A Motorist Can Get The Penalties Waived For Failure to Produce a Driving License

Interviewer: What about, in the situation where you're not able to produce your license because you don't know where it's at, but you have it?

Acacia Law Group Lawyer: Yes, you can. Both California and Arizona law allow you this opportunity. You can submit the proof to go to the court and get the penalties waived, or even the insurance portion dismissed. Now, the law states you have to have it on you at all times, so technically it is still a violation, but as long as you bring it to court and show you did have it at the time, there are provisions that, yes, they can dismiss that. But, again, it's still a hassle, which is why you have to go to court, which is why it's an advantage to retain an attorney who can go to court for you so that you don't miss work or any other events that you need to attend.

The Impact of a Traffic Violation on a Commercial Driver’s License in Arizona

Interviewer: What happens if I were to have a commercial license, like a CDL? How do things change with that?

Acacia Law Group Lawyer: The big thing with a commercial driver's license is that in Arizona you can not go to traffic school, even if it's in your personal vehicle. Now, California has finally wised up and realized this was unfair, so they've changed the law, as of 2013, to permit commercial divers the ability to go to traffic school, providing they were in their personal vehicle. But in Arizona, that's not the case. Even if you're just off the job, driving, going 10 miles over the speed limit, and you're given a civil ticket, that's going to affect your job, because it's going to show as a violation, which is going to give you points on your record. You can't get that removed, and you may end up losing your job, depending on your employer.

In Today’s Economy People Have Lost their Jobs For a Single Traffic Violation

If they don't want to pay the increased insurance premiums, then that could be a very serious problem, and in today's economy, even 1 traffic ticket, I've heard of people losing their jobs for. What changes, then, is officers. A lot of the time, sometimes they're more understanding of the situation. Depending on the court, when we go to court, I can negotiate with the officer, talk about it, and try and negotiate a fair resolution where the commercial driver is penalized, because he did commit an offence, but he's not going to lose his job or face the unfair consequences that he doesn't deserve, especially because it was in his personal vehicle. Therefore, as I said, there are lesser violations that either have 2 points instead of 3, or no points at all, depending on what the violation is.

The Impact of Traffic Violations On Auto-Insurance in the State of Arizona

Interviewer: How does auto insurance get affected, based on tickets?

Acacia Law Group Lawyer: The insurance are going to get a record of conviction, and the insurance companies, they're in the business to make money, so of course they're going to want to raise your rates, because they can, and the best part is they can tell you why. They say they're bound by the law to raise your rates based on your ticket. They can tell you to get mad at them for reporting the offence, therefore they get to make more money and they get to raise your rates. That's what happens, is it's going to raise your rates for, generally, 3 years, and you're going to lose your safe driver discounts. Some insurance companies, for too many points, will start dropping you, then you have to get that high-risk insurance which will be even more money.

Some Insurance Companies will Drop a Client for Too Many Points and then the Motorist Has to Get High Risk Insurance

One more thing that I have to mention is that, especially another thing that can happen to commercial drivers, is that, in California ... It's a different points system unlike in Arizona. It's only, instead of having the 2, 3, and 8 system they only have 1 or 2, so it's just 2. Everything, DUIs are 2, reckless driving is 2, everything else is 1, so speeding is not any greater than a stop sign, like it is in Arizona, but for commercial drivers they multiply it by a point and a half, which means that even though the person goes and gets a ticket in Arizona, it's going to get forwarded back to California, and they're going to treat it as a point and a half. That's one big difference for commercial drivers there.

A Traffic Ticket Generally Stays for 3 Years on a Motorist’s Auto-Insurance Record

Interviewer: How long will a ticket stay on someone's insurance record?

Acacia Law Group Lawyer: Generally, tickets will stay on for 3 years. That's what the MVD, will show it for. It is a long time. There are ways you could do defensive driving or traffic school one time, but after that it's going to stay on.