Speeding and failure to obey posted traffic signs are the most common traffic violations in the District of Columbia. Generally, a speeding offense means you were driving faster than the posted speed limit for the street, road, or highway. Speed limits can vary depending on one the area and the type of road you’re on. In most cases, speeding is a simple ticket, but when you drive too far over the speed limit, it can be considered reckless driving and become a crime.

It’s also important to know that even though speeding is a simple ticket, paying the fine is the same as pleading guilty and will result in the accumulation of demerit points on your license. Pleading guilty to speeding and paying the ticket also could affect you if you’re charged with another traffic offense in the future.

Multiple infractions can increase penalties, and black marks on your driving history can affect your ability to work out future traffic charges. In fact, if you accumulate too many points on your license within a specific period of time, in DC, your license can be suspended or even revoked, which will lead to extreme complications in your day-to-day life and will most likely to cause your insurance rates to skyrocket or even lead to the cancellation of your insurance policy.

If you already have points on your license, or want to preserve a clean driving record, it may be worthwhile to consult an experienced traffic defense lawyer before pleading guilty and paying a speeding or traffic ticket. An attorney may be able to spot defenses to your particular speeding or traffic ticket and get the infraction dismissed or your penalties reduced.

Looking to Fight a DC Traffic Ticket?

Fighting a DC traffic ticket at the DC DMV in front of a hearing examiner/administrative law judge can be an intimidating, overwhelming and time-consuming process. The process can also be very daunting and confusing if you are not familiar with it or have no experience fighting a traffic ticket at the DC DMV.  What most people don’t know is that they have different options as to how to respond to a ticket. Most people think their only options are to either admit or deny.  However, the option to admit to an explanation is also available.

If you do pay/admit guilt for a ticket, you will be found liable and the DC traffic points will be assessed by the DMV, but if you admit with an explanation, the hearing examiner/administrative law judge will be willing to consider waiving points and hear out your explanation. Any person  can show up to the hearing  and try to explain to an administrative law judge what they did, and why they believe they should not be found guilty or that they were guilty but there was some reason why they should be given reprieve or “a pass.”

However, it’s very  hard to understate how important it is having an experienced attorney who actually knows specific DC traffic regulations; knows what the examiner/judge will look for in determining whether or not to waive the points, and who also knows how to best present a case in the most favorable light to the person charged with the ticket. Hiring the right DC trafiic lawyer is important not just for the fact that the process of  fighting a ticket in DC is overwhelming and unfamiliar to most people, but because it’s a complicated area of law with a variety of nuances that, usually, only a lawyer can understand and navigate. Unfortunately for most people who are not attorneys, DC traffic laws and regulations are not something that is as clearly defined as  a lot of other types of law- it changes. The D.C. Council frequently passes new regulations,which do impact every person driving within the District of Columbia, whether they know it or not.

A DC traffic lawyer can help you carefully assess your situation and the severity of the traffic infraction before you spend time and/or money to contest a traffic ticket. For some tickets, liability isn’t so clear cut.  Sometimes the police officer may make errors on the face of your ticket.  a DC traffic lawyer will always help you  READ YOUR TRAFFIC TICKET CAREFULLY and ask- Did he write down the correct license plate?  What about the location?  Was the alleged traffic infraction correctly cited?

DC traffic tickets are not impossible to beat. Also, remember that DC traffic citations are civil infractions and not criminal.  Therefore, simply showing up alone at the DMV, to fight a ticket with just a simple personal defense of, “There was a tree branch covering the sign and that’s why I didn’t see the sign,” will usually not be a successful argument. But if you hire an experienced DC traffic lawyer,  there may be a more effective way to present essentially that same argument to the hearing examiner/administrative law judge in a way that will result in having the ticket overturned/dismissed.

Another reason important reason you should always seek an experienced DC traffic lawyer when fighting a DC traffic ticket is for the very important notion of maintaining a clean and clear driving record.  It should be of utmost importance, for several factors (job, family, health, insurance, etc.),  that people keep a clean driving record.  Driving in DC is difficult, and can be a headache, sometimes driving in DC is a straight out nightmare.

The attorneys at Ervin Kibria PLLC, understand that we are all human; people do get tickets – even the best drivers get tickets – but that doesn’t mean people should have their lives become a nightmare due to a marred driving record.  Therefore, in order to maintain a clean driving record, it is wise to hire an experienced traffic attorney who can definitely maximize the chances of a favorable outcome at a DMV hearing, and, more importantly, minimize the impact that it’s going to have on one’s driving record and day-to-day life.

 To adequately determine the best defense to your DC traffic ticket, please contact the DC Traffic Lawyers at Ervin Kibria PLLC today.

Whether you are dealing with a speeding charge or a serious traffic offense that can put points on your driver’s license, you can depend on the defense lawyers at Ervin Kibria.

District of Columbia Traffic Point System

303      ESTABLISHMENT OF A POINT SYSTEM

303.1    Points shall be assessed against the driving record of an individual upon receipt of evidence of a traffic conviction, or after an individual has either admitted committing, paid a fine for committing, or has been found by the Director, or his desginee, to have committed, a traffic offense made pointable by this or any other provision of this Title, except that points may be assessed against a person under eighteen (18) years of age at the discretion of the Director.

303.2   Points shall be assessed in accordance with the following schedule.

POINT SYSTEMS SCHEDULE

303.3   The Director or hearing examiner shall, in accordance with § 307.2, order the suspension of a persons license when the number of points accumulated reaches a total of ten (10) points.

303.4   The Director or hearing examiner may order the suspension of a persons license when the number of points accumulated reached a total of eight (8) or nine (9) points.

303.5   The Director or hearing examiner shall order the revocation of the persons license when the number of points accumulated reaches a total of twelve (12) points.

303.5   Except as provided in section 303.6, the Director may order revocation of the person’s license pursuant to section 306.4 of this chapter when the number of points accumulated by any person reaches a total of twelve (12) points.

303.7    No person shall have his or her license revoked or suspended under this section if the ground(s) on which the suspension or revocation is (are) based has (have) been the subject of a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and judgment or verdict was in favor of that person.

303.8    Points added to a driving record shall be deleted two (2) years after the date of assessment.

303.9    The Director shall assign one (1) safe driving point each year, up to a maximum accumulation of five (5) points, to the driving record of a licensee who was not assessed points during the proceeding year.

303.10 Accumulated safe driving points may be used to offset assessed points in the chronological order in which the points were assessed.

303.11 In traffic cases submitted to military authorities, points will be assessed immediately upon notification to the Director that the military authorities have taken disciplinary action as the result of the arrest of service personnel for moving violations.

303.12 Traffic offenses certified as having been committed by a District licensee in another jurisdiction shall be identified on the licensee’s driving record as the most similar District traffic offense.

303.13 The Director may redesignate an offense assigned to a driving record pursuant to section 303.12 if the licensee demonstrates that the traffic offense committed in another jurisdiction on its facts would have been considered a different offense if committed in the District.

303.15 For the purposes of this section the term “automated traffic enforcement system” means equipment that takes a film or digital camera-based photograph which is linked with a violation detection system that synchronizes the taking or a photograph with the occurrence of a traffic infraction.”

303.16 The Director is authorized to make changes to the point system schedule, in accordance with Title 1 of the District of Columbia Administrative Procedures Act, approved October 21, 1986 (82 Stat. 1204; D.C. Official Code § 2-501 et seq.).

303.17 A safe driving point assigned pursuant to § 303.9 shall expire after five (5) years.

SOURCE: Regulation No. 72-13 effective June 30, 1972, 32 DCRR §2.305 (b), (c), 2.701 – 2.704, Special Edition; as amended by §105 of the District of Columbia. Motor Vehicle Act, D.C. Law 1-133,23 DCR 6720,6721 (February 25, 1977); by 602 of the District of Columbia Traffic Adjudication Act of 1978, D.C. Law 2-104.25 DCR 1275, 1325 (August 1, 1978); by §10 of the Anti-Drunk Driving Act of 1982, D.C. Law 4-45, 29 DCR 3138,3148 (July 23, 1982); by Final Rulemaking published at 35 DCR 7955 (November 4, 1988); and by § 13 of the Technical Amendments of 1995, D.C. Law 11-30, 42 DCR 1547, 1550 (March 31, 1995); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 45 DCR 7872 (November 6,1998); as amended by D.C. Act 12-517 published at 46 DCR 7 (January 1, 1999); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 51 DCR 5029 (May 14, 2004); as amended by D.C. Act 15-704 published at 52 DCR 1700 (February 25, 2005); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 52 DCR 4023 (April 22, 2005); as amended by D.C. Act 16-488 published at 53 DCR 8675 (October 27, 2006); as amended by D.C. Act 17-522, published at 55 DCR 11015 (October 24, 2008).