originally posted in another tread but it was OT so I started this one.
ALWAYS DISPUTE EVERY SINGLE MOVING VIOLATION TICKET regardless why, how, what, where.
Quick story. I got caught on camera "running" a red light on Victoria Blvd in Ventura. Following behind this lady in a mustang taking a left turn, she some how slowed down to a crawl before the light and as i passed the line, it turned red and i got caught for "running" a red light.
Not my fault i thought so i'll go dispute the ticket when it comes in the mail.
Well when it did, the second i saw it, i got a knot in my throat. The ticket showed me, in my car, at the line, lights red. Next one was me in the intersection with lights red. How do you dispute that?! Most people would have saw the evidence, paid the ticket and got a point on the record.
I thought, well im screwed if i do, screwed if i dont. So long story short, i go to court, with the ticket, photo, evidence in my shirt pocket. Its 9am, I get to court, A officer was THERE! No chance of it getting thrown out for someone not showing up. Thinking i was totally screwed, the judge calls my name and the officer up to the bench. We stand there, he looks at me, I look at him and before the judge says anything, the officer asks that my case be dismissed because they did NOT recieve any EVIDENCE of the violation.
It turns out, since i pull the court trail for so long, the company that process the ticket did not send out the photos to the officers. No evidence, no conviction.
Always go to court and contest your ticket regardless of the circumstance. I went to court for a tinted window. Would have won too if i was on top of my game that day.
Here is a history. So far this year I have successfully disputed 4 moving volition tickets.... that's saved me:
- 8 hours of traffic school (to remove 1st point
- 3 points off my record
- getting insurance at bottom dollar
- saved money for the next 3 years in insurance
- maintained my right to take traffic school to remove an ticket in the future
- my ability to drive
Im a good driver by all means, never got into any accidents, i just enjoy driving my own cars fast. Im sure many of us also take joy in the activity of safe performance driving. Sometimes, we are just not that lucky and get tagged.
First off, everyone needs a valentine ONE radar detector. Its 400$ and will pay for itself after it saves you once. there are somethings you can buy cheap, radar detector is not one of them. NOTHING Is better than V1, period.
Also its pointless to have a radar detector if you dont use it. I still have one more speeding ticket to dispute and would have avoided it if i was using my V1.
I understand that most people dont know how to start this process and work with the system so here is a little over view of what happens.
I live on Socal, in Los Angeles so i dont know if this applies for TX or NY.
This is only a post on how you can increase your chances of winning a moving volition ticket, its never a sure thing
======
When you get your ticket, you have 2 month to pay or dispute your ticket.
Don't pay. that's #1.
On the day your ticket is due. go to the court house at about 11am. That's when there are least amount of people since most of them are at work and the first timers all go to court at 9am since the ticket says for you to be there at 9am.
You have the full day to submit your plea or pay for the ticket so any time from 9am till close is good.
Depending on which county, you can have an option to automatically extend your ticket on line at
http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/Traffic/index.asp?RT=DL
on the left hand screen you can search for your ticket by your DL or ticket citation number.
This will extend your ticket for 45 days after your initial 2 month. At this time you will need to go to court at tell them that you would like to dispute your ticket.
enter your plea of NOT guilty at the clerks window and they will set you a court date for when you will come and see the judge in about 30/45 days.... I think its one or the other.
Don't get all excited and prepare an argument for your defense just yet.
This initial court appearance if where you face the judge and make a plea of guilty, not guilty and no contest. They will try to scare you in to making a plea of guilty/no contest by giving you the " IF YOU are found guilty, you can lose your right to attend traffic school and also fines can be INCREASED" mumbo jumbo. The bailif at the chatsworth court house does the best you better plead guilty/NC speech in the world. Total smooth operator. If he can talk everyone in to paying on average of 300$ and getting a point on their record, he must be very good with the ladies :tongue:
Personally when I lost which was only once, I asked the judge for traffic school and he gave it to me with out hassle.
Traffic school is not to be wasted lightly. Its your one time chance to redeam your driving record and it is only good for once in 13 month! Dont use your get out of jail free card when you dont have to. Save it for those 99MPH in a 15mph school zone tickets.
Most people after hearing that will plead guilty/NC
You on the other hand will not get bullied into making this plea and you will plea not guilty. They will give you a court date with in 45 days of this plea at which time you will need to come in and face the officer.
Depending on the court, you have to either pay your full ticketed amount right now. In LA county, you will need to pay for the ticket up front. In Ventura however, they only make you pay once you have found you guilty in your face to face appearance with the officer.
Bring your check book just in case.
Ok, so they set your court date. Here is the tricky part.
10 WORKING DAYS before your scheduled appearance to face your accuser, you go to court and ask for an extension.
They will give you a forum to wave your right to a speedy trial and you just ask them extend the trial at the latest time possible which is usually an additional 60 days.
If everything goes well, the officer will forget/not be notified that his court date has been extended and will come to court and feel stupid.... (making the officer feel stubid is not the goal, our goal is to win the ticket. for all officers reading this post, i love you.)
or 2 month later, he does not show up because he did not get the MSG/does not remember the events or just decides not to show up.
Usually from the date of occurrence to when you actually stand trail in court facing the officer, you can pull out this time period by 8-9month.
Yes, it is long time to have this issue over your mind but with luck it does pay off.
here is a few scenarios of what can happen.
a) best case, officer does not show up to court because:
-he didn't get the msg that you extended the court trial.
- lost his note book and could not remember which traffic stop out of the thousands of traffic stops was yours, at which time he will not show up because he is not a competent witness and will not want to waste his time.
-just does not feel like coming because he is a slacker like the rest of us.
b) he shows up
-you provide a good defense and you win.
- he kicks your butt, and you ask for traffic school. ( no harm no foul since it is your constitutional right to face your accuser in court and allow the other party to prove your guilt. it would have been this out come anyways so you have nothing to lose )
So far this year, I have had 3 no shows and another one showed up but decided to dismiss the ticket because he forgot what happened and was not a competent witness.
I lost one recently for a window tint which I could have won but I was being stupid and messed up with my defense. only 131$ and no points. No biggy.
Im still trying to figure out a few more tricks of the system.
every ticket saved is $ in your pocket for the next 3 years.
if you have any questions, feel free to PM, email or phone me.
Happy motoring.
Rob
ALWAYS DISPUTE EVERY SINGLE MOVING VIOLATION TICKET regardless why, how, what, where.
Quick story. I got caught on camera "running" a red light on Victoria Blvd in Ventura. Following behind this lady in a mustang taking a left turn, she some how slowed down to a crawl before the light and as i passed the line, it turned red and i got caught for "running" a red light.
Not my fault i thought so i'll go dispute the ticket when it comes in the mail.
Well when it did, the second i saw it, i got a knot in my throat. The ticket showed me, in my car, at the line, lights red. Next one was me in the intersection with lights red. How do you dispute that?! Most people would have saw the evidence, paid the ticket and got a point on the record.
I thought, well im screwed if i do, screwed if i dont. So long story short, i go to court, with the ticket, photo, evidence in my shirt pocket. Its 9am, I get to court, A officer was THERE! No chance of it getting thrown out for someone not showing up. Thinking i was totally screwed, the judge calls my name and the officer up to the bench. We stand there, he looks at me, I look at him and before the judge says anything, the officer asks that my case be dismissed because they did NOT recieve any EVIDENCE of the violation.
It turns out, since i pull the court trail for so long, the company that process the ticket did not send out the photos to the officers. No evidence, no conviction.
Always go to court and contest your ticket regardless of the circumstance. I went to court for a tinted window. Would have won too if i was on top of my game that day.
Here is a history. So far this year I have successfully disputed 4 moving volition tickets.... that's saved me:
- 8 hours of traffic school (to remove 1st point
- 3 points off my record
- getting insurance at bottom dollar
- saved money for the next 3 years in insurance
- maintained my right to take traffic school to remove an ticket in the future
- my ability to drive
Im a good driver by all means, never got into any accidents, i just enjoy driving my own cars fast. Im sure many of us also take joy in the activity of safe performance driving. Sometimes, we are just not that lucky and get tagged.
First off, everyone needs a valentine ONE radar detector. Its 400$ and will pay for itself after it saves you once. there are somethings you can buy cheap, radar detector is not one of them. NOTHING Is better than V1, period.
Also its pointless to have a radar detector if you dont use it. I still have one more speeding ticket to dispute and would have avoided it if i was using my V1.
I understand that most people dont know how to start this process and work with the system so here is a little over view of what happens.
I live on Socal, in Los Angeles so i dont know if this applies for TX or NY.
This is only a post on how you can increase your chances of winning a moving volition ticket, its never a sure thing
======
When you get your ticket, you have 2 month to pay or dispute your ticket.
Don't pay. that's #1.
On the day your ticket is due. go to the court house at about 11am. That's when there are least amount of people since most of them are at work and the first timers all go to court at 9am since the ticket says for you to be there at 9am.
You have the full day to submit your plea or pay for the ticket so any time from 9am till close is good.
Depending on which county, you can have an option to automatically extend your ticket on line at
http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/Traffic/index.asp?RT=DL
on the left hand screen you can search for your ticket by your DL or ticket citation number.
This will extend your ticket for 45 days after your initial 2 month. At this time you will need to go to court at tell them that you would like to dispute your ticket.
enter your plea of NOT guilty at the clerks window and they will set you a court date for when you will come and see the judge in about 30/45 days.... I think its one or the other.
Don't get all excited and prepare an argument for your defense just yet.
This initial court appearance if where you face the judge and make a plea of guilty, not guilty and no contest. They will try to scare you in to making a plea of guilty/no contest by giving you the " IF YOU are found guilty, you can lose your right to attend traffic school and also fines can be INCREASED" mumbo jumbo. The bailif at the chatsworth court house does the best you better plead guilty/NC speech in the world. Total smooth operator. If he can talk everyone in to paying on average of 300$ and getting a point on their record, he must be very good with the ladies :tongue:
Personally when I lost which was only once, I asked the judge for traffic school and he gave it to me with out hassle.
Traffic school is not to be wasted lightly. Its your one time chance to redeam your driving record and it is only good for once in 13 month! Dont use your get out of jail free card when you dont have to. Save it for those 99MPH in a 15mph school zone tickets.
Most people after hearing that will plead guilty/NC
You on the other hand will not get bullied into making this plea and you will plea not guilty. They will give you a court date with in 45 days of this plea at which time you will need to come in and face the officer.
Depending on the court, you have to either pay your full ticketed amount right now. In LA county, you will need to pay for the ticket up front. In Ventura however, they only make you pay once you have found you guilty in your face to face appearance with the officer.
Bring your check book just in case.
Ok, so they set your court date. Here is the tricky part.
10 WORKING DAYS before your scheduled appearance to face your accuser, you go to court and ask for an extension.
They will give you a forum to wave your right to a speedy trial and you just ask them extend the trial at the latest time possible which is usually an additional 60 days.
If everything goes well, the officer will forget/not be notified that his court date has been extended and will come to court and feel stupid.... (making the officer feel stubid is not the goal, our goal is to win the ticket. for all officers reading this post, i love you.)
or 2 month later, he does not show up because he did not get the MSG/does not remember the events or just decides not to show up.
Usually from the date of occurrence to when you actually stand trail in court facing the officer, you can pull out this time period by 8-9month.
Yes, it is long time to have this issue over your mind but with luck it does pay off.
here is a few scenarios of what can happen.
a) best case, officer does not show up to court because:
-he didn't get the msg that you extended the court trial.
- lost his note book and could not remember which traffic stop out of the thousands of traffic stops was yours, at which time he will not show up because he is not a competent witness and will not want to waste his time.
-just does not feel like coming because he is a slacker like the rest of us.
b) he shows up
-you provide a good defense and you win.
- he kicks your butt, and you ask for traffic school. ( no harm no foul since it is your constitutional right to face your accuser in court and allow the other party to prove your guilt. it would have been this out come anyways so you have nothing to lose )
So far this year, I have had 3 no shows and another one showed up but decided to dismiss the ticket because he forgot what happened and was not a competent witness.
I lost one recently for a window tint which I could have won but I was being stupid and messed up with my defense. only 131$ and no points. No biggy.
Im still trying to figure out a few more tricks of the system.
every ticket saved is $ in your pocket for the next 3 years.
if you have any questions, feel free to PM, email or phone me.
Happy motoring.
Rob
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