New Traffic Ticket Law Will Make Drivers Responsible For Requesting Trial Date

A new state law effective Jan. 1 will require drivers wanting to dispute a payable traffic ticket at trial to request a trial date from the District Court of Maryland.

The new law includes all payable traffic violations, in which no jail time is required. Examples include speeding, failure to obey traffic signs or signals and failure to stop for a school bus. It does not apply to "must appear" violations, such as driving with a suspended license or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

When the new law takes effect drivers who get a payable traffic ticket will have three options:

• Pay the full amount of the fine;
• Ask for a trial date at the district court; or

• Ask the district court for a waiver hearing for sentencing instead of a trial.

Waiver hearings are for drivers who don't dispute the traffic ticket, and want to plead guilty, but want to have a judge hear an explanation before being sentenced.

Drivers must take one of the three actions above within 30 days. If they do not, they risk having their license suspended by the Motor Vehicle Administration.

Traffic tickets issued after Jan. 1 will have instructions about how to go about select the driver's preferred option on the ticket and mailing it to the district court in the city or county where the traffic violation occurred.
       
If drivers decide to pay the traffic ticket fine, they may do so by mail, online by credit card at www.mdcourts.gov/district, by phone with a credit card at 1-800-492-2656, or in person at any District Court of Maryland location.

Additional reporting by Rick Docksai.