Is that all you[r] law firm can do?
Cost efficient. How much time and money are you willing to spend to get out of a $150 fine which doesn't effect your record.
While technically you can fight some tickets to the point of getting them dismissed (and at times you are required to do so because a reduction won't take you far enough, such as when you get 7 child seat belt tickets) more often than not it is quicker (and therefor cheaper) to plead guilty to a non moving violation, so you save more money on the legal fee, rather than paying an attorney to get a 3 point stop sign ticket dismissed which can drag out for months, and spoil future quick deals for that attorney.
In addition when you fight to have the ticket dismissed altogether, your risk of getting convicted on the original violation goes up. This is another reason you are often better off taking a plea to a fine than moving to dismiss the ticket altogether.
For anyone just joining the conversation, this is all applicable in the State of NY outside the NYC TVB where plea bargaining is allowed.
But putting Bostener's personal quarrel with me aside and addressing the question at hand which was from Tax:
Only pled down? They won't dismiss it?
The Court can't dismiss the ticket if it is validly written. The prosecution has discretion to not peruse the ticket if they see fit, however being that the cop gave the ticket, the prosecutor can rely on the cop that there was a good reason for his issuing the summons.
Just to put a 1 MPH speed in context, a officer can give you a ticket for speeding even if you are going the speed limit under NYS VTL 1180-a which requires a driver not to drive a speed which is not "reasonable and prudent". So if the cop thinks that the speed you were going at the time is not "reasonable and prudent" no matter what the posted speed limit is, he can write you a ticket. So don't be so surprised that 1 MPH tickets are given out, and prosecuted.
The most common reason a 1 MPH ticket is written is when a cop is going the speed limit (not a common occurrence) and someone passes him. The cop will often write a ticket because of the chutzpa involved.
Good luck.
