My friend always appears in court after getting speeding tickets because it is apparently more costly for the court to pay for the session and the officer's time than what they will get from a ticket, so they usually dismiss it to save money. Sometimes the officers don't even show up. He has told me it works every time.

If everybody would choose to appear in court like your friend does, perhaps this law that most people don't follow would actually get changed. Instead most people just pay the ticket and continue to allow the law to "work" as it is.

If that happened, rest assured that legislators would find a way to streamline the process.

If you lose in court, though, aren't you required to pay the cost of the session? (I have no idea, never done it before, just curious.)

Actually, you even have to pay a court fee in many districts if you WIN in court.

In the above case, I had to pay a $25 "court fee", even though the case against me was dismissed.

In criminal court? I can't think of any jurisdiction that charges a fee for pleading not guilty, going to trial, and being convicted.

In civil court outside the US, the loser pays attorney's fees. I don't know about court fees, since those are usually relatively tiny compared to attorney's fees.

And what is your own time worth?