How do I get out of my traffic ticket?
You don’t.
Sadly, there really isn’t any “getting out of” tickets anymore. There are two drivers in this situation: First, control of driver speeds helps to curb accidents, and more importantly injuries. While I stand to profit from injury claims on the roads, it’s not that I want them to happen, so it’s a good thing to have speed limits that are enforced. Second, traffic tickets bring in a huge amount of revenue for the court and for local schools, so the DA has a lot of incentive to keep these going. As a result, they are not likely to just go away like you would like.
No, the ADAs don’t care if you had to pee really, really badly. They don’t care if you were late to nursery pick-up and are dinged $15/minute for being late. They don’t care that you were just “going with the flow of traffic.” They don’t care if you didn’t see the sign, or if the sign just changed a few feet away.
Everyone has a reason, I know. I’ve gotten tickets before for similar reasons just like you have. Everyone thinks that their excuse is legitimate but other people’s excuses are just excuses. That’s not the case. Once you get a ticket, the question shouldn’t be, “How do I get out of this ticket?” The question should be, “How do I control the damage from this situation?”
From a legal standpoint, speeding is strict liability, meaning if you’re doing it, you’re breaking the law. They don’t have to prove you intended to break the law. They just have to prove you were speeding.
How do they do that? They have the cop testify. You can get up on the stand and say, “Nu-uh!” but that may not fly. Don’t get me wrong, you can have a trial on a ticket that will result in a not guilty, but these are by far the very tiny exception to the vast rule, and it is not something I would generally advise.
Your concern should be damage control. How can you get through this situation with the least amount of damage? Hiring an attorney (like me!) makes a lot of sense. Sure, you pay a fee, but what do you get? This is what you get:
1) Someone goes to court for you and you don’t miss work;
2) The person going to court for you has knowledge that you probably don’t have, specifically what the financial results of different plea options might be based on your record so they know the best option for you!
3) The person going to court for you will have some familiarity with the ADAs and the negotiating parameters, so you’ll get a good idea as to what to expect and what the best outcome might be.
4) Your outcome should in most cases be the best plea deal available under the particular circumstances, and it should reduce or maybe even eliminate the increase of your insurance premiums for THREE YEARS!
If you don’t think all that’s worth the attorney’s fee, you probably didn’t do very well in math class.
Tickets = bad. Attorneys = good! Call me. 919-929-2992