Polk County is located just northeast of Tampa Bay, half way between Tampa and Orlando. With natural reserves and Legoland, the county is home of beautiful landscapes and attractions. The population of over 600,000 people calls Polk County its home. The central location of Polk County in the state makes it prone to a large amount of traffic traversing the county from east to west and north to south. Publix Supermarkets also calls Polk County its home. Being as though the county is halfway between two booming metropolises, Orlando and Tampa, many individuals travel and commute between the two. Interstate I-4, which is patrolled by county, city, and state law enforcement, is main travel route crossing the county.
The central location of the county in Florida makes it a prime candidate for policing speeders. The local law enforcement agencies include: Haines City, Polk City, Winter Haven, Lakeland, Lake Alfred, among eleven other smaller municipalities. These agencies write approximately 80,000 moving violation citations. Most of these citations involve unlawful speed. Other violations include DUI, driving with a suspended license, reckless driving, red light stop light violations, among others. These same agencies wrote approximately 20,000 criminal citations.
Criminal citations include DUI, driving with a suspended license, vehicular manslaughter, among others. These violations require attendance at a hearing. At these hearings, the officer that issued the citation, the individual who received the citation, any witnesses, a judge, and any Polk County Traffic Attorney the individual may have hired will attend. A Poinciana, Bartow, Haines City, Brewster or City Traffic Lawyer can assist the individual in being knowledgeable of their rights and suggest defenses based on the set of facts in each case.
You may request a hearing for a civil citation as well. Should you wish to fight your ticket and assert your rights, you should contact the Polk County Clerk of Court at: 255 North Broadway Avenue, Bartow, Florida in writing within thirty (30) days of your citation. In doing so, you will be able to have a hearing in front of a Hearing Officer or Judge and have them determine your level of guilt or innocence. A Polk County Speeding Ticket Lawyer can also assist you in determining your options at such hearings. They may also assist you in having less or no points assessed on your license. The hearings will be located at the Polk County Courthouse, which has an address at 3425 Lake Alfred Road, Winter Haven, Florida.
Having points on your license can render you vulnerable to suspension should you get more than 12 points in a year, 18 points in 18 months or 24 points in 36 months. Accumulation of these points leads to one month, three months, and one year suspension, respectively. Furthermore, points on your license can lead to higher insurance premiums or being placed on high-risk insurance policies. These policies require much higher premiums, which can quadruple the price of normal insurance rates. A driver improvement course can keep points off of your license as well. These courses are available online, on DVD/video, and in the classroom. These courses may only be taken up to five (5) times in your lifetime, so if you have taken it more than five (5) times, you may not be eligible to take it and would need to hire an Polk County Traffic Attorney to help keep points off of your record.
A Bartow, Haines City, Brewster, or Polk County Speeding Ticket lawyer can assist you in making sure you are aware of your rights, provide possible defense for presentation to the court, and may attend a hearing with you. In addition, by advocating for your rights, they may keep points off of your license. Points off of your license can lead to lower insurance premiums, which of course, saves you money in the long run. A Polk County Traffic Attorney will help you to keep your license and record clean while advocating for your rights.
