Woman explains why asking for a court date could get rid of a traffic ticket
A woman on TikTok named Trinity Jackson (@thetrinityjackson) ecstatically filmed a recent TikTok to show her followers how she’d gotten out of a speeding ticket that even she knew she was guilty of.
She received a ticket in February 2023 and owed nearly $300 dollars. Jackson was given the option to either pay the ticket, take a defensive driving course, or do a trial by jury in a few months. She chose the trial by jury simply because she wanted to see if she could get out of it rather than pay the fines and/or cost of defensive driving.
“This is your sign to show up to court for your traffic tickets,” she said.
Jackson lives in Texas, where defensive driving courses are a minimum of $25. In the United States as a whole, courses are normally between $15 and $100. However, she said the course she was told to take would cost $150.
With either a $150 bill or a $300 bill, Jackson decided to show up for her court date a few months later. There are several reasons why a person should show up to their trial date. The first is that if someone fails to appear in court, the judge can fine them or even issue a warrant for their arrest.
The other reason is that if the officer who issued the ticket doesn’t appear, which is required for the trial by jury, then the judge can dismiss the case — and that’s exactly what happened to Jackson. Since her case was dismissed, she didn’t have to pay any of the costs associated with it.
“The officers that give you a ticket would have to be there to fight the ticket. To be like, ‘Yes. She did this,’” Jackson said. “A lot of officers just aren’t going to show up to court.”
Jackson isn’t the first person to try this strategy, as several people in her comments have done the same thing.
“So true I had a speeding ticket costing almost $500 officer didn’t show up they sent me home without paying for anything,” replied @jaaymerce.
“I was about to get a ticket with 8 points so I fought it and the cop didn’t show cause he had to deal with a car accident. Got off with 5,” commented @p.marie.s.
Not only did Jackson and some of the commenters get out of paying fees for their tickets, but they also avoided adding points to their record. Every state has different standards, but traffic tickets add points to your driving record.
Once a person crosses the amount of points allowed on the record, their license will be suspended for a short period of time. This is why defensive driving is also an option, as it helps prevent points from going on the record.
Nevertheless, Jackson didn’t have to worry about any of those factors after getting her case dismissed.
“About to go drink my coffee, get a facial and go on about my day.”
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