Contesting a Traffic Ticket

What a moving violation citation actually is, the difference between an infraction and a traffic misdemeanour, and the procedures - hearing, written defence, traffic school - for answering one.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

A traffic citation is a charge, not a finding. Paying it is a plea of guilty or no contest that goes on the driving record and, in most states, adds points and reaches the driver's insurer. Contesting it means entering a not-guilty plea by the date on the ticket and either appearing for a hearing or, where the state allows it, submitting a written defence. The officer must then establish the violation; if the officer does not appear or the evidence is insufficient, the ticket is dismissed.

Most moving violations are infractions: non-criminal or minor offences carrying a fine, points and sometimes a licence consequence, but no jail. Some driving offences are misdemeanours or worse - reckless driving, driving on a suspended licence, impaired driving, leaving the scene - and those are criminal cases with the rights and consequences that come with them. The distinction decides whether there is a jury, whether counsel will be appointed, and what standard of proof applies; states differ on whether an infraction must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt or by a civil standard, and a few states handle ordinary tickets in an administrative tribunal rather than a court.

Several states let a driver with a clean recent record attend a traffic safety course in exchange for the violation being dismissed or kept off the record, and many courts offer a deferred disposition that dismisses the ticket after a period without further violations. A ticket from another state is not escaped by ignoring it: under interstate compacts most states report convictions to the driver's home state, which treats them as its own, and a failure to appear can produce a suspension at home.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

For an ordinary infraction the question is arithmetic the driver can usually do alone: the fine against the insurance and points consequences of a conviction, and whether traffic school or a deferred disposition is available. A lawyer is worth consulting when the ticket is a misdemeanour, when a conviction would push the record to a suspension, when the driver holds a commercial licence, which forecloses most diversion options, or when the citation came out of a crash that may become a civil claim.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono programme or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state. Each link opens the Traffic Ticket directory page for the city in that state with the most currently published law firms that list this work; where a state has more than one, the others open under it. The list is generated when this page loads, so a state whose listings have lapsed drops out rather than becoming a dead link.

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  +1 other city

  • Montgomery
• Alaska (Anchorage)
• Arizona (Chandler)
  +6 other cities

  • Gilbert
  • Mesa
  • Scottsdale
  • Tucson
  • Glendale
  • Phoenix
• Arkansas (Little Rock)
• California (Chula Vista)
  +19 other cities

  • San Diego
  • Anaheim
  • Oakland
  • Fremont
  • Long Beach
  • Oxnard
  • Los Angeles
  • Modesto
  • Sacramento
  • San Francisco
  • Santa Ana
  • Stockton
  • and 7 smaller
• Colorado (Colorado Springs)
  +2 other cities

  • Aurora
  • Denver
• Connecticut (Bridgeport)
• Delaware (Wilmington)
• District of Columbia (Washington)
• Florida (Jacksonville)
  +5 other cities

  • Orlando
  • St Petersburg
  • Tampa
  • Miami
  • Hialeah
• Georgia (Atlanta)
  +1 other city

  • Savannah
• Hawaii (Honolulu)
• Idaho (Boise)
• Illinois (Chicago)
• Indiana (Indianapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Fort Wayne
• Iowa (Des Moines)
• Kansas (Wichita)
• Kentucky (Lexington)
  +1 other city

  • Louisville
• Louisiana (Baton Rouge)
  +2 other cities

  • New Orleans
  • Shreveport
• Maine (Portland)
• Maryland (Baltimore)
• Massachusetts (Boston)
• Michigan (Detroit)
• Minnesota (Minneapolis)
  +1 other city

  • Saint Paul
• Mississippi (Jackson)
• Missouri (St. Louis)
  +1 other city

  • Kansas City
• Montana (Billings)
• Nebraska (Lincoln)
  +1 other city

  • Omaha
• Nevada (Las Vegas)
  +3 other cities

  • North Las Vegas
  • Henderson
  • Reno
• New Hampshire (Manchester)
• New Jersey (Newark)
  +1 other city

  • Jersey City
• New Mexico (Albuquerque)
• New York (New York City)
  +2 other cities

  • Buffalo
  • Rochester
• North Carolina (Fayetteville)
  +5 other cities

  • Greensboro
  • Charlotte
  • Durham
  • Raleigh
  • Winston-Salem
• North Dakota (Fargo)
• Ohio (Cincinnati)
  +3 other cities

  • Cleveland
  • Columbus
  • Toledo
• Oklahoma (Tulsa)
  +1 other city

  • Oklahoma City
• Oregon (Portland)
• Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
  +1 other city

  • Pittsburgh
• Rhode Island (Providence)
• South Carolina (Columbia)
• South Dakota (Sioux Falls)
• Tennessee (Nashville)
  +1 other city

  • Memphis
• Texas (Garland)
  +12 other cities

  • Dallas
  • Plano
  • Irving
  • Laredo
  • Arlington
  • Austin
  • Corpus Christi
  • Fort Worth
  • San Antonio
  • El Paso
  • Houston
  • Lubbock
• Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Vermont (Burlington)
• Virginia (Chesapeake)
  +3 other cities

  • Norfolk
  • Virginia Beach
  • Richmond
• Washington (Spokane)
  +2 other cities

  • Seattle
  • Tacoma
• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• CDL DisqualificationThe federally defined list of offences that take away a commercial driver's licence - including offences committed in a personal car, and a lower alcohol limit than applies to other drivers.
• Driving Record PointsThe system most states use to score moving violations against a driver's record, with a licence suspension when the total crosses a threshold - and an interstate compact that makes an out-of-state ticket count at home.
• DUI / DWI (Impaired Driving)Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs - a charge that almost always runs as two separate cases at once, one criminal and one over the licence.
• Event Data Recorder (Vehicle Black Box) EvidenceThe crash data a modern vehicle records about itself in the moments before an impact - what the federal standard requires it to capture, who owns it, and who may retrieve it.
• Field Sobriety TestsThe roadside balance, coordination and eye-movement exercises an officer uses to build probable cause for an impaired-driving arrest - usually voluntary, and never the same thing as the chemical test that follows.
• Hours-of-Service Rules (Commercial Trucking)Federal limits on how long a commercial driver may drive and work, and the electronic records that show whether those limits were kept.
• Ignition Interlock DeviceA breath-testing device wired into a vehicle that stops it starting if the driver has been drinking - required by many states after an impaired-driving conviction as a condition of driving at all.
• Implied Consent and Administrative License SuspensionThe rule in every state that by driving you have agreed to a chemical test for alcohol or drugs after a lawful arrest - and the licence suspension that follows a refusal or a failed test, separately from any criminal case.
• Leaving the Scene of an Accident (Hit and Run)The legal duties every state imposes on a driver involved in a crash - to stop, to exchange information and to help anyone hurt - and the separate criminal offence of driving away instead.
• Lemon Law and Warranty RightsRules that entitle a buyer to a refund or replacement when a new vehicle has a defect the manufacturer cannot fix in a reasonable number of attempts.
• Negligent Entrustment (Lending a Vehicle)The claim against a person who lent a car to someone they knew, or should have known, was unfit to drive it - the owner's own negligence, separate from the driver's.
• No-Fault Car InsuranceA system in which your own insurer pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of who caused it - used in a minority of states, and it limits when you can sue.
• Odometer Fraud and the Odometer DisclosureRolling back or replacing an odometer to hide a vehicle's true mileage is a federal offence, and every transfer of a vehicle must come with a written mileage statement the buyer can sue over if it is false.
• Permissive Use (Insurance Follows the Car)Which policy pays when someone drives a borrowed car with the owner's permission - the omnibus clause, the exclusions that defeat it, and the owner-liability statutes some states add.
• Policy LimitsThe maximum an insurance policy will pay - and usually the real ceiling on what a claim is worth, whatever the injury.
• Rideshare Accident Insurance (App Periods)Which insurance applies when a rideshare vehicle is in a crash depends on what the driver's app was doing at that moment - the three periods state transportation network company laws define, and the gap that personal policies leave.
• Salvage and Rebuilt TitlesThe title brands a state applies to a vehicle an insurer has declared a total loss, what a rebuilt brand means, and the federal database built to stop a branded title being washed clean in another state.
• SR-22 and Financial Responsibility FilingsThe certificate an insurer files with the state to prove a high-risk driver is carrying the required liability coverage - what triggers it, why it is not itself insurance, and what happens if the policy behind it lapses.
• Total Loss and Diminished ValueWhat happens when an insurer decides a damaged vehicle is not worth repairing - and the separate claim for a repaired car that is now worth less.
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist CoverageCoverage on your own policy that pays when the driver who hurt you had no insurance, or nowhere near enough - and it is the coverage people most often discover they declined.
• Used Car Buyers Guide (FTC Used Car Rule)The window sticker a dealer must display on every used vehicle offered for sale, stating whether it comes with a dealer warranty or as is - and why the sticker overrides the contract.
• Vehicle Safety RecallA manufacturer's federally supervised obligation to notify owners of a safety defect and fix it free of charge - and the rules on what a dealer may sell with a recall still open.

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