Every time you take to the road in the state of Florida you’re at risk of making a mistake that results in a traffic violation. While this isn’t typically a serious crime, it can still impact your life nonetheless.
Once you understand the potential impact of a traffic violation on your life, you may come to find that it’s not best to simply “eat” the ticket. Rather than pay it and move on, learn more about the impact it will have and the steps you can take to defend yourself.
Before you do anything, get familiar with the details of your traffic violation. For example, there’s a big difference between a ticket for rolling a stop sign and a ticket for careless driving because you were also under the influence of alcohol.
A traffic violation can affect your life in the following ways:
- Insurance premium increase: Depending on your driving history, your next ticket may be more than enough to increase your premium. And depending on your past, it could even lead to the cancellation of your policy.
- Fine: Traffic violations are associated with large fines, typically spanning well into three-figures. If you simply decide to pay the ticket, it will make a big dent in your bank account.
- License suspension: Depending on the type of violation and how many points you have on your driving record, a suspension may be in order. And if that happens, you won’t be able to drive yourself to and from work, school or anywhere else of importance that you need to go.
- Impact on your career: For example, if you drive for a living, even a minor moving violation can cause you trouble. Your employer doesn’t want dangerous drivers, so your job is at risk.
Many people who receive a traffic ticket don’t want to deal with the process of going to traffic court, so they simply pay it and hope for the best. If you do this, it could impact your life in one or more of the ways detailed above.
As you review your ticket and better understand the consequences, consider if it makes sense to fight back with the hope of reducing the negative consequences on your life.