2022.8.19. Traffic infraction mitigation hearing

The speeding ticket I received in Olympic Peninsular in June had 3 choices printed on the ticket:

• accept the citation, pay the fine
• accept the accusation, ask for mitigation to explain the circumstance
• contest the citation

The latter 2 options require my presence at the court. However, one option is not listed, which is explained by the judge. Pay $150 fee to get the ticket deferred for 1 year, if I have a clean record for 7 years in WA state. At the end of the 12 months, if no new infractions, this ticket will be dismissed and no record. This is the choice I made.

My court hearing notice is at 8:30am. In fact the court building doesn't open until ~8:15am. The judge arrived at 8:40am. There were about 4 paries in the courtroom. However, about 7 parties online. Yes, I received a printout together with the hearing notice, indicating that zoom is available, but only to a list of infractions. I wasn't 100% sure, so rented a car, took half day off work and drove 1.5 hours to Sheldon. The judge called the 2 cases with lawyers first. I was the 4th. The judge reduced the fine to $140, but there'll be a record. He looked up my record online, and said I was eligible for the deferral, so I took it. Paid $150 to the count office. Next time, hope there's no next time, I'll go with Zoom.

On the way back, stopped by a couple of stores.