Fines, License Suspensions, and Traffic School
Learn when you may face a fine, traffic school, higher insurance premiums, or even the suspension of your driver's license.
The consequences of not contesting a ticket, or fighting a ticket and being found guilty, can be serious. As you doubtless know, you can face a stiff fine, traffic school, significantly higher insurance premiums, and possibly even the suspension of your driver's license.
Fines
A routine ticket for speeding, failure to yield, or failure to stop at a stop sign will normally cost you between $75 and $400, depending on your state law and, sometimes, your driving record. Some states can base the fine, at least in part, on whether you have other recent violations. Otherwise, states normally have standard fines for particular violations based on the type of offense. In speeding cases, the fine can be based on how much you exceeded the posted speed limit.
The fine is often written or printed on the ticket, but if it's not, it's easy to learn the amount by calling the traffic court.
While paying up may be the easiest route for you to take, it can have lasting negative consequences to you since the violation will appear on your driving record, normally for about three years. The big exception to this rule is if you pay the fine in conjunction with going to traffic school. Completion of traffic school normally means the ticket will not appear on your record.
Insurance Rates
Depending on your state law and your insurance company's policies, your auto insurance rates will normally not increase if you receive one ordinary moving violation over three to five years. But two or more moving violations -- or a moving violation combined with an at-fault accident -- during the same time period might result in an increase in your insurance bill. Unfortunately, because insurance companies follow different rules when it comes to raising the rates of policyholders who pay fines or are found guilty of a traffic violation, it's not always easy to know whether it makes sense to fight a ticket.
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