How to Deal With a Traffic Ticket

[jessef]

Sticky ?

CAVEAT: for proper legal advice, please contact a lawyer.

With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on what I would do if I received a violation ticket:

Pull over and stop immediately. Produce all documents requested. You would be surprised how many people can't handle this part.

Listen carefully to what the officer has to say. Once you have listened, if you have a comment or a question ask politely. Even if you are unhappy with the state of affairs, being impolite or argumentative will prevent you from hearing all that is said, and it might be important to your defense.

Chances are, at this point the officer will retreat to the police vehicle to prepare the ticket. Use this time to consider your situation, make notes, and prepare any other questions that come to mind.

When the officer returns to serve the ticket, listen carefully to what is said again. If the ticket is offered to you to sign, do so if you wish. If not, politely decline. If you choose not to sign, spouting off here could convince the officer to add to the ticket before serving it to you. Ask your questions before you hand the ticket back if you are signing. The officer will not make a quick retreat while you still hold all copies of the ticket.

If you are not going to get anywhere with the questions, there is no point in prolonging the agony, hand the ticket back. Try not to make remarks like "I'll see you in court!" or anything that would upset the officer. He/she will be less likely to accept suggestions to alternate dispositions later on and may choose to oppose fine reductions at trial time.

There is no point in demanding name and badge number, as it is likely already on the ticket itself. Even if all that is there is the signature, you can still find out who it is by contacting the police service listed on the ticket. You could ask politely for a business card in case you want to contact the officer later for clarification.

The officer will now depart, leaving you to get on with your day. This is a great time to make notes on the situation as you saw it. Record witness details, take pictures, make a sketch, whatever, so that you will be able to recall all the details at a trial a year down the road if necessary.

Read all the papers issued to you carefully and thoroughly. Make sure you understand what it says and what is required of you. A lot of people run into trouble because they don't do this too.

Read the section of the statute that you are charged under. If you don't understand it, don't feel bad, sometimes it is not immediately obvious from the fancy legal wording. Request help if needed. Your law teacher might be a good place to start.

At this point you should have a fairly good idea what you are up against. If not, you could consider lawyer referral and/or some research. "Fight That Ticket in British Columbia" is a good title to read. It is somewhat out of date, but still useful. You will likely find a copy of it at your library. There are internet references as well, but try to make sure that you stick to references from British Columbia, as procedures can be different elsewhere.

You now have to make one of four decisions:

1) Decide that you did what the ticket says and pay it.

2) Decide that you did what the ticket says, but follow the instructions on the back of it to dispute the penalty shown on the front of it or in the case where the penalty cannot be reduced, such as speeding, ask for a length of time to pay. You can have the penalty dispute heard at the court nearest to you rather than travelling a long distance if the incident did not happen locally. You make these arrangements at your local court registry office. It helps to take your copy of the ticket with you when you do this. As of July 1, 2003 penalty disputes may be made in writing rather than attending court. The forms to do this with are available on line.

http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/courts/tickets/index.htm

3) If you can show that you did not do what the ticket says you did, you could consider contacting the issuing officer or their supervisor and explain. They may choose to withdraw the ticket. Hopefully they will not use the opportunity to issue a new one with the correct offence if they got it wrong in the first place. I can recall once early in my service where I wrote a speed in school zone ticket at 5:05 pm. Obviously it was an invalid ticket and had I been given the opportunity, I would have happily torn it up and apologized. The driver didn't know this and wasted a chunk of his day waiting for a trial that never took place because I realized the mistake the day of the trial and withdrew it when he came to the courthouse.

4) Follow the instructions on the back of the ticket and plead not guilty. Prepare ahead of time for your trial.

- request disclosure. write to the officer involved and ask for notes, pictures, or documents that the police will be relying on for evidence at trial. Allow lots of time for the notice to reach the police and return the answer to you.

- make notes ahead of time on the items that you wish to bring to the court's attention that will show you are not guilty of doing what was alleged.

- subpeona any witnesses that you require. You do this by attending at the court registry with the names and addresses of the people that you require.

- consider attending traffic court to observe before your trial date. This will allow you to become familiar with what will happen and allow you to be less nervous and more focussed on the big day.

- at the courthouse on trial day before the trial commences is a good time to play "let's make a deal" with the officer. Talk to them outside the courtroom and make your offer. Things like offering to plead guilty to speeding at $115 instead of $173 might be accepted. You have nothing to lose by asking. Can't find the officer and still want to try? When your case is called, ask the judge for a brief adjournment to speak with the officer.

- dress neatly, don't chew gum, turn off your pager/cell phone, take off your hat. In most cases the dispute will be heard in traffic court. The judicial justice of the peace is called "your worship" otherwise in provincial court it is "your honour". It's not too big a deal unless you are being discourteous. If you are first and don't know how to address the judge, ask, they will be impressed that you are earnest.

- if you are going to call witnesses, have them leave the courtroom before your trial starts. They can sit and watch until then, but if they sit there and listen to part of the trial, their evidence is tainted and cannot be given as much weight by the court.

- listen carefully to the evidence given by the officer. Take a pen and paper with you to make notes if you wish to.

- on cross examination ask questions that highlight any evidence given by the officer that is to your advantage and ask if anything needs to be clarified so that you understand and can respond to it.

- if you are going to give evidence know if you are going to affirm to tell the truth or if you want to swear on the bible. It's surprising how often this has to be explained as well.

- be careful about choosing to give evidence on your own behalf. If you do, you are open to cross examination from the officer and must answer. Gaps in the officer's testimony can be filled in this way. This is not the time to complain about police treatment. The court is only interested in the evidence. Complaints about police misconduct are for the public complaints commission, not the traffic court.

- both sides will be given a chance to summarize. The summary is your chance to highlight important parts of the evidence from both the officer and yourself (if you chose to testify) that show you are not guilty.

- the verdict will be given and the judge will explain the reasons. If you are found not guilty, that's it. The ticket goes in the garbage can and you are free to go. If guilty, the trial now moves on to the penalty phase. The officer may choose to show the court your driving record (if you have one) and suggest that the penalty not be lowered if this is an offence without a minimum or a statutory amount. You have the chance to explain why the penalty should be different for your circumstances or failing that you can give evidence about your financial circumstances and ask for a reasonable length of time to pay. If the justice asks how long you need, be prepared with an answer. Don't just shrug your shoulders and leave it up to them.

- if you think the guilty verdict is improper, it isn't necessary to say so. Stop by the court registry on your way out and ask about an appeal. You will likely be wise to seek advice from a lawyer before proceeding. Appeals take place in Supreme Court and it is very formal with all the i's dotted and t's crossed before you get there.

If there are gaps in this explanation that need to be filled I will come back and edit it. Just start a thread on the topic and we can discuss it, then decide on any amendments.

REMEMBER: I am on the side of the prosecution, and not a legal expert. If you want specific advice on your situation, talk to a lawyer!
__________________
Have you ever met anyone who would admit to being less than a better than average driver?

[Green1]

Thank you for the excellent write-up!

One thing I would like to add about tickets, as JDM owners we are quite visible, and often feel persecuted by certain officials, you may feel that you are being targetted unjustly when others are doing the same thing without consequence. Remember that this is not a valid legal defence. Even if everyone else is breaking the law, the fact that they are does not give you the right to do so as well, and if you are ticketed for it, don't try to argue on those grounds. (If you can prove discrimination you can take this to the public complaints commission, but leave it out of traffic court)

[loki]

My brother being a cop I would say that being polite and not and idiot to the officer is the most important thing, I know that they can and usually will pile on several more tickets if you are dick to them.

Another point I would like to make is that if you did do it, just pay the ticket instead of costing the tax payers (you included) thousands of dollars for "your day in court" just on the chance that the cop wont show or you get the payment reduced or something. If you did, it pay it. If you can't afford it you shouldn't have done it in the first place, why should I have to pay for your mistakes or blatant disregard?

/rant off

[patty]

When I got pulled over a couple months back for having the front head light out. The officer actually said I was the most polite and reasonable "male teen" he'd pulled over in awhile and decided to write me a warning instead of ticket. Then asked a bunch of question about the delica which a happily answered too (about sleeping, 4x4in n camping)

A really good one was when all my buddies came back from Australia we decided to go to a barn party in Pemberton. I ended up sleeping (.....) 6 people in the deli. The next morning the Pemby kids found out we were from Whistler (rival towns) and we got chased off the property. As we leave Pemberton we hit a seatbelt check. First thing that goes threw my head is "wow I will not be able to afford this bundle of tickets," as I had more then one person in my car (I have my N) the back seats are in bedform so only a couple guys have seat belts on, I'm not displaying my N and the car reaks of stale booze. As we pull up to the belt check the cop goes to the wrong side of the deli so I roll down both windows. He sticks is head threw the window and right away says "It smells like stale booze in here." Then I gave him all the proper documentation including my N driver license. I then noted that we all slept in the vehicle. At which point the officer clearly spots two people with out belts clipped in (their just holding them across their waists) and simple tells me how much each one would have been ($175 each) and then smerks and tells me to carry on with out any tickets at all.
I was in shear amazement. I have yet to have any negative experience with any police officer.

[Golf Cart]

I have yet to have any negative experience with any police officer.

Its early !

[The Pinkfingers]

This entire post is all common sense that you would think everyone would realize, and I'm always surprised that some people don't get it. Being rude or belligerent will never change the officer's mind.

And I totally agree with Loki - if you did it, pay it. Don't waste court time or other Deli drivers (taxpayers) money. The same applies to parking tickets - if you parked in a no parking zone or gambled on coming back 30 minutes late to the meter, don't freak out at the parking ticket. (Side note: I highly recommend the mockumentary The Delicate Art of Parking on this topic - filmed in Vancouver.)

[Green1]

Being rude or belligerent will never change the officer's mind

I knew a fellow who always swore at the cops and yelled at them, he told me it was because he knew he'd get the ticket either way, but he should at least make their life difficult for it... I don't think it made their work that much harder really... but it certainly explained why most of his encounters with the cops resulted in at least 2 if not more tickets for various things, and NEVER involved just a warning. He finally ended up having his license suspended, and then his vehicle impounded for driving without it...

[after oil]

"why stir the hive?" i always say.. guilty or not guilty doesnt matter, no point in disrespect. now, when a persons rights start to get violated, as in illegal searches or unjust detainment, then i would speak up, but again, with respect.

[loki]

This entire post is all common sense that you would think everyone would realize, and I'm always surprised that some people don't get it. Being rude or belligerent will never change the officer's mind.

And I totally agree with Loki - if you did it, pay it. Don't waste court time or other Deli drivers (taxpayers) money. The same applies to parking tickets - if you parked in a no parking zone or gambled on coming back 30 minutes late to the meter, don't freak out at the parking ticket. (Side note: I highly recommend the mockumentary The Delicate Art of Parking on this topic - filmed in Vancouver.)

common sense isn't all that common despite it's name. :(

[Chewy]

Don't give them a hard time and your life will be easier. If you feel (s)he's out of line, call the shift supervisor and explain DILIGENTLY...AFTER thinking about whether your feelings about the way it was handled was unprofessional and biased as they surely get tons of calls from overly emotional people who were treated justly and are having trouble accepting the fact they got a ticket.

in any case, just don't flip, I don't know what happened as I NEVER lose it..... but I called an overly obdurate officer some pretty ummm, interesting things this summer in regards to some stupid answers to some very pointed questions, it certainly didn't help.

[konadog]

Don't give them a hard time and your life will be easier.

That's pretty much the bottom line. Just be civil. Those guys deal with confrontational attitudes all the time so when you're courteous and reasonable you stand out as courteous and reasonable and so are more apt to have exchanges with positive outcomes, like Patty's

[JMK]

at the courthouse on trial day before the trial commences is a good time to play "let's make a deal" with the officer.

Must be a bit different in your jurisdiction. In mine, once I had written a ticket, it goes to our court clerk. In many instances, if she has noticed an error (often a bad date), and I simply wanted to withdraw it, I had to fight tooth and nail not to reissue and get the local police in the accused's jurisdiction to serve the accused. If the accused had been respectful subsequent to being found committing the offence, and during our dealings, I was more encouraged to persist in my diatribe with our Court Clerk. Our manager's have not been real happy about officers withdrawing tickets unless there is good reason.

With regard to making a deal, in my experience in our Alberta jurisdiction, your best chance of broaching that subject is to the Crown Prosecutor (the Provincial Crown, not the Federal), on the same day that you are entering your plea (because our Court Clerk gives the Crown the files for cases being brought forth by our agency that same morning) before Court Convenes. The officer is not in a position to make any sort of deal (I am there for the sole purpose of giving evidence), but the Crown seems to have the latitude to make a proposal to the Judge. I suppose the Officer would be in a better position to talk to the Crown and recommend something, but once I am at the courthouse, if I am approached by the accused for any reason at all, I simply tell them I cannot discuss their pending trial with them, and either they or their defense counsel must approach the Crown.

- As above, I am not a legal expert or a lawyer