Handling a Traffic Ticket in the State of New York

So you are now the proud recipient of a traffic ticket; a New York traffic ticket, that is. The questions you may now be wondering are “What next? How do I go about paying for or contesting this traffic fine?” Well, no need to get flustered. All the information that you need to know in order to successfully take care of your traffic ticket in the state of New York is outlined below.

The first thing that needs to be done when you have been slapped with a New York traffic ticket is to determine the area of the state in which your ticket was issued. This is important, as the area in which you received your ticket will be the factor that determines where your case is convened and who handles your case. If you were ticketed in areas such as Buffalo, Brookhaven, Islip, Rochester, Babylon, Huntington, or Smithtown in Suffolk County, then you will be required to appear before the New York State DMV’s Traffic Violations Bureau. Here your case is heard by an administrative law judge, appointed by the DMV, instead of a regular judge. If your ticket was issued in other areas of the state then you will be required to have your case heard at the local courthouse in those areas.

Once you are aware of who will address your case and where it will be addressed, you then need to determine how you will respond to the charges associated with the traffic fine. If you decide to go ahead and pay the traffic fine associated with your ticket, then you have a number of options available to you. If pleading guilty to the citation does not result in the suspension of your license you may pay your traffic fine online or mail in your payment within fifteen days of the citation being issued. If an acceptance of guilt will result in a license suspension, you will need to appear in person for your hearing.

If you decide to protest your innocence then you may indicate this decision on the back of your traffic ticket and mail it to the relevant office. Information regarding the date and time of your hearing will then be communicated to you.

Pleading guilty to a New York traffic ticket, or being found guilty of a traffic violation in the state of New York, carries with it a number of consequences. A guilty conviction may result in points being added to your license. If you acquire between eleven to eighteen points over an eighteen month period then your license may be suspended. If you only acquire six points within this time period then you will be required to participate in a driver responsibility program, which requires you to pay a driver responsibility assessment fee of one hundred dollars for three years. Any additional points added during this period will incur an additional fee of twenty-five dollars.

With a point system that accords between two to eleven points per infraction, it is easy to run afoul of this point system. As such, your best defense is to obey the traffic codes and avoid incurring a New York traffic ticket. If however, you are unable to do so then it would be prudent to secure the services of a competent New York State lawyer.

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