Suspended license in New Orleans due to an old traffic ticket

Hi, my name is Heather Ford and I am a traffic attorney in the city of New Orleans- also known as the Traffic Ticket Lady. Today I want to talk about what should you do if you have a ticket that has suspended your license in New Orleans. Should you just pay it? 

Before I get started, if you ever have any questions about a suspended license, a violation for driving with a suspended license, a traffic ticket, or anything of that nature, you can always shoot me a text or call me at 504-233-8529. You can also schedule a free strategy session at  traffictickettalks.com.

So if it turns out that there’s a single ticket that has your license suspended, the question becomes what should you do? Should you just pay the ticket, get that pay receipt, and get your license back?

Unfortunately, the real answer is the lawyer’s answer, which is “it depends” on what kind of ticket you have. If it’s a ticket for driving while suspended, then the answer is no because if you pay the ticket, you may get your license back, but it’s eventually going to be suspended again for another year. 

Now the question comes if it’s a non-moving violation, like registration, no registration, expired brake tag and you just forgot to pay the ticket. In most cases you can feel pretty comfortable paying that ticket and taking the pay receipt for the ticket to get your license back. Non-moving violations by and large don’t impact your driving record, don’t impact your insurance, and they are fairly safe tickets to pay. It might become a closer call if you have multiple non-moving violations on one ticket. Maybe you had a ticket for expired brake tag, the registration, and intent, and those all together could be an expensive ticket. This is where you have to do a cost benefit analysis of how soon do you need your license versus how long it will take to resolve that ticket in a different way.

It might be worth talking to an attorney about it to know what some of your options are. Where it gets to be a closer call is what happens when that ticket is for a moving violation or multiple moving violations and it might take a while to get the paperwork you need if you don’t just pay the ticket. 

If you have a ticket for a speeding ticket in a jurisdiction that’s really hard to get to, where they only have court maybe once a month, then sometimes maybe it’s worth taking the hit of a moving violation to be able to get your license back. In those cases it becomes a closer call. If you have multiple moving violations on that one ticket, you have to think about getting your license back vs getting insurance points. Sometimes I field those phone calls for people pay tickets because they want to get their license back but now the insurance price is killing them. 

If you’re kind of in a situation where you’re not sure, you want to get your license back as soon as possible, but you have these multiple moving violations out there, you might want to talk to a lawyer in the area. There might be some opportunity to get the paperwork you need to get your license. Maybe they can get you a new court date sooner than you think and you can take that paperwork to get your license while you wait to resolve the tickets. I know that’s what I do. I focus and prioritize how do we get the paperwork you need to get reinstated, and then we can work on actually getting the charges reduced and keep them off your record. 

If you have any questions about a suspended license in New Orleans, you can shoot me a text and I’m happy to lend you my thoughts with a free consultation.

If you ever have any questions about DMV fees, traffic tickets, or a suspended license, I’d be happy to speak with you. You can always shoot me a quick text at 504-233-8529 or visit my website trafficticketlady.com.