[CREWZIN]

All the citations the officer issues in a set period of time (say 3 months) are given the same court date. He's not coming to court just for you and he does get paid so he's more than likely to show up.

If you were hoping that he wouldn't show, you should have gone to court and came up with a real good excuse why you wouldn't be there and ask for a postponement and hope he wouldn't show up on that new date. The officers only go to court every couple months and on special occasions. At least that's the way it works here.

Go to court, dress nice, be polite, explain what happened. Even though the traffic judge has or can see/get your driving record in an instant, tell him about your clean record (if you have one) and apologize for your behavior.

Some might look at this and say that it's demeaning to do the above but if your looking for leniency from the court you gotta play by the rules.