by admin — published on October 23rd, 2008
The traffic ticket industry relies on people not having enough time to fight their tickets. Going to court, often multiple times, can be a burden on even the most motivated ticket fighters.
Because of the amount of time a traffic ticket case requires, we’re often asked if there is any way to fight a traffic ticket without the hassle of driving to the courthouse. The good news is that in certain states, through something called “trial by declaration” or “trial by affidavit,” it’s possible. The bad news is that those states are in the minority.
Trial by declaration allows a defendant to state their case in writing, send it to the judge, and have the judge make a decision based on the facts presented in the letter.
Although this may sound appealing, there are few things to consider before fighting a traffic ticket in this way:
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- When you fight your traffic ticket using trial by declaration, you give up the right to directly ask the officer questions.
- Any chance of dismissal due to the absence of the ticketing officer disappears.
- Because you’re not there in person it becomes much easier for the judge to find you guilty — all it takes is a rubber stamp.
- In some states you give up your right to a regular trial when opting for trial by declaration.
- As mentioned previously, it’s not available in the vast majority of states.
States where trial by declaration is not allowed include:
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by admin — published on August 20th, 2008
The lights sitting atop traffic poles on W. University Avenue, in Gainesville, FL, glow white when the stoplights below them turn red and shut off when the lights turn green.
They mystified the whole Doria family as they waited at a red light at 13th Street and W. University Avenue while driving downtown for dinner recently, and Nickie Doria wrote to Since You Asked to find out why the white lights are there.
“We were all trying to figure out their purpose,” Doria wrote to Since You Asked. “Can you shed some light?”
Phil Mann, Gainesville’s traffic operations engineer, calls them “tattle-tale lights” for their ability to alert police that someone has run a red light, no matter where the police officer happens to be situated.
The white lights are wired directly to the power supply that makes the traffic light turn red, so they turn on as soon as the red light does.
“It’s a safety issue,” Mann said. “When officers are doing red-light enforcement, they have to see both the red light and the vehicle running it, which means having to do what? Run the red light themselves. The white lights are visible from 360 degrees, so the officer can sit downstream instead.”
Mann said a Florida Department of Transportation grant in 2006 let the city install the lights at five intersections. The city chose the five intersections where the most red-light running crashes occurred: W. University Avenue and 6th Street, W. University Avenue and 13th Street, W. University Avenue and 34th Street, Archer Road and SW 34th Street, and 69th Terrace and W. Newberry Road.
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by admin — published on July 17th, 2008
City police officers in one Florida county will have unrestricted authority to make traffic stops outside of their jurisdiction beginning Aug. 1.
Broward County’s new policing-without-boundaries plan would allow officers to patrol any of its cities, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Sheriff Al Lamberti has discreetly provided agreements to police departments giving city officers unfettered authority to enforce traffic laws countywide – even while off duty and running errands in civilian clothes.
So far, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Margate and Coconut Creek Counties have signed the plan. Fourteen cities and areas patrolled by sheriffs are also part of the policing agreement, including: Cooper City, Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, unincorporated Broward, the airport and seaport, Lauderdale Lakes, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Parkland, Pembroke Park, West Park, Pompano Beach, Tamarac, Weston and Southwest Ranches.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Coral Springs Police Chief Duncan Foster said the plan will help his city get tough on belligerent and careless drivers.
“Many times we’ll have officers outside their jurisdiction and people will just be flagrantly driving by,” Foster said. “There was little we could do.”
Fort Lauderdale city commissioners are entertaining the idea and considering trying the plan out for six months, limiting police intervention to only cases of drunk and reckless driving.
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by admin — published on June 17th, 2008
Drivers who fight their cases in traffic court in Collier County, Florida are getting punished more harshly than motorists in other counties.
That’s what attorneys Mark Gold and Ted Hollander of The Ticket Clinic in West Palm Beach determined while traveling statewide representing motorists in traffic cases. And they’re accusing Collier County judges of conspiring to prejudge cases to whittle down their increased caseloads.
The dispositions grew even more severe after state budget cuts eliminated hearing officers, resulting in Collier County judges presiding over traffic cases beginning on April 1, adding to their caseloads.
The lawyers reviewed their cases and statewide statistics, determining that about 86 percent of those who contested their cases in Collier County were found guilty of speeding, compared with 5 percent statewide.
And 40 percent here were hit with license suspensions.
“That’s astronomical,” said Hollander, whose firm specializes in traffic tickets. “Nowhere do you see anything like that.”
Gold and Hollander said their clients also were being denied hardship licenses, which allow motorists to drive only to and from work.
They thought something unusual was going on, so they sought judges’ e-mails under the state public records law. They got 42. One provided insight.
An April 4 e-mail from County Judge Vince Murphy to all Collier County judges said he was writing to tell judges how he and Judge Eugene Turner handled cases that first day of traffic court. It referred to Hollander’s and Gold’s local co-counsel, Naples attorney Lee Carney, saying he set several cases for afternoon hearings to work out plea deals with law officers for withholds of adjudication. He urged judges not to accept deals once a case reaches hearing day.
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