It pays to avoid a speeding ticket -- or fight one

By Chris Solomon

Now is a very bad time to have a lead foot.

With the horsepower wars heating up -- even minivans have 250 horsepower these days -- the country's auto-safety regulators are making it a priority to use high-visibility crackdowns and technology such as traffic cameras to target the worst speeders. Speeding is cited as a factor in approximately one-third of all crash-related fatalities, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says.

With federal regulators pressing states to step up their speeding enforcement, lawmakers in Texas, Illinois and California have added surcharges of as much as $30 on top of fines for speeding.

True, a few more bucks won't change your life, but the fine is usually the least of your worries. Even one speeding ticket can begin to turn your name to mud in your insurer's eyes. More than one can cost you thousands of dollars in higher premiums.

Insurance companies say punishing speeders is well warranted: In one study, California drivers with one speeding citation in a three-year period had a crash rate 50% higher, on average, than those with no infractions -- and the crash rate more than doubled for those who had two or more tickets, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute, industry-sponsored research groups.

A ticket from Johnny Law does seem to slow people down, at least for a bit. A study of Ontario traffic statistics, published in the British medical journal the Lancet, found that a conviction for a moving violation cut the risk of a fatal crash in the following month by 35%. The benefit evaporated by four months after the conviction. Assigning penalty points to a driver's license -- especially for speeding tickets -- reduced the risk of fatal crashes more than convictions without penalty points.

Keeping your nose clean

Still, as long as running late is an American pastime, people will speed. And there are ways to protect yourself and your premiums. First, reduce your likelihood of getting snagged by the speed gun in these ways:

• Know thyself. Spend $5 to request your driving record from your state's Department of Motor Vehicles. Is it accurate? Could you face a suspension hearing if you get convicted for one more violation? Then call your insurer. Find out what a slip-up would mean to your rates.

• Penny-wise = pound foolish. Police will frequently key on an auto that has problems such as broken headlights, taped-over taillights or a missing front license plate. Spend $3 to replace a burned-out license plate bulb and you may save hundreds of dollars later, says Matisyahu Wolfberg, a policeman-turned-traffic defense attorney in New York.

• Stay incognito, Part I. Driving an arrest-me red sports car doesn't guarantee you'll get pulled over, but it doesn't help avoid police, say defense attorneys. Ditto -- albeit to a lesser degree -- any expensive car. Consider a Camry over a Corvette and you may save money in more than the showroom.

• Stay incognito, Part II. Ignore the general pace of traffic at your own peril. "You're a pack animal; don't stick out of the pack," says Casey Raskob, a Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., attorney who focuses on traffic-related cases. Passing police cars is verboten. Stay in the right lane when possible.

• Keep your eyes peeled. Scan your rear-view mirror often while driving. Look for possible spots far ahead where a patrol car could hide. Also, watch how professional truckers drive, and slow down when they do; they've got far more experience detecting Smokey.

• Don't be sticker shocked. Pasting a Police Benevolent Association sticker to the rear window isn't a license to speed. That jig is long up, says Raskob. Wisecracking bumper stickers -- "Bad Cop; No Donut" -- won't endear you to The Man, either.

The traffic stop and its aftermath

You get pulled over anyway. Now what do you do?

• Be polite. "Most of the time, the motorist has very little chance. The officer has already has made up his mind," says Wolfberg, the former cop. "The only real chance the driver has is to be nice." Act peeved and a trooper may give you the full fine. Some will also flag the citation with a notation, like "ND" -- a note to a prosecutor or to himself (in some states, law-enforcement officers act as prosecutors in traffic court) to give a loudmouth "no deal" in court.

• Don't admit guilt. "The absolutely fatal question is, 'Do you know why I stopped you?'" says attorney Mark Sutherland, co-author of the book "Traffic Ticket Defense." Authorities can use any admission of guilt against you when you contest the ticket (see below). For other things to consider during a traffic stop, see hints on the Web site of the National Motorists Association, a drivers' rights group.

• Once home, don't immediately pay the ticket. Simply paying the fine, an admission of guilt, could cost you dearly in insurance rates. Doubt it? Let's say you're an experienced driver in California with a single-car policy and a good driving record, who is paying the average rates statewide for liability, collision and comprehensive coverage, $765 annually. If you were a Prudential Financial customer you'd get a 25% good-driver discount and pay only $574. One speeding ticket would mean a roughly 27% increase from the base premium, says Prudential's Laurita Warner -- a $207 annual increase, or $621 more over three years. (Surcharges usually last for three years.)

Get a second minor conviction and your premium would rise an additional 40%, and you'd also lose your good-driver discount, says Warner. Suddenly, a premium that was $574 has ballooned to $1,071. After the third conviction, expect to pay roughly 63% more than you originally did, or $1,247. Over three years you would end up paying $2,020 more than if you'd kept your nose clean, or much more than the fines themselves. Clearly, getting pinched leaves a painful scar.

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