Over the years I have heard of some pretty awful defense strategies people use to try and get out of a traffic ticket. You cant blame them though. A lot of these individuals were simply relying on so called insider information they heard from a 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
Almost every other book I’ve read on traffic tickets advises you to postpone the trial by asking for a continuance. They claim the longer your traffic court trial is from the original infraction, the greater the chance the officer will fail to show up to court on your traffic ticket.
Do not try to delay your date with the traffic court. You will not increase the likelihood the officer wont be there and thus having your traffic ticket thrown out.
The question I’ve always had was if you do put off your court date, what do you do when he still shows up?
Traffic officers get paid overtime to be in traffic court. They don’t bring them off their patrols to be there.
Mistake #2- Requesting evidence before traffic court.
By law you do have a legal right to see everything the prosecution plans to convict you with. This process is called ‘discovery’ and can be useful in a murder trial. But this isn’t a murder trial and doing so can actually hurt your case.
When you make a motion for discovery and request evidence before your trial, this sends red flags to the prosecution that you are planning a good defense. He’ll take it as a challenge and will prepare his case so efficiently that it becomes almost impossible to win.
Do yourself a favor and don’t even contact the court about anything related to your traffic ticket. You don’t want them to know your familiar with the proceedings of traffic court.
Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research
Who likes to spend their free time at the courthouse researching boring piles of books pertaining to law? Trust me, there is no need in doing this.
For most traffic tickets it is pointless to read up on case law before traffic court. Except on the rare occasion that you may want to see how a certain statute is worded.
Mistake #4- Going after the police officers credibility
If your defense is to go to traffic court and try to make the officer who gave you the traffic ticket look like an idiot, don’t waste your time. Using any number of ridiculous excuses like the police officer singled you out or that he used the radar gun improperly will not work.
Challenging the officers training of a radar gun will always draw scrutiny from the judge. He will take the officers side and will insist you ask the next question.
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.
Probably the mistake most people make is thinking they did a good job doing their homework prior to their day in traffic court, and actually didn’t have a clue as to what they were doing to get prepared. So they lose their case and end up being convicted of 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.
If you avoid these 5 mistakes you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court, and hopefully getting that traffic ticket thrown out.
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