How much will cost me for this speed ticket?

Does California allow you to mail in an explanation? In Washington you send in your ticket. I always choose "Not Guilty". You then get a summons. You have two options, either show up on a court date or mail in an a letter of explanation. I usually just mail it in and then wait to see if they believe my explanation or not. Usually in my experience they will remove the ticket and it will stay off my record if I do not get any citations for 6 months. You have to pay court fees that's all. I think it is called Deferred Adjudication but California may not have this.. If you have a bad record then this probably won't work anyways. In any case I think it is worth fighting maybe just apologize to the judge and tell him with the holiday traffic it was just really crazy traffic, you were merging with traffic or passing someone and didn't realize you were traveling so fast. Let us know what you decide to do.