What if a police officer is wrong about a traffic ticket?

A police officer pulls you over and gives you a traffic ticket, but they’re simply wrong about what they think happened. You try to explain it to them, doing your best to keep your cool, but they don’t believe you. They give you the ticket anyway.

For instance, maybe they claim that you were not wearing your seat belt. You point out that you have it on. They say that you just put it on as they walked up to the car, but when they pulled you over initially, you were not wearing it. You can’t believe it; you had your belt on the whole time, and you always wear it. Now what?

This does happen, and you do have a right to fight the traffic ticket if you think the officer was wrong. Maybe they just made a mistake. Maybe they did not understand the law. Maybe they didn’t want to admit the mistake when confronted with it, so they just continued forward with the ticket, despite your protests, rather than admitting the error. Every case is unique, but these are all possibilities.

One thing you want to keep in mind is that you must keep your emotions in check when talking to the officer. Explaining your side of the story is fine but remember that the right place to fight a ticket is in court, not during the stop. If they won’t listen to you, that’s fine. Let it go, accept their decision and head to court to fight for your rights. Knowing that you have options makes all the difference.