| Other Ways to Fight A Traffic Ticket. . . |
| Written by Eric Peters | |
| January 25, 2010 | |
|
You've probably read articles about fighting traffic tickets - but the reality is many of us just don't have the money to hire a lawyer (average cost to defend a simple speeding charge is around $700) or the time/expertise to challenge a ticket on our own. There are some low-budget/low-hassle alternatives, however. * Plead "Guilty With Explanation" - Sometimes, you can get a reduced charged by pleading guilty with an explanation. Provided you have an otherwise clean record - and the charge itself is relatively minor - this can yield good results. Keep in mind that what the system wants most of all is money. The charge itself is of secondary importance. Offer to pay a large fine in return for pleading guilty to a lesser charge that won't affect your DMV record (and insurance premiums). It can be money well-spent since a one-time hit for the fine could end up costing you a lot less than several years of higher insurance premiums. A great deal depends on the judge, however. Some are hard cases; others more reasonable. Before you decide to go this route, it's smart to get to court early and watch how your judge handles other cases - especially those similar to your own. If you think, based on his actions, that he's going to throw the book at you, you can always request a continuance; in many states, these are granted automatically upon request. Simply tell the judge you are not ready to go to trial. A continuance will push your court date off for another few weeks or so and give you time to prepare a defense - or hire a lawyer. * Bargain - Traffic court's a lot like buying a new car - because there's often lots of haggling involved. You can ask the judge (or the prosecuting/commonwealth's attorney) about the possibility of agreeing to attend driving school (or pay a fine) in return for dropping the charge against you - or changing the charge to a non-moving violation, which avoids DMV "points" being assigned to your driving record. That means your insurance company won't have a pretext for a rate hike. In some counties/states, certain charges aren't reported to the DMV at all - especially if it's an out-of-state ticket. Mostly, these include non-moving violations such as "defective equipment" - a common "lesser charge" that's often assigned in lieu of the original moving violation. In some states, you can take the DMV-authorized "driving school" online - and avoid the hassle of spending an entire Saturday re-living high school detention. See http://www.trafficschoolonline.com for more information. Bottom line: Either of these alternatives - pleading guilty with an explanation or bargaining your way to a lesser charge - can be more cost-effective than hiring a lawyer or spending days/weeks of your own time doing what's necessary to fight the ticket yourself. Most of us have jobs and responsibilities that make that very difficult, if not impossible. And it can be very intimidating for a layman to go up against the system, subpoenaing records, questioning the ticketing officer in open court and so on. In addition, by challenging the system in this way, one also runs the very real risk of antagonizing the court - and becoming the target of an angry judge looking to "teach someone a lesson." It's true you can usually appeal a conviction (in many states, a traffic law case may even entitle you to a jury trial, if you want to take it that far). But that involves yet more time, yet more expense. How much of either can you afford to spend on a traffic ticket beef? It's smart to pick your battles - and go for the best outcome you can realistically hope for, given time and other constraints. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|