A traffic ticket is a summons and citation issued by police officers to motorists and other road users who fail to obey traffic laws. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, such as exceeding the speed limit, or a non-moving violation, such as a parking ticket. Traffic tickets are generally heard in traffic court.
Generally, a ticket is a notification that one has committed a minor or sometimes major legal infraction, for which a fine must be paid and postmarked and sent by the due date, and/or an appearance in court must be made (See: summons). Typically, this means a parking ticket for parking in an unlawful manner or allowing a parking meter to expire, or a traffic ticket for a moving violation such as speeding. The latter are usually issued after traffic stops.
In the United States, most traffic laws are codified in a variety of state, county and municipal ordinances, with most minor violations classified as civil infractions. Although what constitutes a “minor violation” varies, examples include: non-moving violations; defective or unauthorized vehicle equipment; seat belt and child-restraint safety violations; and insufficient proof of license, insurance or registration. A trend in the late 1970s and early 1980s also saw an increased tendency for jurisdictions to re-classify certain speeding violations as civil infractions.[1] In contrast, for more “serious” violations, traffic violators may be held criminally liable, guilty of a misdemeanor or even a felony. Serious violations tend to involve multiple prior offenses; willful disregard of public safety; death, serious bodily injury or damage to property.
Each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles maintains a database of motorists, including their convicted traffic violations. Upon being ticketed, a motorist is given the option to mail in to the local court — the court for the town or city in which the violation took place — a plea of guilty or not guilty within a certain time frame (usually ten days, although courts generally provide leniency in this regard). It has been estimated that approximately three out of every ten drivers in the United States will receive a traffic ticket within the time span of one calendar year.
If the motorist pleads not guilty, a trial date is set and both the motorist, or a lawyer/representative representing the motorist, and the ticketing officer, are required to attend. If the officer or representative fails to attend, the court judge will often find in favor of the motorist and dismiss the charge,[citation needed] although sometimes the trial date is moved to give the officer another chance to attend. The court will also make provisions for the officer to achieve a deal with the motorist, often in the form of a plea bargain. If no agreement is reached, both motorist and officer, or their respective representatives, formally attempt to prove their case before the judge, who then decides the matter.
If the motorist pleads guilty, the outcome is equivalent to conviction after trial. Upon conviction, the motorist is generally fined a monetary amount and, for moving violations, is additionally given “points” demerits, under each state’s point system. In the cases where the motorist is registered in a different state from where the violation took place, individual agreements between the two states decide if, and how, the motorist’s home state applies the other state’s conviction. If no agreement exists, then the conviction is local to the state where the violation took place. In some instances, failure to pay the fine may result in a suspension to drive in only the city or state to whom the fine is owed, and the motorist may continue to drive elsewhere in the same state.