Thats not always true. Ive fought 13/14 tickets ive gotten over the years, and ive won everyone ive fought. The only one i have on my insurance is one that my parents insisted on paying, and then took my car away. I would have fought that one too, and probably won.

In Massachusetts, you get to fight the ticket twice. Once in front of a Magistrate and asst. Magistrate, and if found guilty, you can contest it once more in front of a Judge. Now, the second one is the one you are more likely to get off on, because it requires the cop that gave you the ticket to be there to testify. Usually it will be scheduled about 6 months to a year after the actual ticket, so they normally dont even show, the case is then dismissed and you are off scott-free.

Luckily Ive never had to contest it twice, I just dress in a shirt and tie, Look clean and "educated", I say "Sir" a lot, and show a lot of respect. Another thing you cant do is to turn fault onto the cop. As if he was straight out wrong, and that is why you are contesting it. If you act as if you think youve been treated unfairly, and are just asking for a break, they are usaully pretty nice.
Somehow i just got off a ticket recently on my bike for going 70mph in a 35 zone. Im not sure how, but the guy was super nice, and gave me the "Bikes are dangerous, that speed kills. . .etc" speech.

Fight the ticket, the worst that can happen is that you have to pay it anyway. the best is that you will get off, and you might just get a break and have it reduced. At the very least, you have a few weeks to save for it.