[jman220]

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is there a time limitation on speeding tickets? someone told me most states have like 7 years on this. i lived in ny for 7 months last year, and luckily was never pulled over, but was always scared shitless of being thrown in jail for a speeding ticket i got so long ago.

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I've never dealt with something like that, but I guarantee that all states are different. See Rule #1 in OP.

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Here's the deal from someone who does this that I know. Just talked to them.

- The ticket never expires. You were issued a ticket, which means charges were filed. If you do not pay or fail to appear a warrant will be issued.

- Warrants compound the longer they go without being resolved. It is possible to have a $100 speeding ticket turn into a $100k warrant. Most likely this will be knocked down once you are arrested and appear in court.

- Warrants for traffic tickets will expire. Time varies. The only problem is that they can suspend your DL once the warrant expires and you could get stopped and picked up for that.

- You can go to court and have them run a warrants check on you. (You won't get arrested....probably [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]). It will have to be the court that issued the warrant, most likely the court that handled the ticket.

- Most courts have an amensty day were you can appear and just pay the original fine (plus maybe a little more). This is usually on one day a year. You'll have to call the court to find out the details.

CAVEATS - YOUR LOCAL LAWS MAY VARY.

It's probably best to talk to a lawyer about this if you are really worried. Police usually just don't "forget" about crimes even if they are minor. It can came back and bite you. But, it's only a speeding ticket, you can get it resolved pretty easy if you are proactive about it instead of waiting for the police.

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This is wrong for NY. If he was never arraigned on the ticket (or never answered the ticket), then a bench warrant can't have been issued. Instead, he'll go into whats called "Scofflaw" status, where his privilege to drive in NY will be suspended, and the next time he gets a ticket, he will get a "driving with a suspended license" in addition to whatever other tickets he gets. (See post above).