Traffic Ticket Dismissal

How do you measure success in a traffic ticket case? Really, anything other than paying the full amount on the ticket is a victory. But obviously, what we are all hoping for (well, all of us except for the cop and the prosecutor) is to beat the ticket outright. We want dismissal. No fine, no record, no insurance hikes.

How do we reach this ticket-free state of euphoria? There are countless ways to get a ticket dismissed, ranging from spotting and highlighting inaccuracies in the ticket itself to copping a plea deal and attending traffic school in exchange for wiping your record clean. And yes, to maximize your chances of getting a dismissal, you will want to consider hiring a lawyer.

Traffic Ticket Dismissal Reasons

As we mentioned, there are many, many ways to get a ticket dismissed, including:

The ticket was filled out incorrectly.

Cops are humans too, even the ones who make a living handing out traffic tickets. And humans make mistakes. Often times, a very careful and thorough review of your ticket will turn up incorrect information on the ticket. For example, the officer may have misstated the type of vehicle, the color, or entered your license plate or registration information incorrectly. The extent to which mistakes matter in court vary by state, but a big enough mistake can mean instant dismissal. For the most part, trivial mistakes like calling the car red rather than maroon, will have no impact. On the other hand, if there are enough mistakes to reasonably call into question whether the officer ticketed the correct person or vehicle, that will almost certainly result in a ticket dismissal.

The police equipment was malfunctioning.

The odds of beating a ticket because of defective police equipment are not very high. But these types of cases do happen. One example is an improperly calibrated radar gun. Most states require police or technicians on their staff to regularly calibrate their RADAR or LIDAR guns. If they cannot prove that such calibrations were made, the ticket will be dismissed. Another more likely error is issues with traffic cameras. Many states have strict rules on when traffic cameras can be used to hand out tickets. The rules may limit the cameras to school zones, and only while school is in session, for example. A few years ago, a Long Island, New York county refunded millions of dollars in tickets after it was discovered that the cameras were not set to the correct hours allowed by law. 

These defective equipment cases are very hard for individuals to win because your average person does not have a way to discover if and when the police had problems with their equipment, and most people don't think to ask about calibration records. On the other hand, for those who are regularly battling with in the system, like traffic ticket lawyers, news that a police department has been lax on their calibration or that cameras had been set up incorrectly at a popular intersection, might result in a break for many of their clients.

You are a first time or infrequent offender.

For first-time offenders, there is often a deal to be had. That means don't take the plea bargain on the ticket immediately and surrender your hard-earned cash. In most jurisdictions, you can probably get a deal such as deferred prosecution, where you stay clean for a year and pay a fine. Assuming all goes well, the court will dismiss the ticket at the end. In other jurisdictions, the prosecutor may offer to dismiss the ticket if you are willing to attend traffic school. These deals can vary by prosecutor, judge, or by county and state. In California, for example, you can attend traffic school for many offenses as often as every eighteen months, wiping out the ticket at the cost of a few hours of online education.

Before making a decision on whether or not to contest a ticket, it is best to discuss the matter with someone familiar with the local system, like a traffic ticket attorney. And of course, it is worth mentioning that even while there are deals to be had, not everyone will be eligible, even first timers. If you were going 120mph in a 35mph zone, you probably won't get any deal without a lawyer and a fight. You can also maximize your chances of a dismissal by gathering facts that make you sympathetic, such as good grades, any driver education or defensive driving courses you have taken recently, and a copy of your driving record that shows that you have no tickets and hopefully no accidents.

The cop doesn’t show.

This one almost never works. In most jurisdictions, the police department does not want to lose out on the revenue from traffic tickets. So, even if an officer has a day off when your ticket is being heard, they will probably pay that officer overtime in order to make sure that the ticket sticks. And that old trick about rescheduling the hearing multiple times, hoping that the officer will forget? It doesn't work. If you keep messing with the officer’s schedule, you are probably just going to make the officer angrier and make it more likely that she shows up and does her best to make sure you get nailed by the court.

Of course, if you get lucky and the officer does not show up, that is often a nearly automatic dismissal, as the state has to prove the ticket and it is hard to do so without the officer and her testimony. That testimony will include the circumstances that led to the ticket, such as catching you speeding, but will also likely include testimony about calibration of her equipment. No testimony, no proof, no ticket.

You win at trial.

We'll call this one good lawyering, even if you represent yourself. Sometimes a traffic ticket victory is simply a matter of winning at trial. You prepare your case, and you go to court ready to grill the officer on the stand, present proof that you weren't the driver, or espouse some other novel legal strategy that saves the day.

There are a plethora of possible defenses to traffic tickets. Some that we’ve covered recently on this blog include:

Fix-It Tickets

Did you get a ticket for a minor issue with your vehicle, such as an out-of-date registration sticker? Depending on your local laws, this may be what is colloquially known as a fix-It ticket. If you fix the problem within a certain amount of time, such as two weeks, the ticket will be dismissed or reduced to a trivial sum, like $15. California uses Fix-It tickets for these types of issues, while New York City is an unmerciful hellscape for drivers and does not.

If your ticket is a Fix-It ticket, it will probably say so on the ticket itself. As you would do with any ticket, read all of the small print on both sides. If you aren't sure, or if it does not a reduction in fine for fixing your defective vehicle, check with a local traffic ticket attorney to see if such programs are available.

Traffic School Ticket Dismissal

If you didn't find the magic winning strategy to get your ticket dismissed, and you go to court and the officer shows up, you may think that you are out of luck. But, for first time or infrequent offenders, many states have an option for non-serious offenses: traffic school. Basically, in exchange for taking a course on safe driving, the ticket may be dismissed or reduced.

Depending on how much you value your time, it may not seem worth it to go to a traffic school course and waste hours of your day. But, consider the fact that many tickets will lead to increased car insurance rates. Plus, many jurisdictions now allow you to take traffic school online, such as the Golden State, which lists 2,911 online providers in their database. Though nobody wants to spend their time sitting through a course on how to drive like a grandma, just remember that an hour or two spent in an online course will pay off when your insurance comes up for renewal.

Traffic Ticket Dismissal Lawyer

You might have gathered at this point that we would really recommend that you talk to a local attorney before taking action on a ticket. We don't just say that because we are a service that connects you with an attorney. We say that because many deals are only available to those in the know. Many dismissals are granted after an eagle-eyed observer notices a tiny mistake by an overtired officer. The fact is, unless you look at this stuff all the time, the chances of you spotting these errors is pretty slim.

All attorneys on Off the Record offer a money back guarantee wherever it is allowed by law. This means that if you don't get a favorable outcome on your ticket after hiring a lawyer through our app, you'll get your fee refunded. You have little to lose from fighting, and nothing to gain from caving by paying the ticket. We make fighting as easy as tapping a few buttons in an app and taking a picture of the ticket. Get started today through our website or our iOS app.

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