Step1
The Traffic Stop.
This may be a moot point by now, but at the time you receive your ticket, remember to never admit to wrongdoing. The officer may ask "Do you know why I pulled you over?" To which you should respond, "No, officer, why did you pull me over?" instead of "I was going 25 miles per hour over the posted speed limit in this school zone." The officer will ask that question to get you to admit fault, so don't give in.
While the officer is writing your citation or checking your license, registration, and insurance, take careful note of the circumstances involving the traffic stop. Which lanes were you in? How many passengers were in the car? What were the weather conditions like? What were the traffic conditions like? You will need to remember as much detail as possible. When the officer hands you the citation, check to make sure the citation make sense. If the officer checks the box that says construction zone, make sure you were, in fact, in a construction zone or if there were workers present. If the citation does not makes sense, now is not the time to point that out to the officer. You will use this to dispute his recollection of the events later in court.
Step2
The officer may or may not give you instructions on what to do with your citation. In any case, nearly every citation has instructions on the back which include the precinct where your arraignment will be held. It will also give you instructions for mailing in payment. It sounds so easy, but you must not mail in any form of payment. Doing so requires an admission of guilt, and you are innocent until the state proves you guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
The citation should also state the date of your arraignment or when you need to report to the court in person. If it does not, contact the precinct listed on the back of the citation and give the citation number to the information desk. They will be able to assist you with where to go, the correct date, and which court room to report to.
Large cities often have tremendous amounts of people cycling through traffic court on any given day. As a result, getting through to the information desk could be difficult if not impossible. Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to your arraignment hearing in order to wait in line at the info desk to find where your court room is.
Step3
The Arraignment.
The court system is confusing, and many people end up choosing options that are not ideal for them simply out of lack of understanding. When you arrive at the court, you should be dressed professionally. You will stand out from the hundreds (even thousands) of people who come through, and will earn more respect from the judge. This means wearing a tie, or a dress shirt and slacks at minimum for guys and a pant-suit or professional and modest skirt and dress shirt for women. The court will have its own rules which typically forbid tank tops, shorts, etc. People will push these rules so you must stand out from the crowd.
Follow the bailiff's orders exactly. If he or she tells you to sit in a particular seat, do it. If he or she says to move to another seat, do it. When your name is called approach the judge to enter your plea. Remember, this is not your trial, so you will not be given a sentence here. You are merely entering a plea. Many people try to tell their sob story to the judge here, but this is not the place. The judge at the arraignment could care less.
Always address the judge as "your honor." Enter your plea of "Not Guilty." Do not enter a guilty plea or a nolo contendere plea. You will be asked if you wish to waive your right to a jury trial. The judge will try to scare you into waiving your right by saying that you may have to spend days in court. Ignore this, you can always change your plea later. You want a jury trial, because the court system cannot possibly proccess a jury trial for every ticket so you are likely to get all or part of it dismissed (this is especially true in larger cities/precincts).
After you enter your plea, you will be given a court date.
Step4
Stalling.
You want to put your day in traffic court off as long as possible. This means requesting a continuance. You may be able to do this by mail, or telephone (by contacting the presiding judge's office), but the court may require you to file for continuance in person. There is typically a limit to the number of days prior to your court date you can file, so be aware of that. You must have a valid excuse for a continuance, but larger court systems may grant the continuance without question if they have alot of people to process. Your request for a continuance will be made to a judge in a similar fashion as your arraignment hearing. Research your court's website or call information to make sure you have the necessary paperwork ready for the request.
Continue to make requests for continuance for as many times as you can. Typically a continuance will buy you a month or so. The longer you wait, the more likely the officer will not be available to show up in court. Eventually you may be denied a continuance, or you have decided you are ready to get it over with and go to court.
Step5
Traffic Court.
Arrive early; an hour before your court time if possible. When you enter the court room, follow the bailiff's instructions exactly. He or she will enter your attendance and you will be put into the system. At this point all you can do is wait. There will be traffic ticket attorneys helping their clients and talking with the prosecutor. However, at some point the prosecutor will hold a meeting with everyone that is representing themselves (i.e. no attorney). You will go into this meeting with the prosecutor, and you will work something out with him or her. In almost all circumstances, you will get the violation off your record even if you have to pay a fine and court fees. In a recent trip to traffic court I estimated that about 60%-80% of people fighting their tickets had their cased either entirely dismissed or greatly reduced.
However, prior to the meeting with the prosecutor, you should do your best to find out if the officer who wrote your ticket is present at the trial. The officers are usually seated in the court room or waiting outside the court room. You may request to see the officer login at information, but that may not always work. If the officer is not present, you do not want to bargain with the prosecutor.
Step6
Your Trial.
If you have chosen to go through with a trial, the judge will warn you that a jury trial may take all day. If you are in a precinct that handles a high volume of citations, you may get your cased dismissed due to the fact that they can't possibly process every citation set for jury trial.
If you find yourself going to trial, you will need to be prepared. If the officer is not present, the state will have no witness against you, and the case will be dismissed. However, if the officer is there you will need to fight the citation. I am unsure how many cases actually go to trial, but the most egregious ones almost certainly do. If you were going 80mph through a school zone with an unbuckled toddler in the front seat you will probably have a trial and you will want an attorney. If you were going 10 over on the freeway, you will probably have your case dismissed and not have to go to trial.
If you do not feel like defending your case to the judge, accept whatever plea bargain the prosecutor offers. Most likely the citation will not go on your record and you will pay a reduced fine.
Enthusiast 
Comments
NYFuzz said
on 7/3/2008 Understand that the information given here may only be for Houston. In NYC if you stall you will have to pay a bond on your license. As a highway patrolman we were used to this tactic and always ensured that we would get to the appearence. Also in NYC, you may not see an attendence log, nor can you bargin with a prosecutor since we prosecute the summons on behalf of the state.