By my experience, it is better not to pay the fine. Generally the fine is over $200. Moreover, you will get penality points. It means you also have to pay additional fine for your state public service if your points are up to a certain limit. Your insurace will also know it and increase your premium without any doubt.
If it is your first offense, you can choose to go to the defensive drive course. The course fee is not too expensive, about $45. You can take course on Saturday and sit in the classroom for over 6 hours. It also has a final exam, but your instructor will give you the correct answers. However, you also need to pay part of the fine to the court, around $60 or $100 depending on what kind of offense it is. You have only one chance per year to choose this way to solve your problem.
It is a piece of cake. go to the yellow page or your local newspaper and find a good local traffic attorney. or you can ask your american co-workers which one is good. Their offices are mostly located near the central traffic court. The attorney fee generally is about $100. Those lawyers have lots of special relations with those eagle-eye police officers. Those police officers will never show up on the court if you hire a lawyer. If officer does, the attorney has lots of tricky questions to fool and embarrase him. It also takes lots hours for the court. The local prosecutor also doesn't want to let it happen. So your case will be absolutely dismissed if you don't have an accident causing personal injury or serious property damage. You will be as clean as before.
No matter which way you choose to deal with this offense. You must show up on the court on time, generally 1 or 2 months later than your offense date. It is better to hire an attorney pretty ealier. So your lawyer can change the court date to fit his calendar. If you go to the court, you will find hundreds of people are waiting there and judge only takes 2 minutes for each case, just 3 choices, a) guilty and pay the whole fine, b) not guilty and choose another date to face and challenge the police officer, c) pay part of fine and take defensive drive course.
AAA suggests all drivers to go to the court and make this judical system bankrupt. In usa, I never see so crowd people any other places except the court. It sounds it is really a sinner world.
Maybe you doubt that the attorney fee is not very expensive. Please don't forget, each lawyer takes hundreds of cases each day. I saw my lawyer's case paper thickness is higher than 2 feet. imagine, man, how rich this damn attorney is. You also find most of these lawyers are pretty fat. How dark this damn world is. same as in china. Anyway, you can avoid costing you money and time if you get a ticket. The diffence is just where you will pay to. How serious the post effect is.
Good Luck, Man