Client was driving through the Town of Vienna for work and was stopped for going 42mph in a 25mph zone.  Client was not from the area and was surprised at how low the speed limit was and thought driving 42mph was very reasonable.  Client was cited for speeding by a Town of Vienna Police Officer.

Client appeared by himself in the Town of Vienna General District Court ("pro se") and the Judge found him guilty and issued a fine.  Client called us and we appealed the case to the Fairfax County Circuit Court.

The problem client had in this case was that they were on a provisional license out of Maryland.  A Maryland provisional license is a preliminary license that has certain restrictions such as the person cannot drive at night and are not permitted to use a cellphone while driving (even hands-free).  A ticket received during this time would resort in having to restart the provisional license time-period and could result in a suspension of their privilege to drive.

An additional issue in this case was that client had already received a previous ticket while on their provisional license so another ticket would result in suspension of their license.  Part of their job was driving so a license suspension would be detrimental to them.

We had our client take both the defensive driving course and reckless driving course.  We had toyed with the idea of some community service but given that he was young, was simply driving for work purposes, and was polite to the officer, the Town Attorney agreed to lower the charge to Failure to Pay Full Time and Attention under the Vienna Town Code with a fine.  This reduced offense is not reported to the DMV so it won't appear on the client's driving record.  As a result, their driver's license will not suspended.  It was good the client was proactive here.

Had the client not hired us to perfect his appeal to the Fairfax County Circuit Court to resolve the case via the reduced offense their license would have been suspended by the Maryland MVA.  Many traffic tickets are minor but their consequences can be disastrous so speaking to a traffic attorney in the jurisdiction in which the ticket was issued is always a good idea.