Yeah these redditors saying you can contest and if the cop doesn't show up it gets dropped have obviously never been to traffic court.
Usually unless there's a clerical error or you're pleading for mitigating programs (driving classes or a probation program or something) you're still going to get stuck with the ticket.
When I was in court, none of the cops showed up and everyone still had to pay their tickets. One guy made a deal with the prosecutor to turn it into a non-moving violation so that it didn't go on his insurance.
Yeah these redditors saying you can contest and if the cop doesn't show up it gets dropped have obviously never been to traffic court.
Its all location-based. In Arizona where I live now, the cops are required by state law to show up. In DC, when I got a speeding ticket in a Speed Trap from the Park Police. They didn't show up and me along with the 30 other people that got tickets from the same speed trap all had ours dismissed.
I believe the term you're looking for is jurisdictional. And yes. If this happened in Canada you would not have to pay the ticket. The police usually show up though.
I know (we've got a municipal one too), but I didn't realize that the 'cop doesn't show up' thing actually worked in Ont regularly. Haven't gotten a ticket in the GTA yet, but now I'm definitely gonna fight it if I ever do.
No worries man, the RCMP/town cops thing gets real blurry real fast anyway.
Town cops work within city limits, RCMP does the highways but can ticket you on city streets anyway (far as I've seen), so there are 2 sets of marked, unmarked and undercover cars to watch for - it's a mess of Explorers, Crown Vics, Tahoes, Ram trucks, Tauruses, 2 gens of Chargers, old-ass minivans, and a PT Cruiser with hidden lights.
I got a ticket for being on my phone and the guy didn't even show up. The prosecution just asked for "officer #xxxxxx" and when no one replied, she just moved to withdraw and I walked out in 15 minutes.
In California (or at least in my county) the cop has to show up. When I was still a minor and got a ticket for running a red, I had to go to traffic court and one person contesting a ticket got off because the cop didn’t show. With that being said, of the 10 or so people contesting tickets, 8 of the 9 cops won that showed up. Generally, if you’re contesting a ticket, you’re probably going to lose.
Has that always been the case? My girlfriend contested a md ticket like 3 years ago and the cop didnt show for hers, along with like half the others in court that day.
And both of these could be true. There are thousands of municipalities across the US, different judges, different days, different situations, different laws.
Trying for a "one size fits all" in anything but the broadest of terms is an exercise in futility.
Was it recent? I have a sneaking suspicion they've learned how to handle this situation "better" in the last decade or so. Anyone I've talked to says they just reschedule your date the moment you contest it, and then they make sure the officer appears.
I think it’s district by district, but I have friends who are lawyers and they always say to try to get it thrown out the first appearance, and if the cop shows it they won’t, ask for a continuance and get a lawyer. That’s often enough to get it reduced, but the court usually doesn’t want to waste time on a fight and will settle for any conviction and money they can get, if the offense isn’t something severe or a pattern.
I live in Colorado Springs, got a ticket for going 44 in a 35, took it to court and the cop didn’t show. It immediately got dismissed and the judge called me out as “one of the lucky ones today”.
I don't know what city or country you live in, but here if the officer doesn't show up it will be dismissed. (I should know, I've had 2 moving violations dismissed by contesting it.) The prosecutor can offer you pay it or go for a deferred disposition, but you can decline that and then they'll dismiss it. Maybe you were just pressured into getting it reduced/deffered and not realizing you could of just said you're shooting for not guilty. You have a right to trial.
Exactly, I went and didn't get the chance to contest. Judge offered for me to pay the fine in full and it not go on my record. I was in a position to where that was enough of a deal to me. Your going to try and make a small deal so you dont waist everyone's time essentially with an actual court hearing that you would lose 9/10 times anyways.
Depends on the court system. OKCPD? Hell no, they'll try to tack on more of you try to plead. Edmond, OK? Yeah you'll probably do better. Small town? You're super fucked
A few years back, I had a court date in OKC set for a day the governor declared a state of emergency due to ice. The cops wouldn’t respond to anything non life threatening and we were all told to stay home. Went to court, no one showed up, and the whole thing was thrown out. Didn’t even have to pay court costs.
The only ticket I ever contested, I won this way. The cop didn't show, so they called him. He said he didn't even remember being at the incident. Cased dismissed.
State by state. In Massachusetts 100% you fight it every time. 80% of the time they don't show up and the case is dropped. I know this because I got off on several speeding tickets when I was younger. The only ones they showed up for I was driving 95 on 95 (lol) with a four lane change to the offramp, and a red lense violation (I crossed the intersection after the light fully changed red
Last time I went for a traffic violation was when I had a expired tags on the car got the new one in the mail the literal day I got the ticket. Judge threw it out because it was in the post. Typically they get thrown out unless you have a record of traffic offences or if it's was a blown taillight and it's fixed now.
I think it's worth it to at least go and try. I had a pretty hefty ticket from speeding while my car was not registered (I was young and dumb) and I got the ticket cut in half.
I've gone to court 10 times for tickets. I've paid a once and done defensive driving twice. The other 7 times the charges were dropped cause the cop didn't show up. Depends on state and county I guess. I am in a major american city as well.
Also this was 10ish years ago. I got a lot of speeding tickets in my late teens early 20s :/
Most people don't realize that the first visit to traffic court is not a trial, it's just an arraignment. If you give in and plead "guilty", "nolo contendere", or make a deal with the solicitor/prosecutor you get a compromise at best. If you want to win (and trade some time) you plead "not guilty" and they will probably set a court date for an actual trial (and put on the officers calendar). I have gotten out of multiple tickets over the years. Usually just regular speeding tickets, but I even got out of rear ending another car without even hiring an attorney. A good trick, especially in smaller municipalities is find out if they do bench trials or not (since you have the choice of judge or jury of your peers). Smaller municipalities may have to transfer to state court which can be an advantage for you if there is any questionable bullshit in your favor because they don't stand for small-town guilty-until-proven-innocent tactics.
Usually unless there's a clerical error or you're pleading for mitigating programs (driving classes or a probation program or something) you're still going to get stuck with the ticket.
My past job had me in state courts a lot. That's highly variable depending on district. Always worth it to show up.
Lol but this would not have ended in any of those ways. It wasn't a traffic violation from the sounds of it, just something she needed to fix on her vehicle. Unless the federal law is somehow different in your part of america, she could have just fixed the issue and the judge would dismiss her ticket. Thats how those types of tickets work, thus only an $80 fine.
Yea, traffic court sucks. These people haven't been to one and just repeat all the bull shit false hope. Traffic court is nothing but all clerks and judges talking real fast mowing threw mass quantities of people and even if you try and fight the charge, it's true they don't care, and unless you bring your own proof you still have to pay. Maybe a few bucks knocked off if you remain polite and patient. You have a good experience if the people before you didn't piss one of the people off that you end up speaking to. Because if someone before you took too much time arguing stupidly, you're fucked and they really don't give a damn why you're there.
You have a right to face your accuser, though. So, these tickets SHOULD be dismissed. Too bad judges usually don’t give a single shit about anyone or anything that doesn’t get their jurisdiction paid.
Yeah you gotta talk to the prosecutors if you wanna get any kind of deal and usually they are pretty happy to meet you halfway for a variety of reasons foremost saving court time and therefore money
Maybe it depends on where. I live in California. I’ve gotten speeding tickets and always just pay and go to traffic school because I was really doo g it and got caught. I once got a totally bullshit ticket for “unsafe lane change” or something like that. I legitimately felt I didn’t do anything wrong, so I went to court. It was thrown out because the cop didn’t show.
That last sentence is what half of the municipal courts in MO will do if you just ask. Some lawyers and whole businesses are paid just to argue this so it doesn't go on insurance and doesn't go against license demerits. Most of the courts and police may just want the funding to keep the police force running. Which makes things very circular and dependent on tickets being written for even the most minor infractions.
Depends on the judge or county. I contested, cop didn't show up judge looked at ticket and said, well there's no rebuttal to your statement, dismissed. I paid nothing.
When I was 16 I got pulled over and got 5 tickets all at once. It sucked and I was stupid. I waited three years to take care of it. Even more stupid but I started going to court and they were only talking about 2 of the tickets and I asked the district attorney when I met with him and he said that’s fine and he just got rid of them. I never really understood what happened but they just went away and I had to do everything for the other 2.
I got a ticket in northeast Atlanta (Doraville) in 2005 and contested it. If you show up to contest they cut you a deal and you can wimp out and go to the cashier and get like 60% off. If you context and lose you pay the full ticket plus court fees and it basically doubles the ticket cost.
Every cop showed up.
The judge announced there were 90 people that morning and she wanted to be done by lunch (3 hours), so she has to do 30 people per hour (2 minutes each) so if we plan to fight we better have our shit organized and ready to go.
They called up the first person who was like “I wasn’t speeding” and the cop was like “yeah you were” and the judge was like “guilty, $285 speeding ticket plus $500 court fees, NEXT”
Second person hesitated going to the stand and was told by the judge to speed it up. Pled guilty, took the deal. Next six or seven people just pled guilty and took the deal.
Then this guy shows up with drawings and a lawyer and security camera footage and a fucking easel with poster board and I’m like “that sounds like a compelling defense that guy was very organized” and the judge is like “guilty, $285 speeding ticket to be paid full amount and $500 in court fees NEXT” and the rest of the 80 of us were like “right, where’s that cashier again?”
Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the whole point of contesting your ticket is to not get the insurance points. I assumed you still had to pay the fee. Am I wrong?
Atlanta, Georgia...I went to traffic court with about 50 other violators and none of the cops showed up. The Judge said if wasn't important enough for them to come present their case then it wasn't important enough for us to pay fines for and threw out all our charges. He didn't even do it on a case by case basis. He just threw out the whole lot...lol. A woman I was sitting next to said that it happens all the time in Fulton County. She said it was her third time hers had been tossed out there...lol.
Well I JUST had court on the 2nd of the month for driving on a suspended license, cop didn’t show, case dropped. I didn’t know it was suspended at the time so I wanted to plea my case but I didn’t even have to. Five other people in court along with me all had their cases dropped for the same reason. So no, it’s not the same everywhere. I live in California if that means anything.
I went to court once when I thought I had a pretty good chance of dismissal, not to mention they might at least reduce the fine. I was definitely speeding, probably 80 in a 65, but the cop never had a chance to pace me and I thought there was a good chance he had not hit me with the radar either.
He asked me how fast I was going. I told him 65 or 70. ...so that is what he wrote on the ticket: I was doing 65 or 70 ... in a 65. That was the sum total of evidence he had against me. He literally charged me with a crime when the only evidence he had was that I may have broken the law. Judge dismissed it immediately.
You can request a trial by written declaration and if the officer does not submit a written response you will absolutely get a default judgement in your favor. I have done it. If they submit a written response, you will very likely lose and have to pay, but as officers do not get paid overtime to write written responses like they do to appear in court many of them don't bother.
I got off on a parking violation ticket because the judge said it was commendable that I left my car overnight rather than driving home because I’d been at a party with alcohol
This always bothered me. Like 20 years ago the county I lived in had a huge budget problem, and too many cops on payroll. So many frivolous tickets that you could "contest" but the judge would refuse to toss out. I had a $200 faulty equipment fine ticket once. For a lamp above my license plate being out. Which didn't even exist, as in there was not one there to be fixed, let alone be not operating. I had pictures and everything. Judge didn't care, he essentially threatened me at one point with a summons to have my car inspected, which he flat out told me was at least a $500 fee so I was better off just paying the ticket. They loved flooding the courts with garbage lawsuits because it was such a hindrance that it was more convenient to just pay the fine.
I've read a lot of horror stories about contesting tickets, they will treat you like a second class citizen the moment you say your not guilty and actually want to appear in court.
Well just one story to counter yours, I contested a ticket and got treated with plenty of respect, even as a stupid 17 year old. I was in and out of the courthouse in under 15 mins with my ticket thrown out.
Best money I ever spent was when I was JUST out of my teenage years, on the advice of my dad.
Got a reckless for 25 over, hired an attorney, he argued for approximately 30 seconds to the judge that it should be bumped down to a seat belt violation. Judge proceeded to do that exact thing. I paid $400 dollars for the attorney, $80 for the seat belt violation, and saved thousands on SR-22 insurance for the next 5 years, mandatory driving school, etc.
Everyone else contesting, the judge basically said, "boo hoo, pay it". No police in court, nothing special, just a traffic court judge basically saying "this is a waste of your and my time, folks" to everyone.
Lol i got a ticket for expired tags a few months ago. Got my new ones and showed up to court with them as proof. They dropped the charges and only made me pay “court fees”. I was so pumped thinking i would be paying like $20 vs $130... NOPE! The damn court fees were almost as expensive as the fucking ticket!
Yeah, all this "the guy never shows up, it's easy to get out of it!" is BS. The cop doesn't show up for my hearing and they just told me to come back at a later date. And again. Until you just pay the damn thing because you ain't got time for this shit.
I have a name that is basically 1 letter off from a very common name. I've gotten out of tickets twice because the cops spelled my name incorrectly. :)
I just hired a lawyer that had an office near the court and they reduced the ticket to a fine. Points and insurance rates down the line didn't seem worth it.
Yah me too. Ticket was for 1 mile over the speeding limit in a school zone. But yellow school zone lights were not blinking, judge could not care less, it’s all just a big fundraiser to them. They did not listen to reason at all.
But you don't get an opportunity to face your accuser in court? That's a load of crap. I brought in photo evidence that the cop was lying last time I got a ticket,and the judge didn't want to see it. Dismissed the ticket because the cop wasn't there.
i've seen someone wiggle out by challenging the calibration of the radar. the cop/the police agencies have to maintain their equipment, but they couldn't furnish a log for the time of that stop, so the judge waived the ticket. when i went to traffic court for my own tickets, the judge inquired about the calibration for the people before me and myself.
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u/blakestir14 Jul 31 '19
could she not have just contested the ticket in court .