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Traffic violations are the most commonly penalized crime in the United States. And it likely comes as no surprise to hear that all traffic violations are not considered equal. While certain traffic violations are relatively minor and therefore carry relatively small penalties, other traffic violations are much more serious and can carry relatively serious penalties.
While all states have systems in place to keep track of the types and severity of traffic violations, the most common method that is used by many of the states is a points system.
A Definition
Points systems are exactly that: systems that assign points of varying amounts to a person’s driving record based on the specific traffic violations that person commits. In general, less serious offenses are assigned lower point values—perhaps only one or two points—whereas more serious offenses are assigned higher point values—perhaps as many as five or six points.
As an individual commits traffic violations, points are attached to their driving record. As time passes, points on the individual’s driving record age off.
States with points systems will have defined limits as to the number of points a person can receive during a set timeframe. If the person accumulates enough points to reach the limit, their license may be suspended or revoked.
Examples
There are a wide variety of traffic violations for which you can receive a ticket and therefore have points attached to your driving record. These traffic violations include but may not be limited to the following:
In general the points noted above are listed for least severe to most severe, but the exact point values assigned to a given traffic violation will vary from state to state.
Insurance
Insurance companies generally have information to points systems. Based on the points a person has accumulated, an automobile insurance company may raise the insurance rates of that person, as points may be considered an indication of someone who is driving in an unsafe manner and there the insurance company must charge a higher rate to address the increased risk.
Legal Aid
Remember the information above is general in nature and should not be considered legal advice. If you have received a ticket for one or more traffic violations and you want to understand your options outside of just paying the fine or how they will affect your driving record, you can speak with a criminal defense attorney who specializes in traffic violations. A criminal defense attorney who specializes in traffic violations will understand the traffic laws in your state and can advise you as to your options based on those laws and the tickets you have received.
When you receive a traffic ticket, you do not by default have to give in, admit guilt to it, and pay your fine. You can fight the traffic ticket. And depending on the circumstances and the jurisdiction where you received the ticket, you often have several different options as to how you can successfully fight traffic violations.
Not Paying the Fine
Before we dive into the most common ways you can fight a ticket, it is important to remember not to pay the ticket. When you pay the fine associated with a traffic ticket, you have essentially admitted guilt to the traffic violation in most jurisdictions. Once you have paid a traffic ticket, you generally will not have the option to later change your plea, present a defense, and possibly receive back the money you paid. Therefore, do not pay the fine related to a traffic ticket if you plan to fight the ticket.
Common Defenses Against Traffic Tickets
There are a few common defenses against a traffic ticket. Depending on the type of ticket you received, the situation under which you received the ticket, and the laws of the jurisdiction where you received the ticket, some of these defenses may not be applicable to you.
When you choose to fight a traffic ticket, know that you often have to choose a date to appear in court (and depending on the jurisdiction, possibly a couple of dates to first enter your plea and then to actually have the trial related to the ticket in front of a judge). So while fighting a traffic ticket may take a little of your time, it may be worth it if it saves you money. The time in court is something you will have to weigh against lost wages and anything else you may have to give up to make the court date or dates.
Officer Not in Court
The first of the common defenses related to the police officer. If the police officer who wrote you the traffic ticket does not show up in court, you will receive a default verdict in your favor. You can do a couple of things to increase the odds that the officer will not appear. First, if there is a date noted on the ticket when you can appear in court, contact the court to attempt to change the date. The default date on the ticket may be the date when the officer is attempting to appear in court for a number of the tickets he has written, so if you can appear on a different date, the officer may not be able to appear.
Second, if you receive a different date to appear in court, try to choose a date that might be inconvenient to the officer, such as one near a holiday when the officer may be on vacation.
Research the Law
There wording of some traffic laws if sometimes not as strict as we often believe they are. Therefore, based on the violation the officer wrote on your traffic ticket, research the exact wording of the law for your jurisdiction to determine if you actually violated the laws.
For example, while the speeding laws in some states make it clear you are speeding even if you are driving only one mile per hour above the speed limit, other states allow some leeway if you can demonstrate that you were still driving at a safe rate of speed, even if you were exceeding the speed limit. Likewise, the laws related to stoplights and stop signs in some states do not explicitly require tat you come to a complete stop but rather only that you slow to a rate of speed that allows you to safely proceed.
Note Facts in Your Favor
When you first receive a traffic ticket, even if you have not yet decided you want to fight the ticket, it is wise to capture as many details about the event as you can in writing and possibly using photographs. Such facts include but may not be limited to road conditions, how heavy traffic is, if there were obstructions between your vehicle and the officer, if there were circumstances that caused your behavior, and possibly creating a diagram identifying the position of your vehicle and the officer during the incident.
Capturing all of these details may help you identify relevant information that you (or a defense attorney if you hire one) can use that will help in your defense.
Legal Assistance
Even if you have a general idea of ways you can fight a traffic ticket, it is usually a good idea to hire a defense attorney who specializes in traffic violations. Such an attorney will be able to review the evidence in your specific situation and often obtain a result that will cost you far less money that the amount of the original fine, even when you factor in the fee you will need to pay the attorney.
If you receive a ticket for traffic violations such as speeding, running a red light, or driving recklessly, you may be trying to decide if you want to fight the ticket. After all, fighting the traffic ticket may be the only way to keep you from paying a fine that may be several hundred dollars as well as keep the traffic ticket from appearing on your driving record. Having a traffic ticket on your driving record may cost you even more money as it may result in an increase in your auto insurance rate.
Following are four things to remember if you are considering fighting your traffic ticket.
Do Not Ignore the Ticket
Even if you are considering whether you want to fight a traffic ticket, you should not ignore the ticket while you are trying to decide. Ignoring a traffic ticket altogether is one of the worst possible things you can do, as this could result in you being found guilty of the traffic violation by default and possibly a warrant being issued for your arrest.
Do Not Pay the Ticket
The main thing to remember if you are considering fighting a traffic ticket is not to pay the ticket outright from the start. By paying a traffic ticket from the start, you are essentially admitting that you are guilty of the traffic violation. Once you have admitted guilt, you cannot change your plea later or pursue other steps to fight your traffic ticket. By paying the ticket, you have taken any options for fighting the ticket off the table.
Plead Not Guilty
Even if you are guilty of whatever traffic violation you have received a traffic ticket for, you should plead not guilty to the traffic violation. For traffic violations, as with criminal charges, you are considered innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, by pleading not guilty, you are putting the burden of proof back on the police. There is now the opportunity for something to happen that could result in your case being dismissed. And by pleading not guilty, it will generally result in a court date being set when a judge will hear evidence related to your traffic violation. This will likewise give you more time to decide if you want to fight your traffic ticket.
Prepare Your Case
At some point, if you wait too long to decide you want to fight your traffic ticket, you may have to actually present your case in court as to why you are not guilty (unless you simply choose to plead guilty when your court date arrives). Therefore, you need to be prepared to present logical and supportable reasons as to why you are not guilty. This may involve reviewing what you were accused of as written on the traffic ticket by the police officer and researching the specific traffic law that applies, to determine if you in fact violated the law. It may also involve having witnesses available to testify and documenting the facts of the event, to perhaps prove that the police officer was not in ideal circumstances or an ideal position to accurately see that you violated the law you are accused of violating.
Having a defense attorney by your side who specializes in traffic violations can also be helpful, as they are experienced in defending traffic violations. They can advise you on whether fighting your traffic ticket is a good idea and what the chances of winning are given the circumstances of your traffic violation.
There are a wide variety of traffic violations that are considered a crime and can result in a traffic ticket. What is considered a traffic violation can vary from state to state, as can the amount of the fine that accompanies a traffic ticket (and if you may in fact be arrested for your traffic violation). These fines may be small in some cases or quite large in others.
If you have received a traffic ticket, you may be wondering if it is worth your time, effort, and the cost to go to traffic school. After all, wouldn’t it be much easier to just pay the ticket and not worry about it?
While simply paying the ticket may be the easiest thing to do if you focus solely on the amount of time involved, going to traffic school may be the best option when you consider all the various factors.
Image via Wikipedia
So what is traffic school?
Traffic school is a course that provides an overview of traffic violations and safety measures, to ensure that the person attending the course has at least a basic understanding of these areas. In short, traffic school provides a refresher course on the various traffic rules that were learned by many drivers at the time they took a driver’s education course in preparation for obtaining their drivers license.
The length of a traffic school is mandated by each state, but states generally require anywhere from six to eight hours worth of classroom time. This classroom time can be obtained in a variety of manners, including standard live instruction courses, comedy traffic school classes, and in growing numbers through online courses.
Benefits
If you are able to go to traffic school for a traffic ticket, there are several possible benefits depending on your situation:
Reduced fine. Depending on the state and your specific traffic violation, attending traffic school may reduce or eliminate the fine associated with the traffic ticket.
Removal from your driving record. Attending traffic school may keep the traffic violation from appearing on your driving record. If you have a job that requires you to drive and maintain a clean driving record, this may be an important benefit.
Reduced insurance rates. Automobile insurance rates are often based at least in part on the number of traffic violations on your record. If you can maintain a clean driving record, it can mean a lower insurance rate. In addition, if you have multiple traffic violations already, keeping one more off your record may be what keeps your insurance carrier from dropping you as a customer altogether.
Limitations
Attending traffic school to address a traffic violation does have some limitations.
Can only attend so often. How often you can attend traffic school varies by state, but states generally only permit someone to attend traffic school to remove a traffic ticket from their driving record once every one to two years.
Can only remove certain traffic violations. Depending on the traffic violation you are accused of, traffic school may not be an option for removing it from your driving record. Generally, the more serious the traffic violation, the more likely that your state will not permit the removal of the violation from your driving record.
Requires punctuality. If you choose to attend a traffic school course in person, remember that the teacher may be a stickler for being punctual. Because the state requires that a traffic school class meet a minute time limit, if you are late to the class, the instructor may not permit you to attend.
Legal Help
Traffic violations are no laughing matter. If you have received a traffic ticket, you should speak with a criminal defense attorney about your case. A criminal defense attorney can let you know how serious the penalty related to your traffic violation may be and if traffic school will help to remove the ticket from your record and save you from paying a higher insurance rate.
There have been several stories recently about people defending their home by shooting intruders who have broken into their homes, where the intruder was attempting to commit burglary or other crimes. You may wonder as a result what criminal charges may be filed against someone who shoots an intruder or if you may be subject to a civil lawsuit as a result of the shooting.
Image via Wikipedia
If an intruder enters your home, you have the right in many states to defend yourself against that intruder, even using deadly force if necessary. And even if you cause bodily harm to or kill an intruder while defending your home, you are not subject to criminal prosecution for battery, murder, or other crimes. The law that provides for this protection is commonly known as the Castle Law or Castle Doctrine.
The Castle Law commonly requires some or all of the following components in order for it to apply to a situation:
The basic purpose of the Castle Doctrine is to protect or exempt the defender from prosecution under either criminal and general civil statutes. This protection is afforded because society in general has determined that a person has a right to defend themselves and their family and friends under the right set of circumstances and while defending their property and others the person should not have to be concerned with possible liability to the intruder that could ruin the defender financially.
The Castle Doctrine does have some variation among states. First, basically all states with a Castle Doctrine are written such that the law applies to a person’s home or wherever they are living. In some states, the Castle Doctrine extends to the person’s car or place of business.
Second, some states require that the person defending their residence or whatever place they occupy must retreat if possible rather than choose to use deadly force. Alternatively, other states allow the occupant to defend their property even if retreat is an option.
If you have been involved in the shooting of an intruder while defending your home or other location, you should speak with a criminal defense attorney to confirm you have taken no action that may make you subject to criminal prosecution rather than protection under your state’s Castle Law. If your actions are not covered under your state’s Castle Law, a criminal defense attorney can advise you on available criminal defensesand work with you to provide that defense.
When the police are investigating a crime (which means someone may soon find themselves in trouble with law enforcement), they will interview various witnesses and possibly suspects in order to gain additional information about how the crime took place. The end goal of understanding the circumstances as to how a crime took place is to be able to identify a suspect and bring charges for the crime against that suspect.
If you are interviewed by the police as the suspect for a crime, you may consider it a prime opportunity for you to tell the police what happened, especially if you are innocent of the crime. After all, if you are innocent and tell them the truth, there is no harm in it, right? This may not always be the case even when you are innocent of a crime. In fact, speaking with the police even when you are innocent of a crime is generally not a good idea.
Under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, you have the right to remain silent when faced with questions about a crime where the answers to those questions may lead to or increase the possibility of criminal charges being filed against you. This means that you do not have to speak with the police, aside from providing information so the police know who you are in the event they choose to arrest you.
A common misconception with the Fifth Amendment is the belief that if you elect not to answer questions of the police then it means that you have something to hide and potentially that you are guilty of the crime. However, the Fifth Amendment was placed in the Constitution to protect people who are innocent of crimes.
If the police have sufficient evidence to arrest you for a crime, then waiving your Fifth Amendment right and speaking with them is much more likely to strengthen the case of the prosecution than it is for your testimony to keep you from being arrested. Statements that you make to the police may be misunderstood or provide the prosecuting attorney with information that could be harmful to your position in the event you are formally arrested and charged with a crime.
And in the event you are guilty of a crime, then there is no reason to confess to the crime to the police right away. If you are arrested for a crime, there will be sufficient opportunity at a later time to plead guilty if that is the appropriate thing to do. However, when the police are initially questioning you, it is wiser to see how strong of a case they have first. After all, there is the possibility that without your confession and guilty plea then the police will not have sufficient evidence to arrest you for a crime.
Rather than speaking with the police, you should inform them that you want to speak with an attorney. A criminal defense attorney will have the knowledge, training, and experience to review your situation in light of applicable laws and help you take steps to minimize the repercussions. This includes your right to exercise the Fifth Amendment and say nothing to the police.
