WA State Traffic Ticket

October 19, 2011 9:36 PM

Washington State: I received a traffic ticket in the mail for overtaking a school bus. I did not see any of the flashing lights which the bus would normally display, and which are hard to miss, so I think that they were not on at the time that I passed the bus. I'm therefore thinking of requesting a "Contested Hearing" rather than a "Mitigation Hearing." Is this plan good or bad?

There are no witnesses that I can call, so it would be my word against the officer's. Given this, is there any benefit in mitigating rather than contesting? (e.g., is there any chance that contesting will make them crabby, while mitigating would make them more likely to dismiss or reduce charges?)

Also, the ticket says that I can subpoena the officer; is there any reason to do this?

posted by K and S to Law & Government (13 answers total)

I don't know the actual answer to your question. Having said that, I did a mitigation hearing for a speeding ticket I got in Seattle. As long as I don't get another speeding ticket in 12 months, the ticket disappears (actually never existed in the first place) and no one is the wiser. This is called a deferred finding, you can only use it once every seven years, and you can find out more info here (this is for King County, where I live; ymmv). The hearing involved sitting across the desk from a court official in his office downtown downtown and was very low key and non stressful. There were "court" fees of about $120, but I did not have to pay the ticket. I don't know if passing a school bus is eligible for deferred finding, but you might want to check it out.
posted by heydanno at 9:55 PM on October 19, 2011

I was in traffic court (in Redmond, WA) when my husband was initially going to be contesting a traffic ticket. The judge gave us a 15-minute primer on how the process works, and said "These cases are decided based on the preponderance of the evidence. If it's just your word versus the officer's word, the court will almost inevitably find with the officer; the officer is a professional at this, while you have a vested interest. If you don't have solid objective evidence illustrating your case, you want a mitigation hearing."

The hubs chose mitigation. He got a deferred finding, paid court costs, the ticket disappeared and made no impact on his insurance. I'd suggest you do the same, in the case you're describing.
posted by KathrynT at 10:35 PM on October 19, 2011

I just got pulled over for failure to use turn signals, even though I was sure they were flashing, and it was his word against mine. I have a clean driving record and I'm not sure the WSP was even in a position to see my turn signals. From years of experience, as a teenager I racked up a few tickets, the best way is to file mitagation, show up for court and they will generally take i/2 off. End of story unless you have insurance issues. Good Luck !
posted by cliffster99 at 12:22 AM on October 20, 2011

Response by poster: What are the downsides to Contesting as opposed to Mitigation? Is Contesting more of an "all or nothing" thing, where if you don't have the evidence on your side, you get stuck with the full fine?
posted by K and S at 1:26 AM on October 20, 2011

Best answer: You want an attorney that practices in traffic court. Check your phone book: there will be a few dozen of them. If the cost of hiring the attorney--which is likely to be a few hundred bucks--is more than the cost of the ticket and associated insurance premium increases, you probably just want to pay the damn thing.

Either way, the idea that you can just show up in court, say your piece, and have this thing go away is probably unrealistic.
posted by valkyryn at 3:03 AM on October 20, 2011

There are no witnesses that I can call, so it would be my word against the officer's.

Or your word against the bus driver's. It may very well be that the bus driver took your license plate number and reported you. Thus, the mailed ticket, rather than being pulled-over at the scene by an officer.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:25 AM on October 20, 2011

This very thing happened to me and in my case, there was a camera on the bus that caught my license plate. That and a sworn statement from the driver and even though I honestly did not see the lights and was a very safe distance from the bus, I had to simply cough up the $300.

Check and see if there was anything caught on camera anywhere before you go through the hassle of appearing in court.

This incident had no bearing on my insurance rates, FYI.
posted by sonika at 5:58 AM on October 20, 2011

I'm in Maryland, but I got a ticket last year for passing a stopped school bus. I got waved over along with five other cars(there were already 12 cops in the median who were arresting some people, and one of them just waved us over) but I did not see a school bus anywhere. Basically everyone I asked just told me that it would be our word against the cops, so I got a lawyer and took care of it that way. It's a 5 point ticket here so I considered it worth it. My lawyer told me that he gets a lot of 'passing stopped school bus' cases.

Now I'm somewhat paranoid whenever I'm out driving around 2-4pm because I have no idea where that bus was!
posted by fromageball at 6:42 AM on October 20, 2011

In my town, every minute of ever school bus run is on DVD, with time stamps. While this is for behavioural issues, and to protect the drivers from false accusations for the most part, there might be some info for you, if you can get at it. Again, in my town, it is fairly easy for bus admins to pull up this info and it is well worth a shot.
posted by Danf at 7:46 AM on October 20, 2011

Yes, if you contest, you have to pay the full fee.
posted by KathrynT at 7:59 AM on October 20, 2011

I can't say how it works out in WA, but one important point here in Virginia and Maryland is that mailed (speed camera / stoplight camera / etc.) tickets do not put points against your license and don't impact your insurance rates. I was told by my (non-traffic) lawyer friends that its because they're basically issuing a ticket against the vehicle (and paying it is your responsibility as the owner), not against the driver. To issue a points ticket they'd have to prove it was you driving the car at that instant and, apparently, that's more of a legal PITA than its possibly worth.
posted by introp at 8:49 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you received a traffic camera ticket, you should be able to view the video online. Watch it and you might have a better idea about whether to mitigate or contest. I went for mitigation on a ticket in Bellevue after I watched the video and saw that I really hadn't braked before making a right turn on a red light. I was SURE that I ALWAYS stop but the video showed otherwise.
posted by lois1950 at 11:49 AM on October 20, 2011

Response by poster: Just as a quick follow-up: I checked with a lawyer who advertised free 15-minute consultations, and he noticed that the officer had failed to sign a sworn statement about what he saw. The lawyer advised me to contest, request that the police report be thrown out because of the lack of the sworn sttement, and then request that the case be thrown out based on insufficient evidence. I did so, and the ticket was dismissed.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback!
posted by K and S at 11:11 AM on March 28, 2012 [1 favorite]