My wife got her second speeding ticket a year ago, 84 in a 50 zone, in
Staten Island, NYC.  I thought that we would have a chance to plea
bargain down the ticket, so she plead not guilty and we went to court.
 The judge informed her that she would have her license suspended as
she already had 3 points on her license, and this would make it 11
total.  There was no opportunity to plea (I later found out that NYC
does not allow plea bargaining).  We decided to keep the plea of not
guilty.  The officer was not present, and so we were rescheduled for a
date in March.  I was under the impression that if the officer is not
present, the case would be dismissed.  Why did they just reschedule
her?  Are they allowed to do that?  How many times can they reschedule
her before they dismiss
the ticket?  If it is a hardship for me to keep the March date, do I
have grounds for dismissal, being that I showed once, and the officer
didn't?  We both missed class for court!
Thanks!

Did you go before a judge at all?  I assume that the prosecution
requested the rescheduling?  From what I understand, a case won't be
automatically dismissed if the officer doesn't show up.  The defense
(that's your wife, unless you hired a lawyer) needs to make a motion
to dismiss due to lack of a prosecution witness.  Of course, this does
you no good after the fact, but it may help if the officer doesn't
show up again in March.

Here is a decent website with info on fighting a speeding ticket.  It
has far more information than I could ever hope to explain. 
Unfortunately, they say that if you get a speeding ticket in NYC, you
are basically screwed because of the way the system is run there.

http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article/903/Fighting_a_speeding_ticket.html

Anyway, hopefully some of the information will help.  It sounds like
you may want to hire a lawyer who specializes in fighting speeding
tickets, as the cost of a lawyer would likely be preferable to your
wife losing her license.

Honestly, if all of the traffic around you is moving at 85, it is
safest for you to do the same.  This is what is known as "going with
the flow" or "necessity of speed."

From the National Motorists Association:
"Do not drive at the speed limit if the rest of the traffic is not
moving at that speed. If your preferred speed is 65 mph but the slower
traffic is moving 62 mph and the faster traffic is approaching 70 mph,
either slow down or speed up, but don't fight or obstruct the flow.
Going with the flow is far safer and much less aggravating than
forcing others to march to your beat."

http://www.motorists.com/issues/safety/real_world_tips.html

This advice is repeated by Consumer Reports and others as well.

Had the incident occured on a residential street, instead of an
expressway, I would certainly have different opinions about it, but it
didn't.  As intelligent beings, we have the ability to consider more
from a scenario than just the posted speed limit and the speed someone
was traveling.