What's The Difference Between Moving Violations And Non Moving Violations
Posted: Sunday, August 15, 2010
by Steven Swihart
Buy A Stethoscope
There are two broad categories of traffic tickets. Knowing which you have is important when determining what to do in your situation.
A lot of times when you have a minor violation and it won't result in any points on your license its best to go ahead and pay it and avoid trying to challenge it in traffic court.
Traffic tickets fall under one of two categories: non-moving violations and moving violations. Non-moving violations typically involve parking your car illegally or minor 'fix-it' tickets. These violations are not as serious as their counter-parts (moving violations) and usually involve much smaller fines.
Some common non-moving violations include: improper registration, failure to use seatbelt, broken taillights, no license plate, no license lamps, and improper parking.
In most cases these should just be paid. It can be a big hassle to go to traffic court for these kinds of violations. The reason is the fines for these are usually no more than $50 or so, and you could end up being in traffic court for hours. Not worth it in my judgment.
However, if you feel you were unjustly ticketed for any reason, you should always make an attempt to try and resolve the matter in some way. For instance, a broken tail light ticket can usually be beat by showing a recent receipt that you have fixed the tail light.
On the other hand, a moving violation is any law broken by the automobile driver while the vehicle is in motion. This type of violation is distinguished by the term 'motion'. While a non moving violation is charged against the vehicle, a moving violations are charged against the driver of a vehicle. While usually only classifies as infractions or misdemeanors, serious violations can be felonies.
Moving violations normally involve the payment of fines, and also having points assessed against the driving record of the driver. As points are accumulated more severe punishment can be ordered such as having to take defensive driving courses up to having your drivers license suspended.
Here in the United States, citation fines are nominal dollar amounts, usually between $50 and $500. In some countries, however, they are proportional to the violator's income and fines in excess of $100,000 can be assessed to wealthy individuals.
Some of the more common moving violations include speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign or red light, failure to yield, crossing the median, violating HOV lanes or driving too slow for current road conditions.
Some examples of serious moving violations are drunk driving, racing on a public road, road rage and vehicular homicide.
A traffic violation can also be civil or criminal in nature. They both carry points and fines, but only a criminal charge can wind you up in jail. The sentence in a criminal case can result in an order to pay a fine, a sentence of probation or time in a jail.
Sentences handed down in criminal violations are obligations to the state for acts committed. The term 'state' can be a city, town, state or federal government or any other kind of m municipality. These are moving violations to avoid at all costs, obviously.
Learn more about different moving violations. Stop by Steven Swihart's site where you can find out all about fighting traffic tickets for your individual needs.
This Article has been viewed 519 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.