There is a reason red light cameras are showing up all over the state of Florida and you just need to look at Brooksville to see why. Since March, the city has collected nearly $300,000 in fines from red light runners. Not only is the city making money the accused offenders are finding it very hard to even challenge these traffic citations. There is no judge in these cases since they are civil infractions so the city hand picks a special hearing officer who decides if the red light runner has a case. Usually the answer is no they don’t.
Brooksville had a special master residing over these tickets but he felt the city ordinance was being enforced unfairly. So what did the City Council do? They found someone who had a point of view more in line with the city’s and now very few of these fines are being overturned. That has left some Brooksville residents angry according to a story on TampaBay.com and even drove one man to join a class-action lawsuit fighting Florida’s red light cameras.

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An 18-year-old in St. Petersburg was involved in a single car accident around 5:00 a.m. Monday morning. Colin Knapp allegedly lost control of his car and it hit a raised curb. The Acura then collided with a concrete mailbox and overturned according to the FHP as reported on TampaBay.com.
The car flipped onto its roof and caused the window of a nearby home to be shattered as debris flew from the scene. Knapp was taken to Bayfront Medical Center where he was said to have minor injuries. The teenager was cited for careless driving and having an attached tag not assigned following the accident.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation in St. Petersburg, Clearwater or Pinellas County and you are in need of qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Ticket Defense Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTickets.com. Also you can contact David via email or by stopping in our Clearwater office located at 4500 140 Ave. North #203.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Unit took National School Bus Safety Week to heart. The sheriffs wrote traffic citations to 59 drivers who failed to stop for school buses letting off passengers. Many of the traffic offenders didn’t even know they had broken the law according to the story on the Bradenton Herald’s website.
Part of the confusion for drivers is not being aware of what the law is when it comes to school buses. Most drivers know they must stop when they are on the same side of a street as a school bus. Many are being ticketed though for not stopping on the opposite side of the road. Motorists are required to stop going the opposite way if there isn’t a raised median, unpaved section of at least five feet or some other form of barrier. The ticket for this infraction is over $270.00.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation in Sarasota, Bradenton or Manatee please do not hesitate to contact experienced Defense Attorney Stephen Higgins at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTickets.com. Also you can contact Stephen via email or by stopping in our Sarasota office located at 200 N Washington Blvd.

U.S. Highway 19 in Clearwater was covered in orange juice concentrate and diesel fuel during rush hour on Tuesday afternoon. Now the driver of that orange juice truck has been identified and cited according to a story on TampaBay.com. Lake Wales’ Rodney Smith was ticketed for careless driving following a one-car accident that caused the spill.
The story says that Smith was driving on Gulf To Bay when he turned right and lost control of his truck. The orange juice hauler flipped and caused the spill. Smith, 39-years-old, was taken to Bayfront Medical Center due to injuries suffered in the accident. He is in stable condition and his injuries are not-life threatening.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation in St. Petersburg or Pinellas County and you are in need of qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Defense Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTickets.com. Also you can contact David via email or by stopping in our Clearwater office located at 4500 140 Ave. North #203.

It seems like there have been a lot of police officers and their cruisers hit by cars these days. Another hit-and-run against an officer in Pinellas County is being reported by Bay News 9. This time it is an 81-year-old driver who has been cited. Jean Stevens apparently struck a St. Petersburg Police officer during a traffic stop.
Officer Juan Cortes had parked his cruiser on the side of 62nd Ave. where he was responding to a call of a found bicycle. According to police reports he was loading the bike into his trunk when a 1987 Toyota Carolla struck him from behind. Stevens has been cited for careless driving and the officer has been released from the hospital with minor injuries.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation in St. Petersburg or Pinellas County and you are in need of qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Traffic Defense Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTickets.com. Also you can contact David via email or by stopping in our Clearwater office located at 4500 140 Ave. North #203.

When you think about the Florida Highway Patrol and speeding tickets you usually think of a cop giving you a citation not trying to get rid of one. Tallahassee.com is reporting the story of one trooper who tried to get a speeding ticket taken away so a friend wouldn’t have to pay the fine. Trooper William Grissom is now under arrest.
Grissom was charged with a felony for falsifying official documents when he completed a notice of dismissal for a speeding ticket fellow Trooper Matthew Rabun issued on August 14. Grissom changed the citation indicating the radar failed the end of shift test and then he signed Rabun’s name. Grissom realized how serious of a mistake he made and urged his friend to pay the fine.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation anywhere in Florida and don’t have a friend on the force to take care of your ticket, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Traffic Attorney Stephen Higgins at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTicket.com. Also you can contact Stephen via email.

A 21-year-old Hudson, Florida woman has been charged with careless driving following an accident last week in which she hit two teenagers according to a report on TampaBay.com. Deanna Leggio was driving early in the morning last week when she swerved to avoid two children walking toward a bus but in the process hit two others.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, she was driving north on Utica Drive when she neared a bust stop at Utica and New York Ave. That is when Leggio ran into the two teens. The 15-year-old and 13-year-old victims were taken to the hospital for treatment. Leggio has now been charged with careless driving in the incident.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation in Tampa Bay and need qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Traffic Attorney Stephen Higgins at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTickets.com. Also you can contact Stephen via email or by stopping in our new Tampa office located at 3426 W. Kennedy Blvd.

A 22-year-old in Clearwater led Pinellas Police on a chase that ended when he crashed his convertible Corvette into an oak tree according to TampaBay.com. The incident began with Anthony Hodson allegedly tapping on the window of his ex-girlfriend early Wednesday morning. That led the 22-year-old woman to call police and report the man who was prowling around her Dunedin home.
Police arrived on the scene and Hodson is reported to have taken off at a high rate of speed to elude arrest. Deputies tried to stop the man but it wasn’t until he lost control of his car and crashed it into a tree that they were able to place him under arrest. Hodson has been charged with felony habitual traffic violations, reckless driving, violation of parole, resisting arrest without violence, fleeing and eluding, prowling and loitering.
If you have been cited for a traffic violation in Tampa Bay and need qualified legal representation, please do not hesitate to contact experienced Traffic Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTickets.com. Also you can contact David via email or by stopping in our Clearwater office located at 4500 140 Ave. North #203.

According to a column in the Tallahassee Democrat, there were 5.21 million traffic citations in Florida in 2008. That is a small 1% decrease from the year before and bucked a trend that saw the number of citations increase every year starting in 2004. The reason for the decrease according to the author is that Floridians are driving less.
There is one area that did show a large increase and that concerned Driving Under the Influence. From 2007 to 2008 there was a 9% increase in DUI convictions in the state of Florida. Half of all citations written in 2008 were issued by city cops, a quarter by county sheriffs and a fifth by the FHP. Overall tickets may have been down but the number of cops is up as there were more full-time officers on the job statewide in 2007 than in 2008.
If you have a traffic ticket or fine anywhere in Florida and need qualified legal representation please do not hesitate to contact Traffic Defense Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website FightYourTicket.com. Also you can contact David via email.

For police officers, even the most mundane of duties carries the risk that it can escalate into violence. That is what happened to Florida Highway Patrol trooper John Paikai on Tuesday. Paikai attempted to execute a routine traffic stop after Robert Swank ran a red light in Avon Park. The officer was most likely just planning on writing a traffic ticket to the Florida driver but that’s when things took a deadly turn according to an Associated Press story on the Bradenton Herald Tribune website.
After Paikai pulled Swank over he exited his cruiser and began to approach Swank’s car. At that point the 37-year-old struck the officer with his car. In order to stop the assault Paikai fired his weapon and shot and killed the car’s passenger, 33-year-old Amber Gregory. Paikai was taken to the hospital and an investigation is under way.
If you have a traffic ticket anywhere in Florida, please don’t do something you will regret or get anyone hurt. Just contact Florida Traffic Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) to discuss the matter or visit our website fightyourticket.com. Also you can contact David via email.