long story short I was going around a corner with a road rager on my tail, turn the corner and there's a guy slamming on his brakes in front of me becuase he sees a cop way down the road

to avoid hitting the guy with the brakes (I can't slow down or guy behind me will hit me)

I had to pass the guy on my left a bit close (but there was plenty of room)

Cop sees this and pulls me over and gives me two tickets

"improper passing" and "following too close"

but he really didn't see what was actually going on- he was too far away and around the corner. tried to explain it to him politely, but he had already made up his mind, and wasnt listening.

so this is going to be 6 points on my license and i dont want to take it sitting down

I see that you can enter a PLEA OF NO CONTEST & REQUEST FOR WITHHOLD OF ADJUDICATION

http://brevardclerk.us/plea-of...of-adjudication


it seems like it means that if they allow it, you can avoid the license points, but still have to pay the citations. If they don't grant it, you go to court.

Has anyone ever done this? I've never fought a ticket in my life, but this situation is BS.


Im Wondering if anyone has some advice. Thanks in advance.




Edited: 05/04/2023 at 10:11 AM by paddleout

I've used ticket clinic twice. Worked like a champ, no points on my license. Ended up costing me about what I would have paid if I just paid the tix, so definitely worth it IMO.

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Specializing in sarcasm and condescending rhetoric since 1971.

Yes, do the alternative to keep off the points, the first offense is never seen!!

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Romans 8;18-32 John 3;16-18

The old adage is: If the cop shows up in traffic court, you will lose the case. Unless a dash cam is involved.

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I was right.

Since everyone in court (excluding Tpapschmere) are buddies, spend the money for representation and you'll get out of it.

better luck next time

My experience trying to fight a ticket long ago in Palm Beach County is that the judge had no patience or time for a long defense with all the evidence I brought. The lawyer I hired to help basically just signed me up for driving school instead. I was pretty pissed, and the lawyer cost more than my ticket did (plus my unpaid day off work), but I did get away with no points. Given all the growth, I would guess Brevard is similar now.

According to https://www.kilfinlaw.com/crim...se/defenses/necessity/ , Florida allows a "Defense of Necessity." If you can present a convincing case, and maybe cast enough doubt on the officer's visibility of events leading up to the offense, it might be a good defense option for you. I'm not a lawyer, but I first read about the "Defense of Necessity" in some National Motorists Association literature decades ago, so it's nothing new.

Summary from that link:


If you do decided to go it alone w/o an attorney, make sure you attend a few similar cases beforehand to see how the procedures go.

Edited: 05/06/2023 at 07:27 PM by CurtisEflush

FWIW...I didn't have to go to court, the TC lawyer went for me. That may depend on what the ticket is for, I guess.

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Specializing in sarcasm and condescending rhetoric since 1971.

I sent the ticket clinic guys all my stuff. They even handled my speeding ticket. It cost me 120 for them and I got court costs and fines about the same amount with no points. They know all the cops and all the rules. I think they do a good job.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Thanks for the info guys looks like I will need to go with ticket clinic.

How does it work? I've got less than 30 days to make a selection on how to proceed

Are they local or nationwide? Do they need to "approve" your case before they will handle it? Any info on how that all works appreciated

Just go to their website and sign up and they handle everything. It's really simple.

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Specializing in sarcasm and condescending rhetoric since 1971.

Geoffrey Golub local attorney For $300 he got my ticket dismissed and it was a serious traffic violation on a motorcycle. Police were at the hearing. I did not have to show or wanted to show (time drain) He won, police I heard were not happy but he did his magic and no ticket, no points, no record of it. Too easy

Edited: 05/10/2023 at 11:33 AM by SurferMic

Hi All- just wanted to give an update on this. I took a few folks advice and used TicketClinic.

so it's been awhile and I now have a "trial date" in mid August- they say I won't have to go.

I don't know if there never was a pre-trial conference or if they had one and it didn't work out- so its going to trial.

Johnnyboy, is it a bad sign that there was no pre-trial and I just got assigned a trial date?

The ticket attorneys were doing so well with tickets that the Clerks office decided to make all tickets go to two hearings instead of a trial. This allowed anyone who was interested in pleading guilty to get it out of the way before a subpoena and ticket hearing.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

I believe you get 5 without-adjud. Pleas in the State of FLorida now, period. It used to be 5 per county and they had no way of adding them together, but then they automated the systems about 2014. I used the 5 per county when I had the LS1 motor TA- too many triple digit stops, and I drove all over state for work in it. Bad thing is if you are over 5 then they access points and fine if you file it anyhow. Took 2 years to get my insurance down - had to wait and then switch companies. Solved problem by getting a silverado that runs waze as an app. Did the attny in ft laud and it was like withhold-adj. but $350 on top of fine and the class, no points. The online class sucks - but can open another sesh and google the questions. Went through the class so many times (8?) it finally stuck. No tickets in 6+ years. What is odd it getting a ticket like that in Brevard - was that city cops or county? I never see anyone in brevard speed trapping except - A1A local cops, county i-95 near vierra, or FSHP on 95 in palm bay sometimes. I95 before titusville. Wife is a pretty blonde and if she gets pulled over she says - I never get tickets, check my record, and smiles. And guess what - they walk back a warning every time. Every time.

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it's never too late to have a happy childhood...

Thanks to Johnnyboy and others who recommended Ticket Clinic

BOTH my tickets were dismissed, and I never had to go to court myself.
Definitely the way to do it
Between the two tickets and the SIX points that would have gone on my license, this saved me a ton of dough

Cost ended up as follows

$140 ticketclinic + $200 court fees

so I came out on top for $340, which was less than just the tickets
thanks again everyone!