Trying To Avoid Traffic Tickets
One of the worst things that could ruin my day is getting a traffic ticket. It is hard to deal with and takes too much of my time. I get traffic tickets very often that I came to believe that it’s part of my lifestyle. Am I a habitual traffic offender? I believe not because it is not my intention to violate traffic laws. However, it really annoys me whenever I get a ticket. So I asked my traffic ticket attorney for ways to avoid getting traffic tickets. Let me share a couple of them.
Don’t drive significantly faster (or slower) than the traffic around you.
If you do, you’ll stick out — and if there’s a cop around, he will notice and focus on you. Learn from the prey animals of the African savannah: There is safety in numbers. Even if you are driving faster than the speed limit, if you’re one of a dozen cars in a pack, there’s only a one in twelve chance the cop will target you.
Make sure your car’s registration, license plates and state inspection are always up to date.
Cops are trained to look for passed-due inspection stickers (and also things like cracked windshields and dead headlights/brake lights, etc.) and if you’re speeding, even a little bit, your car will be the one that gets pulled over. And once pulled over, odds are you will end up with a ticket. The number one goal is to avoid getting pulled over in the first place. You can read more tips here.
Unfortunately, I still get a traffic ticket every once in a while. It may not be often but it still costs me time and money when I deal with my ticket. I used to think that the ticket will cost me a lot no matter what until I read a great article. Here’s an excerpt of it.
Be courteous and calm with the officer. Because the police officer does have some discretion for how much he writes the ticket, you should do what you can to try not to aggravate her. For example, simply being kind and saying “yes sir” or “thank you” can go a long way toward making your life easier. It doesn’t mean the officer is going to decide not to write the ticket, but he may do like we mentioned above and write it for a lesser violation.
Keep points off your license. The moment you get points on your license, the cost of the ticket goes up. You wind up paying more for your insurance, for example. If you can work out a lesser penalty with the court, it can be worth it in the long run.
You can find more tips in reducing the cost of your traffic ticket here.
Sometimes, it is not enough to just pay for the traffic ticket. It is wiser to try and fight the traffic ticket. The slideshow below helped me understand the consequences of just paying for the traffic ticket without trying to fight it off.
And to get my hands off doing the dirty work of having to settle my traffic ticket, I always seek the assistance of a traffic ticket attorney. It saves my time and I can ask the attorney regarding the important stuff with traffic tickets which seems confusing to a citizen like me. Here are some things the traffic attorney can explain and do for me.
Answers of a traffic ticket attorney:
Fighting a traffic ticket isn’t cheap. What does your fee buy that I can’t do myself?
“First off, you don’t have to deal with it. I’m one-stop shopping. I handle the correspondence, I do the negotiating, I go to court for you. Second, you’re taking a big kid to the fight. The fact that you’ve come with the implied threat of trying the case is very helpful. Third, if you go in yourself, you really don’t know how to try the case. And not that a traffic trial is all that difficult, but you don’t know what the cop’s supposed to say, what evidence he’s supposed to have, what discovery you’re entitled to.”
How do you negotiate a plea bargain? Whom do you talk to? What do you say?
“It differs from place to place. Depending on jurisdiction, I’m talking to either the cop who wrote the ticket or the prosecuting attorney. Usually a case is put on for trial, and this is a discussion prior to that. As an attorney, I say, “I represent this person, and you got him for 80 in a 55,” and then I’ll try to work out the lowest possible deal—a reduced speed or a non-speed. There are no magic words, there is no incantation, there’s nothing in Latin that you say. You just really need to know your local area. Some judges are more strict, some are more lenient. When I go someplace, I generally know what the judge will accept. But it’s a level of slippage I’m getting you, it’s not a guarantee. Of course, if I don’t agree with what they offer, the implicit threat is that I’ll go to trial. And, like I said, no one wants that. But I’ve had situations where I get a crappy offer—I’ll go in with a four-point speed and get offered a three-point speed—and I’ll try it because there’s very little risk to my client.” You can view the full article here.
These are the things I keep in mind to avoid ruining my day and my lifestyle. I try to avoid getting a traffic ticket. If I can’t help it, I try to lower the cost of my ticket. I also try to fight off my traffic ticket in court because I’ll be labeled a habitual traffic offender if they keep filing up. And I hire a reliable traffic ticket attorney like Anthony Mallo in the Traffic Ticket Office to do everything for me. If you are a habitual traffic offender, you shouldn’t think twice.
This post was donated by our guest writer Benjamin W. who prefers to stay anonymous but will appreciate your comments and is ready to reply to your questions.
