How to Beat a Traffic Ticket - Step 2

This article was last updated Monday, December 19, 2011

Speeding tickets and other traffic tickets are by far the most annoying things that can happen to you on a daily basis. Not only do they take up your time with traffic court, but they impact your wallet with fines and court costs. But it doesn't have to be all bad. It is possible to beat a traffic ticket, under the right circumstances. You just have to know what to look for and how to act, and you can beat your traffic ticket.

Step 2 of how to beat a traffic ticket deals with what you do after you get the ticket. This is an important step, because if it isn't followed it will be impossible for you beat your speeding ticket, even if you should. This step entails making sure you get the opportunity to be heard.

Hopefully after you received your ticket you took a few moments to write down the things that you noticed from the traffic stop, including the time of day, the weather conditions, the traffic conditions, where the officer came from, what his view point would have been like, and what the road conditions were like. These are going to be important later on, and they should be memorialized as soon as possible after the traffic stop.

Once you get home, however, you are going to have this ticket staring you right in the face. And at that very moment, you have four options: pay the ticket (plead guilty); contest the ticket in writing (write in your explanation of why you think you should not be cited with a traffic violation); mitigation hearing (admit that you were wrong but ask for a reduction in the fine); or contest the hearing in court. Before we decide on what to do, let's look at these options.

First, paying the fine outright. That is just silly. I don't really have anything to say except that you should probably never do that. Ever. Never ever. Who cares if you were speeding? People don't usually beat traffic tickets on the facts. People usually beat them on procedural grounds (that is why traffic attorneys can be so helpful in these matters - they know the minor rules that can get your ticket dismissed).

Second, written contest. You should know deep down that you have no way of winning with a written contest. The judge will look at the ticket with the cop's notes, look at your scribble, and order you to pay the fine. This is just a way for the Court to make you feel like you've been heard. I've never heard of anyone who ever won a ticket this way. There is a reason for that - you can't demonstrate the officer's mistakes without asking him questions directly.

Third, mitigation. Forget about it. It is not worth it. And in any event, you can usually roll up a mitigation request into your contested hearing. Which gets us to:

The only option there is. Contest the ticket. But, remember that you only have so much time to do so. In Seattle, Washington, for example, the deadline is 15 days after the ticket has been issued to request a contested hearing. If you don't, then you lose. This is the way to have the best chance of beating your traffic ticket. Worry about the details later.

Okay, so, step two of how to beat a traffic ticket is simple - fill out the form and request a contested hearing within 15 days of being cited. This, when coupled with step one of how to beat a ticket and the steps to follow, will give you the best chance of beating your ticket