dont need to get character refrences, thats only if you pleed guilty, if you pleed not guilty then youll need a defence which is liable in court, like eg brake failure, if your brakes failed your not liable to pay the fine as long as you can get a letter from your mechanic to say that your brakes wernt working properly and you were driving slowly to the shop so you can fix it.
thats a liable defffence but if you tell the judge "i thoguht i was going to get hit by another car" then he'll say " well did it hit you" and you say "no" and he'll say " well then you crosssed the white line, soory 400 bucks and 3 points + court costs"
goood luck champ hope that helps.