Feb 08 2012

NYC Traffic Tickets — Ways to Get out of Them

Beating NYC traffic tickets is a process that requires great skill and expertise. It is useful to use a lawyer to beat traffic tickets in NYC for you. There are many special challenges involved in trying to get your NYC traffic ticket dismissed that make NYC traffic court much different from other courts in NYS. A qualified and competent traffic attorney can help you a great deal in prevailing in NYC traffic court.

NYS is much different in most other places, then NYC in terms of fighting a traffic ticket charge. There are certain procedural differences in NYC that hurt a motorist’s chance of escaping unharmed from traffic court. There is NO PLEA BARGAINING IN NYC TRAFFIC COURT. So, for instance if you are charged with going through a stop sign, it is common in upstate for the judge to reduce your ticket to a parking ticket if it is your first offense and your license is clean. Whereas, in NYC it is either win or lose.

NYC has other differences from other parts of New York State in terms of traffic court. Rules of evidence are relaxed and that helps the police in NYC prove their case. All a policeman in NYC has to do is merely state that his radar was working and in use and does not need to produce any radar documenation. Also in other parts of NYS, the CPL is the proceural code used to conduct hearings and the CPL provides a lot of protections to the persion charged with an offense. In contrast, in NYC, there is a special adminstrative procedure that is contained in DMV rules that is civil in nature and does not protect the motorist much.

A competent an experienced traffic court lawyer can help a motorist prevail in NYC Department of Motor Vehicle traffic court. This is vital to win the ticket at trial. It is very hard for a motorist to walk in and just prevail at trial.

NYC administrative adjudications of traffic matters require different skill then do tickets heard upstate. A qualified NYC traffic attorney is vital to prevailing in this tribunal.

Nov 07 2011

Beat A NYC Passing a School Bus Ticket

It is vital to use a lawyer to beat any traffic ticket you receive from police in NYC. This article discusses how a competent NYC traffic attorney can help you dismiss a NYC passing a school bus ticket.

Before we get into how to beat a NYC passing a school bus violation, let’s examine the differences between NYC traffic court and traffic court in other parts of NYS. In our example, Westchester represents the rest of NYS and Manhattan represents NYC.

If you get a passing a school bus summons in Westchester, the court prosecutor or at the very least the judge or the police man or woman who wrote the ticket can plea bargain with you. However, in Manhattan, there is no plea bargaining allowed. That means that in Westchester you can often plea bargain a passing a school bus ticket to a lesser offense if you’re driving record is good. Whereas, in NYC, even if your driving record is perfect, you must go to a hearing and if you lose, you get the full penalty under the law. On top of the basic penalties and fines, three passing a school bus tickets result in a mandatory 6 month license revocation which means that even if he judge can’t help you if he or she wanted to on your third such ticket.

The result will be a fine and 5 points on your driver’s license. Further, your insurance premium will almost certainly go higher from a passing a school bus violation. Remember, in Westchester, none of this would have happened because you could plea bargain the case. Perhaps a few points but a lesser offense and a lower fine.

Moreover, the procedure and evidence rules in NYC are far more generous to the police then to the motorist when compared to other parts of NYS. In NYC, special DMV administrative procedures are applied to traffic court proceedings, the judge is an employee of the DMV and the evidence rules are much more relaxed, which benefits the police. The police burden of proof in New York City is also clear and convincing evidence which is 51% (or just a little more believable that you passed a school bus then didn’t). In the rest of the state, the burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, which greatly favors the motorist.

What can a lawyer do for you? Quite simply, a competent and experienced NYC traffic court lawyer is your best defense in beating a NYC passing a school bus ticket.

A lawyer knows the elements involved in the People’s case. Meaning, those things that the PO must say in order to get a motorist found guilty. If the PO makes a mistake, then the lawyer can vigorously move to dismiss the charge. Some of the elements that the officer must prove involving a NYC passing a school bus ticket are 1. There was a duly registered school bus (with proper school bus paint) having its stop sign deployed actively engaging in the pick up or discharge of children; 2. The motorist passed the school bus with its stop sign without coming to a complete stop and waiting for the bus to conclude its business; 3. An accurate description of the roadways involved; 4. A description of the weather; 5. Proper ID of the motorist through a state issued motorist id card, i.e., driver’s license, 6. No emergency vehicles or other police or enforcement officers instructing the motorist to go past the bus for safety reasons, etc.

It is imperative to hire a NYC traffic lawyer to dismiss your NYC passing a school bus ticket. Most passing a school bus tickets are generally dismissed by a competent NYC traffic ticket attorney.