I Have Taken the Traffic School in the Last Twelve Months. Is There Any Way to Avoid Points on My Driver's License?

People call me all the time; they're driving down the road, they get issued a civil traffic infraction, and they want to know what their options are. In Florida, we generally have three options or sometimes just two, depending on your situation.

http://www.tampacriminaldefenders.com/AreasOfPractice/TrafficCitations/OnlineTrafficSchool.aspx

The first option is just to pay the ticket. You have 30 days to respond and you send your money to the clerk of the court. I don't advice anybody to do this because by paying this ticket, you're admitting that you're guilty, you're going to receive the points on your driver's license for whatever infraction you received, and your insurance rates are going to be affected.

I encourage people to do one of the two following:

1) If you're eligible to take the traffic school, this is probably the simplest, easiest, and least financial burden that you'll find yourself in when handling a ticket. You go online, you sit in front of the computer for four hours and you take the traffic school, you pay the fine on the ticket but you will not receive the points on your license after you successfully complete the traffic school.

Now, some individuals may not be eligible to take the traffic school. Florida allows you to take it once every 12 months. So, six months ago, you got a ticket, you went online, took the school, you're driving around six months later and you get another ticket, you won't be eligible to take the school but you still have options. There are still ways to keep the points off your license. It WILL require a court appearance.

This is where my firm may help you.

2) If you're not eligible for the traffic school and you're worried about the points, give us a call. What we'll do is file a notice of appearance on your behalf and enter a plea of "not guilty". We'll fight this ticket. We'll go to court with the primary goal of trying to get the ticket dismissed. If we're not able to get it dismissed, we can ask the court to issue a “withhold of adjudication” or essentially, no points on your driver's license. A judge can order a withhold or no points as many times as they want; there's no limit with that like there is with the traffic school.

So just because you took the traffic school six months ago, we can still keep the points off your license. Give us a call. We'll talk about your ticket, we'll discuss what the best option may be for you, and we'll keep those points off your license.

http://www.tampacriminaldefenders.com/AreasOfPractice/TrafficCitations/OnlineTrafficSchool.aspx