A good legal service to fight a speeding tix

[DD60]

A Traffic court judge in any state or municipality can have a ticket dismissed so it doesn't show on your record. Your still inocent till proven guilty.

Not true for me. Got a speeding ticket in Clatsop County Oregon on the 4th of July while traveling to Astoria, OR. 74 mph in a 55. Was a total trap too, if you could call it that. They had about 3 Highway Patrol at the bottom of this hill that I came barrelling down (along with 2 other cars in front of me who were every bit as guilty, when I asked the cop about this he told me "oh well, I picked you"). Anyways I digress. I called the Courthouse and the phone rep stated that they strictly DO NOT offer any form of a dismissal or deferal or whatever you want to call it when you want a violation to not go onto your record. By the way this was before I started my CDL training (started Aug. 13, finished Sept. 14 and now have my CDL). I wrote a very professional and appollogetic letter to the Judge or whomever it concerned, along with the $145 penalty, however they just cashed the Money Order and on my record it goes. Also, my record was squeaky clean before this, except for a no seatbelt violation in May of 2005. I must say I am pretty bummed, but learned my lesson as I should. :?

You should have hired an attorney.74 in a 55 is a serious moving violation.Very rarely do judges care about letters. All they care about is money. An attorney may have worked a deal with the prosecuter to lessen the charge or even changed to a nonmoving violation.Court clerks don't know the ins and outs of traffic courts. That is what attorneys are for.

[Mr. Ford95]

I got a ticket for 86 in a 65 and had it completely expelled from my record. Background, I had a clean record, the court was backed up horribly that day(they close at 5 pm but were open till 8 pm that day.) I was 19 and did not have my CDL yet. Judge asked if I wanted to do traffic school for which they would remove the charge completely. I thought I had heard wrong but that is what happened. Paid the $45 court fee and then the $100 traffic school fee. This was in the notoriously famous Stafford, VA courthouse. Nobody gets off tickets there unless you get a miracle, of which I got. The judge was not in the mood for people arguing that day and wanted to move right thru the docket as fast as possible so he wasn't there all night.

[signal_flow]

A Traffic court judge in any state or municipality can have a ticket dismissed so it doesn't show on your record. Your still inocent till proven guilty.

Not true for me. Got a speeding ticket in Clatsop County Oregon on the 4th of July while traveling to Astoria, OR. 74 mph in a 55. Was a total trap too, if you could call it that. They had about 3 Highway Patrol at the bottom of this hill that I came barrelling down (along with 2 other cars in front of me who were every bit as guilty, when I asked the cop about this he told me "oh well, I picked you"). Anyways I digress. I called the Courthouse and the phone rep stated that they strictly DO NOT offer any form of a dismissal or deferal or whatever you want to call it when you want a violation to not go onto your record. By the way this was before I started my CDL training (started Aug. 13, finished Sept. 14 and now have my CDL). I wrote a very professional and appollogetic letter to the Judge or whomever it concerned, along with the $145 penalty, however they just cashed the Money Order and on my record it goes. Also, my record was squeaky clean before this, except for a no seatbelt violation in May of 2005. I must say I am pretty bummed, but learned my lesson as I should. :?

You should have hired an attorney.74 in a 55 is a serious moving violation.Very rarely do judges care about letters. All they care about is money. An attorney may have worked a deal with the prosecuter to lessen the charge or even changed to a nonmoving violation.Court clerks don't know the ins and outs of traffic courts. That is what attorneys are for.

Yeah I knew the letter was probably going to be a huge waste of everyones time including mine. As far as court clerks knowing anything...well you can ask one of them a question and get an answer...then call back later and ask a different clerk the exact same question and get completely different answer (like a lot of govt offices ). Hiring an attorney did'nt seem practical at the time...of course looking back at it, and currently going through the job search fiasco I wish I would have considered it. I should be okay though, I am about an inch away from being hired by a carrier and I know they have pulled my Oregon Report (fingers crossed). Although it's a bit late for it, thanks for the advice.

[ToxicWaste]

Hire a lawyer, get the ticket reduced to "driving without proof of insurance" which is essentially a "fix-it" ticket.
Its worth the $250.00 to avoid future hassles.

§384.226 Prohibition on masking convictions.

The State must not mask, defer imposition of judgment, or allow an individual to enter into a diversion program that would prevent a CDL driver's conviction for any violation, in any type of motor vehicle, of a State or local traffic control law (except a parking violation) from appearing on the driver's record, whether the driver was convicted for an offense committed in the State where the driver is licensed or another State.

The key word is CONVICTION. This statute is similar to a person who pleads guilty to assualt domestic violence, and if he takes the required classes the CONVICTION is taken off his record pending he complies with the program. You can still get a lawyer and fight the ticket in court but if the judge finds you guilty=CONVICTION, it's on your record...

[evertruckerr]

Quick update.

I called a number of the "fight your ticket" companies that advertise in the various trucking magazines and realized they are nothing more than referral companies that charge an arm and a leg only to refer you to a local attorney to fight your case, and a number of the companies require you to sign up for their prepaid legal service for 6-12 months.

I ended up calling some local attorneys on my own and for $250 retained one directly.

Final result, ticket was reduced to a minor speeding ticket with a substantially reduced fine.

I was actually offered a plea of careless driving which carries no points (in South Carolina) but was concerned that when it transfered to my North Carolina driving record or when read by my current employer or prospective employers in the future it may be misunderstood as reckless driving, so I went with a couple of points.

So life is good I guess. Keep my job and no hike in my insurance rates.

Federal regulations prohibit reduced (masked)convictions of moving violations for CDL holders, but it would appear that the practice continues if you have a willing court.

[dcedlr]

I would call the DA's office and ask to speak to the traffic asistant district attorney (ada). More often than not this person is a law school student doing an internship at the DA's office. They will ask you the ticket number or case number and tell you what your options are. Many jurisdictions will allow you to pay twice the fine and they will dismiss the ticket or change it to a non-moving violation. Some jurisdictions will only do it for a lawyer and then you would have to pay the lawyer a couple hundred and double the ticket fine. However, I have never heard of an ADA that would not talk to, and/or provide information to a person that received a minor traffic citation. A piece of advice, just tell them the ticket number and ask what you can do to have it reduced or dismissed. Do not go into a big ordeal of what happened, they do not have the time for that. They should tell you what to do. Hope that helps. I highly suggest you take this approach first before hiring anyone.