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The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Fighting A Traffic Ticket

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.

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.

Delaying the court date will not improve your chance of having your traffic ticket dismissed.

My question is what if you do postpone your traffic court date and the officer 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.

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.

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.

Don't give the prosecution a heads up that you know anything about traffic court proceedings. Do not contact them prior to your traffic court date.

Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research

How many of you like to spend your free time at your local courthouse researching piles upon piles of law books? There's absolutely no need to do this research. It's time consuming and not to mention boring.

Only rarely would it be prudent to look up a law so you know how it may be worded, other than that it is needless to do this with most traffic tickets.

Mistake #4- Going after the police officers credibility

Going to traffic court with the sole purpose of making the police officer look like an idiot will backfire on you and any plan you had of getting your traffic ticket thrown out. Claiming things like, "the radar gun was faulty", or "the officer clocked the wrong vehicle", or "the officer singled you out", or "the officer hasn't had adequate training with the radar/laser gun" are all useless defenses.

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.

Its just understood that the officer has the proper training on the speed detecting equipment he or she used to give you a traffic ticket. There's no question about it. Say you do try this defense, where are you going to get the evidence the judge will ask for to support your claim?

Mistake #5- Going 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.

About the Author

Looking to find the best information on traffic tickets? Then visit www.Paytrafficviolation.com to find the best advice on traffic tickets and how to fight them.

2011 Spring Break Beach Patrol #1