Where did i say i was a saint? For whatever ticket i have ever gotten, i have never tried to fight them i just pay it and move on. If i brought it upon myself, i expect myself to deal with my own actions. I have seen first hand a kid get hit by a car that decided to blow by a stop sign. Maybe some of you guys need to witness something like i did so you can stop thinking its ok to run a stop sign.

I'm not sure about MA but here in NY often times police officers get time and a half for court appearances, so they have an economic incentive to appear in court against you. Many police officers I know significantly supplement their base salaries with court overtime. Don't count on him/her not showing up.

IMO the ticket is worth fighting, however, since often times (again based upon what happens in NY) the local prosecutor is willing to reduce the moving violation (= points on your license) down to a non-moving violation (= no points). The town benefits because they get to keep all of the revenue generated from non-moving violations (whereas they get to keep only a fraction of the fines associated with moving violations and thus have an economic incentive to offer the plea) except for a mandatory surcharge which goes to the state. The police officer gets time and a half for appearing in court. You pay a fine but no points are assessed against your license and your insurance premiums don't go up by an amount which would greatly exceed the fine. Everybody "wins".

YMMV in MA. Good luck.

Traffic court is fun, its a big soap opera full of crying whiny people....here in Md if you show up and don't be a **** most times you plead guilty and get no points and reduced fine with court costs (doughnut fees). Buttttt....if you plead not guilty and pay a lawyer a few bills to "represent" you....you still get full points, a full fine, your out legal fees, you lost vacation time....when in the end you can pay and move on. Speed violations can be tricky....you can ask for the radar lidar, vascar equipment calibration papers, officer training papers, past history....BUT YOU STILL LOSE.
Only way you win....officer does not show up or he forgets his ticket book. Have seen this happen many times too...Roll the dice on that. Note, the forget ticket book was call-in favor (not to me).....I was in court for speeding one day...a Caps player was charged with 130 mph ticket (this happened years ago) and when his time came up to talk, he pleaded not guilty....the judge needed to have the original ticket with the officer in court.....who for some reason that day "forgot" his ticket book at home. Case was thrown out....the judge was pissed! All cases for that officer were thrown out by the judge at that point.

Stop and be safe... a few seconds saved is not worth the risk of tickets or accidents. :twocents:

Here in the frozen north, they are talking about installing stop sign cameras, that automatically take your picture if you roll thru a stop and mail you the ticket...! Think of how many stop signs there are in a city and how much money they would make! yeeeesh. Oh, and that's zero tolerance.... 2 mph roll is not a stop.... laser sensor measures speed and snaps your pic if you do not have a full and complete stop.

That's why you plead no contest...