Criminal Traffic Offense Attorneys in St. Pete and Pinellas Park
What is a Florida Criminal Traffic Offense?
A criminal traffic offense is a broad general term for any misdemeanor or crime committed on the road with a motor vehicle. Breaking traffic laws in minor and major ways can result in receiving a criminal traffic offense case. You may receive a ticket or even put under arrest for a criminal charge. Often, the severity of the traffic offense depends on the consequences of the vehicular misconduct. If someone was hurt in the accident, for example, a once-minor traffic offense becomes a very serious case.
Traffic offenses include driving with a suspended license, reckless and distracted driving, violation of a business purposes only license, DUIs, etc. Each potential driving offense might result in a fine and a mark on your driving record up to a year of jail time and thousands of dollars in fines. Fortunately, there are ways to defend a traffic defense case to eliminate or at least reduce the legal consequences ahead of you.
What to Do After Experiencing a Criminal Traffic Offense
The moments after a criminal traffic defense incident are among the most important for building your defense. If you have just experienced a traffic offense, then follow these steps carefully:
- Check yourself for injury
- Get your vehicle safely off the road and wait for/call police
- Check any others involved for injury
- Do not apologize or do anything that could be taken as admitting fault
- Collect contact and insurance information from:
- Other involved drivers
- Witnesses
- Police Officers
- Walk around the scene taking photos:
- of your vehicle,
- the section of road,
- and any other involved vehicles
- Cooperate fully with the police
- Ask for a lawyer if taken in for questioning
How to Prepare to Defend Your Criminal Traffic Offense Case
If you have done all or even some of the checklist above, you’re in a much better place to prepare for your defense for the criminal traffic offense. But no matter what you do right after the scene, you can help your defense with a little post-event preparation. Get together all the paperwork related to the incident, including the ticket from the police, any paperwork from the court, and documentation on your vehicle just in case.
If you took photos from the scene, date and label each one so it’s clear what you photographed. Then make backups of those photos and add them to your digital portfolio of materials. Collect all the contact and insurance information you may have gathered.
When you have everything relevant to the case, prepare it to share with an attorney who will know what to do next.
How a Lawyer Can Help
Many people think of criminal traffic offenses as something minor that they can handle in court on their own. If you plan to apologize out of a speeding ticket, this might be true. But any real criminal traffic offense should be handled by an experienced attorney who is familiar with the complex Florida traffic laws and circumstances that might have led to your traffic offense.
A lawyer will help you organize your defense based on the evidence available. They might identify that greenery blocked your view of a turn, that the other driver was driving distracted, or help present your situation in a sympathetic light for a lesser sentence. By working with an experienced Florida traffic attorney, you have a far greater chance of avoiding or reducing the consequences of your traffic offense case.
Contact Oldham & Delcamp for Legal Help with Your Criminal Traffic Offense Case
If you have recently experienced a traffic offense, the law office of Oldham and Delcamp would be proud to consult on your case. Please contact us today to talk about the circumstances of your traffic offense and how we can help you make it right.
