Fight Your Ticket in California - Softcover
Review Written in accessible lay language, this book is packed with practical information every driver should keep a copy of it. _____________________________ -- Agatha Hoff, Traffic Court Referee ... clear, thick and comprehensive manual to help Californian beat what he or she perceives as a bum traffic rap. -- Sacramento Bee ... Fight Your Ticket can be a proverbial sling to help David fell Goliath. -- Monterey Herald ... a surprisingly easy read ... the book is a top-notch primer. -- Autoweek
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
David Brown practices law in the Monterey, California area, where he has represented both landlords and tenants in hundreds of court cases -- most of which he felt could have been avoided if both sides were more fully informed about landlord/tenant law. Brown, a graduate of Stanford University (chemistry) and the University of Santa Clara Law School, also teaches law at the Monterey College of Law and is the author of Fight Your Ticket (CA version), Beat Your Ticket (the national version), The Landlord's Law Book, Vol. 1: Rights and Responsibilities; The Landlord's Law Book, Vol. 2: Evictions and co-author of How to Change Your Name in California and The Guardianship Book for California.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
A Typical Case
You're driving home from your friend's place after a beautiful, romantic Friday evening. It's 2:30 in the morning. As you're reflecting on this, you suddenly realize you took a wrong turn someplace. You're now in the middle of a quiet residential district and realize you should turn around. You look for traffic coming from either direction and all you see is a car parked about three blocks away with its headlights on, so you make a U-turn.
Suddenly, in your rear view mirror you see a flashing red and blue light that seemingly grows out of the parked car. You begin to pull over to the right to let it pass. Instead, the car follows you to the curb. You realize you've just been pulled over by the police. As soon as your car stops, the officer has his high-intensity spotlight pointed at you. Then, you hear his door slam, the sound of gravel under his boots, and finally you see a big, grim face just behind the flashlight pointed into your eyes.
Before you get a chance to ask him what's the problem, he says, "May I see your driver's license, please?" You fumble through your wallet, slowly and carefully, since he has his hand uncomfortably close to the butt of what looks to be a very big gun. Finally, hands shaking slightly, you hand him your license. (Don't you feel like a common criminal?)
The police officer returns to his car and uses the radio. A minute later he returns, hands you your license, and unemotionally says, "You made an unlawful U-turn in a residential district. Sign here, please," and he thrusts a three-part form in your face. You meekly sign the ticket (which he tells you is not an admission of guilt, but merely a promise to appear), and he hands you a copy. You gaze at the ticket, wondering how this could be happening to you. The officer spins out, off to catch another "criminal."
If you don't fight the ticket, you may very well end up:
paying a fine you can barely afford;
paying a higher insurance premium for the next three to five years; and
starting or adding to a bad driving record with the DMV.
Should You Fight Your Ticket?
Does it make sense for you to fight your ticket? The answer is that it depends. There are some people who almost always answer this question with a proud and forceful "Yes!" unless they have done something incredibly stupid or dangerous (such as driving through a busy school zone at 50 mph). But there are others who don't believe in spending large amounts of time fighting cases where there is but a small chance of winning. It might be wise to try to separate the hopeless cases from those with a reasonable chance of success. (On the other hand, thousands of seemingly hopeless cases are won when police officers fail to show up in court to testify.) A determined person can achieve great success in traffic court if he or she knows what to do.
In deciding whether or not to fight, you should first consider the consequences of giving up and paying the ticket. Will your insurance rates increase? Will you increase your chances of losing your license? Can you get your case dismissed by attending traffic school? Do you want to spend the time and effort it will take to fight your ticket effectively? This book will help you answer all these questions.
Once you understand the consequences of not fighting your ticket, you should try to determine your chances of winning, taking into account these tips:
The main way to beat traffic tickets is to request a trial with the officer present and then get the ticket dismissed when the officer doesn't show up. There's a chance this might happen to you. You may want to try your luck. You've got nothing to lose but your time.
Even if the officer does show up, "guilt" (and "innocence") is often a matter of subjective interpretation. For example, under California law it's not illegal to drive 45 mph in a 35 mph zone if it is possible to show that your 45 mph speed was safe under the circumstances. (See Chapter 4 on speed violations.)
You might not be guilty of a particular violation, even if you think you are. When you read the Vehicle Code section, you will find that the offense you are accused of committing is more complex than you might have thought. It may be that you didn't do all the things that the prosecution must prove in order to convict you. We tell you in the next chapter how to read a Vehicle Code section with this in mind.
You're driving home from your friend's place after a beautiful, romantic Friday evening. It's 2:30 in the morning. As you're reflecting on this, you suddenly realize you took a wrong turn someplace. You're now in the middle of a quiet residential district and realize you should turn around. You look for traffic coming from either direction and all you see is a car parked about three blocks away with its headlights on, so you make a U-turn.
Suddenly, in your rear view mirror you see a flashing red and blue light that seemingly grows out of the parked car. You begin to pull over to the right to let it pass. Instead, the car follows you to the curb. You realize you've just been pulled over by the police. As soon as your car stops, the officer has his high-intensity spotlight pointed at you. Then, you hear his door slam, the sound of gravel under his boots, and finally you see a big, grim face just behind the flashlight pointed into your eyes.
Before you get a chance to ask him what's the problem, he says, "May I see your driver's license, please?" You fumble through your wallet, slowly and carefully, since he has his hand uncomfortably close to the butt of what looks to be a very big gun. Finally, hands shaking slightly, you hand him your license. (Don't you feel like a common criminal?)
The police officer returns to his car and uses the radio. A minute later he returns, hands you your license, and unemotionally says, "You made an unlawful U-turn in a residential district. Sign here, please," and he thrusts a three-part form in your face. You meekly sign the ticket (which he tells you is not an admission of guilt, but merely a promise to appear), and he hands you a copy. You gaze at the ticket, wondering how this could be happening to you. The officer spins out, off to catch another "criminal."
If you don't fight the ticket, you may very well end up:
paying a fine you can barely afford;
paying a higher insurance premium for the next three to five years; and
starting or adding to a bad driving record with the DMV.
Should You Fight Your Ticket?
Does it make sense for you to fight your ticket? The answer is that it depends. There are some people who almost always answer this question with a proud and forceful "Yes!" unless they have done something incredibly stupid or dangerous (such as driving through a busy school zone at 50 mph). But there are others who don't believe in spending large amounts of time fighting cases where there is but a small chance of winning. It might be wise to try to separate the hopeless cases from those with a reasonable chance of success. (On the other hand, thousands of seemingly hopeless cases are won when police officers fail to show up in court to testify.) A determined person can achieve great success in traffic court if he or she knows what to do.
In deciding whether or not to fight, you should first consider the consequences of giving up and paying the ticket. Will your insurance rates increase? Will you increase your chances of losing your license? Can you get your case dismissed by attending traffic school? Do you want to spend the time and effort it will take to fight your ticket effectively? This book will help you answer all these questions.
Once you understand the consequences of not fighting your ticket, you should try to determine your chances of winning, taking into account these tips:
The main way to beat traffic tickets is to request a trial with the officer present and then get the ticket dismissed when the officer doesn't show up. There's a chance this might happen to you. You may want to try your luck. You've got nothing to lose but your time.
Even if the officer does show up, "guilt" (and "innocence") is often a matter of subjective interpretation. For example, under California law it's not illegal to drive 45 mph in a 35 mph zone if it is possible to show that your 45 mph speed was safe under the circumstances. (See Chapter 4 on speed violations.)
You might not be guilty of a particular violation, even if you think you are. When you read the Vehicle Code section, you will find that the offense you are accused of committing is more complex than you might have thought. It may be that you didn't do all the things that the prosecution must prove in order to convict you. We tell you in the next chapter how to read a Vehicle Code section with this in mind.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherNolo
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 087337990X
- ISBN 13 9780873379908
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages360
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