Speeding tickets vary drastically in their total cost. It’s important to remember that the fines associated with speeding tickets are only a portion of the total cost – with the rest of the cost hidden from plain sight. Two additional costs are incurred with each speeding ticket that is paid, although they are often not immediately apparent.
Increased Automobile Insurance Premiums
First, your automobile insurance premiums will increase as a result of receiving and paying a speeding ticket. This is the result of the insurance company’s underwriting policies which assume that by receiving a speeding ticket and being found guilty of the infraction (indicated by your payment), you are a risky driver with a heightened chance of getting into an accident. In California, the average increase in insurance premiums after a speeding ticket is approximately 15 percent. In a state where the average cost of car insurance is just over $1,000, this is an additional $150 that will be payable until the speeding ticket is removed from your driving record.
Increased Risk of License Suspension
Second, you will receive the phantom cost of additional points on your license. While the direct cost of these points is reflected in increased insurance premiums, the phantom cost is the risk of driver’s license suspension. If you accumulate too many points on your California driver’s license, your license is automatically suspended. It is a phantom cost because you will not recognize the cost until your license is suspended.
In California, a driver’s license will be automatically suspended for 6 months if the driver accumulates: (i) 4 points within 12 months, (ii) 6 points within 24 months, or (iii) 8 points within 36 months. Once your driver’s license is suspended, you will suffer the immense burden of having to rely on others for a ride or paying for private transportation. Driving with a suspended driver’s license is an exceptionally serious offense with monumental consequences -– the best way to avoid the troubles associated with a suspended driver’s license is to limit the number of points on your license.
What Options are Available to Me?
Once you have received a speeding ticket, you have two options available to you. You can pay the speeding ticket and accept both the fine and points on your license (as well as the two additional costs identified above), or you can retain an attorney to contest the ticket. If you successfully contest the ticket, you may receive a lower fine, no points on your license, and thus avoid the two above-referenced costs of increased insurance premiums and increased risk of driver’s license suspension.
Why Hire an Attorney?
Contesting a speeding ticket requires an understanding of the California legal system and intricate laws surrounding police conduct regarding the issuance of a speeding ticket. Cheap Traffic Attorneys will aggressively challenge your speeding ticket and use our experience and knowledge gleaned from successfully challenging thousands of speeding tickets similar to yours.
While the face value of a speeding ticket (the fine) may be less than the legal fees, the total cost of a speeding ticket will far outweigh the legal fees associated with contesting the speeding ticket. Understanding that legal fees are burdensome to so many Californians, we established Cheap Traffic Attorneys with cost in mind and offer the best value in legal services for contesting any traffic ticket. Unlike general practice law firms that must charge a high rate to justify their time spent on a speeding ticket rather than on trusts and estates, our focus is solely on traffic tickets and thus we are able to offer premium service for a fraction of the price.
How to Beat a Speeding Ticket?
In the United States, you are innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, a California prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you, in fact, violated the law. If the police officer wrote you a speeding ticket for driving over 65 mph then the prosecutor must prove that you were driving at least 66 mph to the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a high standard to achieve, and for an experienced speeding ticket defense attorney, provides ample opportunity to challenge the prosecution’s assumptions. For example, the prosecution must prove that the speed detection method was administered in accordance with prescribed policy. For a radar gun or lidar device, this means that the device was calibrated correctly and within a specified period of time. Similarly, the officer must have been properly trained within a set period of time of issuing the speeding ticket. In many cases, the police may fail to properly follow these procedures which we can use to challenge the speeding ticket.
Los Angeles and Orange County Speeding Ticket Defense Attorney
At Cheap Traffic Attorneys, we have successfully defended the citizens of Orange County and Los Angeles against more than 10,000 traffic tickets. Our business model provides the best value services available in Southern California, which ensures that you can afford to protect your finances as well as your California driving record. For recent examples of how we have helped others in your situation, please visit our success stories page. If you have received a speeding ticket or other driving-related offense, please contact our office as soon as possible for a free consultation or submit your ticket information through our website.