You have choices when it comes to your traffic ticket

If you’ve been pulled over and given a traffic ticket along regional highways including the New York Thruway, Taconic Parkway and interstate 84, or anywhere else in the Catskills or beyond in upstate New York, you do have some options to consider. These might include:

• pleading guilty, which is by far the worst choice because it guarantees that you get the most points on your license, could get you a high fine, and increases your risk of having to live with higher insurance rates and being sent a bill for a “driver responsibility assessment.”

• plea bargain: this is when the prosecutor (or the officer, in some cases) offers to let the driver plead guilty to a lesser offense. The offer is usually better when the driver has a clean license. Having the experience to know what to say to a prosecutor can also make a difference.

• traffic diversion programs offered in some counties are used in place of extending a plea offer. The fees may not be lower than the fine would have been, but successful completion will get the ticket dismissed.

• traffic trial: there are times when spending the money and time needed for a traffic trial is the best choice, but that’s not always true. That’s why a traffic court judge will probably strongly advise hiring an attorney before taking that step.

Thanks to my personal familiarity with many of the upstate traffic courts and the judges and prosecutors working there, when I provide a free consultation I know which of those options will be available, and can advise what makes the most sense for your circumstances. Call today to get the advice you need.