Traffic Ticket Team

Drugs and The Traffic Ticket Team

Whether it’s cold medicine, cough syrup, a legal prescription drug or alcohol, if you ingest too much and drive a vehicle, you can be charged with driving under the influence. ”Even if someone is taking prescription drugs legally, they can be charged with DUI,” said Sgt. Kim Montes, spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol district that includes Volusia County. “If a trooper evaluates someone, either on a traffic stop or at a crash scene, and determines they are impaired from alcohol, illegal or legal drugs, or another substance, they can be arrested.” The FHP recently charged a man with DUI manslaughter in an Orlando case because they believe he had inhaled computer cleaner, Montes said. Toxicology reports, which reveal the presence of substances in the blood that can lead to impairment, can take several months to complete, said FHP Lt. Bill Leeper. He noted authorities are awaiting toxicology results in at least one Flagler County crash involving serious injuries. The Friends Drive Sober organization devotes a section of its website to prescription and over-the-counter drugs and their effect on drivers. ”Drugs impair our bodies in a variety of ways,” the site reads. “They may blur our vision; make us tired or too excited; alter depth perception; make us see or hear things that may not be there; raise or lower blood pressure; react too quickly, too slowly, or not at all. They cause problems with concentrating on the task at hand.”  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically lists cough and cold medications containing dextromethorphan as one of the most commonly misused over-the-counter drugs, “to get high.” ”The pivotal issue when it comes to controlled substances is impairment,” said Chris Kelly, spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office. The short answer, he said, as to whether a person is guilty of driving under the influence depends on two things: the impaired individual is in control of the vehicle and, per state statute, “that the person’s normal faculties are impaired.” It’s up to the discretion of law enforcement to determine whether a driver should undergo testing and whether a breath or blood test is requested. ”If we have an idea of what types of drugs they may be taking, then we can ask for that drug to be specifically tested,” Montes said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement runs a panel for all controlled substances when blood is drawn, said spokeswoman Susie Murphy. ”We don’t typically test for huffing (inhaled) agents,” Murphy said. “We don’t test for over-the-counter drugs at all.” But that doesn’t mean a person can’t be charged with DUI for taking over-the-counter medication.  ”If someone were to ingest enough over-the-counter medicine, they could also be arrested for DUI if it is determined that they are impaired,” Montes said. So if you get in a situation you need legal help, please call the Traffic Ticket Team at 954-967-9888 or go to our site, www.TrafficTicketTeam.com Diamond, Kistner & Diamond, P.A.

Traffic Ticket Team

The cost of a Florida traffic ticket is higher than ever and that is becoming a problem for Floridians who cannot afford to pay their traffic ticket fees. With the economic trouble if the country striking Florida particularly hard, court officials are receiving more requests to have traffic fines reduced or people notifying them that they are financially unable to pay their traffic tickets. In Palm Beach County a recent review of 350 traffic citations issued over the course of a week returned surprising results. According to a story in the Palm Beach Post sources say that about half of those 350 traffic tickets had letters returned with the citation asking for a reduction in fees. The reasons included the drivers who were cited were either out of work, low on money or had a home in foreclosure. The administrative traffic hearing officer quoted in the story said that they will take those circumstances into account. The problems begin in trying to determine who deserves a break on their fines and who doesn’t. The options for those who get their fines reduced is to substitute community service in exchange for less money out of pocket. Some counties will credit people $10 off their ticket for each hour they donate to specified non-profit groups. There are also counties who now offer payment plans for traffic tickets. The article says that many ticketed drivers are now defending their own tickets in court to delay paying the fine but the paper warns that this type of strategy could backfire with the cost of traffic citations and court costs combining to make matters worse. In Palm Beach County the number of drivers contesting their traffic tickets has almost doubled from the averages in 2008 and 2009. The previous two years about 11% of drivers fought their traffic tickets this year that number is now 20%. Thus, if you get a traffic ticket in Florida, please call the Traffic Ticket Team to fight it for you. www.TrafficTicketTeam.com 954-967-9888.

Everyone knows that speed cameras work. They create the discipline of a lissom lady in leather and make sure everyone understands just what the rules are. In fact, some people are so in awe of speed cameras’ discipline that they develop speed camera phobia and try to steer clear of them whenever possible. This being a troubled world, there are those who believe that these marvels of technology are merely there to make money for local authorities. So what can these troubled people say to the fact that Arizona has removed their cameras because it couldn’t make them pay? Well, they could say that Arizonans simply weren’t too keen on paying their tickets. Now, though, speed camera technology is going a little further. My heart began to chug beyond all speed limits when I read  that there are new speed cameras, ones that don’t merely check your speed. This astounding conjunction of art, technology, and justice–known as Asset (Advanced Safety and Driver Support for Essential Road Transport)–is so packed with gizmos that it can discover you are breaking a multitude of laws all at the same time. Yes, Asset can check whether you’re insured, whether you’re wearing your seat belt, whether you’re too close to the car  in front. It can even check whether your hands are in the correct 3:40pm position currently recommended in many states. Oh, I’m not entirely sure about that last one. But I am sure your veins are already pulsating at the idea of a speed camera that could, potentially, issue three or four tickets to you at once. Asset is currently being tested in Finland. So one can only wonder whether these speed cameras will be able to detect alcohol levels emerging with drivers’ breath, as Finland has a long and interesting history with alcohol consumption.The Asset mechanism is really quite simple. It takes a multitude of pictures and wafts them back by satellite to a large central database. Think of it as a real-time Google search of your car. The Mail suggests that these fine machines–you know, machines that issue fines–will be in service across Europe by 2013. I know that many who live outside of Europe’s confines will already be booking their trips in anticipation of such a large and speedy step forward for civilization. But if you get a traffic ticket in Florida, call the Traffic Ticket Team to Fight Back for you. Our attorneys have handled over one million traffic tickets. So don’t hire a random ticket clinic lawyer, hire a Team. That is, call the Traffic Ticket Team, 954-967-9888.

Traffic Ticket Team

Intermittent outages of the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles mainframe servers have led to system crashes at driver’s license offices across the state, making already long waits even longer for frustrated customers. ”All I’m doing is sitting here waiting,” said Jeff Gilman, who arrived at the DMV office on Military Trail at about noon Friday and was still waiting to be served four hours later, along with about 60 other people.  The system has been unstable since Nov. 3 and it has been declared it a critical situation, said Courtney Heidelberg, DMV’s deputy communications director. The problem has not been fixed yet, she said. Customers at DMV offices were already facing long waits because of tougher ID requirements for obtaining licenses since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Although Gilman said officials offered to let people make appointments to come back another day because of the sporadic outages, he said he was concerned he’d just run into the same problems again. The lengthy wait times were exacerbated at the Deerfield office because its two bathrooms were out of order most of the afternoon.  ”The bathroom backed up and the sewage came up out of the floor,” said Uranius Cruz, of Deerfield Beach, who arrived at the office at 11:30 a.m. and wasn’t finished until 3:45 p.m. Scott Vincent, of Margate, came to the Deerfield DMV office Friday after stopping by the Margate office first. ”The line was even longer in Coral Springs,” said Vincent, who arrived at 2:30 p.m. and planned to stay as late as necessary. Officials said anyone in line as of 5 p.m. would be seen. The Traffic Ticket Team is aware of the problem and trying to help people in a similar situation. If you get a traffic ticket, call the www.trafficticketteam.com, Jason Diamond, Diamond, Kistner & Diamond, 954-967-9888. Let us Fight your Traffic Ticket. Do not pay that traffic ticket, fight back.

Cop Traffic Ticket Team Ticket

Sunrise road patrol officers are expected to make at least three traffic stops a day, according to a complaint form on the officer filed in May. That means the city’s 84 road patrol officers have to make at least 45,864 stops a year, about half the city’s population.With Sunrise home to Sawgrass Mills  mall, a top tourist destination in South Florida, folks from all over are at risk of being pulled over and given a ticket. What it could cost you, on average: $200.

“The public thinks it’s a gotcha game and they are going to get you if they have to meet that quota,” said Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Law School in Davie. Officers who meet the quota — referred to as “shift standards” by department brass — are in line for promotions, special assignments and raises, say union officials. Those who don’t risk a written reprimand, they say. The Sunrise police union does not condone quotas of any kind, said Roger Krege, union president.The officers making the traffic stops are “just following orders,” Krege said. Officers need to be able to make decisions without “external influences” from supervisors who demand a set number of stops per day. Chief John Brooks, who joined the department in June 2007, denied having a quota.”I don’t have a ticket quota and I don’t have an arrest quota,” Brooks said. “It’s not illegal, but it’s unethical.”

Capt. Robert Voss, who oversees the department’s road patrol officers, says supervisors need some way to measure performance. The number of daily traffic stops an officer makes helps gauge productivity, Voss said. ”Those are guidelines for them to follow,” Voss said. “We have to have a way to measure what an officer is doing out there. The officers are making a lot of money. We want to make sure they’re working.” The standards apply only to the officers assigned to road patrol, Voss said, not to the department’s entire 172-member force.

Mayor Roger Wishner characterized the three-stops-a-day rule as community policing, where officers focus on certain neighborhoods to help reduce traffic accidents. ”I don’t support a quota system, but I do want our officers out there enforcing traffic laws,” Wishner said. Deputy Mayor Sheila Alu also backs Brooks’ rule, in effect since July 2008. ”I think he’s trying to keep the officers accountable,” Alu said. “He wants to make sure the officers are doing their jobs and performing.” From October 2008 through September 2009, Sunrise collected $431,200 in traffic fines and court costs, city records show. Sunrise has collected $352,000 in ticket money from October 2009 through early August.  In addition to the traffic stops, Sunrise officers are required to make three “Field Interrogation Card” reports each month — or 3,024 every year. Officers use the FIC reports to document suspicious activity — and to prove they are working, Sunrise police officials say. One officer has Voss wondering just what he could be doing his entire 11.5-hour shift. Bruce Charlton, a 21-year veteran who works the day shift, has been written up three times this year for failing to meet shift standards. In February, he had one traffic stop and no FI cards. In March, he had no traffic stops and one FI card. In April, he made seven traffic stops and wrote one FIC report. ”I have personally given verbal warnings to Officer Charlton and have placed notes and copies of his stats in his shift file regarding his lack of productivity,” Sgt. Mark Hudson wrote in a May 17 complaint on the officer. “By failing to heed repeated supervisor warnings, Officer Charlton remains in violation of Department Policy and Procedure. Technically, Charlton was written up for disobeying an order. The order: To make more traffic stops and write more FI Cards. Charlton, 41, said this in his defense: “We have over 200 different responsibilities to perform during our shift and it’s not fair to the public’s safety or officers’ safety to pigeonhole our performance solely on traffic stops and FI Cards.

The other officers have to neglect their other duties for fear of discipline if they don’t meet the shift standards.” Traffic quotas may not be illegal in Florida but they are frowned on, said Bob Dekle, a law professor at the UF, ”The problem you get into with quotas, every stop is open to public criticism,” he said. “The accusation is, ‘You did it because you had a quota to make, not because the person was doing something wrong.’ That’s why quotas are a bad idea.”  On the other hand, Dekle said he understands the dilemma for supervisors who want to make sure the rank and file are not sleeping on the job. ”It shouldn’t be too hard for officers to make three traffic stops a day and three field interrogations a month,” Dekle said. “If the officer is not doing that, you have to wonder what he is doing.” Officials with the Broward Sheriff’s Office say the agency does not have quotas. The Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood police departments say the same. Fort Lauderdale does require its officers to meet “performance standards” to measure productivity, Sgt. Frank Sousa said. Officers are evaluated on the quantity of their work, but are not required to “write five tickets a day or make three arrests,” Sousa said. Nor are they required to conduct a set number of traffic stops or “Field Interrogation Cards,” he said. The Sun Sentinel reviewed 287 FI Cards written by Sunrise officers between June 19 and July 19. Subjects were questioned for many reasons — loitering, walking home, driving around “aimlessly,” sitting in a parked car at a shopping center after hours. Will Carrasco, a Plantation resident questioned by Sunrise police in June, was not surprised to hear of the shift standards.”It sounds like a quota to me,” Carrasco said. Carrasco, 27, and his brother-in-law were camped out in his car outside Sawgrass Mills about 3:30 a.m. June 19, hoping to be first in line to buy a new Jordan sneaker. ”Three cops came up and said ‘What are you doing here?’” Carrasco recounted. “We were sitting in the car with snacks and water, minding our own business. I can’t really blame them. But I think sometimes they overdo it. Three of them showed up.”

If you get caught speeding, you should call the Traffic Ticket Team, www.trafficticketteam.com, to fight your Florida Traffic Ticket. If you get a traffic ticket for anything, speeding, red light, DUI or anything else, call us anytime to fight your traffic ticket at 954-967-9888, Law Offices of Jason A. Diamond, P.A. and Diamond, Kistner & Diamond.

GMAC Insurance recently conducted a survey of a driver’s basic knowledge of the laws of the road. The company quizzed more than 5,000 drivers in all 50 states and the results are in. While New York has what GMAC Insurance deems as the worst drivers, Florida finished ninth overall. Many law firm clients think that the lack of knowledge of traffic laws is a valid defense against their traffic ticket but unfortunately that is not the case. According to the survey about 41 million Americans would fail their written driver’s test if they had to take it today. While most drivers are aware of the laws surrounding speeding, running a red light and driving with a suspended license there are many laws out there that Florida driver’s aren’t as familiar with. Some are newer laws like Florida’s Move Over Law or some are just misunderstood like what is careless driving or reckless driving. If you want to take the test yourself, visit www.nationaldriverstest.com. If you have been cited for a traffic violation in Florida and need qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Traffic Ticket Lawyers such as Jason Diamond at the Traffic Ticket Team www.trafficticketteam.com or email jason@trafficticketteam.com (954) 967-9888

We have learned that the Florida Highway Patrol will be targeting violators of the Move Over Law. The Move Over Law mandates that drivers move over one lane whenever an emergency vehicle has its lights activated on the side of the road. In cases where moving over is not a realistic option, drivers are required to slow down to 20 mph below the posted speed limit. Florida’s Move Over Law was adopted in 2002 after several incidents where emergency response personnel were killed or injured while stopped at the side of the road. Over the last ten years, more than 150 law enforcement officers across the country have been hit and killed by passing motorists while performing duties on highways. The Florida Highway Patrol is teaming up with law enforcement agencies across the state to raise awareness and ensure compliance to the Move Over Law. If you get a traffic ticket for a move over violation, call the traffic ticket team who’s lawyers have handled over 1,000,000 traffic tickets. (954) 967-9888 www.trafficticketteam.com jason@trafficticketteam.com

Florida Leading The Way Among State That Are Cracking Down On Aggressive Driving Those of us who live in Florida are aware of all the new laws and regulations that are being instituted to crack down on aggressive drivers but apparently the whole country knows about it now thanks to a recent article in USA Today. The article talks about the new Florida traffic ticket law that will go into effect on January 1 that sends a driver found to be at fault in three traffic accidents in a three year period back to school for a strict driver education test that also requires a road test. That law is joined on the books by another that will go into effect in less than a month. That law makes traffic school mandatory for first-time offenders of certain moving violations traffic tickets. That used to be an option for drivers but not a requirement. The new laws are said to be aimed at people who are aggressive drivers, which in the state’s eyes are those who speed, tailgate, change lanes without indicating, weave in and out of traffic and ignore traffic signals. According to reports, this type of behavior on the road causes more fatalities than drunk driving. If you have received a traffic ticket anywhere in Florida please do not hesitate to contact Florida Traffic Ticket Team to discuss the matter 954-967-9888 or jason@trafficticketteam.com.  Our lawyers have handled over 1,000,000 traffic tickets.

If in fact you have been apprehended for Reckless Driving in Florida, its very important that you hire an experienced Reckless Driving criminal    defense lawyer to represent you. We will work relentlessly to mount a successful defense to the crimes with which you have been charged. We are a firm believer and advocate of our clients’ Constitutional rights and promise to employ our invaluable resources and experience in our power to protect and defend them. We are ethical, experienced and hard working Reckless Driving criminal defense attorney who will defend your case. Reckless driving, in the United States, is a severe problem and one of the most committed crimes. Reckless driving is described in aggressive driving” as, “the operation of a motor vehicle in a manner which endangers the life of individuals or property.” This behavior usually is based upon illegal and dangerous driving which is done with the intent to gain an advantage over the other drivers or due to some other psychic problem. Examples include: Over speeding, following an additional vehicle too closely, erratic lane changes, improper signaling, and failure to obey traffic signals. Running a red light is one of the most dangerous forms of aggressive driving. The majority states have passed legislation to create specific penalties for reckless driving offenses. These laws create specific penalties for driving that intentionally places the life of other individuals at jeopardy of harm or endangers the safety of others, is based upon dangerous conduct contributing to the likelihood of a collision and displays extreme impatience. Reckless driving has several known causes: The influence of alcohol whilst driving, the influence of drugs whilst driving, and Encouragement of the driver to behave in such a manner by other passenger in the car. Any person who drives any vehicle upon a highway by disregarding the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving. Persons arrested or convicted of the offense of reckless driving shall be punished by imprisonment in a county prison for not less than five days nor additional than 90 days or by a fine of not less than one hundred forty-five dollars which should be not additional than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, The license or permit to drive of person arrested or convicted of reckless driving shall be suspended by the department for not less than thirty days. If you have been charged with or given a traffic ticket for reckless driving, call us now. jason@trafficticktteam.com  (954) 967-9888