When charged with a traffic violation, it’s important to understand the difference between the two types of traffic courts in New York – the Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB) that handles cases in New York City, and local village, town, city, or county courts outside of NYC.
As you can imagine, these different systems and departments can quickly become confusing. Working with a skilled traffic court attorney at Feifer & Greenberg LLP gives you the best chance of having your ticket reduced or dismissed.
Which traffic court you go to depends on where your ticket is issued
If issued in NYC: Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB)
The TVB is not a true court. It is a state administrative agency (part of the Department of Motor Vehicles) that handles traffic tickets issued in the five boroughs of New York City.
There is no plea bargaining at the TVB. For each violation, there will be a hearing in front of the Judge. The officer will be called to testify and offer his or her account of the circumstances and why the traffic ticket was issued. The police officer serves as Prosecutor—there is no District Attorney involved with these administrative hearings.
At the close of the officer’s testimony, you or your attorney will be given the opportunity to ask the officer any questions you have. At the close of the case, the judge will make a decision. He will find you either not guilty (no points, no fine) or guilty (points if applicable and fine). There will be no negotiation or reduction of the charge possible at the TVB.
If you fail to respond to a traffic ticket you receive in NYC in a timely manner, you can expect your driver license or driving privileges to be suspended in a relatively short period of time. A continued failure to respond will eventually end up in a default conviction.
Feifer & Greenberg, LLP has extensive experience and has successfully defended thousands of drivers at the TVB. Our attorneys are in each TVB office every day to fight cell phone tickets, speeding tickets and other moving violations issued in the TVB jurisdictions. We are confident that our firm provides the absolute best TVB representation and defense possible.
If issued outside of NYC: Local village, town, city, and county courts
Unlike the Traffic Violations Bureau, the courts in local villages, towns, cities, and counties are actual courts that follow traditional procedures and often handle matters beyond traffic tickets.
If you fail to appear for your hearing date, these courts will ultimately notify the DMV regarding your failure to appear. Some courts are more aggressive and quicker to do this than others.
In these courts, there will often be a prosecutor (not the officer) you can speak to and try to work out some kind of plea reduction on your charge.
In most cases, this is a strategy we employ. While the specifics might depend on which court we are in, what our client’s overall record is like and what particular traffic violation(s) we are dealing with, in most cases we can get prosecutors to agree to lower the charge pending against our client.
This means getting them to agree to a deal which can significantly reduce the fine, surcharges, points, driver assessment fees and potential insurance increases. While a trial could be necessary if we can’t work out a deal that works for our client, this is extremely rare.
There are many local courts throughout the state and they don’t all handle traffic tickets exactly the same. Understanding these differences is crucial as far as the strategy we employ and the recommendations we make to our clients.
Make the right choice: Hire Feifer & Greenberg as your traffic court attorney today
Feifer & Greenberg, LLP appears daily to contest traffic tickets in local courts throughout New York. Our partners, associates and of-counsel attorneys are quite experienced and we are proud of our achievements and history of success in these courts.
