My question involves a speeding ticket from the State of: Arizona
Recently I was pulled over, and I have a few questions that I would really appreciate some help with. Before I go into things, my first question isn't specific to my ticket. I have a court date set to fight my ticket already, and I'm wondering what information about my past driving record will the judge have in front of him/her? I have been pulled over twice before in AZ. The first time was about 3 years ago and I went to traffic school to get it dismissed (although I was driving a friend to the hospital, the police officer still said my speed was excessive and I'll admit it probably was, but the adrenaline was going). So that ticket never went on my motor vehicle record because of going to traffic school. Then I got pulled over again and was given a warning about a year ago, where the office actually saved my life because I had a low blood-sugar, and I've lost my ability to sense them until they get really low (I always test my blood sugar before I drive, but this was a long trip). So when I go to court, will the judge just see my MVR that I can get from the DMV that shows my license is clear, or will the judge be able to see that I've had a ticket in the past and a warning? Of course I won't lie in court if asked, I'm just curious about what the judge will see ahead of time.
Now, here's the long part. I'll try to make this as short as possible. I recently was pulled over for going 54 in a 40. The thing is I would NEVER purposely speed on this street as I live right off of the street I was pulled over on and I hate that people go like 60+ on it. I also know it's routinely patrolled by both police and speed camera vans. One thing I want to note is that I have diabetes and also have diabetic neuropathy that causes me to have no feeling in my feet. As such I have to constantly watch my speed visually because I can't tell if I'm pressing the pedal light or hard. This isn't normally an issue for me. However, on this day my blood sugar dropped low. I decided to drive to a gas station that I knew was about a mile away as I had already eaten all of the glucose tablets I had on me (which normally are enough for 2-3 low blood sugar incidences, but for some reason this time I still stayed low). As I was heading to the gas station my insulin pump started to give off its bells and whistles and was vibrating to let me know my blood sugar was low. It does this as a warning every few minutes. This was an obvious distraction to my driving, so I went to pull it off my belt clip (it's warn like a pager), but my seatbelt got stuck in between the clip and my pump itself. As I was trying to pull it free, I was going down a hill and not looking at my speed vigilantly like I try to because of my neuropathy. I'm not sure if my speed accelerated because I was going down a hill or because I was pressing harder on the gas pedal (or if it was a combination of both) because I was trying to deal with shutting off the alarm on my pump. As soon as I was able to shut off my pump I noticed my speed and immediately took my foot off the pedal. I got down to about 45 when I saw the police officer, but I guess he saw me before I noticed that I was speeding. When he pulled me over he didn't say much. I have panic attacks, so I was trying to stay as calm as possible. He asked me for all my info. and I asked him if he could please just give me a warning, I would never speed on purpose and my job is dependent on me having a clean record. He mumbled something, but I couldn't hear what he said, but I think it was about my insurance or registration. I was flustered because I didn't know what my registration was and I also had 2 insurance cards in my glove box (one was actually for my next insurance period), so I was just really flustered and scared at this point. He took my information and came back with a ticket. I was upset because I wanted to let him know about the medical stuff, but he never gave me a chance to explain anything. I know that police officers don't have to, but I really was upset about this ticket. It honestly was 100% a mistake that I was speeding. I take every precaution I can with my health to not have incidences like this happen, but sometimes you can take every safeguard and you'll still have problems. I had the option of taking traffic school, but I have unbelievably bad agoraphobia, especially when it comes to classroom settings. Basically, if I haven't been in a situation before I have a panic attack. I have medical documentation of this. I also don't have the option of online traffic school because I only have a dial-up modem as I'm on disability and don't have much money at all. The cost of the school was outrageous too, so I hope in court I have a better chance of not having to pay a huge fee. The cost of traffic school was literally about 1/3 of my monthly income, and I'm already struggling. The job I have is only on-call, but it's my attempt at being a productive member of society. If I lost it I'll lose all contact that I have with the world outside of my doctor's appointments. If I even have 1 point on my driving record I'll lose my job and any hope of any jobs in my field until they drop off my record.
A quick little note here...the officer never had me sign the ticket. I'm not planning to use that as a defense or anything, especially since I already sent in the paperwork to go to court. However, can that have any impact on my court case?
There was also a section in the letter that they sent me about my court date that said, "The State of Arizona's attorney hereby notifies you that the State will choose to be represented by an attorney in all cases involving both civil and criminal proceedings arising out of the same incident." What does this mean? Does it mean they are going to have a lawyer there for my case, evne though it was only a civil matter, or does this only pertain to cases with both a civil and criminal matter?
Basically, I am looking for advice on how to present my case in court. Also, what are my chances of getting off without any points or a lower fine (I know all jurisdictions are different, but knowing what I just wrote about, does it sound like I have a reasonable case)? I have a receipt to show that IMMEDIATELY after I was pulled over I went to buy candy to get my blood sugar up. I also have print outs from my insulin pump to show that my blood sugar was indeed low at that moment. I also plan to meet with my psychiatrist to help me write up a new plan to avoid situations like this while driving because my anxiety around driving is through the roof again.
Thank you in advance for any help/advice/words of wisdom that you may be able to provide.

