1. How many times have you been in traffic court? The higher the number of times, the more likely it is that the attorney knows what they are doing. The more an attorney practices in a certain area, the more the attorney knows about it. Traffic court works differently than a criminal courtroom. The State is not present. It is only the officer who wrote you the ticket. This means the attorney’s approach has to be a bit different than in a traditional courtroom if they are going to win your case. If they have never been in traffic court before, an attorney may be out of their league.
2. Are you available to answer my questions? You are the one who is has the ticket and the outcome of the case affects you. Make sure your attorney will take the time to answer all of your questions. Also make sure they will be willing to answer your call or e-mail rather than send you to an answering service.

Many times people want to know “how many cases have you won?” An attorney should not be afraid to answer this question. HOWEVER winning is not always a good indicator of a good attorney. It is always the client’s decision whether or not to fight their ticket. The attorney may tell the client he does not have a good case, but if the client wants to fight the ticket, then the attorney should fight the ticket. The same is true with good cases. If the attorney tells the client “I think you can win” but the client does not want the stress, then the attorney can’t fight the ticket. So it is better to ask the attorney how many favorable outcomes they have gotten for their client.

If an attorney is unwilling to answer these questions then they are not a good attorney for you! Make sure the attorney you hire knows the law. But more importantly, make sure they are willing to take the time to know a little bit about you.

I’m David Haenel, one of the attorneys at Finebloom and Haenel. FIGHTYOURTICKET or FIGHTYOURTICKETS.COM. You can reach us at 1-800-FIGHT-IT. Or 1-800-344-4848.

When you receive a ticket in the State of Florida, you have several options. You can pay the ticket and get points. You can elect traffic school and keep the points off, or you can take the case to court, and that’s where we come into play.

If you elect traffic school, understand you can only make a traffic school election if you do not have a commercial license, it’s not a mandatory infraction, and you have not been to traffic school within the last 12 months.

Here’s the rules set out by the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles regarding traffic school. You can elect once in a 12 month period, and you can elect a total of 5 times. That’s it. A total of 5 in your life. So, 5 times in your lifetime can you elect traffic school. Once you have exceeded this 5 time, you are maxed out for your entire driving history. It’s not like you get 5 more.

So, when people say to me, should I fight a citation, remember, electing traffic school could be a good option, however, you’ll never have an opportunity to beat the case outright. That’s where we come into play. We’ll explore your legal defenses, and we’ll do everything we can to try and get that citation dismissed. We’re here to win, and we’re here to represent you. We look forward to speaking with you.

The Florida Highway Patrol was conducting traffic stops in Bradenton looking for speeders but what they ended up with was an arrest for drug trafficking. The Florida Highway Patrol was running radar in Manatee County when they attempted to stop a car driving 38 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. The driver decided not to stop and that led to a police chase and numerous charges.

The car, a white sedan, was driven by Clinton Kevin Benjamin Josey, Jr. The Bradenton man was motioned to pull over where he was set to be issued a radar speeding ticket by the FHP. He decided he wasn’t going to stop. That led troopers to begin a pursuit through the streets of Manatee County. During the chase Josey ran a stop sign and then proceeded to collide into two cars. One of the vehicles he hit was an SUV that overturned due to the crash. The driver was taken to the hospital.

Once Josey finally came to a stop the 27-year-old refused to show officers his hands and was then instructed to leave the car at gunpoint. Once arrested, Josey was taken to Lakewood Ranch Medicl Center in a neck brace. He is facing charges of cocaine trafficking, fleeing to elude and he is a habitual traffic offender as well. Troopers also cited Josey for speeding and running a stop sign. His record includes prior arrests on other drug charges and domestic violence.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s department had to close down 34^th Street West as they investigated the chase. There was no information in the Brandenton.com story if the chase was classified as a “high-speed” chase putting other drivers at risk. Considering two cars were hit during the pursuit and one driver injured, there is a good chance that the question will be raised.

There was plenty of law enforcement handing out Florida traffic tickets throughout the state over Labor Day weekend but the number of DUI arrests in North Florida was relatively low for the long weekend. According to reports from the Florida Highway Patrol and a story in the Walton Sun newspaper, there were 122 traffic citations handed out and jut four arrests for driving under the influence in northwest Florida, which was a primary focus of law enforcement over the holiday.

Teams of police officers known as “wolf packs” patrolled I-10 in the Florida panhandle. One team was solely dedicated to DUI enforcement.  That team made four arrests for driving under the influence. The other team of law enforcement officers issued 122 traffic citations to Florida drivers. There were warnings issued to 81 drivers and there were 72 notices issued for faulty equipment.

At a roadside checkpoint located in Washington County just north of Bay County there were just eight traffic tickets issued, 11 warnings but 27 notices involving faulty equipment. The Bay County sheriff’s department did make a DUI arrest as well but that did not occur at the comprehensive roadside checkpoint that was set up.

There were no Panama City Beach drunk driving arrests reported as police report it was more of a family weekend at the beach than a spring break type of environment. Despite the positive reports on DUI arrests and tickets, there were still some fatalities on the north Florida roadways. There was an early morning accident that left two dead in Panama City Beach when their vehicles collided at approximately 4:30 a.m. Police say one of the drivers was speeding when he ran into a limousine turning on to the street. Both drivers died at the scene.

There was also a motorcycle accident with serious injuries. According to police reports a motorcyclist ran a red light and struck a car. The accident sent the man to the hospital with severe injuries.

It seems USF football player Sam Barrington has a problem with Tampa traffic tickets which led to his arrest on misdemeanor charges Wednesday. Barrington was arrested on charges of driving without a valid license. The sophomore is the probable starter at middle linebacker for the Bulls in 2010 according to a story on TBO.com.

Barrington is a Jacksonville native who has a history of trouble when it comes to traffic violations in Tampa. He was arrested on the same traffic charge of driving without a valid license last year in Tampa as well. According to the story on TBO.com a USF spokesperson said that Barrington had a suspended license because of unpaid parking tickets and failure to set up a court date to handle the matter. This is the second arrest on traffic-related charges in a week for current or former USF players. Former Bull cornerback Jerome Murphy was arrested five days before Barrington on the same charge.

ESPN.com named Barrington to its All-BIG EAST freshman team after an excellent 2009 season where the Terry Parker HS product compiled 41 tackles. His previous coach Jim Leavitt tabbed the linebacker the best true freshman at his position in school history. Barrington appeared in every game for the Bulls last season and started versus Connecticut. He set a personal best with seven tackles in that game.

The 19-yerar-old was booked into jail and later released on a $250 bond. According to the St. Pete Times this was the sixth time that Barrington has been stopped in Hillsborough County for a traffic offense in just over a year. He has had one previous traffic ticket dismissed and three others were taken care of by paying fines.  The USF Bulls are about a week away from opening their first preseason camp under new head coach Skip Holtz.

A Clearwater man has been arrested and charged on two traffic felony counts and also is facing charges for drug possession. Daniel Barga was allegedly driving without a valid license when he caused an eight-car pileup that killed two people. According to TampaBay.com the St. Petersburg resident was arrested but police are still looking for details about the alleged crime as they are asking for witnesses to come forward.

The newspaper is reporting that Barga told police investigators that he was a passenger in the car that caused the accident. He claimed that the driver of the car left the scene of the accident. Investigators ruled that Barga was actually the driver who caused the eight car crash according to a Clearwater Police Department spokesperson.

Upon that determination police proceeded to charge the St. Pete man with two traffic felonies.  Those charges were driving without a valid driver’s license causing serious injury and driving without a valid driver’s license causing death. They also filed drug charges for possession of roxicodone. Barga was recently released from the hospital due to “serious” injuries suffered in the car wreck.

Despite the arrest of Barga police are still seeking more details about the car accident that took the lives of a Tampa and Osceola resident. At the time of the St. Pete Times story the names of both of the victims were known but not the age of both. The paper reported Richard Kelly of Tampa was one of the victims but his age was unknown. The second victim was Jancarlos Alberto Schaffer a 22-year-old from Osceola. Clearwater Police are asking anyone with information on what happened that evening to call their traffic investigation division. Police also added that more charges could be filed against the 27-year-old as the investigation continues and more witnesses come forward.

A new traffic ticket technology will allow one town’s police force to write more Florida speeding tickets and other citations. The Lakeland Police are now using “pocket citation” equipment that ends their need to write traffic tickets as computer-generated tickets are now produced by hand-held PDA devices. Currently 30 officers are equipped with the devices.

One of the benefits of the new system is speed. The automated system will allow officers to computer-generate more tickets but they also say it will cut down on errors that allow motorists and traffic ticket lawyers to fight those citations in court. Human error becomes less of a factor as the hand-held devices will not allow the ticket to be printed if there is any missing information and they also automatically fill in long and complicated statute numbers than can easily be written incorrectly by an officer.

The PDA’s are equipped with magnetic strip readers that will eventually allow officers to swipe a driver’s license through the devices to pull up a driver’s history and access information on previous traffic citations, pending arrest warrants and information on suspended or revoked licenses. The officers also have the ability to type in a license plate number to get vehicle history. Small printers allow the officers to give the driver a hard copy of the citation.

The computer system isn’t just about allowing the officers to produce more tickets for speeding, improper change of lane or Florida’s “Move Over” law. It is also a safety issue. According to an officer quoted in the Lakeland Ledger the devices will keep the police officers safer because a traffic stop is one of the most dangerous parts of his job. In his mind the less time he needs to stand on a roadside writing out a ticket, the safer he will be from oncoming traffic.

Many people are aware that you can be ticket for street racing in Florida but did you know you can be ticketed for watching a street race as well? There is a law that allows law enforcement to ticket people as spectators to street racing. This law was passed to try an end illegal drag racing by making it a crime to watch the participants. The Statute is 316.191(3) and is punishable by three points on your Florida driver’s license, a max fine of $500 and a possible court-ordered traffic school but as you will read below those penalties are about to increase.

The penalties for illegal street racing in Florida are about to get stiffer. The Luis Ortega Street Racing Act was passed unanimously this year by the Florida Senate and is now just awaiting a signature to make it law. The bill is named after a 15-year-old who was killed while riding his bike. The car that hit him was an alleged street racer. Under the new law there is an option for a driver license revocation, more provisions surrounding impounding the car used in the street race and it will now be required that the driving record of the racer be provided to the court.

In an effort to enforce this law and hand out Florida traffic citations, police officers will often box in the road where the illegal street racing is taking place and trap the racers and the spectators in. At that point they will begin to write traffic tickets to everyone who is present. Even if you are just sitting there you will most likely receive a ticket for a moving violation. When police make a bust for illegal drag racing, there are very few questions asked just tickets handed out.

According to numbers reported on various websites, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded there were 235 fatal crashed linked to illegal street racing in 2001. That was double the number from the previous year. In 2001, there were a reported 7,216 traffic tickets issued for illegal street racing.

Despite picking up his 15^th Florida license suspension, Joseph R. Ferraro decided to get back behind the wheel obviously ignoring the fact he had a revoked drivers license. The 27-year-old was arrested again this week for driving without a license. If convicted, this will be his 16^th license suspension.

The latest run in with the law for Ferraro came with a Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy. The officer was patrolling S.R. 52 and spotted a Ford Taurus driving westbound. The stop occurred at approximately 4:00 a.m. There was no reason given in the TBO.com story as to the reason for the stop but most likely the officer ran the plate and red flags came up. After the traffic stop, Ferraro reportedly was read his rights. He admitted to knowing he was driving with a suspended driver’s license. He was booked into Land O’Lakes jail. The charge was driving with a suspended or revoked license as a habitual traffic offender. He was released on $5,000 bail.

While Mr. Ferraro seemed to know his driver’s license status, many Florida drivers are unaware when they get a letter stating their driver’s license is suspended. If you are a habitual traffic offender, you will have your license suspended for five years. You will lose all your driving privileges for one year and then you will have the opportunity to apply for a Florida hardship license. That process goes through the Bureau of Administrative Review field office. If you receive a letter like this, it is vital you contact an attorney who is experienced in handling license suspension cases and cases involving traffic violations in Florida. If you are a habitual traffic offender and you are caught driving that is a third-degree felony. You will be taken to jail. The crime is also punishable by up to five years in state prison.