True Costs of HOV California Violations
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Almost any driver who’s used an interstate or expressway in California knows what an HOV lane is and how it works. For those unaware, the HOV (or High Occupancy Vehicle Lane) is a lane for either cars carrying two or more occupants, motorcycles, buses, or any other vehicles that are allowed in the lane according to state law. While the rules for an HOV lane are pretty much common knowledge, sometimes the demarcations for where these lanes end and begin can be a little confusing, especially on older roads that aren’t as well kept. This can lead to HOV violations and tickets that are surprisingly expensive.
HOV Violation Costs
HOV violation costs that first come to mind are usually the financial expenses. Tickets for HOV California violations range upwards of $450 for the ticket itself, but there are plenty of other hidden costs as well. Depending on the kind of ticket you get, these additional cost can vary. Simply driving solo in an HOV lane usually doesn’t impact the points on your drivers license or your insurance premiums. However, if your ticket is for crossing over an HOV line, you’re going to run into some issues. While all tickets will appear on your driving record, you’ll only receive points and insurance hikes for tickets in which your actions may be a potential danger to other drivers. Crossing over the HOV line is one such scenario. Getting this ticket can cost upward of $1000 in increased insurance premiums, in addition to the cost of the ticket itself. You’ll also get points on your license, and have to spend time and money paying off the ticket, or contesting it if you feel it was issued wrongfully.
If you do end up with HOV violations, be it for riding solo in an HOV lane, or for crossing the HOV line, all hope is not lost. There are ways to fight your ticket with online services such as getdismissed.com which help you fight traffic tickets.
How Do I Fight a HOV Ticket?
There are a lot of circumstances you can use to argue your case against HOV California violations. The most impactful and useful method is the visibility of the HOV lane indicators itself. Usually, HOV lanes are separated by a solid white line, and are marked with diamonds. If these markings have faded due to wear and tear, or weather conditions such as snow obscured these indicators, you may have a shot at fighting the HOV violations. The other circumstances that might play in your favor is the time of the ticket. Normally, HOV lane rules only apply during specific times, usually during the morning and evening rush hour or peak travel times. If you received your ticket outside the span of these HOV operation hours, the ticket may be invalid. There are countless other reasons you may be able to successfully fight an HOV ticket, and that is where getdismissed.com comes in.
Fighting your ticket with getdismissed.com uses the Trial by Written Declaration clause to fight your ticket without having to appear in court, hire lawyers, or any other costly methods. getdismissed.com does ask for a small fee in order to process your ticket and formulate your defense for you, but it’s a small price to pay compared to the price of the ticket and any insurance hikes that might go along with it. You have until five days before your court appearance date to submit your declaration though, so it’s best to act sooner rather than later.
getdismissed.com uses a combination of information from your official ticket along with circumstantial evidence and your statement to come up with the best defense for your ticket. Giving them information such as if your passenger load was actually authorized to be in the lane, if they possibly ticketed the wrong vehicle, among other road conditions will help them formulate a defense. Once everything is ready, you can download your defense documents to send in along with the bail fee to court to dispute your ticket.
Using this method, you avoid having to appear in court, and can mitigate some of the non-financial costs of contesting your ticket such as lost time and lost wages from the time you would have been using to fight your ticket in court.
If you win your case and the ticket is dismissed, your bail gets refunded and no points are added to your license. If you lose your case, you can still submit another declaration so long as you’re still within the time limit if you so choose.
If you have an HOV violation and are looking to mitigate your HOV violations costs, submit your ticket to getdismissed.com and start fighting as soon as possible.
Steve has been leading the fight against traffic tickets for over 22 years and is the CEO/President of GetDismissed, a service that empowers California drivers with traffic tickets to fight back without going to court. As a thought leader and business entrepreneur, Steve has also been featured on TV, Radio, Print, and Online as a traffic ticket expert talking about such subjects as distracted driving, contesting traffic tickets, traffic ticket myths, traffic ticket tips, traffic law, and more. Steve is a published author, releasing his first book in 2011, and now has four books regarding fighting traffic tickets which can be found on Amazon. Read More…
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What Types of Tickets Do We Help With?
GetDismissed produces results in fighting all kinds of tickets. Unfortunately, this list does not include exhibition of speed citations. Your best bet in fighting one of these infractions, is to contact an attorney. An attorney can negotiate on your behalf to try and reduce fines, or even to reduce the charges to a lesser infraction which could possibly qualify for traffic school.
We do however, contest infractions revolving around speeding, red lights, red light cameras, cell phones, signs (primarily stop signs), carpool violations, U-turns, out of lane violations, and commercial violations. If you receive a citation and have questions, contact us today.
