When you receive a citation, and you sign it, you are promising to appear to court to either plead guilty or not guilty to the charge, in your case speeding. You can avoid going to court by paying the bail amount of the ticket (base fine that is sent to you in the mail, if your jurisdiction allows you to pay without going to court). Doing so is an automatic guilty plea pretty much, and you can probably do traffic school to get it off your record. If you go to court, and plead guilty, the judge may reduce your fine or you can request it, along with traffic school. If you can't pay the fine that day in court, as mentioned, the court will set up a payment schedule.
