Busting 3 Common Traffic Law Myths
Traffic law in most states governs everything from the punishment for jumping a red light to over-speeding. If you have broken any traffic codes, your best bet would be to just pay the ticket and avoid dragging the matter to court.
However, if you feel the arrest or traffic ticket was unjustified, you can hire a traffic law attorney to help you file an official contest for the charge. With so many traffic law myths floating around, here is the truth behind some prevalent ones so you can be better prepared to handle any traffic violation charge you might face in future.
Radar inaccuracy is a good defense
Many drivers tend to contest their speeding tickets by arguing that the radar gun gave a false reading. This is usually not a very good defense strategy, as the courts usually believe the state trained officer's assessment of your speed and will not usually take your word for it even if your speedometer didn't match the radar gun.
If you really feel the speed reading was inaccurate, get a traffic law attorney to challenge the calibration on the radar gun and request an examination of the equipment's maintenance records. That way, you may uncover a maintenance error that could justify that indeed the speed you were clocked on may have been false.
Signing a ticket proves your guilt
When pulled over for any traffic violation, it is a common misconception that signing the ticket will mean you admit your guilt. This is false, as signing only confirms you received the ticket and not that you were actually on the wrong.
Refusing to sign the ticket won't get you off the hook, as the citing officer usually has sufficient evidence that he indeed pulled you over for a traffic violation, including your license plate number and possibly even video footage of the event. The best thing to do is sign the ticket and consult your traffic law attorney as to whether to pay the fine or contest the charge in court.
Traffic tickets don't transfer to other states
The theory that you can run away from your traffic tickets if the violations happened in another state is usually false, since most states share traffic data. This means that fines and points from other states will likely follow you no matter where you go, so it is often better to just pay the fines to avoid further penalties and traffic law violations.
To learn more, contact a traffic law attorney like Thomas & Associates, PC.