Top Kern County Speeding Ticket Attorneys
☎️ Call Matthew Directly at 661-327-7833
Here is the scenario, you are in a hurry to get home in Los Angeles or San Francisco and find yourself passing through the long, desolate Central Valley with a clear road and little traffic. So you push down on the pedal and your speed gets up to the point of being a little excessive. You then look in the mirror and see the dreaded red lights of a CHP cruiser right behind you. You are issued a ticket and given a Court date in Kern County Court. We can help. With over 25 years experience our attorneys know how to resolve your speeding violation, keeping points off your record, saving your license and doing all of it without you needing to drive for hours to appear before a Judge. For over 25 years our attorneys have defended 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.
Call Matt today at 661-327-7833
Legal Question of the Day, If the officer does not show up at the first Court date will the case be dismissed? No, the first appearance on a speeding ticket is known as an arraignment, it is a time to enter a plea only and it is not a trial. If a not guilty plea is entered then a trial date will be set and at that time the officer must appear or the case will be dismissed.
The CHP in Kern County uses various methods to ascertain a driver's speed. For example, radar is the most common and requires an evidentiary foundation before the speed of the suspect vehicle can be admitted in Court. Laser can also be employed but requires the same evidence hurdles that exist for radar use. Another technique is the use of "pacing" whereby the officer places his cruiser behind the suspected speeding driver and observes his own speedometer to gage the exact speed of the car. One more example is "estimating speed". This is very tricky and requires substantial experience and training. The last method is to utilize aircraft and a "spotter" that uses a stopwatch and measure the distance that the vehicle travel between mile markers placed on the highway. Our attorneys are very knowledgeable in the art of contesting all manner of speed violations that exist in the state of California and have obtained countless acquittals, dismissals, reductions and diversions for thousands of clients over the last 25 plus years.
Highest Success Rate!
In one recent case our law firm defended a client pulled over on Interstate 5 for speeding over 100 mph. The CHP officer cited her for VC22348b and gave her a ticket to appear in the Lamont Court for arraignment. The client lived in Los Angeles and did not want to drive to Kern County for the Court date so she called us and we took the case. The attorney went to Court for the client and was able to get the CASE DISMISSED for driving over 100 miles per hour. The results were great because most Judges in Kern County will impose a hefty fine of over $1000.00 and suspend the person's drivers license for 30 days, all of that was avoided!
In another recent case a client called us to handle a commercial truck violation in Kern County. The California Highway Patrol is very strict on truckers on Interstate 5 and Highway 99 and they have saturated enforcement. The client was facing points and heavy fines due to the violations, however the lawyer was able to go to Court and DISMISS ALL CHARGES resulting in no fines, no points and no court appearances!
Kern County Speeding Ticket Attorney Matthew Ruff was called upon to defend a driver charged with speeding at 120 mph in the Mojave Desert in his sports car. The client lived in Los Angeles and did not want to appear in Court. The Law firm set the case for trial and got the CHARGES DROPPED!
Did you know that the date on the ticket you signed is the deadline day to appear and contest the violation. Many folks believe by signing they are admitting guilt, that is not true. It is simply agreeing to appear and handle the citation. If you miss the deadline, do not panic. Our Kern County Speeding Ticket Attorneys can clear the failure to appear and restore your license status for you, in most cases without your involvement. We have over 25 years experience helping people avoid the consequences of a ticket. If you are looking for help understanding your options give us a call.
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.
Many traffic tickets such as driving over 100 can result in the loss of your drivers license, our lawyers have a very high dismissal rate of these charges and reckless driving as well.
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 dependent 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 Common 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.
Downhill Truck Speed, Vehicle Code 22407: This violation typically involves a Big Rig or commercial truck exceeding the posted downhill truck speed on the grapevine of 35 mph.
VC 12500, Driving Without a California License. This offense is either an infraction or a misdemeanor and is very common in cases where a person is living in CA but has not bothered to get a State drivers license. The law requires a person to go to the DMV and get license within a certain number of days upon becoming domiciled in Calif and most CHP officers will write a ticket on this type of situation.
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 occurring 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 addition 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. Our law firm has defended many folks for speeding in excess of 100 mph and obtained dismissals of the charges.
Shafter Traffic Court: Located at 325 central Valley Highway, Shafter California 93263. This Court serves the Interstate 5 freeway and adjudicates all speeding citations involving truck drivers, driving over 100 mph VC22348b violations, reckless driving , driving without a license VC12400 and many other types of offenses. Our lawyers have fought and won 100's of cases in this North Kern County Court and enjoy a very good reputation with the Judges and Court staff.
Arvin Lamont Superior Court, Located at 12022 Main Street, Lamont CA 93241. This Court serves the southern portion of Kern County including the grapevine, Tejon and the Mountain communities of Frazier Park, Pine Mountain Club and adjacent cities of Lake of the Woods and Cuddy Valley areas. This Court is the main Court for commercial violations of downhill truck speed, overweight violations, hazmat tickets and other citations such as exceeding one hundred miles per hour, VC22348b. Matthew and his team have had tremendous success fighting and beating all traffic offenses in this locale.
Question: Does Your Law Firm Defend Motor Carriers on Permit Violations? Yes, our attorneys handle all misdemeanor and other vehucle code violations for permit violations in Kern County. Recently, we represented a Trucking Company in the midwest that was being charged with VC 40001(A) Unlawful Operation on Highway, and VC34620(A) Operating a commerical vehicle without identification/registration. These citations were filed directly against the owner of the company. Our attorneys fought the charges in the Lamont Court and was able to get the case dismissed.
How Do You Beat A Speeding Ticket in Kern County?
1. Do not think you are smarter than the cop that wrote the ticket. Most officers are trained to testify in Court and have done so over a hundred or more times and can anticipate the tricks most people are taught to advance in their case.
2. Hire a Local Lawyer. The bottom line is the attorneys that practice in the same city where you got the citation know the Court, the DA and the cops and can often find a loophole or some negotiating tactic that works.
3. Don't Fight With The Cop on The Roadway. This is probably the biggest roadblock for most attorneys that you hire. You see, the cop will write notes on the back of the paper ticket that cause him to remember you and want to get you convicted. CHP will often notate things such as "A.H." which means asshole on the citation and when the case comes around he or she will make it their mission to show up and see to it you get convicted in Court.
Our Law Firm has over 25 years experience fighting tickets, traffic violations and all misdemeanor and Felony cases throughout Southern and Central California. Attorney Matthew Ruff and Of Counsel Patrick Bowers are available to defend most commercial violations, speeding over 100 and most other traffic citations in Kern County.