My 17 year old daughter has had her drivers license for 4 months. She is an otherwise very cautious driver; however, she was ticketed for driving 31 in a 25 mph school zone in the City of Doraville, Georgia. Although it doesn't matter much, she was literally 50 yards from the "END SCHOOL ZONE" sign. Should we just pay the fine, or is there a possibility that this could be dropped/reduced? What do you suggest we do?

You should look into fighting this since minors need to be careful about how many points they accumulate. First, under normal circumstances, officers in Ga are not allowed to write tickets for up to 10mph over the posted limit. However, the exception to this rule is a school zone. So, even one mile over the limit there is an infraction. A couple things to remember, if radar was used, the laws of evidence(40-14-9) says the a radar result cannot be used in court if it was obtained within 600 of a speed reduction sign. This leaves you some leeway in traffic court if the cop was very close to the school zone. Also, in Ga, school zone reductions normally start at 2pm. This can be attacked too. if the cop can’t prove the actual time of the ticket, or if he neglected to correct radar/videoclocks to Daylight Saving Time, you could win in court. Of course, instead of going to trial, you could as the prosecutor (if you have a good record) to compromise and change the ticket to a “no points” violation and pay a modest fine. This often works fine.  

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