In the State of Nevada, a police officer can cite you for violating various traffic laws and your traffic violations or traffic ticket will be assigned to a specific court depending on the jurisdiction where the infraction has taken place. Although the procedures for each court differs, the basic benefits of having an attorney represent you on a traffic ticket matter is that in most cases you do not need to appear in court. The attorney may be able to get the traffic violation charges reduced to a parking ticket so there are no demerit points given to you by the DMV. In other situations, no traffic school can be negotiated, dismissal of non-moving violations and other negotiable benefits.
Traffic Violations Penalties
Depending on the traffic violation, the simple traffic matter may be upgraded to a criminal matter where normal criminal case procedures will apply. Such traffic violations include but are not limited to: DUIs, Reckless Driving and Driving on a Revoked License.
Demerit points with the DMV can affect your license as well as your insurance premium. Your insurance premium can increase as you accumulate points and these points will be reported to the DMV. Parking tickets are not moving violations so they are assigned no demerit points. You are also allowed only up to 12 demerit points per 12 month period before your license may be suspended, although some traffic violations result in an automatic suspension.
See http://dmvnv.com/ for more information.
Traffic Offenses and Demerit Point Values
Moving violations are all assigned a demerit point value based on the severity of the offense. Depending on how many points you have accumulated, it may be in your best interest to attend traffic safety school. However, if you are required to attend traffic school as a condition of your plea agreement, it will not count towards removing demerits from your record.
Common traffic offenses and their demerit point value include:
Speeding 1 to 10 mph over the posted speed limit – 1 point
Speeding 11 to 20 mph over the posted speed limit – 2 points
Failure to dim headlights – 2 points
Following too closely – 4 points
Disobeying a traffic signal or stop sign – 4 points
Reckless driving – 8 points
Failure to Pay
Bench warrants can be issued for the arrest of those who do not deal with their tickets properly. Various reasons for the warrant to be issued are failure to complete traffic school, a fine not being paid or if no appearance has been made. An attorney may quash the warrant and have the traffic violation matter reopened if it has not yet been adjudicated or he/she may request to be placed back on a payment plan. When you are issued a warrant, the DMV is notified, your license is suspended and you may be arrested at any moment.
Experienced Las Vegas lawyer Garrett T. Ogata is capable of helping you out if you have been cited for a traffic violation in the state of Nevada. Call today for a free consultation, and you may even be able to keep your records clean by having the traffic violations dismissed altogether in some cases.
See Bench Warrant.
If you have a current traffic citation, please fill out our Traffic Ticket Information form to contact us.
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