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After receiving a ticket for a traffic violation, you have two options: accept defeat and pay for the ticket, or decide to try to beat your ticket by fighting it in court.
Sure, it sounds dramatic to say that paying for a ticket is “accepting defeat,” but many people don’t realize that once they pay the fines for traffic violations, it’s considered an automatic admission of guilt and that it’s impossible to get out of a traffic ticket after paying the fines.
Pretty surprising, right? Well, here are a few other facts and myths about traffic tickets that aren’t very well-known, despite the fact that the laws surrounding these details are what determine whether or not drives deserve to be charged with traffic violations.
- Many people say that they were able to fight a traffic ticket by pushing back the date of their court appearance, probably causing the police officer who gave out the ticket to forget about it, and when he/she didn’t show up in court, the judge simply dismissed the case. Sometimes this works — but in some states, the judge will proceed anyway. Additionally, the severity of the charge comes into play in these situations.
- If the traffic ticket you received has a typo, or if the officer has forgotten to have you sign the ticket, you can’t use either of those reasons as legitimate defenses against a charge. You might be able to reference those details if they’re part of a larger argument that the officer wasn’t paying attention, but when standing alone, they won’t suffice.
- When trying to beat a speeding ticket or a ticket for running a red light, and the ticket was based on data collected by radar equipment or an intersection camera, it’s often not enough to argue that the may have malfunctioned. It’s possible to use this defense, but it’s a lot harder than most drivers realize. That being said, these devices are manufactured and (usually) operated by third parties that could be in cahoots with specific cities, wherein both groups profit financially from more tickets being issued. This situation is certainly possible, and has happened (unsuccessfully) in cities before on a large scale.
Now it’s your turn — do you know of any little-known traffic ticket facts? Be sure to share them in the comments section! Helpful sites.
