How Can I Get My Traffic Ticket Dismissed?

Getting a traffic ticket can be inconvenient and expensive. Not only that but Florida Statute 322.27 gives the DMV and the courts the authority to take away your driving privileges if you get too many. This can be devastating if you rely on your car for work, school, or anything else.

If you want to get the ticket dismissed, you will have to appear in court or send a lawyer to represent you. A lawyer can argue the ticket for you, saving you the time and hassle of going to traffic court. The police officer will have to show up, and a lawyer can question their motivations and procedure to argue for your ticket to be dismissed.

Schedule a free consultation with The Ticket Lawyers today to determine how we can get your speeding ticket or any other traffic citation dismissed. We have years of experience fighting all kinds of citations, saving our clients time and money by showing up to court for them.

Call The Ticket Lawyers today to discuss your options at (866)-985-7740.

What Are My Options After I Get a Traffic Ticket?

You have three options after receiving a traffic ticket:

• Pay the fine – Your ticket will have an amount that needs to be paid listed on the physical copy. If you can’t find it, you can go online with the ticket number to find out. You have 30 days from the date of the citation to pay the fine. However, you give up your rights to contest the ticket or attend traffic school if you choose to pay.
• Attend traffic school – If the traffic ticket is a moving violation worth points, you can attend traffic school to avoid having points added to your driving record. People in Florida can only attend traffic school once per year, for a total of five times throughout their life. If you have already completed a driving course within the past year, you won’t be able to use it again to avoid points. You can only apply a driving school completion to one ticket at a time. Traffic school does not get rid of the fine, so you will still need to pay in most cases.
• Fight the traffic ticket in court – Most citations can be fought in court. You must inform the court within 30 days of receiving a citation that you wish to contest the ticket. You will be assigned a court date to plead your case to a traffic judge who will rule on your ticket. The best outcome you can hope for is that the ticket is dismissed or at least reduced to a lesser fine/offense.

How Can I Get a Ticket Dismissed?

Most tickets are infractions, not criminal offenses. Criminal tickets cannot be dismissed. Also, parking tickets cannot be dismissed either. If your ticket is not one of these two types, you may be able to get it dismissed.

First, you will need to apply for a trial date for the ticket. You can either appear in court on the date your ticket shows or apply by mail to request a trial date. Your trial date is when you will contest the evidence the police officer listed as the reason for giving you a citation.

There are three main ways to contest a traffic ticket in court:

• If the officer fails to appear in court, the judge may be willing to have the citation dismissed. Officers have an obligation to explain themselves in court if the defendant requests a trial.
• If there was an error in how the ticket was written or logged into the system, a lawyer might be able to have it dismissed. This method requires knowledge of the ticketing process, which a lawyer will have and exploit.
• If the equipment that provided the evidence against you wasn’t working properly, your citation could be dismissed. For example, a radar gun showed you were speeding when, in reality, you were going the speed limit. You can have the speeding ticket dismissed because the equipment was faulty.

Your best chance of having a ticket dismissed or reduced is hiring a lawyer to represent you in court. A qualified attorney will have relationships with the court employees, such as judges and clerks, to speed up the process where necessary. Your lawyer will have in-depth knowledge of the best defenses available for different kinds of citations and will be able to argue the evidence against you better than you can.

Defenses that Don’t Work in Court

There are many excuses people give in court to justify their actions, and they never work. Here are some of the most common examples:

• “I didn’t know that was the law.”
• “Other people were going at the same speed as I was.”
• “The officer singled me out for no reason.”
• “I was having a really bad day.”
• “The officer lied about what happened.”
• “But no one got hurt.”
• “I didn’t know it was a red light.”

Traffic court judges hear these excuses all day long and don’t take kindly to hearing them. It is much better to contest the evidence against you than to blame your ticket on other factors.

Can I Get an Out-of-State Ticket Dismissed?

If you reside in Florida, a citation from another state will carry over to your Florida driving record. Unfortunately, you are not able to attend traffic school in Florida for out-of-state tickets.

If you wish to get the citation dismissed, you will have to appear in the relevant state’s court. According to the Florida Department of Highway and Motor Vehicles (FHSMV), you cannot contest an out-of-state ticket in a Florida court.

For example, if you receive a speeding ticket in Maryland worth three points, the record of the speeding ticket, as well as the points, will be applied to your Florida driver’s license. Receiving an out-of-state citation is almost exactly the same as getting a ticket in Florida.

How Long Does a Traffic Citation Stay on My Driving Record?

In Florida, traffic citations typically remain on driving records for three to five years. For serious offenses, such as speeding 50 mph over the posted limit, this can increase to fifteen years. Alcohol-related offenses like DUI remain on record for up to 75 years. CDL holders who receive a serious citation can have it on their record for up to 55 years in some cases.

While your public record may retain traffic offenses for a longer time, insurance companies typically have a lookback period of only three years, or the time it takes for points to come off your license.

Will a Traffic Ticket Make My Insurance Rates Go Up?

Most traffic tickets add points to your license after you pay the fine. While the traffic citation itself won’t increase your insurance rates, the points will.

Insurance providers categorize their clients based on risk. Points on your driving record increase your perceived risk to the company, so they increase your insurance premiums to balance the risk of covering you. Your yearly insurance payments could increase by hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year if you have enough points on your record.

If you are worried about how much insurance will cost you after a ticket, contact The Ticket Lawyers. We can fight your citation in court, giving you the best chance of avoiding traffic points on your license.

How Long Do Points Stay on My License?

According to the State of Florida website, points remain on your driving record for 36 months. The time starts from when the ticket was issued, not from the court date or the day you pay the fine. For example, getting a citation for running a red light in December 2020 and paying the fine in January 2021 means the points will stay on your license until December 2023.

Contact The Ticket Lawyers Today!

Have you been given an expensive traffic citation worth points on your license? Can’t be bothered to go to court to fight the ticket?

Contact The Ticket Lawyers today to schedule a free consultation. We appear in court on your behalf, saving you valuable time and money. Not only that, but we offer you the best chance to get your ticket dismissed or reduced, helping you avoid points on your license or having to attend traffic school. We may be able to save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Traffic tickets are inconvenient. The Ticket Lawyers aren’t.

Call The Ticket Lawyers now at (866)-985-7740.