Traffic Ticket Tips and Tricks

Speeding Tickets are the most common traffic ticket given to drivers. In Florida, there are about 500,000 speeding tickets given out each year. In fact, speeding is one of the most common causes of accidents. Here are a few things to keep in mind when getting pulled over for a speeding ticket. First, do not argue with the Officer, he is just doing his job. Second, you do not want to do anything memorable. Don’t argue, don’t be rude, don’t ask to see the radar gun and don’t tell him he’s a jerk. Just be polite. Tell him or her that you are sorry and ask for a warning. If he says no, let it go and call us.

Everyone rolls through a stop sign from time to time. In fact, there is a name for it “California Stop”. Whatever you call it, it’s still a violation of the law and you could get a traffic ticket for it. Besides being against the law, it is also very dangerous. The only more deadly traffic violation than stop sign violations are red light violations. That is the reason why the Police issue so many traffic violations for going through a stop sign. Many people don’t even know what to do at a four way stop. Hint, let the person to your right go first if you are not sure. Or be the last to go, better safe than sorry.

Sunpass tickets seem to be the way the State of Florida has decided to balance its budget. Thousands of these traffic tickets are given out each week. Most of the time you don’t even know that your transponder was not working or was out of money. However, this is not a defense and can cost you hundreds of dollars and up to 3 points per violation on your license. Get too many points and you will lose your license. Don’t ignore Sunpass violation tickets, call us and we will fight them for you. If you get points on your license for a Sunpass ticket, we will give you back the attorney’s fee you paid us.

More people die each year from running red lights than from speeding. Many people think it’s a game and try to make it through by speeding up as they pass into the intersection. This makes the collisions that much worse. However, we have had thousands of clients who swear they did not run a red light but got a ticket anyway. If you are one of the thousands of people who are wrongly given a ticket for running a red light, call Jason Diamond and the traffic ticket team to keep the conviction and points off your license.

On January 26, 2007, Chief Judge Dale Ross signed a new administrative order that creates a new pretrial diversion program for DWLS offenders. Its effect will be to save many defendants from a five-year HTO revocation of their driver’s licenses. This was set up because if you get three DWLS convictions in five years, you will become a habitual traffic offender. This means you will lose your license and cannot get a new one for five years. However, if you fought those DWLS tickets and did not just pay them, you would not be in this jam. Thus, if you get a ticket for DWLS, call us before you do anything. It may just save your license, your job and your insurances increases.

U-Turn tickets are moving violations and they usually carry a 3 point penalty on your license. If you get a U-Turn ticket, you should not just pay it because your insurance will go up, you will on your license and you will pay a hefty fine. We all hate getting a ticket for illegal U-turn because we feel that it was the kind of ticket that hurt nobody. That is, we were careful, but we needed to make a turn. Like the other moving violations above, we fight illegal U-Turn tickets all the time and have a 99% success rate keeping points off our client’s licenses. A lot of people ask, “How do I know if I am making an illegal u-turn? Here are some general guidelines. Do not make a U-turn at an intersection with a traffic signal. Do not make a U-turn in the middle of the block in urban/residential areas. Do not make a U-turn where there is a sign prohibiting U-turns. Do not make a U-turn where visibility is limited by a curve or hill crest. Do not make a U-turn if there is a police officer anywhere in sight, is like waving a red cape at a wounded bull, regardless of legality. This leaves uncontrolled intersections, open rural roads with good visibility, divided roadways with dedicated breaks in the divider, and locations where U-turns are expressly permitted by official signs as your least risky U-Turn opportunities. If you need 100 percent assurance that you are legal, go around the block and re-enter the street that you want to reverse course on.

In May 2009 the Governor signed the state’s tougher seat belt law giving law enforcement permission to stop vehicles with unbelted front-seat passengers. Florida ranks 35th in the nation in seat-belt usage. Highway Safety experts estimate the law will prevent 1,733 serious injuries and save 124 lives on Florida roads each year. The former seat belt law which passed in 1986 allows law enforcement to ticket unbelted front-seat adult occupants only after the vehicle was stopped for a moving violation. Minors can be stopped and ticketed under both the new and the old law. The law allows for a $30 fine plus court and administrative costs.

Reckless Driving in the State of Florida is a misdemeanor offense. Yes, you can go to jail if the cop and the Judge think you were driving recklessly. Generally, reckless driving means you are doing two or more things that put you or other drivers in danger. An example would be speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. Or driving your car like you are on a go kart track without any respect for the laws or safety of others. Reckless Driving is no joke and the Courts take it seriously because when there is an accident involving reckless driving the results and injuries can be devastating. If you do get a ticket for reckless driving, feel free to call us. We have represented hundreds of clients with the same charge and we can help you.