In a matter of weeks, Washington drivers will no longer be allowed to legally hold and talk on a cell phone while driving. As state, county, and local governments look to “protect” you, my gentle readers from yourselves and the public, they’re also looking to take a few of your hard-earned bucks off you by having the police pull you over, delay you, and write you tickets. Don’t let the government take your money.

Before you use your cell phone while driving, get a hands-free device for your cell phone. Hands-free cell phone devices are allowed and they are the new, permissible way to drive and talk on your cell phone. Hopefully the devices will save you some money as well.

Recently the Seattle P-I published an article about a motorcyclist who was arrested for allegedly driving 164 mph in Oregon. Many drivers call my office to ask me if traveling a certain speed, such as 90 or 100 mph, constitutes reckless driving in the State of Washington.

The answer is that any speed beyond Washington’s maximum speed limits could serve as prima facie evidence of reckless driving, which in Washington is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.  The prosecuting authority would, however, have to prove the charge of reckless driving to the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.

So in Washington, if a driver is traveling 26 mph in a 25 mph zone, that person can be arrested (though it is unlikely and unusual).  But if you’re allegedly traveling 164 mph on a motorcycle, you are at high risk of getting arrested and charged with reckless driving.

In most speeding cases, drivers are issued notices of infraction - that is, speeding tickets - which are civil infractions. The penalties for infractions do not include jail time, but the penalties do include monetary fines, higher insurance costs, and potential suspension or revocation of the driving privilege.

But drivers in Washington should be aware that a police officer has the judgment call of citing a driver for reckless driving - and even arresting the driver on the spot - if the police officer believes the driver is disregarding the safety of persons or property.

Getting stopped by the police can be a scary experience for many people, but luckily you have a lot of options and rights when you get stopped, cited, and even arrested.  If you’ve received a citation and need help fighting it, give me a call, I can help.

In perhaps the largest targeting of red-light runners in the State of Washington, Seattle will soon add red-light cameras at 18 more intersections in 2008, more than quadrupling the number of intersections added in 2006-2007. Last year, the City gained more than $1 million from red-light cameras.

Some Seattle officials think that stepped-up enforcement will make people safer, even though a City study noted that accidents per intersection INCREASED even after the City added cameras at four intersections in 2006, although mainstream media outlets such as the Seattle Times and the Seattle PI have failed to report this fact, according to thenewspaper.com , a journal of the politics of driving.

What is clear is that the City stands to make millions of dollars off of red-light tickets this year.

Unhappy about this? City Council Member Nick Lacata wants citizen tax dollars to pay for an additional 24 cameras in 2009 (why not an even hundred Nick?!?!?!).

Seattle is not alone - Puyallup will add the cameras in February, with monetary penalties beginning in Puyallup in March. Lakewood and Lynnwood already use cameras for enforcement.

Last week the AP picked up a story from the Southwest Washington Columbian newspaper about the WSP’s increased frequency of issuing speeding tickets to motorists in Washington.

Not only is the WSP issuing more traffic tickets, the WSP has incentives to do so:  some of the money from ticket fines are used to fund the agency and the agency won an award from the International Association of Police Chiefs for the best state police agency of its size when the WSP’s speeding ticket total exceeded the total from the previous year.

Some interesting statistics found in the article:

• Snohomish County and Clark County have the highest number of tickets issued per mile on state and federal highways (it’s unclear whether these counties beat out other states or if state highways refer only to Washington)
• The WSP issued 280,000 speeding tickets in Washington in 2006, an increase of 55,000.  These tickets are also only for speeding.  These numbers do not include other types of traffic offenses and this number does not include the hundreds of thousands of tickets issued by municipal police departments and  county sheriffs’ departments.
• In the first half of 2007, troopers issued more than 165,000 speeding tickets
• Although tickets are up, fatalities were up 23% on Washington highways in the first eleven months of 2007.
• Troopers in Asotin County, in the far southeast corner of the state, issued only 155 tickets for the first half of 2007.
• Spokane County ranks 7th highest among Washington counties for speeding tickets issued.
• Of all Washington counties, Adams County has the highest number of WSP speeding tickets per 100 residents.
• King County and Pierce County are in the bottom third of Washington counties for WSP speeding tickets when number of residents is considered.
• Motorists now receive speeding tickets in 60%-65% of traffic stops, up from 44%, a 36%-48% increase.
• The WSP is aggressively searching to fill 86 vacancies for its “field force” - the troopers who give traffic tickets to motorists.

The bottom line is that a higher number of speeding tickets means more more people will probably pay their tickets, resulting in increased insurance premiums and tarnished driving records.

This is why it’s critical to have an experienced traffic attorney fight to keep your driving record clean and your insurance costs low.  If you received a speeding ticket or ticket for another type of traffic offense, call me today - help is only a phone call away.

An article recently appeared in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about police in Waukesha, Wisconsin using RADAR to clock sledders and snowboarders.

It appears as though the police in America’s Dairyland were not out to issue citations, but rather officers were around to tell people that they might have been traveling a whopping 19 MPH.   It is worth clicking on the link just to observe one of the Waukesha officers with his RADAR gun pointed at sledders in Lowell Park.

Here in Washington, the police seem much more interested in citing motorists than they do educating sledders.  Whether you get a ticket for sledding too fast or speeding in a motor vehicle, drop me a note or give me a call.

Beginning January 1, 2008, drivers in the State of Washington face a ticket if caught reading, writing, or sending a text message while driving.  This especially will affect  drivers who work at Microsoft and other high-tech companies as these drivers often employ wireless technology while on the road.

There are a few exceptions (affirmative defenses) to committing this infraction, such as sending a message to summon help in an emergency, but many if not most drivers caught texting while driving will face a ticket.

However, there is some good news about this type of ticket, and some bad news.

The good news first - this type of ticket (or infraction in legal lingo) is a “secondary infraction,” meaning that a police officer has to have another reason to pull you over (speeding, unsafe lane change, etc.).  Also good news is that state law prohibits this type of infraction from being reported to insurance companies.

So what’s the bad news?  If you get cited for texting while driving, you’ll likely end up cited for a second infraction - that is, the speeding ticket or driving on the shoulder ticket or other type of primary moving violation that got you pulled over in the first place.  Now you’ll have two infractions to deal with and one that can affect your insurance.

If you should receive a texting ticket with some other type of violation, please call me for a free consultation.

Police in several towns in King and Snohomish counties are toughening their approach to immigration (even legal immigration!) by arresting drivers that police suspect of being illegal, the Seattle Times reported.

Take the case of Jose Luis Diaz: he was pulled over for speeding and detained by authorities for 8 days before he could present the proper paperwork to an immigration judge.  In fact, Mr. Diaz was released after he was able to show that his wife is a U.S. citizen and that he is in the process of obtaining legal status.  Of course, Mr. Diaz’s arrest did not come before he lost a good job (and good wages).

Other drivers who are going to pay parking tickets ended up being detained by immigration agents.  This is happening in places such as Pacific, Lynnwood, and Bothell.

If motorists do not take of their tickets, these same drivers will have a tough time renewing their drivers’ licenses, working for American  businesses, and maintaining insurance.

If you received a speeding or other traffic ticket and you are worried about your legal status, you can still fight your ticket without going to jail or being detained by immigration authorities.  Give me a call if you want help fighting your ticket.

In addition to the standard fine for a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) violation having been raised from $101 to $124, police are using citizen drives to enforce traffic laws.

In the State of Washington, drivers can call 206-764-HERO to report alleged HOV violators. According to a news report in the Seattle Times, the Washington State Patrol will actually send out warning letters to vehicle owners whose vehicle license plates are spotted by other drivers in the HOV lane. If a warning letter doesn’t work (maybe the WSP receives more complaints?), then the WSP will apparently “stake out” the location of the alleged violation in order to “catch the cheater in the act.”

Aside from the enormous amount of resources the WSP must be spending to “stake out” a location to catch a person allegedly committing an infraction, this creates a shift in police resources - now the police, who are so concerned about HOV violations, are out on I-5 rather than staking out car theft locations.

In addition, the WSP is sending warning letters to motorists who own vehicles even though these same motorists might not have been driving the vehicles they own when the vehicle allegedly committed a traffic offense.

If you’ve received a traffic ticket, give my office a call, we can help.

Recently the Washington Department of Transportation released data collected January 1 - March 31, 2007, that ranked the top locations for vehicles moving faster than 90 MPH based on the highest number of vehicles traveling 90 MPH or quicker.

Of the top 10 locations, 6 of them were in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties, in places including Issaquah, Fife, Seattle, and Tacoma.

It is unknown whether every inch of state highway was tested, or whether western Washington was specifically targeted, or whether the top locations have a higher number of vehicles traveling 90 or over because more cars cross that area or if the vehicles traveling 90 or over actually amount to a higher percentage of speeding cars versus all cars that are traveling a given section of roadway.

What is clear is that the State Patrol is stepping up enforcement (this means speeding tickets and other citations for traffic offenses such as negligent driving and reckless driving) in areas that it believes has a higher number of vehicles that speed.  This makes economic sense for the State Patrol - after all, the more tickets issued, there is arguably a better chance at committed findings and fines, all other things being equal.

It is best for drivers to take notice of these stepped-up enforcement locations and if the unfortunate happens and you get a traffic ticket, give me a call, I can help.

A new law that will make it easier for the police to issue a traffic ticket and impound (the fancy legal term for legally restraining) your vehicle will take effect on Sunday, July 22, 2007.

Although the Legislature previously allowed the police to impound a vehicle for alleged criminal law violations and other circumstances (for example, the vehicle was reported stolen, or the vehicle is occupying a restricted zone), this new law allows the police to seize a vehicle if the vehicle is on a public street AND the vehicle has an expired registration of more than 45 days.

BEWARE: This law change means that a police officer who pulls you over while you are driving, presumably so that your vehicle becomes parked on a public roadway, could ticket you and impound your vehicle if the registration is expired long enough. It could mean that if your vehicle is parked on the street outside your home, and you’ve not updated your tabs, your vehicle would be subject to impoundment if your tabs are expired for more than 45 days.

Avoid the costly expenses of obtaining a traffic ticket and paying impound fees. Keep your registration up to date and if for some reason you cannot keep your registration up to date, move your vehicle onto private property.

According to a PEMCO Northwest Insurance poll released last month, Washington drivers who have household income of more than $75,000 a year are more likely than those of household income below $75,000 to speed and talk on a cell phone.

Among those drivers who are more likely to speed, the poll found that these drivers are under-55 males who earn at least $75,000 with one or more children at home.

The least likely speeders? Empty-nester females over the age of 55 who earn less than $75,000, as well as single drivers without children.

But here’s what the poll doesn’t show: (Read on …)

Although we often talk about speeding tickets and traffic offenses here at home in the State of Washington, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on traffic tickets abroad, and the rights we enjoy here at home.

Yesterday marked America’s 231st anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Each July 4, we celebrate everything that is great about America - our food, our flag, our freedom. But 231 years later, we still have it better in America than our brothers in Britain.

Just last week, two British traffic rebels regretfully lost their appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, the court that Europe created to hear cases from citizens of member countries that traditionally have been unable to stay out of wars with one another. (Read on …)

This was the topic of a recent news story, which did not get the answer quite right. The short answer is generally no, not at this time, and drivers should not go rushing to the stores to buy GPS devices to counter speeding tickets. (The exception would be if you could bring in an expert to testify about the high accuracy of GPS as a speed measuring device - and even then a court in Washington would probably be reluctant to allow such new technology into evidence).

Imagine this: you’re driving a long, minding your own business, and Officer TicketCop pulls you over and he issues you a speeding ticket. He tells you that your car, according to his RADAR (radio detection and ranging) device, clocked your vehicle traveling 10 miles over the posted speed limit.

Simple enough, right? Not exactly. (Read on …)

As local suburbs become strapped for cash, police are issuing more traffic tickets, especially speeding tickets. Take Fircrest, for example.

Fircrest is a 1.5-square-mile Tacoma suburb of approximately 6,000 people situated between Tacoma and University Place. Unfortunately for drivers, Fircrest’s elected officials are supportive of an increase in traffic citations. (Read on …)

When drivers receive civil infraction tickets in the State of Washington, drivers have three choices:

1. Pay the fine (you’re admitting that you committed the infraction)

2. Request a mitigation hearing (you also pay the fine and admit to the infraction, but a kind judge might lower the fine, provided that’s allowed for the type of infraction for which you were cited);

3. Fight (contest) the ticket.

Many drivers, especially those who get a Seattle ticket, think that requesting a contested hearing will get them a contested hearing. Unfortunately, in a number of locations around the state (most notably Seattle), that’s not exactly true. (Read on …)

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (D) recently signed legislation sponsored by Delegate David Albo (R-Fairfax), a traffic attorney and member of Virginia’s esteemed House of Delegates. Mr. Albo has been known to remind people that he occupies the seat of George Mason, the Father of the Bill of Rights.

Del. Albo thought it was a great idea to raise speeding ticket costs for driving as little as 15 MPH over the limit. Such a ticket could cost a driver $2,500 in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Virginia drivers get the added “bonus” of paying a $1,050 tax.

Luckily, Washington drivers can breathe a sigh of relief (Read on …)

Often I receive phone calls from citizens who have been issued a traffic ticket and/or arrested not because of anything these citizens were doing while driving, but because they were passengers in vehicles that were stopped for something totally unrelated to what the police officer is now alleging against the passenger. This begs the question: As a passenger, do I have the same right as the driver to challenge a traffic stop? Now you do. (Read on …)

Although SpeedingTicketBlog does not venture too often onto the highways of nonmoving traffic tickets, readers should be aware that the City of Seattle Parking Enforcement Division issued citations in violation of the City of Seattle Municipal Code.

If you parked on a legal holiday and you were wrongly issued a citation, you car might also have been impounded, and wrongly so.

In response to a lawsuit filed last fall on behalf of drivers who were wrongly issued citations, the City of Seattle changed its parking rules. Â Still, the City might still owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for the prior wrongful issuance of citations. The case is currently pending in King County Superior Court.

For more information, read the Seattle PI’s article here.

We’ve all been there - in the car with a loved one. But is it lawful to “hook up” with the driver of a vehicle?

Last week, a Washington State Trooper pulled over the driver of an alleged drifting SUV on I-90. The vehicle’s occupants were naked, leading the Trooper to believe that an act of physical intimacy had occurred while the vehicle was in motion. In this case, the driver was charged with DUI and the passenger with being a minor in possession of alcohol.

However, the couple were not cited under the “embracing” statute. But what if the couple had been hooking up while the car was moving? (Read on …)

By the end of July, drivers who are stopped will see the costs of citations increase. A typical fine of what was $101 at the beginning of 2007 will increase to $124.

The $1,050 penalty for not yielding to an emergency vehicle will also increase, as will most other traffic offenses.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much the public can do. (Read on …)