Speeding Tickets

It’s no fun getting a speeding ticket – especially if you feel you didn’t deserve one.

Having an experienced New Jersey lawyer in your corner may improve your odds of beating a speeding ticket in court and avoiding fines, points on your record, and increased insurance costs.

The standard fines for speeding in New Jersey are:

• exceeding limit by 1-9 miles per hour: $81
• exceeding limit by 10-14 miles per hour: $91
• exceeding limit by 15-19 miles per hour: $101
• exceeding limit by 20-24 miles per hour: $196
• exceeding limit by 25-29 miles per hour: $216
• exceeding limit by 30-34 miles per hour: $236
• exceeding limit by 35-39 miles per hour: $256

These fines are doubled in Safe Corridor or Construction Zones.

Exceeding the limit by 40 miles per hour or more requires a court appearance.

When you’re ticketed for speeding or other traffic offenses, points are added to your Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) record.

For example, you’ll get:

• Two points for being 1-14 miles over the speed limit
• Four points for being 15-29 miles over the speed limit
• Five points for being 30 or more miles over the speed limit
• Five points for racing on a highway

Insurance companies count these points in calculating your insurance rates. The more points you have, the more expensive your insurance rates will probably be. If you rack up more than eight points, you’ll become ineligible for vehicle insurance in the regular ‘voluntary market.” This means that you’ll have to buy insurance from an “assigned risk” plan, which is much more expensive.

If you get points on your license, you’ll have to pay “point surcharges” to the MVC in addition to any fines and penalties that the traffic court imposes.

These surcharges will apply as long as you have six or more points on your record from moving violations in the past three years.

If you don’t pay these surcharges, the MVC will suspend your driving privileges. The MVC may also get a lien against your real estate, garnish your wages, or take other steps to collect these payments.

If you have from six to 11 points on your license, the MVC will send you an Advisory Notice warning you that you’re at risk of losing your license. If you have 12 or more points, the MVC will send you an automatic Notice of Scheduled Suspension.

If you’re an out-of-state driver, your New Jersey speeding ticket may or not may not be reported to your home state.

For example, New York doesn’t recognize out-of-state tickets (except from Ontario and Quebec, Canada).

However, New Jersey does recognize out-of-state tickets. All out-of-state moving violations count as two points in New Jersey.

Let’s start by saying it’s not easy to beat a speeding ticket in court. However, there are a few ways you may be able to do it:

• The police officer may have done the paperwork wrong.
• The police officer’s training certification may be out-of-date.
• The radar or laser equipment used to measure your speed may have malfunctioned or not have been tested properly or recently. (However, having an expert to testify about this will likely cost more than the amount of the ticket.)
• If you received a ticket on the basis of a police officer following you and estimating how fast you were going, you can argue that the police car’s speedometer was off or that the officer was actually following someone else.

The Law Offices of Marc B. Schram, P.C. serve Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex county businesses and individuals. For experienced representation, call 732.888.4400 or contact us online to schedule your free initial consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.