It isn’t very wise to procrastinate on a speeding ticket. You could forget it because you’re trying to decide whether to fight it or just pay the fine and wind up with a failure to appear (FTA) in court.
CA Vehicle Code (CVC) Section 40508 (a), Release Upon Promise to Appear, warns, “A person willfully violating his or her written promise to appear or a lawfully granted continuance of his or her promise to appear in court or before a person authorized to receive a deposit of bail is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he or she was originally arrested.”
Typically, in CA if you get a ticket that is an infraction, like a speeding ticket, the law enforcement officer (LEO) will ask you to sign the ticket, which is a promise to resolve the traffic ticket or appear in the traffic court noted at the bottom of the citation. This is what many call a “personal recognizance release.”
Regardless of what you might have read on the internet, there is no misdemeanor speeding ticket for a “Class C” driver, only for commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders (Class A & B) for exceeding the 55-mph speed limit by more than 15 or more mph -- not even a 100+ mph speeding ticket is a misdemeanor.
Therefore, if you do not resolve your speeding ticket, which is an infraction, you could get charged with a misdemeanor crime if you don’t have a legitimate excuse for not appearing in court as you agreed to when you signed your speeding ticket.
There are multiple reasons, such as, hospitalization, deportation, military deployment, incarceration, and others. It is prudent to consult a traffic attorney about the specifics.
Regardless, whatever your reason for procrastinating, it makes no sense not to consult a professional traffic ticket defense team about your options. Traffic attorneys like Bigger & Harman spend 1000’s of hours a year in traffic court or writing preparatory documents for court.
It’s best to ask a traffic attorney right away about your speeding ticket so that after they can explain the process to you, they’ll have time to get your paperwork done, and submitted to the court. Likewise, if you already missed court and have an FTA, they can get that cleared, and then, resolve your speeding ticket. Every court and every judge within those courts have a different approach, but it all boils down to the State must prove your guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Some Drivers with a Speeding Ticket Might Ask, “What Is the Harm in Speeding Through the Mojave Desert?”
Of course, there are possible harms. Whether isolated or combined, there are several factors that make the answer, “Yes!”
Property damage and personal injury are directly revealed in CVC Section, 22350, Speed Laws, the code that most people refer to as “the basic speed law.”
“No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.”
Beyond personal injuries and property damage, there are the added expense and inconvenience of fines (CA’s fines are typically higher than most other states), increased auto insurance premiums, dealing with traffic court or hiring an attorney at your expense, a disaster for your budget, and/or, a possible driving privilege suspension or revocation, which could be more inconvenient if you live outside the city where you could readily get public transportation.
However, when you are careful and still get cited with a speeding ticket, ask a traffic attorney for assistance.
Ask Bigger & Harman About a Speeding Ticket in Barstow Traffic Court
Call Bigger & Harman to discuss a speeding ticket in Barstow, CA, (661) 349-9300.
Give us a call to discuss any traffic ticket in Barstow, CA. We can discuss your options.
Se habla Español (661) 349-9755.
Email: attorney@biggerharmanlaw.com.
References:
The 2021 CA Driver Handbook English y Español.
CVC Sections 22350, Speed Laws & CVC 40508 (a), Release Upon Promise to Appear.