You'll be paying higher insurance rates for 3 years after getting a ticket. But the thing is that they count those 3 years not from the date you've been to court and convicted, but from the date of the ticket. I'm not sure about your state laws, but in most you can reschedule your court date 3 times, which if done right comes out to about a year total.
On the last allowed date you show up and fight it. Chances are that either the paperwork gets lost somewhere, the cop wont even remember the incident(or not even show up in which case it gets dismissed) . Even if you do get convicted, it will probably be a smaller fine and you saved yourself a year worth of higher insurance rates.
Just make sure you make up some pretty good excuses for 2nd and 3rd times.