Hello and welcome to the first installment of Wait, What would Mike Do? A series of videos where I am going to explain what I would do in certain situations, and hopefully save you time and money along the way. Today’s topic is Beating a Traffic Violation in California, whether it be for speeding, no seat belt, driving while on the phone, or if your like me, driving in the carpool lane solo. I am currently fighting this case and the fine was 446 dollars! I am doing my best to get it back.
Before you dish out hundreds of dollars in fines, hire an attorney or go to traffic school you may want to consider another option; fighting the ticket in court. This is easier than it sounds, and can save you money in two ways. The first is the most obvious; you won’t have to pay the fine if you win but the second way you save money is on your car insurance premiums. California is notorious for high car insurance premiums and a conviction on your record will increase your insurance by an average of $250 per year for three to five years. We don’t want that, and I made this video to teach you how to beat the system, and keep your record clean.
First I would like to give you a brief overview of traffic violations in California. Millions of tickets are given out each year and in California alone the fines for traffic violations exceed at least a billion dollars a year. 99% of the people given citations bend over, hold there ankles and pay the fine, because they would rather do that than lose a day or two of work. What most people don’t know and what the courts try to hide from its citizens is that you can contest your ticket by mail without making a single court appearance.
Yes you heard me right, you don’t even have to show up in court for your first trial, you can do it all by mail. And even if you are found guilty, you can request a new trial to have your case heard again. There is even a way to change the location of the trial, giving you more of a chance to win your case. We’ll get into that later, but first I will explain how you can contest your ticket without stepping into a courthouse.
You can do this by pleading not guilty by mail. Under section 40519(b) of the Vehicle Code, a defendant is entitled to enter a not guilty plea in writing instead of appearing in person in front of a judge. This option allows you to mail a letter to the court pleading not guilty to the charge against you. In this letter, you can request a Trial by Written Declaration, allowing you to contest your citation entirely by mail.
Submitting a Written Not Guilty plea is your legal right (under 40519b), but there is no state approved form for this plea. I can think of a billion reasons why the state of California would try to make this as hard as possible. Don’t worry though, if you go to the links provided below in the description box, I provided a template that can be use to plead not guilty by mail.
Now, in this initial letter that is sent to the court, you can request what kind of trial you want. You have two options: a court trial or a trial by mail with written declaration, this is the smartest and easiest way to go.
You see, with a court trial you only get one shot, and you have to appear in front of the judge, who will most likely side with an officer, since they are playing on the same team. In addition to that, the court trials are usually on an officer off duty hours, and the officer gets paid double his normal wages just for showing up for half an hour. Combine that with the free donuts and coffee, and your almost guaranteed to have your officer show up to the trial, and you’ll most likely lose your case.
Compare that with the other option: trail by mail with a written declaration. This is the preferred option if you want to win the case and get your money back. When you request a trial by mail, the court will send you a (TR-205) form, also called a Trial by Written Declaration form. The court will give you a deadline to fill this form out, usually three to four weeks, In the written declaration, you can give testimony and present evidence (pictures, diagrams, etc.) to support your case. The officer who cited you will also have the same deadline by which to complete a written declaration describing his side of the story. If the officer does not turn in his declaration on time, your case is DISMISSED and your bail is returned
The reason that this is the best chance of success is because most officers are lazy, and don’t want to fill out paperwork, and on top of all that they don’t get paid extra for it. This is why around 30% of people who fight there cases get there money back, just for mailing it a form in.
For people who weren’t so lucky and were found guilty, don’t worry, you still have hope!
In my next video, I’m going to talk about how to get a “trial de novo”: which in english means a new trial and a second chance of winning your case.
Welcome, this video is for the people who were found guilty with their first trial by written declaration and still want to get their money back. The last option you have after trial by written declaration is requesting a trial de novo, which basically means a new trial.
You can do this by submitting a form called a TR-220 (Request for Trial de Novo) to the court postmarked within 20 days of the mailing date of your guilty verdict. This form should be included with your verdict letter, but if it wasn’t visit the link in the description box below to download one for free.
By exercising this legal right to a second trial, you gain a couple of advantages. First, if the officer doesn’t show up, your case is dismissed and you get your money back. And secondly, by the time you get your trial date, it will be anywhere from 5 to 8 months after your citation, depending what city you live in. Personally, I got my ticket in Los Angeles, and my trial is set about 10 months after my citation as given.
This means that the officer that gave you that ticket months ago will probably not remember specific details, and if you can present your evidence in a detailed way you have a good shot at winning. Worst case scenario, you are found guilty but if the judge has any empathy he or she might reduce the fine. Either way you fought the system and hopefully will encourage others to do the same. Imagine if one out of every four tickets were contested, instead of one out of every hundred?
That’s it for today, and remember to go to subscribe to my channel and visit the links below for more information.
Later
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