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Traffic courts from New York City to Los Angeles allow you to plead guilty or not guilty, but only a few places have a third option: no contest.
Wherever you are, it’s important to know what your traffic ticket plea options are and how each one can affect your driving record.
Guilty
The most common plea option around the country is the plea of guilty. The only reason you should ever enter a plea of guilty is if you do not want to fight the ticket. Entering a plea of guilty immediately waives your right to a hearing. .
Guilty pleas might be your best option if all the following points are true for you:
- You don’t want to fight your ticket.
- The evidence against you is overwhelming.
- Your court does not allow you to enter a plea of no contest.
This kind of traffic ticket plea option leaves you stuck with all the consequences of a conviction. That could mean higher insurance premiums, fines, surcharges, and/or other fees.
Long story short, a plea of guilty is your worst possible option.
No Contest (Nolo Contendere)
The plea of no contest sits in the gray area between not guilty and guilty. Unfortunately, it still has most of the same negative consequences as a plea of guilty.
Entering a no contest plea is like telling the court, “I will pay these fines, but I still think you’re wrong.” When you enter a plea of no contest, you are accepting the punishments but neither admitting nor disputing fault. This might seem like a semantic difference from a plea of not guilty, but the difference is of the utmost importance.
Let’s look at two examples to see why:
Example 1: Plea of Guilty
John is driving down the street. He’s approaching an intersection. He looks down at his phone to check his email and feels his car strike a pedestrian. John hadn’t seen the stop sign. The pedestrian dies from her injuries and the police charge John with vehicular manslaughter. John pleads guilty.
A few months later, the pedestrian’s family files a civil suit against John for wrongful death. Since John pleaded guilty, the pedestrian’s family can use his plea as evidence against him in the civil trial.
Example 2: Plea of No Contest
Had John entered a plea of no contest, he still would have accepted all the legal penalties associated with the traffic violation. But, the civil suit will have to start from scratch.
Not Guilty
The traffic ticket dispute process starts with a plea of not guilty. That means refusing to accept the punishments and denying the allegations. Pleading not guilty and successfully beating your traffic ticket is the best possible outcome in any traffic court.
When you plead not guilty and win your case, the judge will dismiss the ticket. Once the judge dismisses the ticket, all the fines, fees, surcharges, and other penalties will go away. This is the best way to prevent your insurance premiums from increasing.
If you live in a jurisdiction that uses a point system, pleading not guilty provides even better options. When the court dismisses your traffic ticket, it also dismisses the points. Having fewer points on your license can lead to lower insurance premiums and prevent the court from suspending your license.
Plea Bargaining
Plea bargaining is not technically a traffic ticket plea option. Instead, it’s a strategy. Traffic ticket lawyers use the phrase “plea bargaining” to talk about the negotiations process. That process involves your lawyer talking to the prosecutor and getting you a better deal.
For example, a traffic ticket lawyer might be able to convince the prosecutor to downgrade the charges against you. That could mean reducing a speeding ticket down to a non-moving violation. Since insurance companies usually only care about moving violations, that deal could save you thousands of dollars over the next three or four years.
That is great and all, but there are two major problems with plea bargaining:
- It takes a lot of legal skill to get a better deal without making things worse.
- Not every jurisdiction allows plea bargaining.
Choosing the Right Traffic Ticket Plea Option
The only real way to find out which kind of traffic ticket plea option is the best for you is to contact a traffic ticket lawyer. The WinIt app can help with that.
In order to have the best chance of winning your case, you need to know what your options are. That means understanding the difference between guilty, not guilty, and no contest pleas. You also need to understand how each of these plea options can affect your fines, fees, and other costs.
If you make the wrong choice, you could lose your license, your car, or your freedom and be sent to jail. Make the right choice with help from WinIt.
For more information on traffic law and the rules of the road, check out our blog!
