No one likes to get stopped by a police officer and get issued a traffic citation, but the reality is if you are a regular driver, chances are that you are going to get stopped and handed a ticket at some point during your driving career. Many people who are pulled over and given a ticket do not know what they are supposed to do, or how they can resolve their ticket and a great deal of people actually lose the citation that the officer gave them. This is very common, but luckily, you can usually find the information that you need by simply calling down to your local police station or city building that handles traffic citations. You can find this information by doing a search for your city and something such as “pay traffic ticket”. This should get you to the right phone number, where you can inquire on how to get the information on how to pay your ticket. They will inform you on the different ways that you can take care of your ticket. If you have a computer, you can find the lost citation guide in your city, by simply entering your city and “lost citation guide“, which should turn up some information that pertains to your location.
In nearly every case, they are going to tell you that you can either opt to pay the ticket in full and be done with it that day or you can show up to court and contest the ticket. This basically means that you are going to show up in court and go before a judge and present your side of the case. A lot of people do not realize that when they get a ticket, nothing is set in stone. When a cop gives you a ticket, you do not automatically have to pay that amount, as you will always be afforded the option of sitting down and telling a judge your side of the case. There is a very high chance that you can get your ticket thrown out by a judge, which most people are shocked to come to find out. To top it off, a great deal of the time the police officer that wrote the ticket will not even show up to court, meaning that the ticket is thrown out and you will not have to pay any fine.
Getting a ticket is a big hassle, in that you have to likely pay a hefty fine, but also the other repercussions that come along as a result. You are either going to get points on your record, or you are going to have to take traffic school to get the points removed from your record. Either way you are going to be out additional money in this situation, on top of what you are paying for your ticket. This is because you are either going to have to pay for the driving course, which is usually fifty or one hundred dollars, as well as a full day in school, or you are going to get points on your record, leading to increases in your insurance. Also, if you do go to traffic court and get a ticket erased, if you get another citation you cannot go back to court. This means if you get another citation, your points will automatically go up. If you want to go to court, the best chance you have is to hire a lawyer to represent you. There is no question that this is the best way that you can get your ticket thrown out, and when you consider the large fine amounts that are typically associated with moving violations, as well as the increase in insurance due to points on your record and the costs of driving school, the cost to hire a lawyer drastically start to diminish.