Jacksonville, Florida ranks fifth in the United States for speed traps, according to a report from the National Motorists Association as reported in an article on Newsjax.com. How often a city’s or county’s police department gives tickets is often related to the city’s or county’s financial situation. As everyone knows, Jacksonville is struggling like many other places.
In any case, getting a traffic ticket can have several serious ramifications. Normally, a traffic ticket results in a low three figure fine and some points on a person’s driving record. That, in and of itself, is not very serious. However, if a person accumulates multiple tickets over a period of time, the DMV can suspend that person’s driver’s license. Additionally, the DMV will suspend a person’s driver’s license if the traffic fine is not paid. If a person gets caught driving with a suspended license, he/she can be arrested for a crime and face jail time. If a person gets convicted three times for driving with a suspended license, in addition to jail time, that person faces a five year license revocation. So, one traffic ticket is not a serious matter. However, multiple traffic tickets can result in much more serious problems.
Individual traffic stops can also lead to very serious trouble. Many drug possession, gun possession and DUI cases result from a seemingly harmless traffic stop. The police officer may initially intend to write a speeding ticket but then suspect the driver is impaired and initiate a DUI investigation. A police officer may suspect a vehicle occupant has illegal drugs or a concealed firearm in the vehicle and search the vehicle either by consent of the driver or another method. Many routine traffic stops result in serious criminal arrests after the police officer conducts an investigation and finds something illegal in the vehicle. It is important for anyone to understand that he/she has a Constitutional right to refuse any time a police officer asks for consent to search a vehicle or anything else belonging to that person.