It *IS* possible for the offense you're charged with on a ticket to be escalated. One of my 2 recent tickets was speeding in the construction zone on Big Beaver in Troy. Was going 50, posted limit 30, written up 40.
The officer basically tried to intimidate me into not fighting the ticket by telling me that he gave me a break with 40 instead of 50. He said if I tried to fight it, he would make sure I got hit with 50mph (20mph over the limit = 4 points) instead of the 40 he wrote up (10 over, 2 points). He had noted on the ticket that I was going 50, but charged me with only 40.
This info was substantiated by the Bloomfield sargeant with whom I spoke. The officer can ask magistrate to let him/her dismiss the old ticket and re-issue a new one, with the more severe penalty. I decided to just pay the fine and take the 2 points. Would have been $90 for 10mph over, but since construction zone it was $156. They always say "fines doubled in construction zones" but the clerk told me it's always quite a bit more but not always exactly double.
