Traffic violation procedures
in Criminal and Misdemeanor Law ·
Hey everyone! I need some serious advice here. Back in January (it was a beautiful sunny day, around 11 AM) of 2008, I got pulled over by a cop. Everything seemed perfectly fine—I hadn't been drinking and I was driving right at the speed limit—but I realized my headlights weren't on. The officer took my driver's license and registration and walked back to his cruiser. He returned five minutes later with a ticket ($100) already printed out and shoved the paper toward me, demanding a signature. I refused to sign, and the very next day, I filed an appeal with the local municipal court in my city since I had absolutely no prior offenses on my record... which is exactly what I cited in my appeal (on the advice of a friend who told me I had nothing to lose, so why not try?).
Summer rolled around quickly, and then, quite absurdly, the law regarding mandatory headlights was actually repealed... it felt ridiculous. I figured, hey, there's no way they can uphold the appeal now. However, before long, the mandatory headlight law was reinstated (I think around October), and then one day in December, I received the ruling: my appeal was denied, the fine must be paid, and I no longer have the right to appeal this decision.
My question is: Is it even worth fighting this further (again, following a friend's suggestion to take it to a higher court in Washington, D.C.), or should I just bite the bullet and pay the fine? To me, this feels like a matter of principle rather than the actual dollar amount. Is there such a thing as a "first offense" rule where a driver just gets a formal warning recorded without being slapped with a monetary fine? Or does this country simply have zero tolerance for us little guys? Do I have any chance of waiting out the statute of limitations, or am I more likely to just make things worse and end up paying significantly more in the long run?
Maybe I'm drifting a bit from the main topic, but if anyone out there can shed some light on this, I would be incredibly grateful!!! Thanks in advance!
Summer rolled around quickly, and then, quite absurdly, the law regarding mandatory headlights was actually repealed... it felt ridiculous. I figured, hey, there's no way they can uphold the appeal now. However, before long, the mandatory headlight law was reinstated (I think around October), and then one day in December, I received the ruling: my appeal was denied, the fine must be paid, and I no longer have the right to appeal this decision.
My question is: Is it even worth fighting this further (again, following a friend's suggestion to take it to a higher court in Washington, D.C.), or should I just bite the bullet and pay the fine? To me, this feels like a matter of principle rather than the actual dollar amount. Is there such a thing as a "first offense" rule where a driver just gets a formal warning recorded without being slapped with a monetary fine? Or does this country simply have zero tolerance for us little guys? Do I have any chance of waiting out the statute of limitations, or am I more likely to just make things worse and end up paying significantly more in the long run?
Maybe I'm drifting a bit from the main topic, but if anyone out there can shed some light on this, I would be incredibly grateful!!! Thanks in advance!