Ok so here’s what you do. Go to court and you will be able to talk to the prosecutor. Explain that this is your first ticket (the prosecutor will have access to your abstract anyway) tell the prosecutor it would be greatly appreciated if they would amend the ticket to 39:4-67 (obstruction of traffic) - there’s like a 50% chance that’ll work. Be prepared if they say no to say that you understand and offer an alternative — some possible alternatives to ask for would be:

1. unsafe operation of a motor vehicle 39:4-97.2 which is a $150 fine + $250 surcharge (one time surcharge) + $33 court cost — this option is more expensive but avoids points
2. 43 in a 25 is a 4 point speeding ticket - there is one category below it for speeding 1-14 above the speed limit - you can request this as a downgrade take the 2 points and then take a defensive driving course online to get the points taken off — in addition to the points there would be a fine of $85-98 + $33 court cost.

Any fines could likely be paid via a payment plan but the judge would have to approve it (which they almost always do)

So Long as you don’t act like an egregious dickhead the prosecutor would almost certainly be willing to do one of those 3 options.

What town is the ticket in ? That will make a big difference on the potential plea bargain

In nj municipal prosecutors work for the municipality not the county. Most municipal prosecutors in nj would be willing to offer downgrades in order to avoid trial but there needs to be something to downgrade it to that makes sense. For instance, almost any moving violation can be amended to unsafe operation of a motor vehicle (no points) because and moving violation would also be considered unsafe.

I don’t think there is anything that the prosecutor could really downgrade that to

In nj you need to be facing a “consequence of magnitude” in order to be eligible for a public defender. Any case where you are facing a fine in excess of $800, loss of license, or jail is considered a case with a consequence of magnitude. An open container ticket for violating 39:4-51b would not be enough to qualify

What is the statue on the ticket? If it is 39:4-51b your fine won’t be 400 it’ll be more like 200