The constitutional rights to a reasonable traffic stop do not only apply in DUI cases and serious criminal cases. Traffic tickets can be winnable if Fourth Amendment violations occurred to pull a driver over. Coleen will look at these issues and determine how to use them to your advantage in litigation. Oftentimes, simply doing a thorough analysis of the problems with the traffic stop and presenting those issues to the state prosecutor can result in a great plea bargain with less or no points.
Generally, peoplle think a speeding or stop sign ticket is not a big deal. But points on your DMV record should be taken seriously. In Colorado, your license gets suspended if you get too many points from a conviction for a traffic ticket or a combination of convictions for tickets within a certain time frame. With no traffic violations, a person “starts off” with 0 points. But as soon as convictions get reported to DMV, there are points on the driver's license. For adults 21 or over, one's driver’s license is suspended if 12 points are suffered inside any 12 month period. If a driver gets 18 points within any 24 month period, it results in a suspension.
Traffic tickets are of particular concern for a young driver. For example, an adolescent driver, aged 17 or less, needs only six points within 12 months to suffer a full suspension. Worse, 7 or more points at any time, while under the age of 18, results in a suspension. Even between the ages of 18 and 21, it’s only 9 or more points within any 12 months that lead to a driver’s license suspension. And 12 or more points, in any 2 years, causes a suspension. Finally, 14 or more points between 18 and 21 will likewise cause that driver aged between 19 and 21 to suffer a driver's license suspension.
In sum, while traffic tickets generally do not lead to a criminal record or jail time, they are still an accusation that a person violated the law and if pled to without knowledge of the consequences, can result in too many points on one's license, creating a risk of suspension if another violation happens in the future. With traffic tickets it is important for an attorney to fight to get you the results you need.