Some of the most beautiful and popular places to visit in the country are right here in South Florida. The miles and miles of beach along the Atlantic Ocean are unsurpassed. In Palm Beach County, Boca Raton alone offers miles of pristine beach which provides softly rolling dunes, some of the best surfing in the area, and world class resorts. Whether you are making vacation plans or just laying the foundation for your weekend activities, you can look to Boca and its outstanding parks such as Red Reef Park or Spanish River Park for family or individual pursuits such as surf fishing, picnicking, or a visit to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

This sounds great, right? Well, it is and there is no end to the appeal of visiting or residing in Palm Beach County except when it comes to navigating the surrounding area. There is no shortage of highways and byways that transverse Boca. Such well known highways as S.R. A1A, U.S. 1, U.S. 441, I-95, the Florida Turnpike, and S.R. 808 permit the flow of millions of cars every year through this city of about 90,000 people, making it the largest city situated between the equally popular cities of West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach. As such, the volume of traffic that creates the necessity of these roadways can also lead to traffic nightmares, and the word “flow” becomes relative to whatever the current traffic conditions may be.

The resulting congestion and rapid drop in speed limits, ergo frustration on the part of drivers, are probably the two of biggest contributing factors to the number of speeding tickets that are issued in Palm Beach County every year. According to one news report, Palm Beach only represents only 7 percent of the population of the state, but 10 percent of the State of Florida’s more than one million speeding tickets are issued are here in Palm Beach. Whether this is due to the number of highways in the area or the fact that the county has a specified speed enforcement division who frequently use speed traps is a matter of some debate.

Sometimes law enforcement is responding to requests from local residents or businesses regarding concerns pertaining to safety, but just as frequently if not more so, the “business” is just a matter of the local law enforcement. Regardless of whether you are a commuter who is used to just moving along to get to where you need to be or if you are a visitor who is unfamiliar with the often frequently changing speed limits, it is easy to miss when and where the speed limits change. Being ever mindful of this gives these law enforcement agencies all the motivation they need to sit just beyond the speed limit sign to tag anyone who may not be expecting the change. This is especially true for the visitors to our area, but often the locals tend to think that it’s always going to be ‘the other guy’ who gets pulled over.

Unfortunately, whether you are a tourist or a local resident, the expenses of a speeding ticket are not the kind of expenses that we usually budget for, and don’t think that just because you are a visitor that you have dodged a bullet. Most states, including Florida, engage in reciprocity when it comes to exchanging traffic ticket violation information. So, the concept behind the saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” does not apply to getting a Florida speeding ticket.

It is easy to seek empathy by telling yourself, your friends, your family, or even the cop, “It’s so unfair. Everyone was speeding, and I was just trying to keep up with traffic,” or some other justification but frankly, the cop who issues you the speeding ticket doesn’t care. He is there to do a job, and many times, trying to explain away your reason for speeding just makes the police officer annoyed and more determined to write the speeding ticket and possibly motivate him to find other violations for which he can cite you.

When considering both the immediate and long term effects of a speeding ticket, it is almost always in the best interests of the driver to hire a lawyer who has the skills and abilities to not only find any flaws that may have occurred when the ticket was issued, but also the finesse required to effectively argue the case in court. Of course, our jobs as traffic ticket attorneys become somewhat easier if you remember a few simple tips when you get pulled over for speeding.

Keep your hands on the steering wheel so the police officer doesn’t get “twitchy” about what you may be up to. He has no way of knowing if you pose a physical threat to him, if you are considering evasion, or if you are just nervous because being pulled over is not an everyday occurrence for you.

Don’t take off your seatbelt until after he approaches your car because you don’t need a secondary charge. If he doesn’t see you remove the seatbelt, he may assume you were not wearing one at all.

NEVER reach over into the glove compartment for your license and registration until he asks you for it. It amazes me how many people do this automatically thinking that they are being helpful. Sadly, a cop has no idea if you are reaching for you registration or a weapon and although they can be harsh in handing out speeding tickets, their job does impose inherent risks to life and limb that the rest of us never or seldom have to face.

Finally, remain calm and polite. I don’t have any hard, fast facts on the matter, but I think I can draw a fairly safe conclusion that no one has EVER benefitted from getting temperamental with a law enforcement representative. In fact, it’s a pretty sure bet that it will never make things go favorably for you.

As I mentioned earlier, most people don’t count on incurring the expenses that a speeding ticket entails. Naturally when facing these expenses, many drivers feel that retaining a traffic ticket attorney to fight their speeding ticket is just an additional expense that they will have to pay. When, however, you consider that in most cases our fees start at just $69, it is surprising to learn that only 5 percent of drivers who receive traffic tickets decide to retain a traffic ticket attorney. Often these drivers don’t take into account that a speeding ticket conviction will frequently cause an increase in their insurance rates for about three years, and the conviction will stay on their driving record permanently. They also don’t realize that sometimes a good traffic ticket attorney can get the case reduced or dismissed with no more involvement from the driver than a simple phone call. Allow us an opportunity to evaluate your speeding ticket case by calling us at 954-967-9888 for a free consultation regarding your speeding ticket.