How to Avoid Getting Traffic Tickets

Even if you're a law abiding, cop-loving, establishment-respecting Pollyanna, chances are that you have or will at one point get pulled over for some sort of traffic violation. And if you aren't ready to hand over you weekly food allowance toward beer and restaurant dinners to pay a traffic fine, you'd probably like to know how to avoid getting a ticket in the first place.

There are two major types of traffic tickets- tickets for moving violations and tickets for non-moving violations. Moving violations include speeding, failure to obey traffic signs or lights, illegal turns, or doing anything else illegal while your pinto is in motion. Non-moving violations are for offenses like parking your car illegally. There's no one that can help you if you don't know how to park.

Every year, over 34 million people receive a traffic ticket from a police officer and while most of us are willing to admit that there are a few people out there who actually deserve them, the pervasiveness of ticketing seems questionable, especially in light of recent research that proves that financial sanctions rarely deter motorist behavior. Most traffic tickets charge fines averaging around $150. 34 million tickets at $150 equals profits of over $5 billion. The money collected from traffic tickets supports much of our civil service industry, including police officers, accountants, court secretaries, bailiffs, judges, district attorneys, insurance companies, and attorneys. If we didn't get caught, lots of people wouldn't get paid.

The best way to avoid a traffic ticket is to make sure that nothing about your car draws an officer's attention. Flashy and bright colors, particularly red, draw a person's attention, namely a cop's attention. Any additional sound or light modifications can also draw a cop's attention. The neon running lights, thumping bass, straightened exhaust pipes, and glass packs might make points on your license which is bad.

Most police departments treat traffic tickets on a quota system. Some departments even award the officers who give out the most tickets in a month. This means that there are some times of the month when you are more likely to get tickets. So, the safest day of the month to travel is around the 15th. The best time to travel is about 30 minutes before such a shift change. When you get pulled over, our natural inclination is to not say anything at all for fear of saying the wrong thing. Silence is often an indication of something to hide. Just be your natural self and don't say anything to a female cop that you would not say to a male cop.

Just for argument's sake, let's say that you got ticket anyway and that you still want to get out of it. You could always try to go to traffic court and fight the ticket. Over 95% of traffic tickets are not contested, but that's because people are lazy. If you feel that you were actually wronged, then fight! There are a number of excellent books that can help you fight the good fight in traffic court.

So unless you get a cop who is screaming about respecting his authority or quoting Reservoir Dogs, our advice can help you avoid and/or get out of your next traffic ticket. All we can do now is remind you that if you don't do illegal things when you drive, then you won't get tickets.