How to Decide Whether to Fight a Traffic Ticket

Series Summary

Traffic tickets, often referred to as moving violations, come in many different forms. Speeding tickets, failure to stop, running a red light and reckless driving are a few examples. Not only can they ruin a person's day, but they have longterm affects on a driver's insurance premiums. Some are lucky to have citations removed with defensive driving. In this free video series, a certified civil mediator explains fighting traffic violations. First, he discusses when to decide to fight a moving violation, how to defend a speeding ticket, how to defend a moving violation in a trial with no prosecutor and how to fight a parking ticket. Next, learn about finding out about old speeding tickets, traffic court procedures, finding an attorney for a traffic ticket trial and preparing a defense for a traffic violation. Finally, he talks about the difference between a civil and criminal traffic offense, careless driving and reckless driving and traffic school or defensive driving.

Video Transcript

"You've just received a traffic ticket and you're concerned about what you may have to pay in the way of a fine. What you may have in the way of penalties against your license. And what it may do to your overall driving record. Hello, I'm Robert Todd and I'm here to answer the question how to decide whether to fight a traffic ticket. Well one of the first things you may want to consider doing is reading the traffic citation itself to see what you're actually charged with. And then if it doesn't indicate on the citation what the penalties and fines are you may want to consider going on the Internet and looking it up. You can do that one of several ways, you can look in the state statutes that define the specific ordinance or statute that describes what you were charged with and would also define what penalties, and fines may be associated with that. And then you may want find out what the local traffic court is doing in terms of whether you have to pay a higher fine if you contest it and loose or if you simply put it in the mail, and pay the fine. I'm Robert Todd and thank you for watching."