Why You Should Contest Traffic Tickets And Points
Of all the run-ins you could potentially have with police, traffic tickets seem to be the least worrisome. It’s true that most traffic offenses aren’t crimes, but they are not as harmless as you may think.
Each traffic ticket comes with a fine, and most will add points to your driving record. If you accumulate too many points or accumulate them too quickly, you may face higher insurance rates and even license suspension. While one ticket can increase your rates, multiple traffic tickets can lead to a loss of coverage. For these reasons and more, it is worth the time and money to contest traffic violations.
At the Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center, we’re here to provide legal help to all drivers. Our traffic attorney can help you fight speeding tickets and other traffic citations and keep your driving record as clean as possible. We represent traffic ticket clients throughout the Kansas City metro area.
Practice Areas
DWI DEFENSE
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
SEX CRIMES
DRUG CRIMES
ASSAULT & VIOLENT CRIMES
BURGLARY & STEALING
TRAFFIC TICKETS & POINTS
EXPUNGEMENTS
Common Violations And Citations
Here is a partial list of the offenses we can help you mitigate:
- Speeding
- Speeding in a construction/work/school zone
- Driving without a valid license
- Driving on a suspended license
- Reckless driving
- Running a red light
- Running a stop sign
- Other moving violations
- Failure to wear a seat belt
- Failure to use child safety restraints/booster seat
- Vehicle maintenance violations
- Expired registration
- Driving without insurance
Taking And Keeping The Points Off
Points on your driving record can add up quickly. You can accrue them for traffic tickets, the offenses mentioned above, or for more serious offenses like DWI lawyers in KC Mo.
Points related to traffic violations can lead to suspension or revocation of your license if:
- You accumulate eight points within 18 months (30-day suspension for a first offense, 60- and 90-day suspensions for subsequent offenses)
- You accumulate 12 points within 12 months (one-year revocation)
- You accumulate 18 points within 24 months (one-year revocation)
- You accumulate 24 points within 36 months (one-year revocation)
When you contact our firm, our traffic ticket attorney may be able to help you avoid points or get them removed. However, it is essential to reach out to our lawyer shortly after receiving a traffic ticket or citation.
Call Us To Discuss Your Traffic Tickets And Points In A Free Consultation
The Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center is located in Belton and serves clients throughout the Kansas City metro area. To discuss your legal options with a traffic lawyer in a free initial consultation, call us at 816-205-4125 or fill out our online contact form.
When to Consult With a Traffic Lawyer in Kansas City
There’s nothing that can make your heart drop like the sudden sound of sirens paired with blinking lights in your rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, moving violations are all too common, and they can happen to anyone. Even the best drivers can miss a change in the speed limit, forget to turn their lights on at sunset, or overestimate the length of yellow light. In some cases, a driver with a spotless record can be pulled over and get a traffic ticket for a mistake that he or she didn’t actually make.
Although most traffic offenses aren’t crimes, they’re not as harmless as you may think. Regardless of why or how they received the traffic ticket, many Kansas City drivers choose to simply pay the fine and resume their regular driving habits. However, that is not always the best course of action following a traffic ticket.
Traffic Lawyer in Kansas City MO
If you have been cited for a moving violation, you should always consult with a traffic law firm and an attorney before making any decisions. Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may have options. A traffic lawyer has the skills and experience needed to help you explore and weigh each of them to secure the best possible outcome and limit potential penalties.
Our KC traffic lawyer is here to help you defend your rights and help to avoid traffic ticket penalties. Read on to learn more about how legal services and representation from the Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center can help if you or a loved one are facing a moving violation.
Why Hire Our Kansas City Traffic Lawyers?
Having a traffic violation on your record can impact your driving record, lead to expensive fines, and cause an increase in your insurance rates. We’re here to help mitigate these penalties so you can move on with your life and get back on the road.
Kansas City Traffic Attorney Benefits
Here are some ways our law firm and a traffic lawyer can help you limit the legal consequences resulting from a traffic violation:
- Consultation: Our attorney can listen to the facts of your situation, evaluate your legal position, and offer you the advantages and disadvantages of a number of alternate strategies.
- Negotiation: Our attorney can utilize his or hers ability and experience to negotiate with the prosecutor. Our attorney’s previous relationships with the prosecution and experience with plea bargaining can be handy in reducing your penalties.
- Representation: If you are facing driving while intoxicated (DUI DWI) charges or perhaps a common traffic ticket that might lead to your license being suspended, our attorney has the ability to present an effective defense in court. Prior to your court hearing, we can discuss common defenses to DWI charges and apply the best legal defense to your case.
Cheap KC Traffic Lawyer
When considering whether to hire a traffic lawyer, the cost is a common concern, especially in minor traffic tickets and points cases where the defendant’s primary goal is to reduce ticket fees. In these cases, hiring a ticket lawyer is often worth it. Your attorney fees will likely fall under the cost of the traffic ticket while preventing additional consequences of having a traffic violation on your permanent driving record.
If you are facing more severe charges like DUI DWI or reckless driving, the cost of a traffic lawyer who specializes in DWI defense is more than worth it. These charges can carry significant legal penalties. An experienced attorney can prevent a lengthy jail sentence, driver’s license suspension, and/or criminal charges.
Consulting an attorney for traffic violations is more affordable than you may think. If you are seeking an affordable traffic lawyer in Kansas City, don’t hesitate to contact the dedicated defense team at the Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center. Our traffic lawyer can provide you the legal advice and guidance on how to navigate traffic violation cases.
Speeding Ticket Missouri Consequences
When a Missouri police officer hands you a speeding ticket, you have the option to sign the back of the ticket and mail in the fine and court expenses. By doing so, you are pleading guilty to the MO speeding ticket. However, many drivers don’t realize that even one speeding ticket can affect your life by increasing your insurance rates, affect your employment, as well as your privilege to drive.
Following your guilty plea, the state will apply 2-3 points to your irreversible driving record. These points, even if they do not make you lose your license, will cause your car insurance rates to increase by as much as 22% for 3 years.
If you have a commercial driver’s license (CDL), the repercussions of points might disqualify you from driving for business purposes. Additionally, several small Missouri traffic tickets can cause a license suspension of one year for drivers who have collected eighteen (18) points within an eighteen-month period.
Kansas City Speeding Ticket Fines
In Missouri, the fines for speeding tickets alone can vary from $85 at the bare minimum for driving 1-5 miles per hour above the speed limit. This number can increase significantly depending upon your speed and whether the traffic violation occurred in a construction or a work zone with employees present, peaking at over $400 for a single ticket. In addition, if you are going over 25 mph above the speed limit in Missouri, you have to make a court appearance.
Here is a brief estimate of what you can expect to pay for an uncontested speeding ticket under typical conditions, according to the State of Missouri Fine Collection Center:
- $85 (1-5 mph above the speed limit)
- $99 (6-10 mph above the speed limit)
- $124 (11-15 mph above the speed limit)
- $149 (16-19 mph above the speed limit)
- $224 (20-25 mph above the speed limit)
Missouri also has absolute speed limits that include, for example, 70 mph on rural interstates and 60 mph on interstate highways. A speeding offense is a class B misdemeanor, which means those who are convicted can face a maximum of $1,000 and up to 6 months in jail. But, violating an absolute speed limit usually is a class C misdemeanor. If you are convicted of a class C misdemeanor, you could face up to $750 in fines and up to 15 days of jail time. Your traffic ticket lawyer can review your case and help you figure out what you are up against.
You don’t need a ticket attorney in Kansas City, Missouri after every traffic offense. However, having one can’t hurt your case. Our traffic attorneys understand that traffic offenses could lead to points on your license or a suspended driver’s license. Reach out to a traffic attorney who will fight to keep your driving privileges intact.
A skilled traffic ticket lawyer such as those at the Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center can help. A speeding ticket attorney can try to reduce your ticket penalties and have your ticket amended to a non-moving violation that will not be recorded on your driving history. That way, you can avoid points that go along with a speeding ticket.
Points on License MO
As mentioned above, another potential consequence of a Missouri speeding ticket is accumulating points on your license. Missouri utilizes a point system to identify the suspension and cancellation of driving privileges within the state. The Department of Revenue applies points to your record when it gets the notification that you were found guilty of a moving infraction, including a speeding ticket.
How Many Points Is a Speeding Ticket in MO?
The number of points applied to your license for a speeding ticket depends on the type of speeding offense that the ticket was issued for. A conviction for speeding in infraction of local law will result in 2 points being applied to your license, while a conviction for speeding in infraction of state law will result in 3 points being applied to your license.
Missouri Speeding Ticket Points Consequences
Although your first speeding ticket will not likely result in a revocation or suspension of your driving privileges, these points can accumulate from repeat offenses.
Once your license has accumulated too many points, you lose your license for a defined time. With 8 points in 18 months, your license is suspended for one month. The 2nd time this takes place, you lose it for 60 days, and the 3rd time, you lose it for 90 days. Your license is suspended for a year if you acquire 12 points in 12 months, 18 points in 24 months, or 24 points in 36 months.
In addition to license suspension, you will need to get high-risk insurance coverage, such as SR-22. And of course, a suspended license complicates your life. You still need to get around, but driving while suspended is illegal, and if caught, you may require a criminal defense. Driving while suspended (DWS) or driving while revoked (DWR) is a moving violation that carries severe consequences. A conviction for DWS/DWR in Kansas carries minimum mandatory jail time of five consecutive days. In addition, your driver’s license can be suspended for an additional 90 days or more. In Missouri, the state will suspend your license for 12 months, even on a first offense.
You may be wondering, “How do I get my license back?”. Thankfully, speeding ticket points won’t keep you off the road forever. In Missouri, driver’s license points remain on the record for 3 years. If you reach one year with no new points on your license, the points will drop by one-third. After 2 years with no additional points, the points are reduced by half. Once you have reached 3 years with no new points, you will no longer have points on your record.
Although points are not permanent, they can significantly impact your ability to drive and your sense of autonomy for several years, putting a major hold on your life. This is why our traffic attorneys work tirelessly to ensure that no points are applied to your license at all.
How Long Does a Speeding Ticket Stay on Your Driving Record?
Typically, convictions for traffic tickets can be removed from an individual’s driving record three years after the conviction. But, if the conviction resulted in the suspension of driving privileges because of the accumulation of points, five years have to pass from the reinstatement date before the driver can remove that conviction from their record. However, bear in mind these conditions only apply to some convictions, and the exact time that has to pass before convictions for traffic tickets can be removed from the record can differ depending on the type of violation.
A skilled traffic ticket attorney could try to get your speeding ticket amended so it wouldn’t go on your driving record and may even succeed in reducing the charges.
Fix Speeding Ticket Missouri
Upon being issued a speeding ticket, many people choose to merely pay the speeding ticket. They accept the points on their license, whether they believe the ticket was properly issued or not, possibly not understanding that there are many methods to eliminate a speeding ticket. In fact, working with a speeding ticket lawyer to fix your Missouri speeding ticket is much easier and more affordable than potential clients may believe.
If you get a traffic ticket in Kansas City, Missouri, contact Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center. Our traffic lawyer can provide you advice, information, and legal help to fight your traffic violation successfully.
When to Hire a Missouri Speeding Ticket Lawyer
Although speeding tickets (along with most traffic law) are a civil infraction and not a criminal charge, the prosecutor must be able to show that you really breached the law. There are a variety of methods that a traffic lawyer can use to call that evidence into question.
Kansas City Speeding Ticket Lawyer
First, your attorney can argue that the apprehending officer mistook you as a speeding motorist if you and the driver had a similar-looking vehicle. Second, the officer’s evaluation of your speed might have been incorrect. Probably the most effective way to fight speeding tickets is that your lawyer attacks the method of speed determination. The prosecutor will need to show that the evaluation was precise and/or that the speed measurement device was effectively operating at the moment it was utilized.
Alternatively, you might have had a lawfully legitimate reason for driving beyond the speed limit, such as attempting to prevent a collision or tending to an emergency situation.
Should I Hire an Attorney for a Speeding Ticket?
Usually, just providing such premises to the prosecutor can lead to the ticket being dropped. Let our traffic lawyer do the work for you. Prior to going to court, your attorney will analyze all of the factors of your case to choose the right traffic ticket defense strategy for your situation.
The bottom line is this: hiring a Kansas City traffic ticket attorney increases your chances of beating your speeding ticket significantly. It may be tempting to fight the ticket on your own or simply accept the consequences by pleading guilty. But working with an attorney who has extensive knowledge on Kansas City’s speeding ticket laws and procedures can help you achieve the best possible outcome for your case.
Kansas City Traffic Court
Hiring a traffic lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri, comes in handy, especially when you are asked to appear in court. If you have been accused of committing serious moving violations, such as DWI, you will likely be required to attend a traffic court hearing at the Kansas City Municipal Court instead of having the option to simply pay a fine. Handling a traffic ticket in court is not a fun experience, especially if you haven’t hired a lawyer. It could cost you your driver’s license, hundreds of dollars in fines, as well as your freedom.
You will know whether your case is non-payable if there is no fine listed on your ticket. Likewise, if you choose to contest your traffic ticket in court, this is where your case will be handled.
Missouri Speeding Ticket Court Appearance
If you choose to take your speeding ticket to court, you can find your court date, time, and courtroom at the top of your ticket as well as on the summons that is sent to you in the mail.
Keep in mind that if you pay the fine for the traffic ticket, you are pleading guilty to the moving violation. In that case, you will not be required to attend the court appearance noted on your citation. If you do not pay the fine before your court date, you are legally required to appear. Failure to do so will result in a warrant for your arrest.
Should I Attend Kansas City Missouri Traffic Court?
It’s important to note that the Missouri DWI & Criminal Law Center does not advise that you just pay the ticket, regardless of how small the infraction may appear. Instead, it is always wise to work with a traffic lawyer Kansas City to see how they can help you achieve a better outcome. In many cases, this will involve attending your court hearing. The defense strategy your traffic lawyer has will usually result in reduced penalties. If you want to have your traffic ticket fines reduced, our traffic lawyer knows how to work it out for you. Contact us today by phone, email, or website for effective representation.
