Why You Should Hire A Lawyer To Fight Your Traffic Ticket

The hidden costs of getting a criminal conviction become obvious once a judge hands down your sentence.  Not only do you have to pay fines, but depending on the nature of your sentence, you might have to pay fees associated with probation or GPS monitoring.  If you get sentenced to community service, you will have to miss work to perform the community service, and you will have to pay for transportation to and from the site of the project.  In other words, even if you don’t go to jail, a criminal case costs you a lot in terms of money you pay and in terms of lost productivity.  Even though most traffic violations are not crimes, they can have economic consequences beyond the sticker price of the traffic ticket, especially if you get your driver’s license suspended as a result of the ticket.  Therefore, it is worthwhile to fight citations for major traffic infractions, and a Tampa traffic offense lawyer can help you do this.

The Relationship Between Traffic Citations and Driver’s License Suspension

Driver’s license suspension is a mandatory component of sentencing for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI), which can be a misdemeanor or a felony, but it is also possible to get your driver’s license suspended for much lesser offenses.  Traffic infractions are not crimes, meaning that they do not go through criminal court and you cannot go to jail because of them.  Despite this, if you get enough traffic tickets in a short enough span of time, the court will suspend your driver’s license for 30 days or more.

Traffic violations such as speeding, running red lights, and failing to obey road signs lead to points being applied to your license.  For example, each speeding ticket results in four points on your license.  If you get 12 points on your license within a 12-month period, you will lose your driver’s license privilege.  If you get 24 points on your license within a 3-year period, the court will suspend your license for a year.

In Florida, where sidewalks are few and options for public transportation are even fewer, being without your driver’s license is very costly.  Rideshare rides to and from work every workday for a month cost at least as much as hiring a lawyer to fight your traffic ticket.  Every traffic citation, even the inexpensive ones like for expired tags and parking tickets, comes with instructions on how to challenge the ticket.  Spending one day in court is a small price to pay compared to the costs of not having a driver’s license for a month or more, followed by the costs of getting your driver’s license reinstated.

Contact Tampa Traffic Infractions Defense Attorney Bryant Scriven

A traffic violations defense lawyer can help you challenge unfairly issued traffic citations so that you can avoid driver’s license suspension or other consequences of having points on your driver’s license.  Contact Scriven Law in Tampa, Florida to schedule a consultation.

Source:

flhsmv.gov/driver-licenses-id-cards/driver-license-suspensions-revocations/points-point-suspensions/