I have a clean history and got pulled over in NH in a rental car. I am from Florida and can't come up to fight it or plead no contest. I was supposely going 86 in a 65. 21 over limit and just happens over 20 mph over fine is $350. I think officer thought i was easy money b/c I was tourist. What can I do? If I don't pay will my insurance go up? Will i get points. I will never go to NH again so I could care less about driving there. I just don't want to get in trouble if I get pulled over in another state or in Florida and then have to go to jail b/c of this. I am a newbie so any info would help. TY

If you don't pay it your insurance rates will be the least of your problems. A warrant will be out for your arrest with the possibility of your license being suspended.

Call the magistrate number on the ticket and plead guilty and tell them you wish to make payment plans to begin paying the ticket.

You may not care about driving up there, but the suspension will probably be honored by Florida.

You may be able to hire an attorney to negotiate points for you. However, since you won't want to return for trial. He doesn't have a strong bargaining position.

What do you mean that you "can't" go to New Hampshire. Court is more important than anything else, including your job. If you are summoned or subpoenaed to court, your employer has no right to penalize you for attending court. He can be charged with a crime for trying to prevent you from attending court.

If you were really going that fast, pay the ticket. It should have a provision for mailing the payment.

I would fight it only if I honestly believed that the speed measurement was false. And unfortunately, speed measurements are not as accurate as cops say. The following errors could have happened:

- The cop picked out the wrong car after getting a speed reading. Contrary to popular belief, police RADAR does NOT always read the closest car. It reads either the fastest car, or the car reflecting the RADAR signal the best. The cop then has to use his eyes to figure out which car the RADAR picked out.

- The RADAR picked up an object other than a vehicle. I have reports of speed RADAR getting a train, a low-flying airplane, the tips of wind turbine generator blades, and those reflective fringes on used car lot festoons.

- The RADAR beam bounced off two or more objects, especially if one was an open box truck or a dump truck. The reading is a function of the speeds of all of the objects.

- The cop used too short a distance with a VASCAR or ROBIC visual speed system. His own reaction time variation enters into the reading if the measurement is taken for less than 10 seconds.

- The LIDAR beam reflected off a rainbow bumper sticker, a chrome bumper, or a license plate with anti-counterfeit coatings, and struck two objects.

- The moving patrol car reference beam was reflected from oncoming traffic instead of the road.

- A pair of cops stationed a distance apart to time speed confused two vehicles. This is especially likely if another vehicle enters or leaves the road between the cops.

NH Highway Patrol uses Laser on the interstates and larger roadways. Most likely the speed was measured on 95, 93 or maybe 101.

They give maybe 10mph. Anything over that you are fair game. No one exceeds 75 up here. Only the out of stater's wizz by without regard to the speed limits. Everyone else seems to know they are toast if they exceed that limit.

New England also has stupidly low speed limits, because layman politicians are allowed to set them.