Three Reasons To Hire A Traffic Attorney To Represent You
Traffic attorneys represent clients with violations such as excessive speeding, driving without a license, DUI, and reckless driving. If you find yourself in any of these situations, it may be worthwhile to hire an attorney to represent you, especially if this isn't your first offense. These types of violations often result in having your license suspended or revoked and most often your insurance rates will increase. If you receive a traffic violation, here are three reasons to hire an experienced traffic law attorney.
Helps Reduce Charges
An experienced attorney knows traffic law and can come up with strategies in your favor to get your charges reduced. For example, people often plead guilty to traffic tickets without realizing that entering a guilty plea results in a recorded conviction on their record. Your attorney may be able to argue on your behalf to have the charges reduced and keep the conviction off of your record. For example, if you have a relatively clean driving record, your attorney can argue for driving school, which upon successful completion would remove the conviction from your driving record.
Dismiss Points
States commonly use a point system to assess your driving record. In California, for example, drivers receive up to three points for each driving violation, depending on the severity of the infraction. Those who receive four points in 12 months face having their license suspended for six months, along with one year of probation. The points you receive will remain on your driving record for three years for minor violations and up to 10 years for more serious violations. Traffic attorneys have experience handling cases like these and can often lower the amount of points you accumulate, which protects your driving privileges.
Lower Costs
Hiring a traffic attorney may seem like a costly option on the surface. However, more often than not, the opposite is true. The price of a traffic violation doesn't stop at the ticket. States charge additional fees, fines, and surcharges and, depending on the violation, may require you to obtain additional insurance coverage for risky drivers. Plus, a conviction typically results in higher insurance rates. Without an attorney, a traffic violation could end up costing you a few thousand dollars depending on the particular violation.
A traffic law attorney will work to reduce your fines and penalties and lower charges to prevent your insurance rates from rising. So in the grand scheme of things, hiring an attorney can end up costing less than settling the violation on your own.