There are a ton of ways to get out of tickets! I get maybe 2 or 3 a year and I get out of every one of em. The key is simple: The secret to keeping tickets off your record is to keep tickets off your record. Make any sense? It is a lot easier to get an officer to hand you down a warning or just let you go if you can say this is your first one. Even if he gives you the ticket the court will usually work with you to keep it off your record. Nobody wants to screw you so the courts will usually help.
When you get a ticket you have a couple options. Option 1 is to pay it. Sometimes fighting it isn't an option because it is an out of state ticket or something. I got pulled over in Idaho once and just paid it since I didn't want to make the 2 or 3 hour trip up there just to fight it. If you pay it then send a check. Don't pay the cashier at the court. Send a check but send it for 5 bucks over the amount owed. Their computers will process a refund check for $5 and untill you cash that check it won't be reported on your record. I know it works. It is exactly what I did in Idaho. I have a ticket for 110 in a 55 framed on my wall next to a refund check for 5 dollars. It was beautiful.
Another way I know this works is from people I know with huge fines they are paying off. I have a friend paying off a DUI and a couple other fines he got on the same night. The court worked out some sort of a payment plan with him and he has been making those payments. He told me that his insurance company hasn't said anything about it. I asked someone at the court about it and they said that untill all accounts are closed the fines aren't reported. So if a DUI will mess your inurance up for 5 years and you take 2 years to pay for it then the 5 years doesn't start untill your last payment. <strong class='bbc'><em class='bbc'>UNLESS[/b][/i] you make your last payment for over the amount owed. That refund check is counted as part of the account. I don't know if it would work in that situation but hey, for 5 bucks why not try??
Your other option to paying it is to fight it. If you call the court they usually have someone that talks to people that have tickets and want to cut a deal. What I do is go to the DMV and pay the 3 bucks or whatever it costs to get a copy of my driving record. I take that to the person at the court and explain that I don't have any other tickets and I'm a safe driver blah, blah, blah and they usually drop the fine by more than half and tell me if I can pay it now then they won't put it on my record anywhere.
You can also go to court and plead your case. I am a member of prepaid legal (
prepaidlegal.com) and when I get a ticket I call them first. On one case I had a really bad ticket in the middle of the night that I really had no excuse for. It was going top speed in my Mustang on an empty freeway at 3 a.m. The cop said I was going slower than I was actually going so I knew he didn't have me on radar or anything. The thing that sucked was that it was in a town with a brand new court house to pay for and they weren't likely to let me off easy. So me and my lawyer go to court. The cool thing about that is the lawyer they give you is one that is used to being in that particular court so they know the DA and all that. My lawer made a deal with the DA and we entered a plea in abbayance. (sp?) Basicly what that is is a promise not to get any more tickets for 90 days and complete a defensive driving course. If in 90 days I can send them proof of completion of the course and a clean driving record then the ticket is dropped. If not then it goes on my record and I can't get out of it. It was a piece of cake. You don't really need a lawyer to do that. If you ask to speak to the DA they can usually make the deal with you. The judge is most likely to agree with the DA on whatever they reccomend.
Those are just a couple of my best ideas. I have a radar/laser detector and all it really does is slow me down sometimes. It hasn't helped me not get tickets. Well... maybe it has. It has warned me of some speed traps from time to time. I had a laser radar/laser jammer once and that thing was crap. The thing with laser is they can use it at any distance. They usually wait till you are close enough that jammers won't help you. I love my fuzz buster but I wouldn't say it keeps me out of trouble all the time. I feel naked without it when we are in my wife's car but I still survive. I love it on the open road though. Very helpful.