What happens if I don't pay my speeding ticket?

Warrant.
Don’t be an idiot. Pay your ticket.

Nothing good will happen. Best case? You’ll get away with it for a few months, and then be forced to pay when you renew your registration. Worst case? You get pulled over again and have your car impounded for failure to pay tickets. Of course the actual punishment varies from county to county, so check with your local county’s laws.

$140 is no dinky fine either, which means it wasn’t a simple rolling stop at a stop sign, but something a bit more dangerous, like speeding more than 10mph over. No one wants to pay fines, but you earned it via your actions and behavior. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and if you continue to not abide by the rules, the right will be removed from you.

You go to jail. Don’t pass go; don’t collect 200.

Well, if it’s your first time, don’t you have to go to traffic school for a day? If not, then you’ll probably be hunted down. :P

I don’t know where your located but in Conn $140.00 is what you get for going 5 or 10 mph over. My wife gets 400 and 500 dollar tickets. If its your first one send it in stating you want to go to a hearing. Chances are good they will let it go. But be prepared to go to court and then they will reduce it. If you do nothing it will make it worse and they will fined you….DO NOT ignore it because it will not go away….

@dynamicduo Where do you live that rolling thru a stop sign is a dinky fine?! Here, it’s not only a $150 ticket, but it is also 6 points against your license – which would be equivalent to three regular speeding tickets or two within the 10–20mph over tickets. I should know, I got one. Luckily I was able to defer it. I just can’t get another ticket in this county for one more year!

Try this and tell us if it works.

http://www.adventuresinlegalland.com/index.php?/content/view/84/33/
http://www.adventuresinlegalland.com/index.php?/content/view/87/33/
http://www.adventuresinlegalland.com/index.php?/content/view/91/33/

Where I live – I’ll tell you what my idiot neighbor got handed to him, and he deserved it – as you will, if you just decide not to pay.

Original ticket: $120

1. Bench warrant issues.
2. Nothing, for several months.
3. Out on date with hot woman (his description), he was speeding, again, and pulled over. Another fine for speeding.
4. Handcuffs for the bench warrant. Real Fun!
5. Several hours in jail, then release and ordered to appear before the judge.
6. Had to hire an attorney – cha-ching!
7. Judge explains that had he appeared, fine would have been cut in half; however, he had to pay the full fine, late penalty, fine for failure to appear…oh and the fine for the next speeding ticket. Total cost for all of that – just under $1300.
8. Attorney costs – $780
9. $2080.

Go ahead, skip paying the ticket, let’s see if your total costs can exceed his!!

Oh, I forgot how many points he racked up, too!

@dlm812 – as it says clearly in my profile, I live in Canada. Here is my province’s demerit point rules. My pops was caught rolling through a stop sign a few years ago and was given a dinky $50 fine and a warning instead of demerit points. It would have only been 3 points though, far from 6 (which is for things like racing and careless driving). In fact, most cop pullovers result in warnings, unless you’re doing something really dumb like huge speeding. In those cases you’re just handed a big fat ticket, or if you’re caught street racing, they will simply take your car right then and there on the spot as WELL as giving you your hard earned ticket.

The cheapest way to deal with the ticket is to pay it.

If you have plenty of time, you can go to court and contest it; this will probably cost you a vacation or personal day (mine are worth more than $140 to me), and might get it dismissed on technical grounds.

If you don’t pay it, it grows. Penalties, late fees, bench warrants, arrests, lawyers, jail time, and you’ll have to pay it before you can renew your car registration anyway.

@dynamicduo Well I wish I had been pulled over there instead of here! Much better policy.

And sorry for asking where you lived when I obviously could have just looked at your profile… I’m really bad about that! :(

just pay the fine, if your going to be doing something illegal like speeding your going to have to assume that you might get caught so live up to your actions and don’t do it again.

I smell a warrant coming along! Yyou might be able to get away with the warrant on your for awhile (if you don’t get in trouble for somethign else) then it would be worse for you. So just pay it!

what about a parking ticket? is that treated differently? my sister got a $15 ticket for parking in a school zone. She was only there for a maximum of 5 minutes, but long enough to get a ticket. She counted out $15. in pennies and turned them in with her ticket. The police dept. refused to take her coins. Pfffftt…. last I knew, it was still legal tender.

Paying tickets with pennies is a dick move, and very passive aggressive. Yes, pennies are legal currency, but places of business (arguably a city service is not a business, but still) also have the option to decline methods of payment that are a burden to them. If you want to make your point with pennies, do it with rolled pennies. Or don’t even try to make a point. It’s not like the person taking in your money had anything to do with you getting the ticket.

@bristolbaby, your sister should have gotten off for their refusal to accept payment.

there are other cases that made the news – one guy tried to pay a $56 fine in pennies.

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/uslawman/vpost?id=3171491

the consensus of opinion was that a private company can refuse to take them, but a government agency is required to take all legal tender.

one of our cities just converted all the parking meters to take only debit cards…. I don’t park there anymore.

Definitely pay it, but also consider going to court to have it reduced. Our court offers one night a week where you can go to court instead of going during the day…I had a ticket that was $212 and it was reduced to $100 just for going to court and admitting I was guilty. That might be an option to consider.

F**K it. a “friend of mine” will make it dissapear,
just ask for “Ralph”, he will tear that ticket up and all is needed is Your Republican Vote. OK?
stick it to the man!!

Bad things. Very baaaad things.

There are ways to attempt to not pay without violating the system. Often communities have web pages about how to attempt this. Often simple resisting legally in court in one way or another (e.g. asking the officer to appear, or appearing yourself to explain the circumstances) will have the judge remove or reduce the fee.

Right, yeah. Gonna pay it, then.

Good answer.