Doing 51 in 35; Charge on ticket is 35 in 45.

[ptrck85]

(Be forewarned, I'm very specific!)

August 5th my girlfriend and I went to Macon, GA for dinner. While driving down the road in question the first time, the weather was so bad that cars were pulling over, had flashers on, and were moving at a snail's pace. In short, I paid no attention to the speed limit because I was crawling with the best of them.

On our return trip down the road (Riverside Drive) it was dark, poorly lit (in my opinion) and full of jay-walking pedestrians in dark clothing. My girlfriend and I were also having an in-depth conversation so I wasn't paying attention to my actual speed, just doing what the other cars were.

Coming down a hill, the lone car--of course, a City of Macon officer stops me and informs me that I was doing 51 in a 35.

I apologized and stated that I was unaware of what the speed limit was since I'm not from the area.

Brings the ticket back and says since I'm not from the area, he's going to reduce the speed to me doing 45 in a 35. I said thank you, I do appreciate it since I'm a student.

Well, come to find out, ten over in the city of Macon means $128.80. And, after looking my ticket over, I discovered that in the violation area after the radar gun's serial number, and when it was calibrated, the officer has written that I was doing 35 in a 45. However, in his notes he's listed the statue besides a circled 51/35. (In a nutshell: my online ticket is for 10-15 over, while the hard-copy given to me is for ten under.)

I also went back to the road in question last week, when the weather was bright and sunny, where I discovered the speed limit fluctuates rapidly between 35-50 mph.

Do I have any chance of this being dismissed due to any of the above, or because this is my first ticket on an otherwise clean driving record? Not keen on the idea of possibly having to pay court costs on top of an already obscene fine.

Thanks in advance!

You always have a chance if you dispute and say you were not going as fast as he says.

But your facts don't give too many special reasons here...the court will just correct minor errors and let the ticket stand normally.