Our Law office defends California Speeding Tickets in Kern County Superior Court: Lamont, Taft, Mojave, Shafter and Delano CA, and in some Los Angeles County Courts. Speeding ticket defense is a highly specialized area of the law and many people not only don't understand the "rules" about how a speeding ticket might affect your driving record, but also how it might affect insurance rates, your job, your ability to drive, to get student loans, your ability to stay in this country, your ability to work in certain professions like nursing, or a myriad of other things like a driver license suspension. A speeding ticket or traffic defense attorney can advise you properly.
We have traffic ticket clients come to our office frequently trying to "fix" mistakes they made when they simply paid a ticket or worked out some kind of "deal" on their own with a court or prosecutor. A prosecutor is not your friend; he is not looking out for your best interest. There are some things we can actually "fix" after the fact, while others, we have to tell our clients they are out of luck, say pleading guilty to Speeding over 100 mph for example.
A Lawyer can help you avoid the headaches. The Court allows lawyers to appear on behalf of their clients, thus avoiding the hassle of having to go to Court at all. This benefit of having an attorney handle the case is a big thing when the speeding ticket is a mandatory appearance in a remote area of California such as Kern County: Lamont, Taft, Shafter, Mojave, Delano, for example.
An attorney is generally able to work something out with a prosecutor in many situations (plea bargain) and that is the threat of litigation. You are probably not a threat to a prosecutor on your own, but if you hire a lawyer who potentially will not only make that prosecutor work to win his case but also make it a real possibility that he could actually lose his case, then a prosecutor is far more likely to either dismiss your case (if he thinks he is not likely to win anyway) or work out a plea bargain. In a recent study, a consumer agency reported that serious speeding ticket convictions, such as speeding over 100 miles per hour can result in an increase of insurance by as much as 100 percent.
Sometimes we can convince a prosecutor to amend a ticket. Many prosecutors will agree to amend certain speeding tickets and other minor violations to non-moving violations as a matter of judicial economy. The idea is that if all defense attorneys were to take their defendant's cases to trial on their speeding tickets, the courts would be so full of trials that not only would more prosecutors and judges have to be hired, but more courthouses have to be built to hear all the trials. As a result, many prosecutors have opted to amend certain types of tickets to make the system run more smoothly and efficiently. The ticket might be amended to defective equipment, defective muffler, or illegal parking, which are considered non-moving violations and should not appear on your driving record. Sometimes a prosecutor will agree to lower the speed written on a speeding ticket to a speed that is not considered a moving violation. Any of these options may accomplish our goal but it is entirely dependant on which state you are licensed in and in which jurisdiction you received the ticket. Call us for more information about your particular ticket.
Examples of Speeding Offenses
Basic Speed Law
Driving at a speed that is Not Safe for Conditions, due to weather, traffic, pedestrians, lighting, road conditions, et cetera.
Maximum Speed Law -- VC 22349(a) or VC 22356(b)
Driving on Freeway in excess of the Posted Maximum Speed Limit,
such as 55, 65 or 70 MPH.
Driving or Speeding in Excess of 100 MPH -- VC22348(b)
Driving on a street, freeway or highway faster than 100 miles per hour. (This offense is a 2 point violation, the same as a reckless driving, and usually will result in a mandatory license suspension by the Court if convicted.). Speeding in excess of 100 will also usually require a mandatory appearance in Court and cannot be cleared by going to traffic school.
Truck Speeding -- VC 22406
Trucks [or vehicles towing a trailer] cannot drive at a speed
in excess 55 MPH.
Special Note Regarding Driver's holding a Commercial License in California.
California no longer allows traffic school for persons holding a commercial license. This applies to individuals cited for violations whether or not you were driving a commercial vehicle at the time of the offense. Because of this new law, it is advisable to fight the ticket to try to avoid the points on your record. This can often be accomplished by hiring an attorney to negotiate a non moving violation.
It should also be noted that a violation ocurring in a Commercial Vehicle is allocated one and a half points by the DMV instead of the usual one point as in a non-commercial violation.
In addtion to speeding ticket violations in Kern County, our Law firm defends other criminal charges in both Kern and Los Angeles counties. For example, DUI, reckless driving, log book violations, exhibition of speed, commercial truck tickets such as overweight, hazmat, and special permit sanctions issued by the CHP and local police at weigh stations and inspection facilities.