traffic court

From public defender blogger Curia Advisari Vult:

I hate traffic court.

I practice in a small town in a small circuit. Among other things, it means that traffic court is a revenue collector, pure and simple. The judge that handles traffic court is not even a lawyer – in fact, I don’t think he is even a college graduate. So any legal arguments are pointless.

If you get a traffic ticket here, you have three choices:

1. plead guilty and pay the fine
2. be found guilty and pay an inflated fine (fines more or less double if you bother the court with a bench trial)
3. Demand a jury trial in Superior court.

Superior court judges do not like to waste their time with jury trials on tickets for speeding and running red lights. And since you will usually lose the jury trial too, your client gets an even bigger fine, along with probation and community service.

…

Is it different in big towns and cities?

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