How to Handle a Traffic Ticket

• The ticket
• What to do
  • Step 1: Check the Charge
  • Step 2: Decide the response
  • Step3: In the Court
  • What does a lawyer do?
  • Conclusion

Justice Neil Gorsuch contended in his book Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law, that the laws have grown so fast in length that it is practically impossible for an individual untrained in law to comprehend the nuances. In fact, I think most of the law systems capitalize on people not knowing what to do, and this is also true for lower courts such as city or county traffic courts.

The information on how to handle a traffic ticket is also limited at best online. Here I am trying to provide an overview on the logistics of handling a traffic ticket. What one should do and should not.

The ticket

I like to describle all traffic tickets in four catogories: 1. Parking Tickets 2. Infraction 3. Misdeamnor 4. Felony.

By definition, parking ticket is the lightest of crime, but deceptively they mean cost you more than others. In general, parking tickets require no court presence and can be dealt with online, they are non-reportable offense, meaning that it will not be reflected on DMV. However, repeated parking tickets and escalate into an infraction.

An infraction is a traffic charge that is non-reportable, but invites court presence. They usually come with a court appearance date and an accompanying fine. And unless you pay the fine online (I will get into details), you are required to present yourself in front a judge to either plead guilty or not guilty (more on it later). Usual infractions are things like using cellphone, mild speeding, failing to stop at stop sign, etc.

A misdeamnor is a more serious infraction that will REQUIRE a court appearance unless you settle it before the court date via email (more on it later). This is a REPORTABLE offence, which means should you plead guilty, the record will be reflected on your DMV, insurance and if you are not a citizen, might affect immigration status. Misdeamnor could result in up to 1 year in jail time, but usually it reserved for the most serious of situation. Most misdeamnors do not result in probation or jail time. Typical misdeamnor includes license/insurance/registration maintance issues, first time DUI, speeding up to 20mph, etc.

A felony is a very serious offense which will most likely result in jail time, it includes things like repeated DUI, vehicular homicide, hit and run (involving injury or death), etc.

What to do

Most of the following discussion will focus on infraction or misdeamnor, because parking ticket can be simply paid online and if you are convicted of a felony, I think you shouldn’t be reading this post anyway.

Step 1: Check the Charge

For infraction and misdeamnor charges, you would see a number on the ticket (as well as the name of the charge) that indicates the specific charge. You should first check it’s penalty and exact content. But be aware that most online sources tend to exaggerate the outcome. For instance, if you search speeding online, some sources may indicate it’s up to 1 year in jail. But that’s totally unrealistic, most speding tickets will not result in any jail time. What they tend to do it reach the upper bound of these charges, the one year jail time may be the result of collateral damage due to speeding or repeated offense. Mild speeding by itself results most likely in a non-reportable fine.

Step 2: Decide the response

I would recommend to never pay the fine online. Because paying the fine online is basically an admission of guilt without any possibility of reduction. There is zero benefit to it. Always go to the court if you can. Everyone is entitled to a trial by judge and there is no reason to withhold your rights.

Step3: In the Court

One should understand the court dynamic and what the goal of each party is. 1. Defendent: You as the defendent, your goal should be to reduce or dismiss your charge, or to pay the minimum fine. 2. Solicitor/Prosecutor: The prosecutor is your accusor on behalf of the police that gave you the ticket (usually the police would not show up, and it’s important to know that prosecutor does not know extra information more than what the charge says). Most prosecutors are not there to give you a bad day and can be reasoned with. 3. The judge: Judge shares the same goal with prosecutor in moving the court in a speedy manner, but judge is completely neutral in the matter of charge. The fines and penalty are on judge’s discretion after he or she learns the detail.

Here there are several different scenarios:

1. You are undeniably guilty: Situations include driving with no registration, no license, etc. DMV records all periods of time when your license or registration are invalid, by simply comparing with the date you were charged, the result is obvious. Never try to argue these type of charges, because what will happen is you will be granded a trial by jury, where witness (in this case the police that cited you) will be summoned, and they have enough receipts to prosecute you. What you should do in this case is to try to talk to the prosecutor before the charge is passed to the judge. If you are first offense with a clean record, the prosecutor most likely will be willing to reduce the charge or even dismiss it. Then plead guilty to the reduced charge is most likely the best outcome.

2. You don’t think you are guilty: Situations include stop sign which you think is clearly hidden. In this case plead not guilty and you should come prepared with evidence to defend your case.

3. You are guilty but can’t strike a deal with prosecutor: It’s important to remember that no contest essentially has the same result as plead guilty except you don’t get point reduction: reportable offense remains reportable. You can also only use it once every five year, hence you should plead no contest only in very serious matter.

What does a lawyer do?

In the first of two cases above, the function of a lawyer is very straightforward.

1. They usually have a better chance at striking a deal with prosecutor to reduce the charge, and they have a better knowledge on what possible charge reduction there are. If you don’t know the details about charge reduction, theoretically prosecutor has no responsibility to remind you.
2. Should you decide to plead not guilty, they will help with gathering evidence and defend your case whereas otherwise you would be held to the same standard of legal jargon.

Conclusion

Don’t panic, learn the charge, and decide a response.