First Time Going to Traffic Court | Pleading Guilty

0:00 Brainstorming
2:16 What happened in the courtroom
3:44 Story behind my traffic ticket
5:07 Suggestions if you're going to traffic court for the first time

Edit: As I look back, dressing well for court will show respect and seriousness to the judge and the courtroom environment, which might help your case. Maybe not have to do full suit and tie, but dressing better than casual I highly recommend.

[kevinkang]

Update: I received a Notice of Intent to Prohibit.
What that means is that the RoadSafety commission deemed me as an unsafe driver, cancelling the decision made by the judge. They are letting me know that they intend on suspending my driver's license for 3 months. This is exactly what I did NOT want to happen, and is ironically the reason why I went to court in the first place.

So now I will be submitting an appeal letter. They should get back to me two months, so I will give another update on whether the appeal was successful or not.

[StevenDoesStuff]

"I'm going to court tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited" lmao legend.

[HelloooThere]

First time I went to traffic court I was asked to approach the bench and got so nervous that I puked right onto the Judge's gavel.
He said, never mind, case dismissed and ordered a cleanup.

[chb]

I got a ticket for 102 in a 70 on the interstate. This is my first offense and I’m scared and don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, I never do anything wrong ever. I don’t smoke or vape, I keep straight A’s, I work, I volunteer so many hours in my community (I have over 900 hours) and it’s all going to boil down to my one mistake. I am so unbelievably upset you could not even understand.

[jfrealestate]

I can't believe you posted this video. Good on you to just plead guilty. I did this once and they reduced my fee (speeding)! ✌️

[TheBrawlmastah]

Chat GPT: write an essay about driving dangerously, addressed to a judge.

[MrCryptoChris]

Good work, stay brave! We need more minds like yours in this mad world!

[mattfrankman]

The traffic judge is great, he’s an old Portuguese man who loves the law for its ability to help people. The Vancouver traffic court is a really awesome space, and I’m glad you had a good first experience in court.

[Stancedude]

Dude my fine is like $600 ughhhh. So my police friends told me that the cop that pulled me over is a 50 years in service cop. Old people got nothing to do so he’s gonna show up 😭

[PlainAndSimpL]

thanks for mentioning the wardrobe change 😂 was not excited to see you dressed up for traffic court knowing i’d have to scrounge something up

[Kageyama]

I’m going to court tomorrow for canceled registration, not stopping and a stop sign, and swerving while driving. My car is on my brother’s insurance and he had switched providers and I wasn’t put back on it for a few weeks because I couldn’t afford the price change. I haven’t drove it while it wasn’t on insurance. After I was put back on his insurance, I had drove to and from work only for four days and was pulled over at 1 am. I had clocked in at 11 am and had gotten off work after midnight and I had drove one of my coworkers home. They were on my way home and I offered them a ride. It was dark, there were no cars on the road, and I was exhausted from work when he pulled me over. I never knew that your registration can be canceled if you don’t have insurance on your vehicle for almost a month, no one ever told me and I had just got my license. I didn’t find out about the registration until the officer told me.

When he pulled me over, he made me take a breathalyzer to make sure I wasn’t drunk and then gave me a citation for what I mentioned earlier. I never passed any stop signs that I knew of and the swerving was because I’m a new driver and I was tired.

I’m scared to go to court not because of the demerits or anything (I have never been in trouble before and this is my first time getting pulled over), it’s just that I can’t afford any costs. I can’t even afford my current bills at the moment because I had to take a week off of work recently because I had covid. My brother and his wife are struggling to help me pay for what I owe but it’s putting them in a tight spot as well.

I’m going to try to plead not guilty and explain my situation in hopes they understand my case. I was pulled over back in December so I’ve been stressing over all this for a while, just more stressed now because I’m even more tight money wise than I was before. I was negative in my bank a few days ago and now I believe I have a good dollar and some change in there. I hope they give me a time frame on when I can pay my court fees and anything else because I literally can not afford to pay at this very moment.

[MrsMysteryWoman]

I agree with the way you handled this except for the fact that I do think it’s important to dress nicely when you go to court. Maybe not a whole suit and tie, but definitely a clean collared shirt and slacks with a tie. I think it shows respect for the judge and respect for the situation. It’s important to present yourself as a respectful and respectable person.
Just my opinion though.

[itstehyacobs]

i gotta go to court in a few days. they caught me doing 80 in a 55 in (VA). It was my first time ever getting pulled over. The thing is that i live in PA so i literally have to drive 5-6 hours to VA for that :’)

[bendohber]

Why does my ticket says show up to court within 15 days, why didnt they put an exact date, does anyone know?

[tylermontebon]

Hi Kevin, I recently got a ticket for going 60 in a 35. Clean record before this, Honors student and all that. I looked at the code they got me for and doesn’t seem to be anything relevant to what I was doing. I’m wondering if getting a lawyer would help me in my case. Just very anxious and scared about this.

[miu]

I found this video really helpful, thanks for uploading! I was wondering how do you approach the officer at the courthouse to ask for him to help you out?

[timothygurung]

Hehehe i am watching this video just convince one of my friends. He is little bit afriad to attend court for tomorrow.

[ramonisak]

My mom has court this week, what should she do? She was stopped over 10 years ago for speeding but got a ticket for not having a license. 💀

[BD]

Haha I'm in Ontario but we operate the same. You attended a Provincial Offences Court aka traffic court and the presiding Judiciary is actually a Justice of the Peace (referred to as 'Your Worship') and is not a Judge (referred to as 'Your Honour').

The 'officer' in court speaking to the JP as you mentioned is actually the municipal prosecutor, they are the legal representative for the City and they are tasked with prosecuting charges issued by police officers. You and the prosecutor would've had a conversation prior to the JP being called into the courtroom. The prosecutor elected to amend your current charge (driving with a handheld device) to a lower charge that didn't carry demerit points upon conviction but is still a minor violation on your driver's abstract and a fine is still required, so that would satisfy prosecutions - it's basically a win/win for them. They don't care about points on your licence, that's only point system for the ministry or transportation to keep you and your licence in line. The city/province share revenue from fines and they also avoided a trial which can be costly to the city because city prosecutors can be dealing with by-law summonses which would result in a higher fine + more direct revenue to the city. The JP refused the joint position of a guilty plea to an amended charge because the JP felt it was too lenient on young drivers such as yourself and wanted this conviction to result in a lesson learned. The essay is extremely innovative in my opinion, we have yet to adopt that here in Ontario.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I am just another government employee :P

[JaX-cuhb]

I have to go to court tomorrow for 88 in a 70 zone. Don’t think I’m going to contest but don’t really know what else to do to try to get some money shaved off... I could bring up how it was my very first offense