Prince George’s County Speeding Ticket Lawyer

Getting a speeding ticket in Prince George’s County is unique in that punishments are harsher than in the past. Some new statutes regarding the way the courts handle tickets, coupled with more serious punishments, make the offense a game changer. This means that in addition to paying higher fines, you face the prospect of having Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) points on your driving record, and higher insurance rates, giving you all the more reason to contest the charge with the help of a Prince George’s County speeding ticket lawyer.

A few years ago, Maryland established new procedures for the way it adjudicates all traffic offenses. Today, anyone who receives any ticket and chooses to plead not guilty must file a notice with the District Court of Maryland in which the offense occurred, in order to request a trial [Maryland Transportation Code Section 26–201]. Failing to do so will result in an automatic guilty verdict.  This is an important change from traditional practices whereby all tickets were automatically assigned a court date.

Speeding Punishments

Though the new sentencing guidelines for speeding convictions vary, depending largely upon your driving record, penalties are generally predicated on how fast you were driving and if an accident was caused by your excessive speed [Section 21–801].

All fines are can be doubled if you sped through a work or school zone.  In addition, there is also a “driving too slow” statute [Section 21-804]. Those who are ticketed for this offense pay an $80 fine and receive one MVA demerit point.

MVA Points Add up for Serious Speeding Violators

If you have a provisional driver’s license (also known as a learner’s permit), there could be additional MVA consequences for a speeding violation that is a second offense. And if you’re convicted a second time for speeding on your commercial driver’s license (CDL), additional MVA punishment could involve more points and a license suspension of up to 90 days.

If there are other charges added to a speeding offense, such as aggressive or reckless driving [Section 21–901.2], penalties and points could be even worse when combined with your speeding conviction.

The maximum number of allowable points over any two-year period is 12. And if there are already a few points on a driver’s record, a serious speeding conviction can push them “over the line,” and the MVA can take punitive action. But before it can suspend or revoke your driver’s license, you are entitled to an administrative hearing. Attending an approved driver safety course and presenting proof of completion prior to your appearance will certainly help, but the odds of a person keeping their license clearly improve if they have a Prince George’s County speeding ticket lawyer with them. This shows the MVA that they’re taking the matter seriously.

In addition to the above reasons, here are some other scenarios where defendants can more favorably resolve their speeding ticket problems if a lawyer represents them before the MVA.

  • You have a commercial driver’s license (CDL) or drive a company vehicle
  • You need to contest your speeding ticket but cannot afford to miss work (or live far away from Prince Georges County).
  • Your speeding led to an accident that injured someone.
  • You were charged with more offenses at the same time you were ticketed for speeding.
  • You live in a faraway state and can’t stay around until your court date.

Prince George’s County Speeding Ticket Lawyer

In situations where appearing on your court date is impractical, giving your Prince George’s County speeding lawyer power of attorney to represent you in court, then providing him or her with all necessary evidence on your behalf could be all that’s needed to reach an acceptable resolution of your speeding charge.