How To Fight A Traffic Ticket (2025)

Understanding How to Fight a Traffic Ticket: Key Strategies

The exact strategy you use to fight your ticket will depend on the circumstances, and working with a lawyer can generally give you your best chance of success. In any situation, though, it’s important to be able to clearly argue why you shouldn’t owe the ticket. Take a closer look at common arguments used in traffic ticket cases.

How to Fight an Inattentive Driving Ticket

Many of the worst car crash injuries happen when drivers are texting or otherwise distracted. As a result, police in many jurisdictions are cracking down on distracted drivers.

Tickets for inattentive driving are often issued to drivers using their phones behind the wheel. If you have dashcam footage showing you weren’t on your phone when you were pulled over, you may be able to use it in court.

Alternatively, if there are passengers or other witnesses who can truthfully say you weren’t using your phone, their testimony may be very valuable.

How to Beat a Failure to Signal Ticket

If you’re in the habit of not using your turn signal—or if you were just unfortunate enough to forget to use it while an officer was watching—you may be ticketed. This is a challenging ticket to argue against. However, in cases like these, challenging a police officer’s observations may be helpful.

For example, if the officer’s view of traffic was partially obstructed, you might be able to argue that they could not have seen you fail to use your turn signal from that vantage point.

How to Get Out of a Speeding Ticket in Court

Any type of ticket can raise your average car insurance cost per month. However, because speed is a factor in so many accidents, speeding tickets often raise your insurance rates more than other tickets. In fact, recent research shows that speeding tickets can increase your cost of insurance by as much as 24%.

If the officer used radar to clock your speed, you may have a difficult time arguing the ticket. However, if you were speeding to avoid danger or avoid even greater harm, that might be a viable defense. For instance, if you were speeding because you were rushing an injured friend to the hospital, the ticket might be dismissed. In other cases, attending traffic school may be a more realistic way to avoid points on your license or keep the violation off your record, depending on your state's laws.

How to Beat a Failure to Maintain Lane Ticket

Failure to maintain lane tickets may be somewhat easy to argue against in some circumstances. If you were driving on a road with extremely faded paint, it could be reasonable for you to drift from your lane by accident.

How to Get a Failure to Yield Ticket Dismissed

Failing to yield is a major cause of car accidents, so it’s no surprise that officers frequently issue citations for it. Your argument against a ticket for this will depend on the circumstances. For example, if you have dashcam footage, you may be able to show that there was no failure to yield on your part and that the officer was mistaken.

How to Get a Stop Sign Ticket Dismissed

Like tickets for failure to signal, stop sign tickets can be hard to beat. The best way to challenge them is usually to raise doubt as to the officer’s ability to see you. Drawing a diagram of where the officer’s car and your car were can help the court get a clear picture of the scene.

What Happens if You Fight a Traffic Ticket and Lose?

You have the right to fight any traffic ticket you receive. However, fighting a ticket can be a gamble. If you win, you don’t have to pay any fines, there are no points added to your license, and the ticket is dismissed.

If you lose, though, you’ll likely have to pay both the fees for the ticket itself and the court costs. In the long run, fighting your ticket and losing could cost more money and time than just admitting to and paying for the ticket from the beginning.

This doesn’t mean you should never fight a traffic ticket. Still, it does mean that you should make sure you have a viable argument for why you shouldn’t owe the ticket.

If you aren’t sure whether you should fight a traffic ticket or not, it may be worth consulting with an experienced attorney. A lawyer who routinely handles traffic tickets can help you assess whether it's wise to challenge your ticket in court and explain what might happen if you lose. In some cases, ignoring or failing to pay a ticket on time could eventually lead to a warrant being issued - adding more legal trouble to a simple infraction.

Not Sure How to Fight a Traffic Ticket by Yourself?

Fighting a traffic ticket yourself is possible, but you’re more likely to succeed if you work with an attorney. If you’re not sure how to find the right attorney for you, we can help.

At ConsumerShield, our team is dedicated to helping people like you learn about and exercise their legal rights. If you’re looking for a lawyer to represent you in traffic court or just want legal advice about a ticket, fill out our form below for a free case review today.