Traffic tickets may be issued for any of these offenses: moving violations (speeding, running a red light), criminal violations (drinking and driving, causing damage and/or death in an accident), and non-moving violations (like overdue parking meters, expired licence plates, illegal parking, etc).
You can always choose to protest your innocence and fight the tickets in court by hiring a traffic attorney like a specialist Speeding ticket lawyer.
It goes without saying that the first two types of violations are taken seriously by the authorities. They result in fines, points on your driving record, and can also lead to a rise in your auto insurance premiums.
Each insurance provider is likely to have their own policies regarding increase in premiums for different traffic ticket convictions. For instance:
- Company A may raise your premiums for the next 3 years
- Company B may add a surcharge removable after a year if you receive no further tickets
Again, if you have driven for several years without receiving any ticket, and/or have been with the same insurance provider for some years, a single ticket may not result in any penalty from the insurer.
The severity of the ticket will also have an impact on the insurance rates:
- Expired licence plates, broken lights, etc. are low impact tickets
- Speeding 10 miles over the limit is medium impact, and will increase with higher speed
- DUI conviction is a serious offense, and may cause the insurer to skyrocket the rates, terming you a risky driver
Receiving a traffic ticket while driving in another state may still cause the insurer to raise premiums.
Different violations cause different points to be added on your record; for most violations, like say, a Red light ticket California, you may have one or two points added; for more serious ones it could go up to 4. The more points you have on your record, the higher your premiums are likely to be.
The best way to avoid convictions and points on your record is to refuse to pay up. Protest your innocence and hire a traffic attorney to fight the ticket in the court.
An experienced traffic lawyer like the ones at the Ticket Clinic, who are familiar with the intricacies of traffic laws, will help you clear your record of these charges, and keep your insurance rates down. Call us at 1800-248-2846 to know more.
