One of the questions we ask everyone before they hire us is "how's your driving record?" More often than not, the response is "perfect.
Having come across very few actual "perfect" records, we have learned to ask follow up questions that usually lead to a person saying something like "Well, I have no points on my license," or "I haven't had a speeding ticket in years. Both of which are nice to hear, but unfortunately, doesn't mean that the person has a "perfect" record. It means most people really don't understand how the driving record system works.
If I asked you "How long does a speeding ticket stay on your record?" would you know the answer?
Well, don't worry, my job here on this traffic ticket blog isn't to try and trick you, it's to educate you. So here goes.
Your driving record, is your record FOREVER. That ticket your received when you were 16 . . .it's on there. The speeding ticket you thought no one knew about because you went to traffic school . . . it's on there.
When we run a person's record, because they swore they never had a ticket, there is always that weird moment, when I bring up a speeding ticket from their past and the response is "Oh, I didn't think that was still on there."
Part of the confusion is that the points that you may have received from paying a ticket or from a judge, will only stay on your record for 3 years, but your record is your record forever.
According to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, speeding ticket violations, where a person elected traffic school, has to stay on the record forever, because the state has to keep track of how many times you went to school.
Other speeding ticket results will be on your record for 75 years (which is essentially forever, because even if you got your speeding ticket at 16, that would mean you'd be 91 when it came off the record and who are we kidding, you probably shouldn't be driving at 91)
Here's another question. "How long does a speeding ticket stay on your record if you hire a traffic attorney to fight it and it gets dismissed?" HA! That's a trick question. By fighting a speeding ticket successfully and getting the case dismissed, it will NEVER appear on your record.
See why I preach to ALWAYS FIGHT YOUR TICKETS. So if you have a speeding ticket and think it's no big deal to just pay it and go to school, think again. Getting that ticket dismissed is the only way to keep it off your driving record. That's why, before you do anything, you should go get a free consultation with a traffic attorney.
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