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* Driving School: Ask the judge -- or the prosecuting/commonwealth's attorney -- about the possibility of agreeing to let you attend driving school and/or pay a fine in return for dropping the charge against you.

The critical thing is to avoid being convicted of a moving violation, for the reasons explained earlier. Many judges will "give you a break" (ha!) by allowing you to plead guilty to "defective equipment" or some other non-moving violation, pay a beefy fine or waste a Saturday at the DMV "driving school" -- where you'll spend eight hours listening to (and pretending to agree with) platitudes about the perfect virtue of all speed limits.

Any of these options is preferable to being convicted for the original moving violation because your insurance company won't have a pretext for a rate hike. In some counties/states, certain charges aren't reported to the DMV at all -- especially if it's an out-of-state ticket. Mostly, these include non-moving violations such as "defective equipment" -- a common "lesser charge" that's often assigned in lieu of the original moving violation.

Even the beefy fine's not so bad, though -- because it's a one-time hit vs. the ongoing fleecing you'll get for having even one moving violation on your driving record.

In some states, it's even possible to take the DMV-authorized "driving school" online -- which lets you avoid the hassle of spending an entire Saturday re-living high school detention. See trafficschoolonline.com for more information.)

Lastly --

* Hire a traffic lawyer: The cost to rent a legal eagle to handle a minor traffic case (normal speeding, not "reckless driving," DUI or a major charge that has a mandatory court appearance and the possibility you might get thrown in the clink) is typically between $300 and $700. It sounds steep, but for all the reasons outlined previously, it can be money well spent -- especially if you get another ticket at some point during the next three years.

It's pretty easy to find a traffic lawyer in most areas; just Google the county/state in which your case will be tried and add the keywords "ticket" and "lawyer." Look for one who has been doing this for a while and who regularly appears in the court where you'll be appearing. The best defense lawyers are former prosecutors. Interview your prospect, ask him specifically how he will handle your case -- and what his success rate is in getting charges like yours reduced or dropped.

If he wins, you'll have the satisfaction of seeing the cop who cited you turn beet red with anger as you slip the noose.

And that is worth a lot more than the cost of any fine.

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