So I'm not normally much of a speeder, but I did get myself into a mess this time.

I was making the trip down from Chattanooga to Florida, cruising along on the highway at 80. I was kind of zoning out listening to an audio book, and didn't realize that the speed limit had dropped to 55, and I got nailed for doing 80 in a 55 which is a massive $728 ticket plus I'm sure some really jacked up insurance rates.

It's not that I don't know it changes to 55 in Atlanta (I've driven through there plenty of times before), there was just no real traffic on the road (it was a Sunday at 11am) and I wasn't paying attention. My fault, and I'm not disputing that I deserved a ticket for it and I understand that it's my responsibility to pay attention to the changes in speed limit, but $700 plus thousands in insurance rates seems pretty hefty for an honest mistake that wasn't really endangering anyone (road was empty, and the people that were on it were all crusing at 70-80 as well).

So what are my options? I have a good record (only other speeding ticket in my life was 7 or 8 years ago, but it was in Georgia too), and I called a traffic lawyer and they said there was a 75% chance that they could get it knocked down to 14mph over, though my fees would actually end up being higher than the $728 in exchange for saving the insurance hike.

If I go to court myself and plead guilty what are the chances they knock it down that far? How does it all work? Do I just say "guilty" or do I get a chance to tell my story?

Also, what exactly does pleading "no contest" mean? Would that prevent the insurance hikes. I don't really care about the points because I'm not planning on accumulating more of them, but I'm mainly concerned about the insurance rates. 25mph over usually implies some really aggressive speeding and swerving in and out of traffic but this was pretty tame, I was going maybe 3mph faster than the few other cars on the road.

The device he hit me with was a lidar.

Every judge is different. It is very hard to know what a judge will do. No contest basically means that you are not contesting the facts. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.