Why Fight a Traffic Ticket?

Receiving a traffic ticket happens at the worst time – often when you’re late to an event or don’t have the time to deal with the process. Worse, traffic tickets are expensive. The State of California relies on ticketing traffic violations as a major source of revenue for highway, transportation, courthouse costs and law enforcement training funds. The result is that police officers often focus solely on writing the most tickets possible and completely overlook the procedural requirements for writing those tickets. In doing so, the State of California opens itself up to contested traffic tickets by failing to follow the correct procedure, such as; properly calibrating radar guns and road speed survey certifications as required by the California Speed Trap law. To make matters worse, traffic tickets often have hidden future costs associated with them such as increased insurance premiums and potential issues resulting from points on your license. As a result, traffic tickets are expensive and carry long-term repercussions. To avoid the large expense and ongoing headache from traffic tickets, you need an experienced attorney who knows the ins and outs of California’s traffic ticket procedures, laws, and policies.

With more than twenty years of experience as an attorney, we defend individuals issued traffic tickets in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County. The Attorneys that appear for Cheap Traffic Attorneys are highly experienced in protecting you from California’s ardent pursuit of revenue through traffic tickets. With more than two decades of experience defending clients against traffic tickets, Cheap Traffic Attorneys offer you an unmatched level of representation in traffic court. If you have been issued a traffic ticket, please contact us today to get the right start to fight your traffic ticket.

Consequences of a Traffic Ticket

Many individuals believe that there are no repercussions once they pay a traffic ticket. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Paying a traffic ticket, rather than successfully contesting it, carries two major consequences: points on your license and increased insurance premiums.

The California Point System

Traffic violations are split into two categories of offenses: moving and non-moving. Receiving a traffic ticket for a moving violation means you will get points on your license while non-moving violations do not incur points. If you receive a certain amount of points over a specified duration of time, your license will be suspended by the State of California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles maintains a list of violations that incur driver’s points and how many they incur for a conviction. That list is called the California DMV Vehicle Code Violations Used in Negligent Operator Counts and can be accessed here: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/dl/vioptct

The Negligent Operator Point Count List is extensive, but the most common moving violation offenses that incur points are:

Generally, moving offenses incur one point to your driving record. However, for certain offenses deemed to be more serious, two points may be added to your record. Offenses incurring two points include speeding in excess of 100 miles per hour, reckless driving, evading law enforcement, hit and run accidents, and operating a vehicle with a suspended or revoked license and Driving Under the Influence (DUI/DWI)

After receiving a certain amount of points over a set duration, your license is automatically suspended by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Under California law, you will receive an automatic six-month license suspension if you receive:

  • Four points within one year – consisting of a rolling 12 month period
  • Six points within two years – consisting of a rolling 24 month period
  • Eight points within three years – consisting of a rolling 36 month period

Having your license suspended for six months is a very serious event. While you can appeal the decision and potentially retain some driving privileges, there is no guarantee of that happening. Thus, the best way to avoid a license suspension is to fight the traffic tickets so that you do not get points on your license.

Increased Insurance Premiums

In addition to points on your license and potential automatic suspensions, you will likely face increased insurance premiums if you simply pay a ticket. Each insurance company is different in how it will react to a ticket, but generally they will view a ticket as an indication of being a riskier driver than previously thought, and thus increase the amount that you have to pay in your monthly insurance premium. Some of the lower rated insurance companies will even try to increase your insurance rates for zero point violations, such as cell telephone & texting and seatbelt violations. To determine if your company may raise your rates for 0 point violation such as a cell telephone & texting or seatbelt violation, you must consult your insurance policy document. Thus, while you may believe that paying $162 or $250 for a ticket and getting points on your license is the extent of repercussions, you will likely also face increased insurance premiums for multiple years. Overall, that speeding ticket could cost you thousands over the next two or three years. A rule of thumb for insurance points is that for every 2 points you accumulate on your driver’s license, you will pay up to $300 more per month (or $3,600 per year) for vehicle insurance. Three points on your driver’s license could cost you an extra $400 per month or $4,800 per year for vehicle insurance.

To minimize the impact that a traffic ticket can have on your life, whether through license suspension or increased financial expenditure, or both, you need an attorney who knows how the police operate, how to negotiate in traffic court, and the specific inner workings of traffic court. As a former police officer with more than twenty years of experience in fighting traffic tickets, Mr. Pearson can save you time and money by contesting the traffic ticket to try to avoid points on your license and increased insurance premiums.

Cheap Traffic Attorneys

If you have been issued a traffic ticket by the State of California, particularly in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County, we can help. Our attorneys know that police officers often fail to follow procedure when issuing traffic tickets and utilizes this to fight to have a ticket tossed out of court. Even when the police have followed procedure, we try to negotiate the lowering of the ticket violation from a moving violation to a lower violation, where permitted by jurisdiction.

Cheap Traffic Attorneys have the know how to reduce the impact that a traffic ticket can have on your life. If you have been issued a traffic ticket, please contact us today to get the right start to fight your traffic ticket. We can help in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County.

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