Traffic Tickets

What are traffic tickets?

Traffic tickets are writs issued by the traffic police officers to road users whenever they cross traffic rules. The road users who receive these traffic tickets range from motorists, car drivers to bus drivers. These traffic ticket cases are heard in the traffic courts and the tickets are issued there.

Types of traffic tickets

Traffic tickets are generally issued for two major types of traffic crimes namely,

1. Moving violation
2. Non-moving violation

Moving violation is defined as those traffic crimes that are committed when the vehicles are in motion. The most frequented type of moving violation is over-speeding, that is, when a motorist exceeds the speed limit of that road or highway.

Non-moving violations are those traffic violations that are committed when the vehicle is stationary. The most common non-moving violation is the parking violation, that is, when the vehicle is parked in a no-parking zone or if the vehicle is parked in an unlawful way.

Two-wheeler riders are prone to commit moving-violations more than four-wheeler drivers commit the same. At the same time, four-wheeler drivers (car owner, in particular) are prone to commit non-moving violation like parking violations.

Levels of traffic tickets

There are different levels of traffic tickets given to those who commit traffic crimes. The punishment level depends upon the intensity of the crime committed.

The most common punishment given for traffic crimes are for those who do parking violations. Generally, traffic police issue a small amount as fine to those who park their vehicles in “no parking” zones or if they park them in unlawful ways. Issuing fines are the least severe traffic tickets given to the offenders. However, the amount of money charged as fine will also vary depending upon the severity of the crime.

Crimes like over-speeding, disobeying the lane rules, traveling in one-way roads, careless and reckless driving, disturbing the public while on the drive and damaging public properties etc are a few notable ones that result in fines. There are chances that these crimes may be upgraded by the traffic officials to traffic courts rather than settling off through traffic tickets. This usually depends on the demeanor of the driver.

Traveling without a valid license, traveling in uninsured vehicles, possessing fake registration identities for the vehicle and road taxes for the vehicles left unpaid etc are some of the crimes that are settled only in traffic courts. In such cases, the traffic police officials issue a traffic ticket to the concerned driver and summon them to the traffic courts on specific days. Failure to obey this is considered a serious crime and may result in the person being detained.

The above mentioned crimes and traffic ticket issuing methods are followed in a majority of the countries. The list includes the United States, Canada, Cuba and other countries of North America, England, Scotland, France Italy and Germany among others. Certain other countries like India, Pakistan, China, Russia etc follow a similar kind of strategy expect for the fact that they do not issue tickets but settle of the issues through on the spot fines. Some countries around the world use a “traffic points” system wherein the drivers accumulate points for each crime they commit and at a point of time when they reach an unacceptable level, their license stands cancelled and serve a permanent infraction from riding vehicles any further.