Fighting Your Traffic Ticket: Don't Make These 5 Foolish Mistakes

Over the years I have heard of some pretty awful defense strategies people use to try and get out of a traffic ticket. You cant blame them though. A lot of these individuals were simply relying on so called insider information they heard from a friend.

Below I have listed the top five mistakes you can make when fighting your traffic ticket. I hope you too will see the futility in them and refrain from using these worthless defenses.

Mistake #1- Delaying the traffic court date

Almost every other book I've read on traffic tickets advises you to postpone the trial by asking for a continuance. They claim the longer your traffic court trial is from the original infraction, the greater the chance the officer will fail to show up to court on your traffic ticket.

Delaying the court date will not improve your chance of having your traffic ticket dismissed.

My question is what if you do postpone your traffic court date and the officer still shows up?

Then what? Police officers get paid overtime to show up to traffic court.

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

By law you do have a legal right to see everything the prosecution plans to convict you with. This process is called 'discovery' and can be useful in a murder trial. But this isn't a murder trial and doing so can actually hurt your case.

Requesting evidence before any kind of trial tells the prosecution you are planning a defense. He will see this as a challenge and will undoubtedly prepare accordingly, making your chances of winning almost impossible.

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.

For most traffic tickets it is pointless to read up on case law before traffic court. Except on the rare occasion that you may want to see how a certain statute is worded.

Mistake #4- Attacking the officer's credibility

If your defense is to go to traffic court and try to make the officer who gave you the traffic ticket look like an idiot, don't waste your time. Using any number of ridiculous excuses like the police officer singled you out or that he used the radar gun improperly will not work.

Don't ever go into traffic court with the idea you are going to challenge the police officers training on the use of the radar gun. This will only draw scrutiny from the judge, who will accept the officers testimony that he is properly trained on the use of the equipment.

The officer will NOT have to prove his training qualifications in the courtroom. Let's face it, the officer has been properly trained and knows how to work the radar/laser gun. No question about it. If you try and go this route you will be disappointed when the judge asks you to provide evidence supporting your claim.

Mistake #5- Showing up to traffic court unprepared.

This is by far the biggest mistake people will make when fighting a traffic ticket. They go to court, thinking they've done their homework, when in reality everything they did leading up to the trial was in vain. They're research was done the WRONG WAY and as a result, they lose their case before they even had a chance to defend themselves.

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 claiming your victory in traffic court, and hopefully getting that traffic ticket thrown out.