friends corvette i was taking him to the hospital. he wrote me up but when he got to the window again he shreded it and led me do to he seen hevy blood coming out of my friends hand he said after we got to the hospital if it is anouther emergincy call 911. after that i got a ticket doing 10 over in the same car taking it back to his house. man i was uncomfortable in a car that is built like a freakin missle that is owned by some one else.

 

The one thing I learned from my insurance guy about fighting a ticket that is a risk you need to take I guess: If you fight a ticket, and lose completly, then you CAN NOT go to traffic school any longer to mask that ticket from your record. (this is in California at least). So I usually just pay the ticket, plus the extra fine for choosing traffic school, and then pay for the actual traffic school itself. Makes for an expensive ticket, but keeps it off my record/ insurance, so...

 

That actually does make some sense, I'm not sure what they do about that in Michigan. It helps that one of my best friends dad is a lieutenant in another sheriff department and my parents came with me (to basically tell the judge that w/e his judgement was, my dads was gonna be worse lol)

 

Lindale is HORRIBLE! I think almost everyone in northern Ohio knows about thatm. Like you said, 3-4 miles of freeway, they don't even have an on or off ramp, and given that they write the MOST tickets in all of Ohio. Plus, I think traffic tickets are the bread-n-butter of that city!! HORRIBLE!

 

FYI - Reading this entire thread, it's starting with the OP mentioning he's being hit with 16 over when he is certain he was only doing 15 over. You might get lucky and the judge could knock it down or you're stuck. You are arguing one mile, it could be a LOT of things to account for that. May the speedo on your car is slightly out of adjustment, maybe the rims/wheels are throughing it off, maybe how the officier clocked you.

I got a ticket coming home from my Honeymoon. We took the wife's Mustang to Myrtle Beach. Right before we were about to get on the freewayt and leave, we spotted a HUGE national Mustang Car Show. My wife, the Mustang fan, asked if we could stop, so we did. Well, we got back on the road, I know I was speeding but NOT what the cop claimed. He claimed I was doing like 89 in a 65, I claimed I was doing about 75, absolutely NOT 80+.
I think he was taking advantage of our out of state plates OR another near identical Mustang blew his doors off (heck the only cop I saw since we got on the freeway was traveling the other direction, so I don't know where he came from). By placing the ticket over 80 upped the fine a LOT ($350).
When I got home I made a LOT of calls. No one was willing to assist. Finally, I wrote the govenor (for reasons not listed, the cop was rude on top of falsifying my speed). As a result, an inspection was opened up about the issue (I was contacted by the inspecting officier to see if I had anything to add to my letter, but he stated it was pretty complete and did say that the dash cam would be reviewed). Due to confidentiallity, I did not get to hear the results.
As for the ticket, the courts were the only group that could do anything. I included a letter with payment that informed my account of the event (similiar to what I sent the governor), I also informed that because of contacting the governor, an investigation was being opened. I will not plead guilty to 89, as I was NOT going 89. I will plead guilty to 75.
End result, my $350 fine became a $70 fine. At that point, I feel this was appropriate (as it appears that knocked it down to what I was willing to say I was traveling).