Why should you always fight your traffic ticket?Looks good -- I heard about this through someone who used their technique successfully. There are testimonials online and they seem quite favorable. Posted by DaveH at August 24, 2005 8:25 PM
When you receive a traffic ticket, the court will usually suggest that you must appear twice to contest it: first to appear and plead not guilty and second to stand trial with the officer present. This is not true. You can contest your ticket by mail without making a single court appearance. Contesting your citation through the mail gives you a better chance of winning your case than at a court trial. Even if you seem to be guilty of violating the law, the procedural hassles for the prosecution will often lead to a dismissal. If the prosecution does not submit its version of events in writing to the court by the deadline date, your case will be dismissed regardless of your guilt or innocence. Dismissals due to lack of prosecution are won in approximately 30% of written defenses.
The law allows you to contest any traffic infraction entirely by mail. You can appear via mail through a Written Not Guilty Plea pursuant to CVC 40519(b). In your plea you can request a Trial by Written Declaration pursuant to CVC 40902. In this way you can contest your citation without appearing at all and, for reasons already discussed, will have a better chance of winning than at trial. Further, if you lose your trial by declaration, you have 20 days to request a Trial de Novo (new trial) pursuant to CVC 40902(d). You then can appear in court for the first time for your second chance of winning.
Why doesn't the court inform every defendant of their legal right to appear in court via mail (Written Not Guilty Plea), contest via mail (Trial by Written Declaration), and have a new trial (Trial de Novo) if they are not happy with the outcome of the first trial? Money. Most courtesy notices hardly mention or do not mention these rights at all. Many courtesy notices from California traffic courts begin, "To avoid the inconvenience and long lines associated with a court appearance... pay the bail amount listed above." The justice system uses its own bureaucratic inefficiency to discourage you from seeking justice. Nice.
"The justice system uses its own bureaucratic inefficiency to discourage you from seeking justice. Nice."
Just like any bureaucracy. This is why customer service will inevitably fail 99.9% of the time in large corporations, why we lose voice in supposed democracies - a bureaucracy, in addition to, or part of (depending on what you believe about bureaucratic theory) it's survival instinct, will also introvert. One could argue that it's human nature to be hostile to those outside their own "tribe" or social group, and in any bureaucracy those that interface with the general public will constantly struggle to percieve a "customer base" as part of the clique, rather than a potentially hostile outsider.
Posted by: NigelMellish at August 25, 2005 8:21 AM