The City of Seattle issues a traffic ticket to notify a driver that they violated a traffic law. This could be a moving violation or it could be a parking violation. Seattle traffic tickets have fines and court costs associated with them. The fine depends on the traffic ticket issued. For example, a traffic ticket for speeding one to five miles per hour over the limit will be less expensive than a ticket for driving 11 or more miles per hour over the speed limit. As another simple example, a seatbelt violation is considered a traffic ticket. It is less expensive than a traffic ticket issued for running a stop sign.
Traffic tickets are also issued in Seattle for faulty or improper vehicle equipment. For example, if your vehicle’s brake lights do not work, the police could give you a ticket. You could also get a ticket if your taillight doesn’t work. Of course, Seattle police won’t always ticket you for faulty equipment. They may just pull you over and make sure that you know that the problem exists and that you need to get it fixed.
Seattle Police can also issue traffic tickets if you are driving without a license. It could be that your license is revoked or suspended. They can also give you a ticket if you left your driver’s license at home. You can also be ticketed if your registration tag is outdated. When you get pulled over, you’re required to present proof of car insurance. If you don’t, you can be ticketed. If you are able to present proof of car insurance at your hearing, your ticket for not having car insurance will likely be dismissed.
In Seattle, traffic tickets may be issued because a police officer believes that they saw you do something (or not do something) that constituted a violation of the laws of the road. For example, you rolled through a stop sign or you did not use your blinker when you changed lanes. They may issue a ticket because they used radar to measure the speed of vehicles passing them. Seattle also relies on traffic cameras to enforce traffic laws. The cameras measure both speed and whether a vehicle stops at a red light.
Seattle makes $20.8 million of revenue each year on parking tickets, alone. Factoring that into the cost of driving a car in Seattle, we are not surprised when people want to know more about how to fight their traffic ticket in Seattle.
Should I Fight My Parking Ticket in Seattle?
While all that parking ticket revenue definitely suggests that the City of Seattle is milking its citizens with high parking ticket fines, we at Off The Record don’t recommend fighting your parking ticket. There are two main reasons. First, parking tickets are considered non-moving violations. As such they will not appear on your driving record. If they don’t appear on your driving record, they typically cannot affect your ability to drive or your insurance premiums. Second, because parking tickets do not affect your driving record, they can be hard to contest. Some lawyers who handle moving violations won’t handle parking tickets for fear that the losses will harm the attorney’s reputation. Other attorneys charge more to handle the parking ticket – potentially more than the cost of the ticket – making challenging them an expensive proposition.
We think parking tickets are obnoxious (and often incorrect!), but it usually doesn't make sense to hire an attorney to fight one since it will probably end up costing you more than just paying the fine.
What Happens If I Don’t Want to Fight My Seattle Traffic Ticket?
Of course, you don’t have to to fight your traffic ticket. But it’s important to understand what could happen if you decide not to fight it.
Let’s start with the obvious: you’ll pay the fine. Think about how that might impact your budget. And it’s not just this month’s budget that you should think about, either. When it is time to renew your car insurance, the insurance company may pull a copy of your driving record. Depending on how many traffic tickets you’ve received (and what those tickets were for), you may pay more for your car insurance. Shopping around for a new policy may not necessarily do you any good. Having one or more traffic tickets on your record may cause all car insurance providers to see you as a high risk driver. On the topic of car insurance, remember that it is state law that all drivers in Washington have at least liability insurance on their vehicles. If you have a car loan, you must have full coverage. If increased insurance costs result in your inability to pay your premiums and, ultimately, in a lapse in your coverage, the insurance company may charge even more for insurance because of the lapse when you go to buy insurance again.
If you are in the habit of getting a lot of tickets, you also need to think about your driver’s license. The Department of Licensing will suspend your driver’s license if you have too many unpaid parking tickets or if you get six traffic tickets within a 12-month period. If you do get six traffic tickets in a period of six months, which is also very expensive, at the conclusion of the suspension the court will place you on one year of probation. If you get another ticket during the probation, your license will be suspended again. After that suspension is over the court restarts the clock on the probation – with the same penalties in the event of yet another traffic violation. After the conclusion of any license suspension, you must pay additional fees to reinstate your license. There are also probation fees. If your driver’s license is suspended, you may be eligible to apply for an occupational or restricted license that allows you to drive to and from work or other required appointments, but you must be able to prove that these appointments are required.
If you drive for a living or if you are interested in volunteering for an organization that requires you to have a clean driving record, having tickets on your driving record could mean that you lose your job, make you ineligible to get a job where you’re required to drive a company vehicle, or ineligible to volunteer for an organization that needs its volunteers to have a clean driving record.
Can Traffic Tickets Be Deferred?
Yes, traffic tickets can be deferred in Seattle. Because a traffic ticket can only be deferred once every seven years, it’s important to consider your options before using your deferral. It’s also not ”fighting” your ticket. With a deferral you plead guilty to the infraction and pay a non-refundable court fee of $150. In exchange, the court agrees to waive the ticket provided that you do not commit another driving infraction within the deferral period, which is usually 12 months.
You can ask for a traffic ticket deferral in person at your court hearing our you can apply for deferral online through Seattle’s online mitigation tool. Deferral is not available if you have a commercial driver’s license. It does not matter that the ticket was issued to you when you weren’t driving a commercial vehicle. You may also be required to complete a defensive driving course.
If you successfully complete the deferral requirements, the traffic ticket is not committed to your driving record. This means that insurance companies won’t see your ticket on your driving record and the ticket should not affect your insurance rates. Similarly, your employer or potential employer will not see the infraction on your driving record. That volunteer organization you really want to work with can’t see it either. You will not be responsible to pay the ticket fee either. In short? Life goes on like that traffic ticket never even happened for you. Of course, it does nothing for any other traffic tickets you may already have on your record. But it does take care of that one!
What Happens If I Get a Ticket If My Traffic Ticket Is Deferred?
The first thing to remember about a deferral is that you are only eligible for one deferral every seven years. This means that it will be seven years before you can use a deferral to bail you out of a bunch of tickets piling up down the road. A deferral can be a way to deal with a moving violation, but let’s back up and talk about what you have to do during the deferral period, again usually 12 months, to ensure you take full advantage of the deferral.
During the deferral period, you are required to do certain things. One of those things is to pay the non-refundable administrative fee. You may also be required to successfully complete defensive driving school. Finally, if you want the deferred ticket to stay off of your license you cannot get any other tickets during the deferral period. If you do get another ticket and you do not successfully fight that ticket, your deferral will be revoked and the deferred ticket, as well as the new ticket, will both go on your record. You must pay for both tickets and you will not receive a refund of what you paid for the deferral. As a final note: you can fight a ticket that you receive when you are in your deferral period. In fact, this may be one of the most important times to fight a ticket. If you succeed in fighting the new ticket, neither that ticket nor the original ticket will go on your record and you won’t pay for either ticket.
When it comes to Seattle traffic tickets, carefully consider the decision to use your deferral. Consider your actual driving behavior and whether you think you can fulfill the requirements so that you don’t end up with a bigger problem than you started with and so you don’t regret using the deferral later. At the very least, consider other options, such as fighting your traffic ticket.
What Are My Options to Fight My Traffic Ticket in Seattle?
So, what can you do to fight your traffic ticket in Seattle? Well, we are glad you asked! You have options. It often depends on the type of ticket you receive. Often, it starts the minute you get pulled over. Here are some tips that we drew from a helpful post by an attorney:
- Don’t apologize. You should certainly be cordial, and not argumentative, to the officer and give them your name, your identification, and other requested documentation. However, you should not apologize for speeding, not using your blinker, or for anything else. This could be considered an admission, and, if you decide later to fight the ticket, the officer could use your admission later to prove that you did speed.
- Don’t give a “reason” for “speeding” or “driving too fast.” Again, that is an admission. If you really think you have a legitimate reason, consider mitigation with the judge.
- If you get a ticket because of a traffic camera, consider going to court if you were not driving. Washington State has a law on the books that does not allow the use of these cameras to identify the driver. If you weren’t driving the car and can honestly testify to that fact under oath, you can go to court and have the ticket thrown out.
- Consider whether you want to ask for a mitigation hearing. A mitigation hearing means that you plead guilty to the traffic ticket, but you’re giving the judge a reason for what happened. The judge takes your circumstances under consideration and may provide you with a reduced fine. The judge may give you the opportunity to enter into a payment arrangement to pay off your fine. The judge may order community service if you’re unable to afford your fine. You can request online mitigation as well. Before you decide to choose mitigation, you should know that you’re not allowed to appeal the decision made by the judge. This means that whatever the judge decides is what you must do.
- Contest the ticket. On your traffic ticket, you’ll see a box to check that states you want to challenge any or all of the violations on the ticket. Check the box. We recommend that you make two copies of the ticket. Mail the original ticket back to the court so that they can send you a court date. Keep a copy of the ticket for yourself. You will give the other ticket to a traffic ticket lawyer if you decide to hire one.
- Decide which witnesses you want to subpoena. This includes the police officer who wrote the ticket. You must subpoena the officer within seven days of your court hearing. To do this, you must have them legally served as well as provide proof of service to the court. If the officer does not show up for the hearing and you can provide proof of service that the court accepts, the traffic ticket may be dismissed. Also consider whether there were any other witnesses to the incident that occurred.
- Check with the court to make sure the ticket was filed on time. The officer who wrote the ticket only has five days to file the ticket with the court. The countdown begins the day the ticket is written. The court does not pay attention to this date. It is up to you or your attorney to pay attention to this. If the ticket is not filed in a timely manner, the court may dismiss it.
- If you received a speeding ticket because of the use of radar, write a letter to the prosecutor requesting evidence. This letter must be sent within 14 days of your hearing date. You should request copies of the police reports, radar certification, and radar maintenance records. If the evidence is not provided to you within seven days of your hearing, it cannot be used.
Our best tip to fight a traffic ticket in Seattle? Get help from a lawyer. Off the Record makes it affordable and easy to get help with Seattle traffic tickets. Our process is simple and painless. Just use your cell phone to take a picture of your traffic ticket and answer a few questions to start your free traffic ticket review. If we can help, we’ll connect you with a Seattle traffic ticket lawyer who will contact you within 24 business hours!
No letter-writing campaign. No trying to serve the officer who wrote you the ticket. No locating other witnesses. No wondering if you should really try to defer your ticket. You don’t even have to go to court. Your lawyer will contact you to explain your options and help you decide whether you should fight your ticket. And if you don’t win? You get your money back. It’s just that simple.
No worrying about serving someone in seven days or writing a letter and making sure it arrives in 14 days…and hoping you don’t get buried in a mound of papers you might not understand in seven days. No worrying about whether you’ll get another ticket during a deferral period and have a bigger problem on your hands. Attorneys on Off The Record have a 97% success rate in Washington. Using our service to connect with an attorney to fight your traffic ticket could save you up to $770 over the next three years. With our money-back guarantee, you have nothing to lose!
This information on this site is provided solely for informational purposes. It is not legal advice. Off The Record is not a law firm, does not provide legal services, and is not a lawyer referral service. The attorney listings on the site are paid attorney advertisements. Off the Record has not evaluated this content for accuracy, completeness, or changes in law. No representation is made here about your specific rights. Off The Record is not a substitute for an attorney or a law firm. Legal advice can only be provided by a licensed lawyer.
Image Credit: Justin Kraemer CC BY-SA 2.0
Off the Record 