I plan to contest a traffic ticket, but what are my chances of winning. Can you help?

Question

Yesterday, I was summonsed for a supposed seatbelt violation, and issued a $70 fine. The officer told me I was driving illegally because I had 6 people in a 5 passenger car. We were all buckled however, my 7 yr. old nephew was double buckled in the front passenger seat w/ my aunt. The officer did say this was unsafe (which I understand) but DID NOT state this as the reason for my ticket. I had my nephew move to the back w/ his 3 siblings, and double buckle, but the officer said I would still be driving illegally, and should go straight home. I know nothing about a law that says you can have only as many passengers as available individual seatbelts. He marked on the ticket that it was a seatbelt violation of "Psgr > or = 18 yoa." What's that got to do w/ what he told me I had done wrong? Here in Maine, the law states, "...the requirements do not apply to a passenger over 1 yr. of age when the # of pass. exceeds the veh. seat. capacity & all seatbelts are in use." Do I have a chance?

Answer 1

very good at wining. my friend fought 5 tickets over a 3 year period of time and won 3

Answer 2

OK first thing you do is ask to have the trial date postponed. Say you'll be out of town on business or you need more time to prepare for the case. They will give you a new date 9 outta 10 times. This gives the cop more opportunity to forget your case! Secondly, study the law on line or with a lawyer. Thirdly study the law for people riding in an open pick up truck for comparison in court. In some states it's legal to ride in an open pickup- MUCH more dangerous! 4th- get a copy of your driving record from your DMV/MVA if it's clean to show the Judge.If the law says your guilty PLEA that way with an explanation. ex- "your honor, while ignorance isn't a legal defense, I truly thought I was obeying the law by having ALL of the occupants belted, we have no other vehicle that would accommodate us that day and it's safer than having people riding loosely in the back of a pick up truck which IS legal!" Usually if you act humble, and are expedient and have a clean record the judge will be lenient with you.

Answer 3

If I'm not mistaking, the federal seatbelt law states that passengers in the front seat must be individually restrained at all times. In the rear seat, all passengers under 18 years of age must be individually restrained at all times.

So, even though you were within the correct with your state law, it may be the federal safety law that has to be contested.

Answer 4

You have a chance, depending on the judge. You will be able to show the judge that you did intend to comply with the law, in that you did have your nephew secured in a seat belt.

The intent of the law is to save lives by making people wear seat belts. You attempted to comply with the law, and honestly believed you had. This will be heavily considered by the judge, since you wasn't attempting to ignore or not comply with the law. Let the judge know what you believed and why, based upon the way the law is written, you thought this was acceptable. He well may rule that the law was not clear enough to be conclusive.

As you stated in your question, you understood the law to allow this use to be acceptable. From there, it is up to the judge.

Answer 5

The general rule is that you should leave about 2 seconds of distance between you and the car in front of you. 35mph is about 51 ft/sec. I have to agree with the officer, that you were following too close. Are you sure you were 4 feet from his bumper at 35 mph? You should look up the section of the vehicle code he charged you with and find out if it carries any points. That being said, I encourage you to plead not guilty and show up for court. The officer will probably be there, and if you are respectful, he might cut you a break. Perhaps he will agree to let you pay the fine without getting the points on your driver's license. In this case, I think that's what you should shoot for. "we were obviously near a stoplight but there was no reason for the person in front of me to stop since it was green and I barely was behind him." Accidents happen when drivers stop unexpectedly, and it's almost always ruled as the driver who rear ended the stopped car's fault. One month ago I totaled my car because somebody in front of me stopped at the end of a merge ramp to a major highway. There was no reason for her to stop, but it was ruled my fault because I didn't have control of my vehicle. They didn't give me a ticket, but my insurance had to pay for the damage to the other vehicle. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

Answer 6

I think that depends more on the city and state (vs. your specific case). Here in NYC, I was at traffic court and saw a lawyer "prove" that the HWY police could not have followed procedures (and therefore the ticket should be dismissed). But yet the lawyer (and his client) lost.

As soon as the judged asked "will that be all?" he pronounced "GUILTY" without even taking a second to think about it.

It seemed like the judge was more of "Guilty as charged" sounding robot than a judge. But that's NYC.

Answer 7

You have about a 50/50 chance but if you appeal your insurance would not rise because of the ticket. But you would probably be required to do a little bit of community service.

Answer 8

you have a very good chance of winning. Dress nice, be respectful to the judge, wait your turn, and have your case written down, pics of the car, and you have already quoted the law perfectly. I'd say your chances are very very good, maybe 70-80%

Answer 9

I think you're missing the point here.

The police officer gave you the ticket because ou did a dumb thing.

If you had had a accident, your 7 year old nephew could ave been crushed to death by the weight of the adult he was double bucked to.

Don't do it again.

Answer 10

I don't know much about the specific law, but your best chance of getting out of it is if the officer doesn't show up in court. This does happen.