There are some things that you can do to avoid or talk your way out of a stop sign ticket, and sometimes you must challenge the ticket in court to prevent a conviction. You might be able to avert getting a ticket by always stopping well before the sign or the stop line, but many times that is detrimental because the law enforcement officer (LEO) did not see you stop. They did not pick up your movement until you rolled forward up to the sign, line or crosswalk, looked and kept going. A stop sign ticket can sometimes be successfully challenged when the LEO’s perspective was such they could not have known you stopped early.

Challenging the Stop Sign Ticket 

The first defense we will discuss to circumvent a stop sign ticket conviction is to challenge what the officer saw. This defense demands that you know where the officer was when you were at the stop sign. The LEO had to be in a position to see if you stopped at the stop sign. 

Stopped Before the Stop Line

The second situation to help you sidestep a stop sign ticket conviction is to show that the sign was not visible or obscured, or that the limit line had faded out. Most of the time, if you are not able to see the stop sign, then the court is not going to convict you. This is also the case if the line is faded so that it could not be seen. Return to the location where you received the ticket and get photos of the obscured stop sign or faded line, which can help with your defense.

However, in each case, you or your attorney will need to recreate the scene almost exactly. Although the burden of proof lies with the arresting or ticketing officer, the more plausible your defense, the more likely it is the judge will dismiss. 

Traffic ticket attorneys will generally have a better chance of convincing a judge of your innocence than you will. They spend several days a week in traffic court listening to cases, many just like yours. Likewise, a traffic attorney knows how the judge has ruled in past stop sign ticket cases, and which scenario the defense presented.

Collision Avoidance Caused the Stop Sign Ticket

The third possible defense of a stop sign ticket is if you were not able to stop at the sign to avoid a collision. Of course, this is going to depend on the facts because you must make sure all your actions were justified. The best example of this is when you had to swerve to miss something that was in the middle of the road, or you had to roll forward a little bit so that someone behind you did not hit you.

A New Stop Sign Installed Along Your Regular Route 

The fourth and final circumstance to help you to avert a conviction on a stop sign ticket is if the stop sign was newly installed. Therefore, if this is a route that you usually take on a regular basis, but they have just installed the stop sign this is a possible defense. The sign had not been there previously, so you have not had to stop there before. 

Most of the time, the judge is going to understand that you would not have been looking for a stop sign at that location, so they might dismiss the ticket or make it a no-point violation so that your auto insurance premium does not go up. 

The previous scenarios are four defenses a skilled traffic attorney can use to assist you in avoiding a conviction on a stop sign ticket. Perhaps the wisest course of action is to discuss your circumstances with an experienced traffic lawyer who regularly defends traffic tickets. 

Traffic Attorneys Who Defend Stop Sign Tickets in Kern County 

Call Bigger & Harman, (661) 349-9300, when issued a stop sign ticket in Bakersfield or California. Providing us the circumstances of your ticket will determine the course of action we can take to resolve your ticket. Although we cannot guarantee that we can successfully defend every ticket in every scenario, having all the details will help. Se habla Español (661) 349-9755.  

Send them an email, attorney@biggerharmanlaw.com.