hey chopsjazz, how r ya? out here in the wild wild midwest ive done this on a couple of occasions.
IF you have a clean driving record, you can go to the court date, ask for court supervision due to your good driving record, plead guilty, pay the fine but it stays off your record UNLESS you get another ticket, usually court sup is for 1year.
they get their fine, you keep it off your record unless you have another violation within the court sup period. realistically, the courts do NOT catch it even if you did get another ticket during that court sup period.
ive done this twice, representing myself, without problem.