Traffic tickets are very difficult to contest in court, for a number of reasons. A traffic ticket attorney in Kern County should assess your case to determine what defenses you may have available.

Ineffective Defenses

It is a myth that a judge will always throw out your traffic ticket based on typos or other minor error, such as writing down the wrong license plate information or spelling the driver's name wrong. Legally, such items are a variance between the pleadings and the proof, and a variance is not always fatal. For example, writing the "2200 block" instead of the "2300 block" on a speeding ticket is not a fatal variance, unless the speed limit was different in the 2200 block. Judges tend to consider police officers to be much more credible than drivers, so fact-based defenses are difficult to win. It is merely your word against the officers, especially if there were no witnesses present and you did not have any passengers with you in the care who can speak to your behavior.

Effective Defenses

A defense strategy that could work to your advantage would be that your actions were necessary to avoid causing harm to another driver or pedestrian. If the word “unsafe” was used in your citation, it can leave the door open for you to argue that your actions were in fact for the good of all involved. Additionally, if confusing signage was the reason for your traffic ticket, you may be able to contest the ticket with evidential photographs of the signs themselves. You can check the signs against the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices from the Federal Highway Administration. If for any reason the signs do not meet the legal standards, you may be able to have your ticket dismissed.

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With an extensive record of success, trusted by clients throughout Kern County, Bigger & Harman, APC offer free initial consultations. You have nothing to lose by providing our legal team with the basics of your case so we can discover your best course of action. Se habla espanol.