Throughout the years, there have been some pretty dreadful defense strategies used by many people when it came to their traffic ticket. But I don’t really blame them. Most were just relying on ‘insider’ information some website was selling.
This article will outline five of the biggest mistakes you can make when battling your traffic ticket in court. Familiarize yourself with them and never use them in traffic court.
Mistake #1- Delaying the Court Trial
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.
Simply delaying your traffic court trial will not increase your chances of beating your traffic ticket.
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- Request the Prosecution’s Evidence Before Trial.
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 request anything or even contact the courthouse at any time prior to your trial about your traffic ticket. DO NOT let them know you are familiar with the traffic court process.
Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research
There is no need to spend any time reading boring law books. Its pointless.
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 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 the people who show up to traffic court thinking the judge will have pity on them if they just tell their side of the story. Yeah right!
Look, I know the thought of going to traffic court can be a little scary for some, but this isn’t a murder trial. It’s just a simple traffic ticket. Traffic court is set up to be extremely ‘user friendly’ due to the large amounts of people who go there every day.
Avoid these five mistakes and you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court and getting your traffic ticket dismissed.
Learn more about traffic tickets and hoe to fight them. Stop by James Kincaid’s site where you can find out all about traffic violations and how to protect yourself against them.
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Tags: affordable car insurance, automobile insurance, driving, family, law, law enforcement, speeding tickets
