Speeding

I am 18 and I got a speeding ticket today in illinois going “55″ in a 40?

Today I got a speeding ticket going 55 in a 40, I had my car on cruise control at around 45-48 mph, he pulled me over and said i was going 55, when i was not. He gave me a citation saying I can plead guilty pay a fine, plead guilty pay a fine and pay fro traffic school, or plead not guilty and show up in court. I have only gotten 1 other ticket before and the police officer did not show up in court. If I plead not guilty, and he is not at court, I will get my license back, I know that. But if I plead not guilty and he is at court what can happen? How can i potentially “fight” this, or at least get it off my record. I am a student and don’t have much money to pay for fines, or traffic school, and I never speed.
thanks for the help in advance
My buddy who has gotten several tickets said if i plead not guilty go to court and before hand ask for continuance the cop will most likely not be at the next court date, is this true?

Unfortunately your cruise control is not a precise instrument and your vehicle speed could vary especially if you were going down hill. If you only intended on speeding by 8mph (setting the cruise at 48 in posted 40) the speed may have drifted up.

Other equipment modifications to your car, changing the wheel size, computer chip, differential gear ratio can also cause your speedometer to be invalid. I don’t know if any of these apply to your vehicle.

Finally, at this point we’re not sure which method he used to determine your speed (RADAR, LIDAR, VASCAR or pace clock). It is not uncommon for the officer to determine your speed before you see him, and by the time you look down your speed is different from his initial determination.

For my department we are required to show up to traffic court and receive a minimum of 2 hours of overtime to show up. If we need to miss court and contact the court 72 hours in advance they will reschedule. If I do miss court you must notify a sergeant (it happens but pretty rare these days).

Since you didn’t mention which state this occurred in I will give you info from my area. You typically show up to a first appearance and plea guilty or not guilty. You also have the option to request a drivers improvement school (the driver’s school typically eliminates the points from your driver’s license). If you plea guilty you will pay a fine a receive points against your driver’s license. If you plea not guilty they will assign you a court date. You would appear before a magistrate because your charge is only an infraction (25 over for us is a misdemeanor and goes to criminal court). A magistrate presides over the proceedings. The magistrate will call your case and the officer who issued you the ticket will present his side of the story (testimony). After he is finished you are allowed to ask him questions – which he must answer. At that point the case is over and the magistrate renders a verdict. Before that happens you have the option to present testimony of your own, and if you do the officer can ask you questions which you must also answer. The magistrate only decides guilty or not guilty. The fines are predetermined and are more than the fines for the mail in ticket. They also assign court costs to for you to pay the cost of the hearing (usually about $150).

Traffic Fines Up In Illinois