Ticket fines differ between each state. However, these tickets can cost your time and money. Approximately, there are over 195 million licensed drivers in the US. Forty-one million licensed drivers in the US receive tickets for overspeeding and skipping a traffic light in a year. The police departments in the US issue an average of 112,000 tickets in a day. Tickets are issued due to faulting road regulations. Yet, in some cases, you may have been given a ticket unfairly. To ensure justice and fairness, you can contest your ticket and ask for an appeal. So, how would you appeal a traffic ticket in California? Here are a few tips you should consider.
- Analyze your case
Before you start contesting your traffic citation, you need to remember your conversation with the officer when you were pulled over. The challenge in crafting a defense to appeal your traffic citation will be you admitting to overspeeding. How did you accept the overspeeding? It can be that the officer asked you about your speed limit when the officer pulled over. If you had given the officer a figure that exceeds the allowed speed limit, then your lawyers will find it challenging getting out of that admission.
Sometimes you may not remember what you said to the officer. You can wait for the court to present the officer’s notes on the citation before you can start your defense.
- Hire an attorney
Hiring an experienced lawyer for traffic ticket will be the best way to appeal the traffic ticket. Your attorney can step in on your behalf to determine which strategy to appeal the case. The lawyer for a traffic ticket can fight the citation for a “not guilty” verdict. With the “not guilty” verdict, you may avoid the notations on your records as a driver. The points may build up and increase your insurance premiums.
- Get an extension on the citation deadline
Some traffic courts have moved to the online system where you are likely to receive your ticket online on the court’s website. The majority of the courts may offer you a one-time chance to request an extension on your due date. Getting an extension will give you time to prepare funds should you be found guilty and asked to pay the fine. The extension will also give you and your lawyer time to prepare your defense should you settle on proceeding with the appeal.
- Appear in court to request a trial
Traffic citations or courtesy notices have deadlines for which you have to appear in court. On the deadline, you may appear in court and plead not guilty. You can schedule a court trial date at the Office of the Traffic Clerk. Once you plan a date for the trial, the police officer would be asked to appear in court.
Your lawyer can also decide to request for a trial by written declaration if that will serve your best interest. With the choice of the trial by a written statement, you do not have to appear before the court. Trial by written declaration has a very high success rate.
Thank you for reading!
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