Between 2008 and 2010 alone the number of drivers identified as aggressive increased 88 percent.

Are people in a much bigger hurry today than 10 years ago? Are officers choosing to classify a wider range of driving as “aggressive” and looking to issue more summonses in tougher economic times? Perhaps a combination of both is at work here.

In Florida, a driver is considered aggressive when he or she commits two or more specific violations at the same time. The infractions are speeding, tailgating, running red lights or stop signs, improperly changing lanes, improperly passing and failing to yield the right of way.

Drivers committing those infractions get tagged as aggressive drivers and could receive more points on their driving records.

While aggressive driving knows no particular driver age or vehicle type boundaries, a typical example might involve someone who is late to work driving too fast (speeding) and passing slower vehicles either unsafely or without signaling (improperly changing lanes).

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found in a 2009 report that 56 percent of deadly crashes involved driving behavior associated with aggressive driving.

Drivers continue to drive more and more aggressively despite the fact that they realize the danger. In annual surveys by the AAA Foundation drivers site aggressive driving as a serious problem and rank it up there with distracted driving and impaired driving as real threats to their safety.

Paul C. Lawrence entered a guilty plea to eight misdemeanor counts of falsifying public records. Originally, Lawrence was charged with 22 felony counts, each punishable by up to five years in prison. The charges were reduced after he agreed to permanently relinquish his law-enforcement certification.

Prosecutors charged Mr. Lawrence with issuing hundreds of false traffic tickets using the information of motorists he had previously pulled over on legitimate car stops. Tickets would arrive in the mail and the recipients would understandably be confused.

Lawrence said he wrote the tickets to boost his overall summons count. FHP has responded by reassuring the public that it doesn’t set quotas for tickets.

More than 200 Florida traffic tickets were dismissed in connection with this incident.

I find two things notable here:

1. How in the world did he think he was going to get away with this? Some people would have convincing evidence to submit showing they were elsewhere at the time of the incident. All would complain vociferously that the charge was completely fabricated. Eventually, the volume and veracity of the complaints certainly would catch up with him. I can only imagine what type of cutting corners and lying he was able to get away with earlier in his career that led him to think this might work. In how many cases involving actual car stops did he successfully offer false testimony before he decided he could do away with the car stop altogether?

2. THERE ARE QUOTAS. Period. Why would an officer ever do this if there weren’t? I don’t believe there’s an outright monthly number that departments must hit–the number of troopers on the road, the hours they are on the road and the area of enforcement will always cause a fluctuation in the number of violations observed and cited. However, police management clearly expects either a certain number of tickets to be written by troopers during their time on certain patrol shifts or rewards those that hit certain numbers. If a superior sends a trooper out on an 8 hour traffic enforcement shift, what happens if the trooper comes back and says he wrote zero tickets? What about one or two tickets? Ten tickets? Clearly, the police have some idea of what constitutes a good shift, average shift and/or a “waste of time” shift where no summonses at all were issued. There’s no way Lawrence bothers with this unless there was some expectation of him to issue a certain number of tickets over certain periods of time.

Speeding tickets and failure to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks and street corners were the most popular Florida traffic violations cited. Pedestrians have also been cited for jaywalking.

On top of the increase in traffic tickets issued, the city is considering lowering the speed limit and potentially installing red light cameras.

Police have been instructed to make themselves highly visible and to perform traffic stops and issue traffic citations to all violators on Las Olas. Officers were ordered to pay particular attention to cars not stopping at occupied crosswalks, but were told to look out for pedestrians breaking the law as well.

State law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks and intersections, regardless of whether they are marked or not. That includes brick-paved crosswalks like those along Las Olas. On the other hand, pedestrians must obey “Don’t Walk” signs and are prohibited from crossing streets between intersections.

The number of tickets is up substantially. The Police Department motorcycle unit supplemented the work of regular patrol officers. The number of tickets issued are up more than 5X the average of 60 tickets per month issued there last year.

If you have any questions about a ticket issued on Las Olas, please contact a Broward County traffic ticket attorney. Elsewhere in Florida feel free to contact other Florida traffic ticket lawyers.

At the Duval County Traffic Court on Beach Boulevard, offenders often appear in front of the judge to answer a charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license.

There doesn’t appear to be any particular pattern to these cases. Different types of people similar only with respect to a story of driving when they shouldn’t be driving.

The penalties for driving with a suspended or revoked license range from a $200 to $300 fine to jail time and felony conviction.

Despite the potential consequences, many simply walk out of the courtroom and get right in their car.

Driving while suspended or revoked is a potentially serious charge. If anyone has questions about this or a similar matter, it may be a good decision to consult with a Jacksonville, Duval County traffic ticket attorney or other Florida traffic ticket lawyer prior to appearing in court.

The first thing she said to her husband after getting the ticket in the mail was that the yellow light phase ended too quickly. So her husband went to the intersection in question armed with a stopwatch.

The speed limit on Collier Boulevard, where she was cited, is 45 mph. According to county guidelines, the yellow light should be 4.5 seconds.

The light in question was tested 15 times and the yellow light lasted an average of only 3.8 seconds.

The ticket was thrown out and officials believe there may be other drivers who were issued traffic tickets that should not have been issued. Unfortunately, the only thing anyone can do is challenge a ticket if you think it is wrong.

It’s not necessarily easy to get a ticket like this dismissed even if the yellow light was too short. You’ll need evidence and that means taking the time to video the light. You’ll need to present this evidence to a judge and you’ll need a judge willing to recognize that .7 seconds actually makes a difference.

On the other hand, bad tickets will continue to be issued unless people stand up and fight them.

If you feel you’ve been issued a traffic ticket in Florida that should not have been issued, please contact a Collier County traffic ticket lawyer or other Florida traffic ticket attorney for a free consultation.

Five members of the team were recently issued traffic tickets for impeding traffic. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office issuing officer commented that there were so many complaints about this particular riding group that “we had to do something”.

The five have retained a Florida traffic ticket lawyer to fight the tickets.

There are a few issues potentially involved. The speed, the width of the lanes, interpretation of concepts such as driving as far to the right as “practicable”–all could potentially be part of the judge’s analysis.

While such issues really are typical to a traffic court judge, the interesting thing here is that it’s the rare case that a number of people will be following and will rely on as precedence moving forward.

Technically, the case itself should simply be about whether a violation was committed the day and time in question. In reality, the judge will be casting support for one particular side. He’s either sending a message to the bicyclists that they are expected to yield to motorists or to the motorists that they are expected to yield to the bicyclists.

Or perhaps a plea will be reached and nothing at all settled. We’ll have to wait.

Submitted by Scott Feifer
Laura Kinsler’s original story here