My 52 year old mother inlaw picked up her only second speeding violation in all those years and misses her court appearance by one day.She thought it was on the 27th all this time not the 26th anyway the fine was 175.00 so now what kind of trouble is she in now.Do you wait for the next letter? Or call them right away?

Usually there isn't a court date unless your contesting it, was she contesting it?

If she didn't show up I think that she lost by default and now has to pay the ticket plus court fees, happened to a friend of mine. They might reschedule if she calls.

Um, here you are expected to show up, or pay your fine by the court date. If not, then they can issue a bench warrant. I would go down to the courthouse and pay the fine immediately, or request an extension on the date.

It's usually pay or appear, I would say she needs to get it paid asap, I'm sure they didn't issue a warrant. She will probably get another court date notice in the mail, however they may issue a warrant if she misses it.

When she went down on the next day, did she not take care of paying the fine??

If she failed to appear, normally ( at least in our courts in GA) a warrant will not be issued for her arrest) it would be a bench warrant.
So yes she needs to run, not walk down to the court clerk and see if she can either pay, or get on the next court calender.

And yes LowTax, your area is most likely differnet, tickets are done one of two ways depending on where you live, in your area they expect you just to pay the ticket, if you contest it, you file that, and then they set a court date.

In many other places, the officer actually writes the court date on your ticket, so you either pay before, or show up in court.

I'd give them a call and explain the situation. If it's only a speeding charge they're not likely to make a big deal over it if she was planning on just pleading guilty and paying the fine anyhow. Most likely they'll just advise her to do exactly that.