His taxi caught on fire and he ended up with a parking ticket for blocking the road.

During the latest big snowstorm last week, the driver was stuck in the snow.  He gave the car some gas, some more gas and some more gas in an effort to free the vehicle.

He never got free.  Instead, his car caught fire and then exploded.

According to the NY Post, the fire was extinguished by the FDNY at 3:10 a.m. and the ticket issued by 5:20 a.m. when a tow truck didn’t arrive soon enough to move the burned-out vehicle.

Didn’t they realize tow trucks may have been tough to come by during the snow?  Couldn’t the NYPD have moved the car?

Instead they issue a ticket and clearly taught this cabbie a valuable lesson.  Don’t ever let your car catch on fire and, if you do, please make sure you either own your own tow truck so you can get it there quickly or possess super human strength so you can pick the car up and carry it away.

Clearly he’ll have to remember this for next time.

Thanks to the Gothamist for the picture.

Clients and potential clients ask us all the time about how to handle a NY traffic ticket, about points on their license, about suspensions, out of state tickets, etc.

If you want advice on how to handle a speeding ticket, NY driver license or any other related issue, feel free to give us a call or submit an inquiry to our firm.

Here, instead of advising what to do, we give your our Top 20 List of What NOT To Do if you are issued a traffic ticket in NY or ultimately convicted of a New York traffic ticket.

1. Do not rely on what the police officer tells you on the road about the New York traffic ticket. If the officer gives you wrong information, intentionally or not, no judge or court or enforcement agency is going to do anything about it. We can think of a hundred more reliable places to get information about a NY ticket than from the one person who is issuing you the ticket and will appear as a witness against you in court.

2. Do not rely on what you “heard” from a “friend” or “read somewhere”. First, there is a lot of wrong information out there. Second, your “friend” is giving advice based on one, maybe two incidents or experiences. We’ve handled thousands NY traffic violation cases and related issues and we can say for sure one or two incidents is far from enough of a sample for one to give advice.

3. Do not believe the “overpayment” myth. The myth says that if you are convicted of a traffic ticket, you should pay a few dollars more to the court because the extra payment will prevent the DMV or TVB or other agency from “closing out” your case and therefore putting points on your NY driver license. The reality is that driver license points and the fine payment have nothing to do with each other. Once guilty, the points associated with the particular traffic violation attach to your record whether you pay the fine early, later, never, in part or in full.

4. Do not rely on a police “no show” or believe such a “no show” will lead to an automatic dismissal of the traffic ticket. First, especially during tough economic times, a premium is put on police officer attendance because convictions equal money. Second, even if the officer does fail to show many judges and courts will give the officer another chance to appear.

5. Do not think that an officer in a moving vehicle cannot measure your speed. First, an officer may be using his speedometer to pace you. Second, an officer may simply be estimating your speed visually and, if the officer is properly trained to do this from a moving vehicle, such an estimation may hold up in court.

6. Do not believe that all the rules of the road must be posted somewhere on the road. Yes, there must be some “notice” letting you know that what you did or are about to is prohibited, but this “notice” may exist in a statute book. In NYC, for example, if no speed limit is posted, the limit is automatically 30mph. There are also truck routes that must be followed by trucks and these routes are listed only in the NYC Traffic Rules. There are also operational rules, such as rules with respect to turning, signaling, etc. that you won’t find posted anywhere on the street.

7. Do not assume that by mailing a traffic ticket or traffic ticket fine payment to a traffic court on time means the matter is automatically settled. Things get lost in the mail or even lost on a court clerk’s desk somewhere. Even if you mail something and request and receive a return receipt, you’ll never have proof of what was actually in the envelope. Follow up on anything mailed to a court, whether it’s placing a call or checking to see if a check has cleared or some other action. Whenever a transaction can be completed online–NYC traffic tickets in particular–try to take advantage. The confirmation you’ll get is worth it.

8. Do not assume that a traffic court or the DMV can’t make a mistake. It happens all the time, whether it’s a sloppy handwritten note in a file or a simple data entry error. Review all documentation carefully and bring any mistakes to the attention of the proper individual or agency.

9. Do not go to court under the impression that your “simple, logical explanation” is going to do the trick. Never forget that there is an officer who issued the ticket who will see it and explain it differently and tell the judge just that. Same rule applies on the road—you are unlikely to talk an officer out of issuing a ticket with “my wife is having a baby” or “ I just had surgery” or “I have to go to the bathroom”. True or false, officers hear these all the time and are rarely swayed.

10. Do not consider a PBA or equivalent card constitutes a “get out of the ticket free” pass. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. We’ve seen actual police officers issued traffic tickets so no one is safe, PBA card or not.

11. Do not think that “it was a trap” is a defense. Enforcement officers don’t go to a location to entrap drivers and they do not force drivers to commit traffic violations. They go to locations where drivers are likely to commit violations and look to pull over those who do. Enforcing trouble spots isn’t entrapment—it’s smart.

12. Do not think that 11 points on your NY driver license means a suspension as per the DMV. In some cases, suspension can come before you reach 11 and in other cases you may pass 11 points and continue to drive with a valid status.

13. Do not believe you can just ask a court or judge to reschedule a case and that it will automatically be granted. Some have very strict adjournment policies and, if you can’t attend court, make sure you know for sure a case can be adjourned before you decide not to attend

14. Do not proceed under the impression that you need a traffic ticket attorney to win or that retaining a traffic ticket lawyer is a guarantee of success. In some cases unrepresented motorists win and in others represented motorists lose. It’s fair to say, however, that representation by an experienced NY traffic ticket attorney will indeed greatly increase your chances of success.

15. Do not place any stock whatsoever in the “one size fits all” books and websites that promise guaranteed tips and tricks and methods for beating traffic tickets. The notion that there is some secret that applies to every judge in every court in every town in every county in every state in the entire country is completely ridiculous. Procedures and laws differ everywhere you go.

16. Do not believe the “Red Car Bias” myth. A commonly held misperception is that red cars tend to receive more speeding tickets than cars of other colors because of their flashiness. There’s also the supposed optical illusion created by their color that makes the cars appear to be going faster than they really are. There is no data to support the assertion that red cars receive more traffic tickets than cars of any other color nor data that suggests insurance rates are automatically higher for red colored cars.

17. Do not go to court under the impression that a single mistake on your ticket means your case will automatically be dismissed. It’s just not true with NY moving violations.

18. Do not think that your speeding ticket NY will be dismissed because the officer failed to show you his radar gun at the time of the incident. The officer doesn’t have to show you or say anything. Your traffic ticket serves as his “words” and you can schedule a hearing in a New York traffic court if you’d like further explanation or would like to challenge the charge on the ticket.

19. Do not ignore a traffic ticket that you received in another state. The interstate Driver License Compact is an agreement between participating states that share information regarding certain types of traffic convictions and there are only a handful of states that are not members of the compact. There is also the National Driver Register, a database of information about drivers who have had their licenses revoked or suspended due to serious traffic violations. States provide the register with information about these serious offenses, and those in the database can be denied licenses in other states.

20. Do not blame the traffic enforcement officer for your situation. In most cases, it is simply a person trying to do their job well and very few officers in our experience issue bad tickets maliciously. If you disagree with a traffic ticket your received, try to understand that mistakes can be made by anyone, traffic ticket officers included.

Effective Jan 1, 2011, motorists will be required to “move over” or “slow down” when their vehicle is approaching an authorized emergency vehicle when its emergency lights are flashing and the emergency vehicle is parked on a highway or roadway in New York State.

This will be a two point violation if a driver in NY is convicted under the new law.

The NY State Senate’s justification for the law included the following points:

• The law is for the protection of emergency personnel from motorists who have crashed their vehicles into police and emergency vehicles that were parked on highways or roadways in the performance of their duties
• The momentum behind the law can be traced back to a March 11, 2003 New York State Senate investigation prompted by the death of New York State Trooper Robert Ambrose. Ambrose was fatally injured during a routine traffic stop on the New York State Thruway in Yonkers, New York.
• Later in 2003, Onondaga County Deputy Sheriff Glenn M. Searles was assisting a motorist whose vehicle had gone off the highway when a second car lost control and struck Deputy Searles, fatally pinning him against his patrol car.
• Motorists must be aware that the presence of a police or other emergency vehicle means not only a potential dangerous situation, but also that professional and volunteer emergency work may be under way.

Drivers should keep the following in mind:

• Use particular caution when approaching an emergency vehicle that displays flashing emergency lighting.
• On all roadways, drivers must reduce their speed when approaching the emergency vehicle.
• On larger roadways (Parkways, Controlled Access Highways, roadways with multiple lanes) drivers must reduce speed and move from the lane immediately adjacent to the emergency vehicle as soon as it’s safe to do so.

We’ll keep an eye on how this is enforced during the upcoming months.

A man in New Hampshire was recently rushing to the hospital with his wife who was on the verge of giving birth.

When he saw a police car behind him trying to pull him over, he didn’t want to stop. He called 911 to let them know why he was continuing.

The officer in pursuit got the call and then pulled in front to give a police escort to the hospital.

Everyone got to the hospital in time. Man and wife had a baby and the officer congratulated him.

Then, the officer gave him a speeding ticket for driving 102 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Why? This man is not trained to drive at that speed. While he was rushing to help two people in distress, he put everyone else on the road in danger by driving an unmarked vehicle, without lights or sirens, at 102 mph.

The man’s actions were completely understandable under the circumstances. If the prosecutor in his case is open to plea bargains, it’s likely the extenuating circumstances will help him get a very good offer.

However, the ticket will not simply get thrown out. There is rarely a good justification defense to speeding and the law will usually require a driver to pull over and call 911 in an emergency.

Many of us would do the same thing, including the man who got the ticket should he ever be in that position again. Nonetheless, it serves as a good example of how difficult it can be to get out of a speeding ticket by arguing that “I was speeding, but I have a good reason…”. In most cases this will simply be looked at as an admission of guilt.

Please–If you pay a traffic ticket or beat a traffic ticket or otherwise close out a matter in the TVB or other NY traffic court, hold on to any and all related paperwork. You should never need it again but it’s worth keeping just in case.

Dekalb County, Georgia currently has a little bit of a mess on their hands. People that paid traffic tickets years ago are receiving notification that they owe money and are late on the same ticket they already paid. No one is sure what went wrong or why, but clearly something did.

One woman explained about getting arrested during a routine car stop on an unrelated matter when her license showed and old unpaid ticket. Fortunately for her, she had the old paperwork to prove the error.

Not everyone will be so fortunate and it will be interesting to see how the county will determine what money is legitimately due on old tickets and what is a result of this error.

Our advice in New York? Just hold on to your paperwork and assume nothing when it comes to matters such as these. You never know.