Massive fine: Is it worth appealing?

So, I ended up pulling off the curb a little too sharply and managed to scrape my arm pretty badly, not to mention the damage to my car—all while being completely sober, with zero other cars involved, and without hitting anyone else's property.

I mean, I was expecting a ticket $167 for the traffic violation itself, but they went ahead and tacked on extra charges for $333 regarding the damage to my own vehicle and $333 for minor injuries. No one actually called 911 or anything, but since a patrol car happened to be cruising by, they picked me up just to be safe.
Basically, if I settle this within eight days, it’ll be two-thirds of the total, so roughly $567. But then again, if I decide to fight it and file an appeal, there’s always that chance they reject it, leaving me stuck paying the full $833 plus another $33 in court costs.
I’m divorced, currently unemployed, and I've got two kids to look after—my ex isn't even helping out with child support. Do you think any of that would actually matter to a judge in a municipal court when it comes to cutting the fine in half? Like, could those two chunks of $333 somehow get knocked down to $500?

Just get it in writing, man, and even if the judge decides to be a total pain and cuts you down—which, let’s be honest, they probably will given the reasons listed here—you still have a legal right to hit them with that 2/3 payment plan.

Thanks for getting back to me on this!

I mean, I honestly thought filing an appeal made sense, especially since they went ahead and slapped me with the absolute maximum penalty possible.

There was no way they could have gone lower than that because that’s the absolute floor, especially since those penalties are set in stone.

Yeah, you’re spot on there. I mean, you hit the nail on the head. My only real gripe—and this might be a bit of a reach, but hear me out—is how they lump minor scratches in with actual injuries. It feels a little ridiculous, honestly, treating a surface scratch with the same weight as, say, a broken bone or something actually serious.