Auto USA Insurance

Throughout the years, there have been some pretty dreadful defense strategies used by many people when it came to their traffic ticket. But I don’t really blame them. Most were just relying on ‘insider’ information some website was selling.

In this article we will go over the 5 most common mistakes used by people when trying to fight their traffic ticket. Use these as a guide of what not to do.

Mistake #1- Delaying the Court Trial

The rationale for this, some say, is that the longer you can delay traffic court for your traffic ticket, the likelier the chance the police officer won’t show up at your court date.

Simply delaying your traffic court trial will not increase your chances of beating your traffic ticket.

Lets say that you do get your traffic court date pushed back. What if the police officer still shows at court?

This may be a little known fact, but police officers get overtime pay to be in traffic court.

Mistake #2- Request the Prosecution’s Evidence Before Trial.

You have the right by law to see any information the court plans on using to convict you. The process is called discovery. And it would be useful if you were charged with murder, but this is traffic court. Don’t do this, it can hurt your chances of successfully getting your traffic ticket dismissed.

When you make a motion for discovery and request evidence before your trial, this sends red flags to the prosecution that you are planning a good defense. He’ll take it as a challenge and will prepare his case so efficiently that it becomes almost impossible to win.

Don’t give the prosecution a heads up that you know anything about traffic court proceedings. Do not contact them prior to your traffic court date.

Mistake #3- Doing a lot of needless research

There is no need to spend any time reading boring law books. Its pointless.

Only rarely would it be prudent to look up a law so you know how it may be worded, other than that it is needless to do this with most traffic tickets.

Mistake #4- Attacking the officer’s credibility

If you go to traffic court with the idea you are going to attack the officers credibility, don’t waste your time. You can forget getting your traffic ticket dismissed. Saying the officer didn’t use the equipment properly, or that he singled you out or any number of other excuses are useless.

Challenging the officers training of a radar gun will always draw scrutiny from the judge. He will take the officers side and will insist you ask the next question.

Its just understood that the officer has the proper training on the speed detecting equipment he or she used to give you a traffic ticket. There’s no question about it. Say you do try this defense, where are you going to get the evidence the judge will ask for to support your claim?

Mistake #5- Showing up to traffic court unprepared.

This may be the biggest mistake individuals make when they try to fight a traffic ticket. They go into traffic court thinking they did their homework, when in reality they had no idea what they were doing, and end up paying the traffic ticket.

Those who did no research go to traffic court with the notion that they can just tell their side of the story and the judge will see things their way and dismiss their traffic ticket. Yeah right!

Look, I know the thought of going to traffic court can be a little scary for some, but this isn’t a murder trial. It’s just a simple traffic ticket. Traffic court is set up to be extremely ‘user friendly’ due to the large amounts of people who go there every day.

If you avoid these 5 mistakes you will have a better chance of winning your case in traffic court, and hopefully getting that traffic ticket thrown out.

speeding fine Common Sense Alternatives Drivers Can Avoid Speeding Tickets Common Sense Ways Drivers Can Prevent Non Moving Violation Citations Don’t stand out. Avoid being given a speeding ticket by not being obvious to a police officer.

On average, over 100,000 drivers get speeding tickets every day. Thats 36,500,000 traffic tickets yearly.

One in every six drivers will be ticketed for speeding this year.

The average speeding ticket costs $150.00.

Almost 5 and one half BILLION dollars a year are generated just from speeding fines. $150 x 36,500,000= $5,475,000,000!

$900 is the average increase a speeding ticket will cause your auto insurance premiums to increase over three years.

Take 36,500,000 and multiply by $900 and you get 3.28 BILLION ($3,285,000,000) in extra money made by insurance companies from increased auto insurance premiums.

Most people simply pay their speeding tickets instead of fighting it in traffic court. (over 95%!)

The other 5% who make an effort to fight their ticket usually have their case dismissed or receive reduced charges that don’t get reported on their driving record.

There are almost 200,000,000 licensed drivers currently in the US.

40% of the time the police officer doesn’t show up in traffic court. This is grounds for dismissal.

In 1987 Paradise Valley AZ became the first place to use photo radar.

In 1966 Brooklyn Ohio was the first city that mandated the use of seat belts.

Drivers aged 17-24 receive the majority of speeding tickets.

Males receive more speeding tickets than their female counter parts.

More women than men fight their speeding tickets in traffic court.

The age of drivers responsible for the most traffic accidents is 17.

In 1879 two men in Seattle Washington were ticketed for speeding horses.

Henry Ford’s first automobile in 1894 only went in one direction, forward.

Traffic lights were used before the advent of the motorcar. In 1868, a lantern with red and green signals was used at a London intersection to control the flow of horse buggies and pedestrians.

Since 1999, Washington, D.C. cameras have issued 2,421,841 tickets worth $182 million.

The first known speeding ticket was given to the wife of Canada’s Prime Minister in 1910. She was doing 10 miles an hour over the limit.

Out of all professions, doctors get the most speeding tickets.

In salary and benefits an average police officer will cost a city around $75,000 a year. He will also make the town an average of $150,000 in that same year. Cops are good investments.

The top 10 states for giving out speeding tickets are:

1. Ohio 2. Pennsylvania 3. New York 4. California 5. Texas 6. Georgia 7. Virginia 8. North Carolina 9. Massachusetts 10. Connecticut

Keep alert. Stay awake while driving. Cops can be anywhere. Common Sense Ways To Prevent Non Moving Violation Citations pay parking tickets Common Sense Alternatives Drivers Can Prevent Moving Violation Tickets

There are two broad categories of traffic tickets. Knowing which you have is important when determining what to do in your situation.

A lot of times when you have a minor violation and it wont result in any points on your license its best to go ahead and pay it and avoid trying to challenge it in traffic court.

Traffic violations come under two main headings. They can either be moving violations or non moving violations. They usually involve smaller fines and can be something as simple as a parking or headlight ticket.

These can be a nuisance but at least they wont go on your driving history or be reported to your auto insurance.

Common non moving violations can include failure to use your seatbelt, improper registration, no license plate or lamps, improper parking, and a broken or non working taillight.

The fines for non moving violations are normally small, like around $50 or less. So its usually better, just from a hassle stand point, to pay these types of violations and not waste hours in traffic court.

However, if you feel you were unjustly ticketed for any reason, you should always make an attempt to try and resolve the matter in some way. For instance, a broken tail light ticket can usually be beat by showing a recent receipt that you have fixed the tail light.

A moving violation on the other hand, is any violation of the law, committed by the driver of a vehicle, while it is in motion. The term “motion” distinguishes it from ‘non-moving’ violations. While parking tickets are charged against a vehicle (which will be towed if violations go unpaid or are frequent), moving violations are charged against the person driving. Moving violations are usually classified as infractions or misdemeanors, but serious violations can be considered felonies.

In most places, moving violations involve fines which must be paid as well as punitive points assessed to the license of the driver. As a driver accumulates points, he or she may be required to attend defensive driving lessons, re-take his or her driving test or even surrender his or her license.

You may think we have it bad in the US, and we do, because traffic fines can go all the way up to $500 and more. But in some countries around the world, traffic can be set according to an individuals income, and in some rare cases be more than $100,000!

Some of the more common moving violations include speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign or red light, failure to yield, crossing the median, violating HOV lanes or driving too slow for current road conditions.

More serious moving violations include: racing on a public street, road rage, drunk driving, and vehicular homicide

Also, traffic violations can either be criminal or civil. They both come with fines and points on your record, but a criminal violation is the only one that can get you jail time.

The sentence imposed in a criminal case is an obligation that a person has towards the “state” for violation of law; that is, it is a punishment for the act that was committed. The ’state’ could be a local township, municipality, city, county, state or the federal government. These are moving violations to avoid at all costs, obviously.

Common Sense Ways To Get Out Of Traffic Infractions Common Sense Alternatives Drivers Can Prevent Parking Tickets speeding tickets price Beware of turns and curves in the road. These are magnets for speeding tickets.

It is possible that the rate you pay for your current car insurance coverage is not what that policy is going for currently. Auto insurance companies change the rates of policies frequently. And they will not inform you if your policy has become cheaper to new customers.

The premium you pay for your current car insurance coverage could be found cheaper with another insurance provider. Sometimes even through your own auto insurance company. There are many free online sites that will give you auto insurance quotes so you can get the best bang for the buck.

Fact: Cheap car insurance coverage for teens is available for many that qualify.

The internet has changed the way people buy many things and low rate auto insurance is one of them. Websites have popped up all over offering low rate auto insurance as well as offering the ability to compare car insurance coverage rates from several insurance companies at once.

Fact: A cheap car insurance coverage comparison is the easiest way to find out how much you are over paying. These websites are also a great place to go when you are curious about whether or not you are paying the lowest rate possible for the coverage you have.

These websites have allowed consumers to check their insurance rates daily and buy insurance without ever needing to talk to a sales person in person or on the phone. When you want low rate car insurance coverage you should buy auto insurance online. A few seconds searching online can save you hours on the phone and hundreds of dollars a year.

Just taking a quick look will tell you right away if you could be getting a lower car insurance coverage rate with the same company or by changing companies. Taking the time to do a quick search can help you get the most competitive rate possible whether you plan to change companies or stay right where you are.

With these types of services it is always free to search and you are never under any obligation.

If its possible for you to save some money, and do it all online, why not give it a try? In some ways the recession has given people opportunities to save even more on their auto insurance.

Isn’t it time to take advantage of the recession?

Common Sense Ways People Can Prevent Moving Violation Infractions Common Sense Ways Drivers Can Avoid Moving Violation Infractions traffic violation defense Common Sense Alternatives Drivers Can Avoid Non Moving Violation Citations

Georgia speeding ticket laws are some of the most expensive in the country. Speeders caught speeding in the states of Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire all are liable to be fined up to $1000, at a judge’s discretion, for a first-time speeding offense, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The severity of the financial penalty of the Georgia speeding ticket also may depend upon the number of miles above the speed limit when clocked and the number of points on a driver’s license, or if the offense occurred near a school or road works. A driver’s license may also be suspended, their car impounded, or they may face jail time.

Believe it or not “driver responsibility” laws can tack on an additional fine up to $1000 up to a year after the speeding conviction. Virginia repealed their driver responsibility laws after public outcry in 2009.

But Georgia is just getting warmed up. They recently added $200 to current fines for what they call “super speeders.” These are individuals who exceed more than 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. That puts a Georgia speeding ticket in line with Missouri, Oregon and Maryland who have fines up to $500, before court fees.

These Georgia speeding ticket add ons were passed in May this year. It also passed the so-called “superspeeders” act, which adds $200 to the fine of a driver, caught driving more than 75 mph on two-lane roads and 85 mph or more on freeways. In some counties, speeders are already leveled municipal fines that can add more than $1000 to any ticket.

Bob Dallas in the Office of Highway Safety, says the fines are justified in Georgia to deter speeding. He also pointed out the additional fines, which went into effect on January 1st, 2010, will go directly to the state’s trauma centers.

A public awareness campaign set up by his office is getting the word out, so people won’t get sticker shock if caught speeding. As bad as people are hurting for nowadays with the economy, it would be a wise idea to avoid a Georgia speeding ticket, and some huge fines.

There’s a computerized radar gun and camera inside. But that van or SUV parked on the side of the street could be a photo radar unit. traffic court This is the obvious one, but honestly if you want to avoid a speeding ticket don’t speed.

One thing all of the 50 United States have in common is speed traps. These are places where law enforcement have made a reputation for handing out an unusually large number of traffic tickets.

There are common areas for speed traps. They can be in areas where there are bends in the road, stretches of road where the speed limit changes often, or where it might be difficult to see the posted speed limit.

Small municipalities like to set up speed traps near an interstate or major highway, where they know it is unlikely that a ticketed driver will return to fight it in court. Law enforcement realize that many drivers will use radar detectors in their attempt to evade a speeding ticket. They will render this method useless by setting up a speed trap where they will time you between two preset points with a stopwatch.

What happens in this case is that they will use a mathematical formula to determine your speed by using the time it took you to pass between the preset points. Its pretty simple for them to do this. So if they determine you were speeding, usually another police officer down the road will be alerted to the make and model of your car, what your speed was, and they will pull you over.

The legality of the whole thing has been debated for years. Politicians and police officers alike have always supported controversial means to ticket drivers by preaching to us that it ’saves lives’. We all know the real reason is to greatly increase revenue.

The plain and simple truth to the whole matter is that these deceptive means of traffic enforcement are illegal and unethical. The fleecing of America through speed traps is a multi billion dollar industry!

Next time your in your vehicle protect yourself from speed traps. And if you are planning on going on a road trip, do some research beforehand on the internet to determine where likely speed traps might be.

The best method to avoid getting a speeding ticket is to not drive. Common Sense Alternatives You Can Prevent Traffic Tickets traffic violation Common Sense Alternatives You Can Avoid Speeding Tickets

Conventional speed enforcement has its limitations. You can only pull over one vehicle at a time. This method is unproductive, slow and expensive from the government’s point of view.

Now with technology growing at a rapid pace, new and alternative methods have been created.

So the government in its great ‘wisdom’ decided it wasn’t collecting enough money with the old system.

There were just too many elements that was involved with an actual police officer pulling you over to hand out a citation. The first thing was having to hire the officer himself to pull you over. Next he had to pull you over with his police vehicle which is expensive in itself. And then what he let you off with just a warning?

And maybe the final factor was that in the time it took for said police officer to pull you over and write the ticket dozens more drivers go speeding by! Money lost down the drain.

So the photo radar was introduced to take handing out tickets to a whole new level. They can do the job of many officers.

With photo radar also known as traffic cameras, speeding tickets are simply mailed to the offender. Talk about customer service!

Since its’ beginning, photo radar has been proven to: Save police department’s time and money. Improve conviction rates in traffic court. Maximize city resources available for traffic enforcement. Increase individual insurance rates.

The age of photo radar is still in its infancy. To date, there are only 20 or so states that employ this method of speed detection - California, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio and Washington to name a few.

However, the popularity of photo radar is growing by leaps and bounds.

Cities are starting to latch on to the photo radar band wagon because of the revenue generating potential. Its relatively simple for a city to have one installed and the photo radar pays for itself quickly.

In areas that are financially strapped, photo radar gives them an immediate answer to their money misery.

Just think about it, within a short time a photo radar can take pictures of many speeding motorists, what it would take many officers to accomplish traditionally.

So how exactly does this photo radar work? What it does is take a picture of your license plate when the built in radar gun catches you speeding. Its programmed to take a photo at a predetermined speed.

For instance say the speed limit of a particular road is set at 45 mph, the photo radar can be set to activate if it detects a speed over 50 mph.

When this happens, the radar gun will instantly trigger the camera to take a picture of the entire vehicle (sometimes it’s just the back, other times its the back and front of the vehicle) to get the license plate information. The picture is electronically filed away and the process is carried on throughout the day and night. Hundreds of individuals will have their picture taken - courtesy of Big Brother.

When the database of the photo radar is accessed at a later time, they photos will be examined inaccurancies.

The clarity of the license plate will be examined to see if it is readable. If it cant be it will be discarded.

When a clear license plate is found it will be run through the bureau of motor vehicles database to see who it is registered to. If its a male and there is a male behind the wheel of the car, BINGO, a citation will be on its way to the registered owner. Ah the beauty of photo radar.

This process is repeated until all the pictures from the photo radar have been gone through, until the next batch arrives. Photo radar enforcement is on the rise, hopefully this article will give you a heads up about it.

Common Sense Ways To Get Out Of Traffic Citations Brake lights. This is a sure fire way to know if trouble is lurking up ahead. careless driving Common Sense Ways To Get Out Of Traffic Infractions