Maintaining the safety of motorists and passengers should be the focus after the accident, and ensuring that any persons in need of medical care receive it.
If you’ve been in a vehicle collision that only resulted in property damage, you are responsible for the following:
If you’ve been issued a NYC traffic ticket, you have two initial options: You can pay the ticket (plead guilty), or you can fight it (plead not guilty and schedule a hearing date). If you choose to just pay it or fight it, the information for doing so can be found on your ticket or online.
You’ll have options to handle the guilty or not guilty plea via mail (fill in the required information on the back of your ticket and mail it in to the office listed on the ticket within 15 days of the citation date) or using the online system. Note we recommend using the online system for anything you possibly can use it for because you’ll know instantly that it’s done one way or the other. The mail is, of course, a different story.
When you schedule your hearing, you will be assigned to a specific Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB) office. While there are exceptions, In most cases this TVB office will be the one closest to where the violation occurred. At your hearing, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) will review your case and make a determination: either guilty (points and fine and any penalties that come with the particular charge(s)) or not guilty (case dismissed as if it never happened).
If you have multiple tickets issued as part of a case, they will all be heard at one hearing and there will be an individual decision by the judge on each one.
At the hearing, you may represent yourself or you may choose to be represented by an attorney. If you’d like to learn more about how an attorney might help increase your chances of success (and save you a trip to court), feel free to reach out to our firm.
Our firm Feifer & Greenberg, LLP focuses on fighting moving violations and we offer free consultations. Call us today at (888) 842-5384 or contact us online.
There are 8 TVB offices throughout the boroughs of New York City.
Each of these offices is open on weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and until 6 p.m. on Thursdays:
2875 West 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11224
Atlantic Center Mall, 2nd Floor, 625 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
2875 West 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11224
159 East 125 Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10035
17 Battery Place, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10004
West Shore Plaza, 1775 South Avenue, Suite 2, Staten Island, NY 10314
30-56 Whitestone Expy, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11354
168-35 Rockaway Blvd, 2nd Floor Jamaica, NY 11434
The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) will call cases one by one and each case will start with the ALJ asking the officer who issued the summons to explain what he observed that prompted him to issue the ticket. The officer will be scheduled to be there on the appropriate date and time.
Expect the officer to show up. While there are exceptions every now and then, it is a myth that officers don’t show up in court. They are required as per their job to attend and the vast majority of time the do indeed attend court.
After the officer testifies, you or your attorney has the right to question the officer. In addition to asking questions, you will have the opportunity to offer your own testimony, allow a witness to testify or present any evidence you may have. The judge may choose to ask you or your witness or the officer questions for the purposes of clarifying any testimony given.
When all is said and done, the ALJ will examine the evidence and testimonies provided. If the ALJ decided there is “clear and convincing evidence” that you committed the violation, you will be found guilty. However, if such evidence isn’t there for a particular charge then that particular summons should be dismissed.
In the event you are convicted of one or more charges, the ALJ will set a fine and let you know if, based on your overall record, there are any additional penalties such as a suspension.
If you are convicted of a violation, you have an option to file an appeal. All proper documentation and appeal fees must be submitted and filed within 30 days of the initial decision.
The necessary documents can be filled out online, or you can download them from the DMV website. If you choose to download them, you must mail in the form and fees to:
P.O. Box 2935
Albany, NY 12220-0935
Appeals to the TVB Appeals Board are very difficult to win. They rarely will turn against the decision of the ALJ. That said, there are always exceptions and often appeals can help delay certain penalties if necessary. Feifer & Greenberg handles many appeals each year, and we’re happy to discuss a potential appeal on a consultation as well.
In general, you are allowed two adjournments of a scheduled hearing date. The first one is generally granted with few questions asked. You can actually adjourn a case online anytime prior to the very first scheduled hearing date. Any subsequent requests would need to be made in person in court.
Most judges will allow a second request with the posting of a $40 refundable bond. There are exceptions to these general rules as each adjournment request in front of a judge is subject to the individual ALJ’s discretion. Some will be more willing to grant adjournments than others.
If you miss a hearing date, you’ll be given 30 days from that date to go to court and try to reschedule the case. Whether this request is granted is up to the individual ALJ who will consider why you missed the hearing date and how many prior adjournments you’ve had on the case.
Attorneys who regularly practice at the Traffic Violations Bureau understand the procedures and usually have some familiarity with the individual judges in any given court. This experience and knowledge very simply gives someone represented by an attorney a higher chance of success. No attorney can guarantee any outcome and we never do. The best attorneys can and will lose cases too. However, traffic tickets are all we do — and we happen to be pretty good at it.
If you’ve been issued an NYC traffic ticket and want to discuss your case, call us today at (888) 842-5384 or contact us online for a free consultation. We’ll review the details of your case and help you decide the best path moving forward. Our consults are always an open and honest evaluation of your situation.
We have organized a statewide network of attorneys. In our network are both attorneys who work for Feifer & Greenberg and attorneys who work for other firms that regularly provide of-counsel representation to our clients. This statewide network allows us to match clients in a particular county or court with local attorneys who regularly appear on similar matters in the same county or court. It enables us to help clients anywhere in New York State and in our opinion provide particularly effective and affordable representation for our clients. Local attorneys can draw on their particular local experiences and, with travel time and expense removed from the equation, help us keep our legal fees low.
We recommend fighting almost all tickets. Even if the current NY traffic tickets aren’t particularly harmful, you have an incentive to keep your record clean for the future. Convictions quickly lead to surcharges, insurance increases and other complications. You should strongly consider any decision to pay a ticket without fighting.
Our lawyers are experienced, prepared attorneys who understand the nuances of fighting traffic tickets. Experience, preparation and good decision making help us to help our clients avoid points, surcharges, insurance increases and the other negatives that can easily result from a traffic ticket.
Feifer & Greenberg, LLP, 15 Maiden Lane, Suite 601, New York, NY 10038, (888) 842-5384
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