Seattle Traffic Lawyer | We Get Tickets Dismissed

The title of this post is not a lie. And, although we can't guarantee you we can get your Seattle speeding ticket dismissed, we can guarantee that we can exponentially increase your chances of a dismissal (or a reduction to a non-moving violation). I just did it today. Want to hear about it? Okay.

Had a client, we'll call him HC (hypothetical client). He was driving around, minding his own business in Seattle, when he was pulled over by the Seattle cops. They said they clocked him with the radar gun going 10 mph over the posted speed limit. My guy was sure that he wasn't speeding, but was unsure of what to do to contest the ticket. He had a perfect driving record, was proud of it, and didn't want it to be tarnished. So, he did the right thing and called me, a Seattle speeding ticket attorney.

Once he called me and signed up I filed my notice of appearance, requested a contested hearing date, and requested a copy of the officer's statement and radar gun information. If you didn't know, Seattle speeding tickets, almost all of them, are issued based upon the reading of a speed measuring device (SMD). To get the SMD information admitted into court, they have to comply with the rules of evidence. This means having someone certify under oath that that SMDs have been maintained in an appropriate manner and are used in an appropriate manner.

After a week or so I received the discovery from the State, and I began going through my checklist of issues to review for a Seattle speeding ticket (by the way, any good Seattle traffic lawyer is going to have a list - helps us to not forget anything). One of the primary concerns on the list when it comes to SMDs is to make sure all of the procedural hoops have been jumped through to ensure it can be admitted into evidence. If those procedural hoops have not been jumped through then the radar evidence is inadmissible, and assuming you didn't tell the cop you were speeding, you will get your Seattle speeding ticket dismissed.

If you get a speeding ticket in Seattle or any other kind of traffic infraction in Seattle, I'd highly recommend fighting it, even if you decide you don't want to hire a traffic attorney. Just put your thinking cap on, review the law, see what the prosecutor must prove to beat you, and see if that information is in the officer's statement. If it isn't, you can probably beat your speeding ticket.

Oh, and one other thing while I'm here so you don't get freaked out when you contest your Seattle speeding ticket. Many times there is no prosecutor in the building when you have your contested hearing. This is normal. Whoever is in charge of prosecutors has simply decided they don't want to waste their time paying someone to fight these contested traffic tickets. This is good because there is no one contesting what you are saying, no one advocating for the cops. It's just you and the judge. I think this always means you have the upper hand.

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Seattle Traffic Lawyer | Don't Believe the Hype

Seattle Traffic Lawyer | Don't Believe the Hype

If you google Seattle traffic lawyer you will find a laundry list of traffic lawyer websites out there touting their success rates and how good they are at fighting Seattle speeding tickets. You will read information about how hiring a good traffic attorney can help you win your case. And, you will probably read testimonials from former clients gushing about how this attorney helped get them out of a ticket they were sure they were stuck with.

Well, don't believe the hype. And learn how to differentiate the hype from the truth, because all of it isn't hype. Some of it is true.

For one, hiring a good Seattle traffic lawyer can substantially improve the chances that you get out of a traffic ticket - probably by 50% or more. But it isn't because they know any inside secrets or because they are buddies with the judge. Most of the time it is because the officer made mistakes when citing you - either procedurally (not signing in the right place) or substantively (he can't prove an essential element). Whatever the case may be, Seattle traffic lawyers do the same thing all other lawyers do - look at the facts, make sure the procedures were followed, and make the best argument available for their client.

But touting success rates is hype. The testimonials are hype. Why? Because your case is not their case. If everything is done right, it may still be extremely difficult to beat your Seattle traffic ticket. That is just the way it is. If you speed, you are taking the chance of having to pay for it. If you make an improper turn, you are taking the chance of having to pay for it. We, as Seattle traffic attorneys, can do our best, but we are not miracle workers.

So, next time you get a Seattle speeding ticket, definitely give us a call. We will work tirelessly to get your traffic ticket dismissed. But we can't guarantee anything. And every case is different, so what happened in the past doesn't matter. All we can tell you is that we are good, and we will fight for you.

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Seattle Traffic Lawyer | Speeding Tickets and Insurance

Seattle Traffic Lawyer | Speeding Tickets and Insurance

Let me guess. You are reading this Seattle Traffic Lawyer Blog post because you just got a Seattle speeding ticket and you want to try to beat it or at least find out exactly how much your insurance rates are going to go up the next time you renew your insurance. If you are doing the research, then good for you. At least you are concerned about your Washington driving record enough to look into how a Seattle traffic citation can affect your wallet.

For starters, Washington State doesn't really have a "point" system like many other states. A Seattle speeding ticket doesn't carry a certain number of points, and neither does a ticket for running a red light. Instead, the State of Washington just has a set of rules they follow for determining when your license is affected by traffic violations. You get a certain number of violations, you face certain consequences.

First, if you receive five moving violations (a moving violation takes place while the car is moving - speeding, reckless driving, negligent driving, etc. are moving violations) in a years time period, you are placed on probation with the Department of Licensing. This will definitely raise a red flag with your insurance company. To take care of this situation you should hire a Seattle traffic lawyer to either get the citations reduced to non-moving violations or get them dismissed altogether (if possible). What you shouldn't do is just go in and plead guilty to a bunch of tickets. That just isn't smart.

Second, if you receive six or more moving violations within a year, your license is suspended for a period of time. Bottom line - don't get six moving violations within a year (and I think a year lasts from today back a year - so, for example, if you had 6 speeding tickets from last July 20 to this July 20, that would make you eligible for license suspension). Again, don't get cited with this many traffic violations. If you do, Hire a Seattle speeding ticket lawyer to help you out.

By the way, these are both going to hurt your insurance rates - to what effect depends a bit on your provider, your demographic (age, sex, etc.) and probably some other random factors that insurance companies think reflect on people's driving abilities (education, etc.). In any event, it is a pretty safe bet that the more moving violations you get (non-moving violations typically aren't counted toward a driving record for purposes of insurance), the higher your insurance rates will go.

Don't be that person that has to pay for Seattle traffic tickets if you don't have to. Hire a Seattle traffic lawyer today to help.

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Seattle Traffic Lawyer | Field Sobriety Tests

The most disheartening thing to see as a Seattle traffic lawyer when a client walks into the door is that they didn't do everything they could to exercise their rights and take advantage of their rights to create the best situation possible for them to beat their Seattle DUI. And one of the areas where I see this time and time again is consenting to field sobriety tests.

If you didn't know already (and there is no real reason you should know, unless, of course, you have friends or relatives that are DUI attorneys), you don't have to take field sobriety tests in Washington State.

The reason for this is fairly straightforward: we all have Constitutional rights, one of which is the right not to incriminate ourselves. Field sobriety tests are given for the sole reason of proving we are too drunk to drive (even though they don't really do that). So, if you decide to refuse them, it shouldn't be held against you in court.

And to think to yourself, "I'll take these field sobriety tests and prove to the police how sober I am" is, to say it bluntly, stupid. Let me put it to you this way, we are seasoned Seattle traffic lawyers and I would never, under any circumstances, take field sobriety tests. All they do is dig whatever hole you are already in deeper. The police are looking for reasons to write down in their report to back up their belief that you were drunk, and they'll see that when you are doing your field sobriety tests.

If you are ever charged with a DUI in the Seattle area, don't wait until you are arrested to assert your rights. Right when you think you are in trouble (about the time the officer asks you to do field sobriety tests), immediately ask (nicely) to speak with your Seattle traffic attorney. It can mean the difference between beating your DUI, significantly reducing your DUI to something much easier to deal with, and being convicted of DUI.

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Seattle Traffc Lawyer | You Can't Be Too Careful

I am a Seattle traffic lawyer. Most of the clients that come my way have a typical story. They got off work (or don't work) and were having a couple of frosty beverages to unwind at the local pub. They got in their car to drive home, had a broken tail light, expired tags, didn't use a turn signal, were doing their usual speeding, or some other minor traffic violation, and got pulled over by the Seattle police who, with nothing better to do, went full scale DUI investigation on you until they got enough information to haul you down to the station for a breath test.

But sometimes fate jumps up and bites you in the ass and you can't do anything about it. I was just reading about Dante Stallworth, the NFL receiver, formerly with the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles, who recently signed with the Cleveland Browns, and his story is one of those that scares anyone who reads it. From what I understand, Stallworth, after a night of at least some drinking, was driving home, minding his own business (although he may have been speeding at the time), and hit and killed a 59 year old man. I may be incorrect on this, but from what I understand the man was not in a cross walk and walked out into a major street late at night. Whether Stallworth would have seen the guy had he not had anything to drink is anyone's guess. But these type of situations that are out of your control are the one's that keep me up at night as a Seattle traffic lawyer.

And his attorney, whether a hardened Seattle DUI lawyer or a newly minted public defender, is going to have a hard time presenting this case to a jury because of the sympathy that is going to be afforded to the deceased (I'm not saying this is a good or a bad thing - I'm speaking strictly from a trial strategy point of view).

When the prosecutor tries to put the victim's family member on to talk about what a great guy he was and how he always followed traffic laws and the like, it is going to be a tough sell (although I have seen some great Seattle criminal lawyers take a case like this and do well with it - they do have the fact that it was extremely late at night and they guy was walking into a street with a car coming right at him - and I don't know what the victim's toxicology screen looked like, but it is possible that he had had a night of drinking himself).

A story published today here said that Stallworth entered a plea of not guilty (normal at this stage in the proceedings, even if he is going to enter a plea agreement with the state). We'll have to see how things turn out. But remember, there are many things out there you can't control (have you ever heard about the guy that got the Seattle DUI after someone ran a red light and crashed into him? It happens), and sometimes you just have to be lucky.

Thanks for reading the Seattle Traffic Lawyer Blog. Come back soon.

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