St. Louis Traffic Tickets

Yes, you can. It is still considered a moving violation, so a citation issued by a police officer that pulls you over for no insurance is something you can expect. But there are certainly ways to handle the situation after you’ve received the ticket.

To begin with, the state of Missouri has determined (along with nearly every other state) that driving without automobile insurance is an unlawful infraction. And if you are caught driving without such insurance, you will certainly receive a ticket, and four (4) points will be added to your Missouri driving record. These laws are in place to make sure that everyone who drives will be insured against the negligence of others, and also so that other drivers will be insured against your own bad driving.

However it is not at all uncommon for someone who does in fact have automobile insurance to forget to have proof of such insurance in the car with them at all times (most people keep these documents in their glove compartment). If you are pulled over, and are unable to show documentation that proves you have proper insurance, a ticket will most likely be issued. However, most courts will allow you to show that you do in fact have auto insurance, and therefore dismiss the ticket (but not always; it depends a great deal on the particular prosecutor and/or judge). If the court will not dismiss the ticket after you’ve shown proof of insurance, it is probably a good idea to get help from an experienced traffic attorney. Such an attorney can negotiate something with the prosecutor to get the ticket reduced to some lesser charge, or even get the ticket dismissed.

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A bench warrant is an order by a judge for your arrest if you don’t show up to your court appearance. In essence, it is the judge (sitting on his/her bench) deciding that you have shown such contempt for the court that you should be arrested for it. But even if this happens, there are still things you can do to avoid further trouble.

Bench warrants are useful devices for the court because they give the person against whom the warrant was issued an incentive to do what the court wants. So let’s say you have been cited with reckless driving, and you are supposed to appear in court roughly thirty (30) days later. But instead of showing up at the predetermined time, you forget to go, or you have to go to work. Since you did not appear (or have an attorney appear on your behalf), the judge will issue the warrant for your arrest. Once the warrant is out there, you could be arrested at any time. The police may come to your residence, your place of work, or of course if you are pulled over for something entirely unrelated (like a speed limit infraction) the officer will undoubtedly run your driver’s license and see that there is a warrant for your arrest. At this point, you will be booked and jailed. The fines necessary to get you out are going to be very high, and then there is the matter of handling the underlying citation (reckless driving), which will be another fine on top of that.

If that does not sound like the best way to handle this kind of situation, then I would have to agree. A far better course of action would have been to hire an attorney right after you received the citation for reckless driving. An experienced attorney could have negotiated with the prosecutor to get the ticket reduced (or thrown out altogether, depending on the circumstances). Or if for whatever reason you failed to make an appearance at your court date, and a bench warrant was issued for your arrest, an criminal defense lawyer could have worked out a deal with the court to have the warrant pulled, get the underlying charge lessened, and got you on your way.

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Articles Posted in St. Louis Traffic Tickets

Can I Get A Ticket If I Do Not Have Proof Of Insurance?

What Does It Mean If There Is A Bench Warrant For Me?