In August, I was shopping in the Strip district, and received a ticket for parking on the sidewalk (my back wheel was slightly over the curb line; the curb line was flush with the street). Since this was a ~$100 ticket, I decided to fight it in traffic court. Here are my observations.
Time to trial: 3 months
Transportation and Parking:My recommendation - take the bus. You will not find street parking downtown, and will need to park in the parking structure next to the courthouse.
Preliminaries:Go to the 2nd floor and check in. They book about 50 people for each time slot (or so it seems), so unless you check in, no one will pull your file to be presented for the judge.
Before you walk into the courtroom, you should do the following:
- Turn off your cell phone.
- Take off your hat.
- Find a seat.
You will be tempted to try to stand in the back because the room looks very full. If you do this, the judge will stop everything and ask you to find a seat.
The Courtroom:
The courtroom looks very much like a waiting area for the DMV. There are rows of seats, and the room will be filled with people. The front of the courtroom is wood panel, and that is where the judge and his police-attired assistant site. There was also a bailiff to keep things in line.
Your trial will be very much like a private conversation with the judge. You wait for your name to be called, and you approach the bench and plead your case. Everyone else is sitting in the chairs behind you. If you speak loudly, everyone else can hear you, but if you speak softly, only the judge will be able to hear what you are saying.
The Outcome:Based on my 2 hours waiting in traffic court, here are my estimations of the possible outcomes of going to traffic court.
- Expired Registration or Emissions Stickers
- 99% chance of dismissal (must have documentation of renewal of registration, etc.)
- Moving Violation (Speeding Ticket)
- 89% chance of waiving of points, must pay full fee
- 10% chance of waiving of points, may have speeding level dropped to a lesser level, resulting in a slightly smaller fine.
- Parking Ticket (sidewalk, hydrant, no parking zone)
- 80% chance that the fine will be reduced by $20 or $30
I've heard that if you have parked in a Handicap spot, or were speeding in a school zone, your chances of having your fees reduced will be lower.
For people with multiple violations at one time (speeding, expired registration, no seat belt, changing lanes in the tunnel), the chances are slim that you will get all of your violations dismissed.
In general:
The judge is not there to evaluate the "buts" of your situation, or the silliness of your ticket. He/She is there to evaluate if you broke the law. It doesn't matter if you were speeding because you were late to work, or couldn't get you registration renewed because you were out of town. Even if the light was yellow when you were in the intersection, the judge is not going to dismiss your ticket.
If you want your ticket dismissed, you need to come prepared with the law. What statutes did you violate? What does the law say, exactly? Did you violate the law? If you did not violate the law, make your argument. Bring props. The judge liked papers and pictures and other random documentation.
