Traffic Ticket Attorneys

[RDATLTE]

Have you ever used one? If so, what were / were you satisfied with the results?

 

[PrimeTime]

Most of the time over here, if its a speeding ticket (within reason, not 140 in a 30) you request a hearing date in front of a Judge, you go to the hearing and the Officer doesn't show up 99% of the time and the ticket gets dropped. That's my experience, never used an Attorney for a traffic ticket. Thankfully, it's also been a very long time since I've had a ticket, my son did get one about a year and 1/2 ago and it got dropped, officer didn't show. Good luck.

 

[rubberduck]

What @PrimeTime said is what an attorney told me to do a long time ago. If it’s something more serious where you might lose your license, like reckless driving, then it’s best to talk to an attorney.

 

[PrimeTime]

Ask for a Calibration Cert on the Radar used the date of the infraction to ping you if its speeding.... if you go it yourself the date of the hearing.... If the Officer does have time to be there, he must produce a Cert on the Radar used....or its thrown out I believe. Most likely too busy. Good Luck.

 

[Speed Racer 007]

Have you ever used one? If so, what were / were you satisfied with the results?

Unfortunately, yes, on multiple occasions. It all depends on the ticket(s) and circumstances. As another member said if you're going triple digits in a school zone, good luck with that one.

 

[RDATLTE]

It’s the wife. 55 in a 45 with no radar but, she already used up her traffic school opportunity with a previous ticket. I’m concerned about going in on my own and hoping that the officer doesn’t show. The Attorney charges a flat fee of $350 to handle it all. I’d be tickled pink with a dismissal, satisfied with another opportunity for traffic school and pissed if we got nothing. I think it’s worth the $350 to try so that insurance doesn’t go thru the roof.

 

[soulsea]

If it doesn’t work out for you, as long as you’re not put off transacting out off the back of a 73 Econoline, I can refer you to some wonderful Honduran insurance companies

 

[RDATLTE]

If it doesn’t work out for you, as long as you’re not put off transacting out off the back of a 73 Econoline, I can refer you to some wonderful Honduran insurance companies

Hmmm… offshore insurance. My interest is piqued.

 

[Joespenard]

0nline driver reprograming

 

[RDATLTE]

0nline driver reprograming

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[BimmerFan]

I've used attorneys to handle all of my tickets. Here in NC, you end up paying court costs and typically the attorney wraps it all up in one fee (around $350 IIRC) so it's not even worth my time to take off from work, drive downtown (or worse yet, out of town) and pay to park, deal with the b.s. etc. for the $150 or so that actually goes to the attorney.

It's all a scam. In fact, it's criminal how easy it is to get out of a ticket around here, even something as serious as a DUI (or so I've heard). I don't drive impaired - well, not since high school anyway.

And yes, very satisfied with the results.

 

[99sport]

It’s the wife. 55 in a 45 with no radar but, she already used up her traffic school opportunity with a previous ticket. I’m concerned about going in on my own and hoping that the officer doesn’t show. The Attorney charges a flat fee of $350 to handle it all. I’d be tickled pink with a dismissal, satisfied with another opportunity for traffic school and pissed if we got nothing. I think it’s worth the $350 to try so that insurance doesn’t go thru the roof.

The traffic court / ticket process varies tremendously by state. I would absolutely NOT recommend you hire an attorney for 10 mph over in California - you'd be throwing your money away. If you want to fight it, buy this book instead:

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Then go to your local traffic court for the morning and watch the process - in the few hours you spend there you'll learn a whole lot about how the system is set up to maximize revenue for the local jurisdiction. The system is set up to find you guilty - the cops and the judge / magistrate are financed mostly through traffic tickets. If they let people off (even if innocent) they loose their revenue stream and are out of a job. (I once had an unmarked Ventura county sheriff deputy change lanes into me and force me nearly off the freeway (I was in his blind spot, in a very small economy car) and then write ME a ticket - I fought it, and, of course, was found guilty, but given the scenario I described, the judge found me guilty of a DIFFERENT infraction (which I also did NOT commit.))

In California (for CHP for sure and all the local PD I have interacted with) the cops ALWAYS show up in court and have the necessary paperwork (radar certs), etc. - they are well rehearsed and use the same spiel (including radar gun certs) over and over for every case. It used to be the cops didn't get paid for court appearances, so would not show up - now they are paid and thus show up 99% of the time. It's almost like a hail Mary pass trying to get out of it, but if you have the time to go to court you can try.

That book will have lots of good strategies, but the cop and magistrate will likely be prepared for them. When I was in high school I tried to get out of a ticket because the prosecution had not responded to my discovery request for a traffic survey - which is required for radar to be used in CA. The case SHOULD have been dismissed because they had not responded to my discovery request. Instead the magistrate had the clerk open a file cabinet, hand me a copy of the traffic survey and continued my case for another date. When I came back, my hail Mary attempt was to argue that the 85th percentile speed on that street was above my ticketed speed (which is what they are supposed to set the speed limit at). The magistrate woke up from his stupor for a minute to digest that I had made an interesting point, and then found me guilty.

Many years ago I got a ticket for going over 100 mph. The notice to appear said I could mail the ticket back and receive a $1000 fine and a 5 day license suspension. I hired an attorney. The attorney pled the ticket to regular over 65 so it appeared as an ordinary ticket on my record, and my insurance rates were only minimally affected, but the fine and attorney fees were an order of magnitude more that what you are facing. (The county got the max fine plus penalty assessment - and the money is what they really wanted - not my license).

In CA, with one point, which is one speeding ticket, by law, you still qualify for a good driver discount (plus you can get one every 18 months and go to traffic school - so that effectively works out to 3 tickets in in a 3 year span without an insurance impact), so in the scenario you describe, your insurance rates will NOT increase. If you face anything that might get your insurance dropped (which a license suspension can do, or, heaven forbid, a DUI), consider an attorney, but in your case it sounds as if your insurance will not increase at all, and if it does you'll only loose a good driver discount (which is 20%)

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[techdude99]

Have you ever used one? If so, what were / were you satisfied with the results?

Yes, Off The Record which is a Traffic Lawyer Referral service. Used them in multiple states. Very happy with the results.

Google them for discount codes that will usually knock $50 to $100 off the fees.

 

[Cadz09]

If you have tons of speeding tickets in the past 3 years then it probably will help but not much. But if you have a clean record it is usually dismissed if you choose to go to traffic court.

 

[99sport]

Not in California. They always show up. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of funding for the court system and local police come from traffic citations (this is the land where the "penalty assessment", which is effectively you reimbursing the state for their cost to cite, fine, and prosecute you) is many times the cost of the fine (which is set by the state legislature) - ie a $500 fine incurs a $2100 penalty assessment for $2600 total

 

[RKS]

A lot of drivers that I represent have a CDL so it's in their best interest to drop moving violations to non-moving or at least avoid points. As long as they get court costs and an additional $100-$150 for the violation; most courts don't care what the ticket is for.

UNLESS you are like my dumbass lax-bro son. We got him a Civic Si and he got pulled over going 104/65 by an off-duty officer. The cop actually called me to tell me that he was only giving my son a warning. I thought that would have been a great life-lesson but a month later the idiot got zapped for 107/65.
He was only 17 at the time and had the option of 1-year suspension with privileges or 6-months with no privileges. He and my wife thought 6-months was a better choice but I was the schmuck who had to drive 30 minutes to take and usually 45 minutes to pick him up from school every day (no bus service).

 

[daveb]

FL tickets: 26 in 15mph school zone speed trap plus expired registration. Rec'd immediate mailer from trafficticketoffice.com. Charge ~ $79.
Traffic court results:
1. Speeding. Fine reduced to $250 from $319. No points. No traffic school.
2. Expired registration. Dismissed.
I have a clean record

 

[Roadhawk]

Every state is different (with Virginia being the worst...anything 20+ automatically reckless etc...and California with their very forgiving traffic School system being the easiest IMO) That being said I second the point to only get an attorney if its a serious violation (reckless, DUI etc),

I've had good results with attorneys - once getting me completely off due to radar lack of certification and another getting me out of a reckless (that never should have been as the cop...who had a major attitude...charged me for 10 mph higher then what I was actually going). Still they do cost and pretty much its all a racket. Luckily I haven't had a ticket for at least a decade...which is nice as I feel I have some leeway ( I can live with one ticket). Its no fun being on Virginia's (or any other state's) ticket grind mill.

 

[RKS]

Still they do cost and pretty much its all a racket.

Haha, you are correct. I'm going to charge $350 for politely asking the prosecutor for a reduction, something anyone can do. If you want to plead NG and fight it; that's gonna cost a little more.

 

[Sully]

In FL, its pretty common to see folks lawyering up for tickets even with the option to pay + driving school which generally results in a removal of points, however still sticks on the record. Many times if you do opt for the pre-trial hearing the bench will offer you a withhold of adjudication + costs, again assuming rather clean record.

Most traffic lawyers that I've observed will successfully get (clean record, no additional negative factors) a withhold of adjudication + court costs, which results in no points but again still tattoo's the record. You will occasionally see a successful motion to dismiss based on a ore tenus, e.g. vagueness/disputed issue of fact in the citation or a 6.445 discovery infraction. However, the bench is becoming more stringent with the discovery infraction dismissals. Then there's the hail Mary of going to trial and the state lacks prosecution, e.g. the Deputy/Trooper, doesn't show.

FHP is pretty locked in with making sure their radar, laser, and aircraft stopwatches are calibrated and documented.