There have been, over the years, some pretty pathetic defense strategies when it came to fighting a traffic ticket. Someone would read some information somewhere or use some advice from a relative or friend.
In this article we will go over the 5 most common mistakes used by people when trying to fight their traffic ticket. Use these as a guide of what not to do.
Mistake #1- Delaying the traffic court date
Most would advise you to get a continuance. The claim is the longer your can postpone the traffic court date, the bigger the chance the police officer wont show up. This makes no sense and isn’t a good strategy to fight a traffic ticket.
Delaying the court date will not improve your chance of having your traffic ticket dismissed.
My question is what if you do postpone your traffic court date and the officer still shows up?
Then what? Police officers get paid overtime to show up to traffic court.
Mistake #2- Requesting evidence before traffic court.
Don’t get me wrong, you have the legal right to view everything they plan on using to convict you. Its called discovery, and is useful before a murder trial. But this is traffic court and it can hurt your case.
If you file a motion for discovery this tells the prosecution that you intend to plan a defense. In almost every case the prosecutor will make sure his case is airtight so you have virtually no chance of winning.
Don’t give the prosecution a heads up that you know anything about traffic court proceedings. Do not contact them prior to your traffic court date.
Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research
How many of you like to spend your free time at your local courthouse researching piles upon piles of law books? There’s absolutely no need to do this research. It’s time consuming and not to mention boring.
Although in some cases it may be wise to look up a certain law and see how it is worded, there really is no need to do it with all traffic ticket trials.
Mistake #4- Going after the police officers credibility
If you go to traffic court with the idea you are going to attack the officers credibility, don’t waste your time. You can forget getting your traffic ticket dismissed. Saying the officer didn’t use the equipment properly, or that he singled you out or any number of other excuses are useless.
Don’t ever go into traffic court with the idea you are going to challenge the police officers training on the use of the radar gun. This will only draw scrutiny from the judge, who will accept the officers testimony that he is properly trained on the use of the equipment.
Lets face it, the officer has been properly trained on the use of the speed detecting device he used to give you a traffic ticket. There is no question about it. Where would you get the evidence the judge will ask for to support this claim?
Mistake #5- Showing up to traffic court unprepared.
This may be the biggest mistake individuals make when they try to fight a traffic ticket. They go into traffic court thinking they did their homework, when in reality they had no idea what they were doing, and end up paying the traffic ticket.
And then there are those who don’t do any research and think that they can tell there side of the story and the judge will have pity on them. Yeah right!
Its understandable that it can be nerve wracking showing up to traffic court. Just remember you aren’t on trial for your life, its just a traffic ticket. Traffic court is designed to be user friendly because of the volume of people going through there daily.
Avoid these five mistakes and you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court and getting your traffic ticket dismissed.
Legal Advice
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