Chances of fighting a ticket
Once again, it all depends on the agency. I've heard down south a lot of officers don't show. They are swamped with calls and traffic court take a beat seat. At my agency and I think all the city PD's in my county, you better be dead if you aren't there, hahaha. I get paid 3 hours OT for walking through the doors of the court house, I'll gladly show to get my 3 hours, just to show up a month later and do it again. Some don't, but I take very detailed notes on every ticket I write. Between reading my citation and pulling up the DL picture before court I can usually recall the stop.
Errors on the ticket all depend on the judge or magistrate proceeding over court that day. I would imagine technically, the smallest error could be a cause for it to be thrown out, but it's unlikely you will see this. Also, decide what way you're gonna go before you step in the court room. Don't expect to go in there and start questioning every thing the officer did or said, every box on the ticket, etc.. and if you're found guilty to them expect the judge to let you off easy. I'm not saying you can't ask questions and raise concerns, but there is a right way and a wrong way. I'm yet to see a judge allow someone to abuse law enforcement in traffic court. The minute you start getting nasty and accusing the officer of lying, I hope you have deep pockets because you might find yourself with a substantially higher fine than you walked in there with. Just some FYI.
Errors on the ticket all depend on the judge or magistrate proceeding over court that day. I would imagine technically, the smallest error could be a cause for it to be thrown out, but it's unlikely you will see this. Also, decide what way you're gonna go before you step in the court room. Don't expect to go in there and start questioning every thing the officer did or said, every box on the ticket, etc.. and if you're found guilty to them expect the judge to let you off easy. I'm not saying you can't ask questions and raise concerns, but there is a right way and a wrong way. I'm yet to see a judge allow someone to abuse law enforcement in traffic court. The minute you start getting nasty and accusing the officer of lying, I hope you have deep pockets because you might find yourself with a substantially higher fine than you walked in there with. Just some FYI.
