Traffic Ticket Answers - Las Vegas, Nevada
Originally published on Sunday, June 22, 2008 at ETrafficCitation.com.
In my opinion, the short answer is no. However, see my blog entry dated August 1, 2008 discussing non own traffic citation resolution businesses bidding down assistance of an attorney. I may get better results. With that, your decision as to which traffic citation ticket business in Las Vegas you request assistance gets down to the price you are willing to pay for assistance. Starting at $45.00 at ETrafficCitation.com, or pay the common teaser rate of $75.00 (actual fees are likely to be more).
Generally speaking, traffic citation resolutions services are just for convenience to save you time and money. See discussion below HOW TRAFFIC CITATIONS ARE RESOLVED. Do the math, multiply your hourly rate of pay times the estimated hours you will spend addressing your traffic citation. Be sure to add in your parking (that is if you don’t use the free parking at the hotels near the courts in downtown Las Vegas) and the cost of gas. Considering travel time to and from court, wait time at the court and appearance in court, you could easily spend 4-5 hours.
Be aware of the sales pitch that an attorney can find an error in the traffic citation, and possibly get it dismissed. While I agree that sometimes an error exists in a traffic citation that is so fatal that it is dismissed. But those times are rare, especially with the new computerized citations. This sales pitch is many times conflated to make a sale.
Hearsay says that some courts are inclined to order driving school to people who represent themselves. Generally, when I represent someone, driving school is not in play. By the way this is likely the same for all traffic citation resolution businesses. If a more severe violation is in play such as reckless driving, aggressive driving, etc., driving school will likely be ordered.
HOW TRAFFIC CITATIONS ARE RESOLVED
When I appear for someone on a traffic citation, I generally sit in a room with other attorneys waiting to argue, discuss or negotiate your traffic citation. Depending upon the court I am in, I will speak to a judge, a city attorney, or a district attorney. Sometimes I appear via fax (so do the other businesses). Regardless, the judge or the attorney offers a deal (usually according to a matrix - each jurisdiction has its own) that is for the most part set in stone. For example - speed 1-10 over, the offer is $X.XX and illegal parking (See my June 22, 2008 blog entry regarding demerits vs. violation description). If the attorney does not accept the offer, then the matter is set for trial. Practically speaking, rarely, if ever, will an attorney not accept the offer because it does not make sense to take a 1-10 over speeding citation to trial. The attorney fees to you will likely pay will exceed the fine saved if you win the trial. You get the picture.
If the fines for all violations added to an amount greater than $300.00 I usually ask for 90 days to pay, or request that my client be placed on a payment plan of $100-$150 per month. Most courts allow payment plans. Some court payment plans are more lenient than others. Some courts asses fees for the plans that are astoundingly expensive. I have seen payment plan costs of up to 25% of the fine.
All of this with the usually result of all violations are reduced to illegal parking (a nonmoving violation - you want this because the DMV will not assess demerits), with a fine, and 60 days, 90 days or a payment plan.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
DMV assigns demerits against your license / Violation description goes to you insurance company.
Traffic Ticket Answers - Las Vegas, Nevada
Originally published on Sunday, June 22, 2008 at ETrafficCitation.com.
While 1) demerits against your license and 2) the description of the type of violation (moving vs. nonmoving) reported to your insurance company are related, both are different and serve different purposes.
In Nevada, generally, drivers are allowed to accumulate 12 demerits over a rolling 12 month period. The demerits associated with a conviction for a violation are deleted from the total demerits accumulated after 12 months. However, the description of the type of convictions remain part of your permanent driving record (this is what your insurance company sees). According to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), you should receive a notification by mail from the DMV's Driver License Review Section when you reach 3 or more points. If you have accumulated between 3 and 11 points, you may have 3 points removed by completing a DMV-approved traffic safety course. When you receive 12 or more points in any 12-month period, the DMV will automatically suspend your drivers license for 6 months. FYI - getting caught driving with a suspended license generally comes with an extension of suspension of one year.
A common misnomer is that courts award demerits. In reality, the DMV decides how many points or demerits are allocated for each type of violation. Generally, a driver receives demerits only if they are convicted of a moving violation. This is why we, like any other traffic citation resolution services, argue for a parking citation - a nonmoving violation. Demerits are an administrative function to account for what a court has convicted you of. So courts can convict a driver for reckless driving and assess a fine against him/her (this is where the court duties end); the DMV on the other hand accounts for the reckless driving as 8 demerits.
The description of the violation you were convicted of is what your insurance company is able to obtain. This is why we also, like any other traffic citation resolution services, argue for a parking citation - a nonmoving violation. Insurance companies like to see that their insured drivers receive only parking citations because the citation is not for a moving incident where neither property is damaged, nor are persons inured.
Originally published on Sunday, June 22, 2008 at ETrafficCitation.com.
While 1) demerits against your license and 2) the description of the type of violation (moving vs. nonmoving) reported to your insurance company are related, both are different and serve different purposes.
In Nevada, generally, drivers are allowed to accumulate 12 demerits over a rolling 12 month period. The demerits associated with a conviction for a violation are deleted from the total demerits accumulated after 12 months. However, the description of the type of convictions remain part of your permanent driving record (this is what your insurance company sees). According to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), you should receive a notification by mail from the DMV's Driver License Review Section when you reach 3 or more points. If you have accumulated between 3 and 11 points, you may have 3 points removed by completing a DMV-approved traffic safety course. When you receive 12 or more points in any 12-month period, the DMV will automatically suspend your drivers license for 6 months. FYI - getting caught driving with a suspended license generally comes with an extension of suspension of one year.
A common misnomer is that courts award demerits. In reality, the DMV decides how many points or demerits are allocated for each type of violation. Generally, a driver receives demerits only if they are convicted of a moving violation. This is why we, like any other traffic citation resolution services, argue for a parking citation - a nonmoving violation. Demerits are an administrative function to account for what a court has convicted you of. So courts can convict a driver for reckless driving and assess a fine against him/her (this is where the court duties end); the DMV on the other hand accounts for the reckless driving as 8 demerits.
The description of the violation you were convicted of is what your insurance company is able to obtain. This is why we also, like any other traffic citation resolution services, argue for a parking citation - a nonmoving violation. Insurance companies like to see that their insured drivers receive only parking citations because the citation is not for a moving incident where neither property is damaged, nor are persons inured.
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