Atlanta Traffic Ticket Lawyers
By: Larry Kohn, Experienced Legal Book Author and Traffic Ticket Attorney Near Me in Atlanta GA With Over 20 years of Experience
Some people are cited for a traffic ticket and think that this is a mere nuisance, and “I’ll just pay it online.” This may be a monumental mistake.
When self-representation is done without first consulting with a traffic court lawyer, the person who decides to represent himself or herself OFTEN lives to regret the decision. Plus, to re-open a case costs far more in legal costs and such efforts have a lower likelihood of success, when the case is already closed out.
In many states, every moving violation on a motor vehicle is a crime. Georgia characterizes all motor vehicle tickets are misdemeanors. No better reason than this justifies hiring a traffic lawyer near me in Georgia.
Do I Need to Hire a Traffic Ticket Attorney?These are the top 11 motivations for a person to retain a traffic attorney for a traffic violation charge:
- Convenience: Not wanting to have to appear in court due to the case being a long distance from where the driver lives.
- Keeping car insurance rates low: Many states, like South Carolina, have an integrated auto insurance and motor vehicle crimes law, where every reported traffic violation immediately pushes up your insurance premiums.
- Avoiding putting demerit points on your DMV-DPS-BMV-DDS record: All states use a “points system” for tracking problem drivers who repeatedly fail to obey the traffic laws. A certain number of points causes license suspension. Young drivers are often limited to very few points before being suspended in many states, including Georgia.
- Job impact: In 2020, nearly 35% of all Americans will have some transportation-related employment. That number has gone up since 2016, when 30% were classified as driving dependent. Uber, Lyft and other ride share companies has boosted these numbers greatly.
- Disagree with some aspect of the pending traffic citation: Either the speed was falsely reported by the cop, or that the car accident and resulting property damage was not the fault of the driver who was ticketed, or that some visual obstruction (e.g., a large, overgrown bush had blocked visibility of the stop sign) caused the cited motorist to receive the traffic summons. Most people know that a traffic court attorney has a much better chance to get a ticket reduced.
- The accused traffic violator drives a company vehicle as part of his or her employment: These kinds of “perks” and the potential loss of this job benefit could cost you $600 to $800 a month, if you had to buy a new vehicle, insure it and maintain it.
- The driver is currently on some type of limited driving permit or restricted license: These motorists cannot have any new traffic offenses and keep driving. The outcome of this traffic case will decide if the accused driver keeps his or her ability to drive.
- Trucking accidents for a CMV (commercial motor vehicle) driver: These traffic charges must be fought in order to not have any serious traffic ticket that could suspend driving privileges or cause termination. A person with a CDL license needs to fight every ticket, whether in an 18-wheeler or in his or her personal vehicle. Traffic lawyer cost is a mere drop in the bucket for losing a high salary, over the road job.
- Some states have very tough criminal sanctions for high speed driving. Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Connecticut are some of those states. Virginia reckless driving charges carry jail time and going 20 mph over the limit qualifies for driving recklessly.
- Car accident claim cases with substantial financial exposure for a civil lawsuit judgment. In such personal injury cases, damage claims may arise from this collision. Some drivers realize that this at-fault collision may exceed their liability insurance coverage and need both a civil traffic accident lawyer and a criminal traffic ticket lawyer near me.
- Car wrecks that are based on cases involving a serious motor vehicle crimes: Offenses like hit and run, DUI-DWI, reckless driving or attempting to elude an officer are “predicate” driving charges that can support a felony, if serious injury or a fatality has occurred: Car accident cases need the best traffic accident attorney as well as a personal injury attorney who can help settle all claims. When separate personal injury law firms are representing multiple crash victims, an intermediary is needed to guide the defense of that civil litigation to settle all medical expense, pain and suffering, vehicle damage and loss of wages claims within your insurance policy limits for all related auto accident claimants.
The following list of routine traffic tickets represent over 95% of our law firm’s traffic-related criminal defense business. From A to Z, these 26 crimes represent almost all our traffic citation crimes for which a client seeks a traffic attorney near me:
- speeding, including super speeder assessments for high-speed tickets
- red light violation
- following too closely
- failure to yield
- stop sign violation
- driving while suspended, or driving under suspension
- driving without a license on person
- driving without insurance
- driving with an expired tag or inspection sticker or mechanical violation (e.g., missing headlight)
- failure to maintain lane (or weaving)
- illegal left turn where prohibited
- passing a stopped school bus that had its “stop” arm and emergency lights activated
- crossing the double yellow center line
- drunk driving or drugged driving
- reckless driving
- striking a fixed object
- leaving the scene of an accident with an occupied vehicle
- striking a parked car and not notifying owner or leaving contact and insurance information
- having an FTA (failure to appear) warrant outstanding from missing a previous court date
- child seat violation for improper type of rear-facing device
- violation of the hands-free law for mobile phone devices
- distracted driving for any activity being done inside the vehicle that diverts attention from the roadway ahead
- eluding a police officer who has signaled you to pull over, by way of emergency lights, siren, hand signals or other method
- passing in a “no passing” zone
- aggressive driving or racing (a contest of speed between two vehicles)
- seat belt violation
A local, experienced traffic violation lawyer near me can make a huge difference in the outcome of most (but not all) traffic violation cases. Over 50 possible types of case resolutions can be structured by a veteran traffic citation attorney.
This array of settlement options includes dismissal of the charges, having the original charge reduced, or changed to a non-reportable offense, using driving school to divert the case, and a myriad of other creative solutions for these problematic and distracting cases. In the overwhelming majority of our law group’s cases, some significant improvement over simply paying fines and possibly having your driver’s license suspended or revoked will be achievable.
Ten (10) Rules For Choosing An Attorney For Traffic Tickets Near MeUsing AVVO or the state bar directory, you may be able to search for prior bar complaints on the ticket attorney. Finding whether he or she has ever been subject to discipline is important, but also know that low lawyer ratings by prior clients can be a red flag. Although Bar-related disciplinary actions do not necessarily impact the attorney’s competence to handle your traffic violation case, what you learn may impact your hiring decision.
- 1Total number of traffic misdemeanor cases handled by the attorneys at this traffic law firm;
- Familiarity with the court where the case is pending;
- Legal industry awards, recognitions and accolades in the local law community;
- Prior client attorney ratings on sites like AVVO and Google;
- Having a “capped” legal fee limit (flat fees) for most routine traffic cases not involving accidents;
- Clear knowledge of both this practice area and the many solutions that will help mitigate your insurance, points and financial “costs;”
- Operates by getting you to execute a power of attorney so that you never (or only once) must go to court on non-serious driving violation cases;
- Permits a FREE consultation and (if hired) gives you his or her cell number for purposes of quick communication;
- Has office staff to take calls with your traffic attorney Atlanta is in other court cases;
- Gives you an opportunity to explain your case and provides a positive attitude about being able to get something done to lessen the impact of the pending charges.
In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, online searches occur for a traffic violation attorney near me. The author is a Georgia traffic attorney, Atlanta-based, and covering a 19-county area centered on Atlanta Georgia.
Additionally, our law office is linked to over 20 other highly capable local lawyers in every corner the Peach State for traffic violation cases anywhere in the State of Georgia. These connections have been developed over decades of observation of these other attorneys getting consistently excellent outcomes.
Plus, if a Georgia accident is also part of your facts, and you or one of your passengers was hurt, we can also connect you to a personal injury lawyer covering all 159 counties in Georgia. Cory Yager, Traffic Lawyer Atlanta, brings nearly a decade of police experience with him before becoming a Georgia attorney. In addition, 43-year veteran Atlanta traffic attorney Bubba Head handles many of our DUI-related crashes where felonies are likely to be indicted.
Discover how one of our Atlanta criminal lawyers at our law firm can help protect your right to drive, by representing you on your traffic ticket in Georgia. Start by reaching out to us on our 24-HOUR NUMBER: (404) 567-5515. Our Partners will provide a FREE lawyer consultation and answer questions about legal fees.
Get FREE legal advice from former cop and top-rated Atlanta traffic ticket lawyer Cory Yager., or from Partner Larry Kohn has over 470 FIVE–STAR AVVO reviews. Both have repeatedly been named to Super Lawyers in Georgia, as criminal defense attorneys.