The cop put down the wrong driver's license number, is the ticket still valid?

 

That's a tough one to call. How far off was he/she with your license number? If he was way off, I'd say you have a very good chance of getting it thrown out the window if you decide to contest it.

 

instead of a 6 he put down as 5, to me that's a huge error....

 

It will take weeks to get your paper work from the court on your plead date. the ticket reads you are responsible to get your date from the court. So, if they can't find you, you could still have to go to court, call a legal service to get the code #'s you need to "move for dismissal". If you talk in court you will cause the trail to go on, bay saying you where there.

 

I fought a ticket that had an incorrect date once. The judge would only lower the $$ fine. The date was not just a day or two off......it was month/day/and year off.....(wacky).

My arguement (no lawyer) was that the officer was obviously mixed up. I got a lot of laughs from the court room.

 

Or you can use my strategy:
1.) Wait for courtesy notice from the mail to arrive.
2.) Just a week before your scheduled appearance on the courtesy notice, call the courthouse and ask for the maximum 60-day extension.
3.) Show up to court on your new due date and schedule a court appearance.
4.) Show up to court per the scheduled court appearance and plead not guilty. The judge will reassign another date to appear.
5.) Show up to court again for your second trial and cross your fingers that the officer doesn't show up because it'll either be too long for him to remember the incident or he's been relocated.

If he does show up, here are some things you can use to defend your case:
1.)Show proof of discrepancy between your driver's license and the ticket - You can then bring up the issue on accuracy of judgement by the officer (i.e. impaired vision, unawareness, etc.)
2.)Ask for a calibration of the officer's equipment used to determine you were speeding - I believe their equipment must be tested by a government certified entity every 2 years and the tester must be present to validate the equipment's accuracy data.

I'm 3-0 lifetime when it comes to contesting tickets. 2-0 the past year and all 3 were no-shows.

 

yup, officer has the option to either state the error in court or if he or she catches the error you will get a little piece of paper in the mail. It is my hunch the error will get caught since they have your name and physical address. If you don't hear anything from the court, then monitor your CA Driver License history closely--statue of limitations is up to one year, meaning the court has up to one year to bring the matter to adjudication. After one year it is too bad, too sad. Case is over. But monitor your CA DL history closely--especially at the nine month mark. Additionally, by all means fight the citation. Prepare, by purchasing a CA Vehicle code and see if the authority matches to what he or she said you did. Don't be a doofus hoping the officer will not show up. Odds of this occurring are slim and tells the court many things. Plan, Prepare & execute...go toe to toe with the officer. Pretend you are smoking the officer's vehicle with your Z. Get tough and stay tough. In court it is full throttle and I mean full throttle--no letting off the gas. Attend traffic court hearings and watch all the doofus' line up. Don't get tongue tied and stick to your thought out plan. But watch carefully the demeanor of the officers when they are presenting their cases. They usually write something up. You should do the same. Additionally, since it is a public hearing, with many people present, grab a hold of your nerve and ask the officer questions, but in a circumspect manner which only adds to your case. If you attend hearings, you will see what I mean. good luck and don't be a doofus--be prepared and study the situation. Finally, if you win the judge may send you something in the mail. This saves face for the officer. And if you are really lucky, the judge may render his decision right on the spot, which means a job well done. One caveat, however, is CHP officers are tough cookies. They chase red lights all day and night long. They are professionals. Any how, I hope this helps, rich, san jose, ca