Why not trial jury for traffic ticket!

Question

I've always wondered why every person that got a ticket wouldn't check the box allowing a trial by jury? Does it cost money? Would you have to pay for the lawyers? I mean, every jury in the world would side with the driver, not the cop, because everybody's gotten a traffic ticket before and I'm sure they are irate about it. So, I would think that any jury made up of driver's would always side with the driver. So why not ask for a trial by jury? Thanks, Ron

Answer 1

Of course, technically, you have the right to trial by jury.  But, there is a process that must be followed to get to that step.

Answer 2

Yes, it costs money!

It would cost you more than the ticket itself by far.

I knew ONE guy that pulled that. He did it out of principle.

Full out jury trial! He thought he'd do it to prove a point. He wasn't going to pay that $92 ticket! No way!

He lost.

Jury sided with police. They thought he was a nutcase.

It takes time, energy, and effort to go to trial. Nobody wants the hassel...unless you are an arrogant jerk as mentioned above.

Do I think that cops should have the liberty to do whatever the h**l they want?

No

But a speeding ticket jury trial would overtax our already slow judicial system for everybody-including victims of real crimes.

Answer 3

if you fight it & loose you may have to pay court costs as well as the ticket. I personally, accept the fact when I do something & am caught. some places have traffic school that you can attend to keep the offence from going on your driving record.

Answer 4

You are wrong in your assumption.Their are millions of law abiding drivers who never get tickets.I am one of them.A jury trial would doom the accused.

Answer 5

Or the jury would be really pissed off that you forced them to spend a day sitting in a courtroom. You could represent yourself and not pay for a lawyer.

Answer 6

As a former Justice of the Peace and Municipal Judge, I presided over 200-300 jury trials on traffic tickets.

As a rule, the jury went with the officer, not the violator. Probably only a handful of my trials were beneficial to the defendant.

It's been my experience that the juries will access a fine for the maximum amount of the fine rather than the 'set fine' the court would have assessed.

But, it's like throwing dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.