Traffic ticket

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A traffic ticket is a citation commonly issued by a police officer to motorists who fail to obey traffic laws. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, such as exceeding the speed limit, or citing a non-moving violation, such as a parking ticket. Traffic tickets are generally heard in traffic court.

1 United States
2 Historic Speeding Ticket Violations
3 Countries which use a point system
4 See also

[edit] United States

In the United States, most traffic violations are civil infractions, although multiple prior offenses or egregious offenses may mean the violation is the more serious charge of a misdemeanor, or the most serious, a felony. Each state's Department of Motor Vehicles maintains a database of motorists, including their convicted traffic violations. Upon being ticketed, a motorist is given the option to mail in to the local court, the court for the town or city in which the violation took place, a plea of guilty or not guilty within a certain time frame, usually 10 days although courts generally provide leniency in this regard. If the motorist pleads not guilty, a trial date is set and both the motorist, or a lawyer representing the motorist, and the ticketing officer, or a representative, are required to attend. If the officer or representative fails to attend, the court judge will often find in favor of the motorist and dismiss the charge; although, sometimes the trial date is moved to give the officer another chance to attend. The court will also make provisions for the officer to achieve a deal with the motorist, often in the form of a plea bargain. If no agreement is reached, both motorist and officer, or their respective representatives, formally attempt to prove their case before the judge who then decides the matter. If the motorist pleas guilty, the outcome is equivalent to conviction after trial. Upon conviction, the motorist is generally fined a monetary amount, and for moving violations is additionally given "points" demerits, under each state's point system. In the cases where the motorist is registered in a different state than where the violation took place, individual agreements between the two states decide if, and how, the motorist's home state applies the other state's conviction. If no agreement exists, then the conviction is local to the state where the violation took place. In some instances, failure to pay the fine may result in a suspension to drive in only the town or city to whom the fine is owed and the motorist may continue to drive elsewhere in the same state.

[edit] Historic Speeding Ticket Violations

Fastest Speeding Ticket in the World - May of 2003 in Texas - 242mph in a 75mph zone. The car was a Swedish built Koenigsegg which was involved in the San Fransico to Miami Gumball3000 Rally.