Michigan Traffic Ticket Attorney
Although technically not “criminal” offenses, traffic tickets such as speeding violations have significant legal consequences and should ALWAYS be defended against by a qualified criminal defense attorney. Not only can traffic tickets detrimentally affect your driving privileges in Michigan, but they can also have devastating financial consequences through fines and costs imposed by the court, the State of Michigan, as well as increased insurance rates through your insurance company. Only an experienced attorney who is familiar with Michigan traffic laws and the various courts throughout Michigan can protect your driving privileges, and potentially save you thousands of dollars in fines and costs.
Although civil infractions are not punishable by jail time, every traffic ticket in Michigan has both a monetary fine that must be paid, and certain number of “points” associated with the offense. These fines are imposed and collected by the various district and municipal courts throughout the state of Michigan, and the points associated with your traffic tickets are abstracted by the courts to the Michigan Secretary of State, which maintains a master driving record of every traffic ticket your receive. The failure to pay the fines associated with traffic offenses, or the failure to appear in court when you are required to do so, could result in a suspension of your driver’s license and additional fines and costs. Under certain circumstances, even if you pay the fine for a traffic ticket and appear in court when you are required to do so, it still may result in a suspension of your driver’s license depending on the status of your master driving record with the Michigan Secretary of State.
Additionally, effective October 1, 2003, Michigan approved legislation and enacted a the Michigan’s Driver Responsibility Law. This new law imposes ADDITIONAL monetary driver’s responsibility fees for drivers who are convicted of specific offenses, and for drivers or accumulate seven (7) or more points on their master driving record. Under this new law, even traffic tickets such as No Proof of Insurance, which do not carry any “points” that are assessed against your master driving record, carries with it a drivers responsibility fee of $200.00 for two (2) consecutive years, in addition to the fines and costs imposed by the court. A link to some the fines under the Michigan’s Driver Responsibility Law is below:
http://www.michigan.gov/driverresponsibility/0,1607,7-213-32166—,00.html
In many cases, for a minimal cost the attorneys at Canu, Torrice, PLLC can get your case dismissed or reduced to a lesser offense, saving your hundreds or even thousands of dollars in fines, costs, driver’s responsibility fees, and increased insurance rates. You can also avoid taking time off from work or school as our attorneys can often appear in court on your behalf, thereby saving additional time and money. Even one traffic ticket can detrimentally affect your driver’s license and cost you a considerable amount of money. If you have been issued a traffic ticket, call our law firm 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (586) 285-1700, and one of our attorneys will contact you immediately for a free consultation.
