Speeding Ticket Lawyers and the Chance of a Favorable Outcome

A 2005 Georgia speeding ticket case serves as a good illustration of the type of case that cannot be expected to end in dismissal of a speeding ticket. A defendant attempted to deny the charges, but was unexpectedly faced in court with his own words caught on tape where he admitted to the officer at the scene of the traffic stop that he must have been traveling faster than he had supposed he was. Despite the lack of the exact words, “I was speeding” and the fact that he became a witness against himself via the videotape, he was promptly convicted and had to pay the fine in full.
With a record of admission of guilt, of the possibility of guilt, or even of not knowing how fast one was going, a dismissal is virtually impossible. However, there are other types of cases and other strategies and practices that traffic ticket lawyers use which often render better results.
Traffic Ticket Lawyers
A relatively new class of attorneys focuses on hundreds of daily traffic ticket cases, seeking to help their clients reduce or eliminate fines or to at least keep the violation off their driving record. Many will even make their pay conditioned on your success. Negotiation is often king in the courtroom, even sometimes in instances of minor traffic violations. A good previous record can work in your favor, and fines may be able to shrink. The technicalities and details required to be on the ticket may be flawed, and dismissal of tickets is sometimes possible when a traffic ticket is not fully filled out correctly. Pleading not guilty will be futile if a tape or video record appears in court against you, and in 38 states it is not considered hearsay in traffic cases for an officer to testify of the words of the defendant. These factors present a challenge, but traffic ticket lawyers are able to obtain favorable results in many instances nevertheless.
Kinds of Traffic Tickets
In Georgia, there is a base ticket fee for first time offences, and other “junk” fees are added on top of that. The higher speed brackets see gradually increasing fines, and there are harsher fees for repeat offenders. Even tickets years back you have forgotten about can make a present ticket count as a repeat offense, but it depends on how far back the judge decides to search. Some tickets can amount to $1000, and in work zones that doubles to $2,000. There are also extremely high fines for go more than 33 mph over the limit.
Is It Worth Hiring a Speeding Ticket Lawyer?
The amount of the ticket, the likelihood of video or audio tapes appearing in the courtroom, the possibility or lack thereof of a misdemeanor being put on your record, and other factors enter into the equation in deciding if a traffic ticket attorney is cost-efficient for you. In some cases at least, the dangers of a total loss in court are high enough and the chances of a reduction of sentence or even a dismissal are high enough that it would be worth it to hire such a lawyer. Traditionally, traffic tickets have not been thought of by most as worth fighting, and while in some instances that holds true, in others it may be quite worth the effort and expense to avail yourself of a good traffic ticket lawyer.