NEW YORK CITY TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS BUREAU

New York City Courts

Traffic Violations ONLY – no other DMV services
Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.; Thursday until 6:00 p.m.

Non criminal traffic tickets are addressed by the local city, town, or village criminal court in most of New York State.

The New York State DMV Traffic Ticket Violations Bureau (TVB) adjudicates non-criminal moving violations issued in certain jurisdictions, including New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, and the five towns of Western Suffolk County. If you receive a traffic ticket in these areas, your case will be heard at an administrative hearing rather than in a local criminal court. There are many rules which make it difficult for motorists who contest a TVB traffic ticket or summons. For example, you cannot plea bargain your case, there is no right to discovery, no supporting deposition are available, hearsay evidence is admissible and many rules of evidence do not apply. Additionally, if you are more than one hour late for a scheduled hearing it could result in a suspension of your operating privileges.

We can provide answers, suggestions and defenses to help your speeding or traffic ticket violations. If you plead guilty to a traffic ticket offense such as speeding or disobeying a Traffic Control Device (VTL 1110a) your auto insurance rates will undoubtedly increase. Many times other protective policies such as Homeowner, Keyman, Life, Medical and Umbrella Insurance policy premiums also increase. You will also accumulate points on your New York State driver’s license which may lead to additional driver responsibility assessment charges which is three hundred dollars ($300.00) once your point total reaches six (6) points, and an additional $75.00 for every additional point charged against you within the same 18 month period. This new assessment program is applicably to any driver incurring six points in New York State regardless of what state they are licensed in.

In addition, if a New York State driver is convicted of three speeding ttraffic tickets, all issued in NY within the same 18 month period, the New York State license (or out of state driver privilege) will be revoked for a minimum six months. A restricted license may be available to you if you have not been issued a restricted license or conditional license (alcohol/drug offenses) within the last three years.

Our goal is to obtain a dismissal or reduction of the charge to one that will have no or little impact on your driver’s license (suspension at eleven points) and auto insurance expense. If you have past charges which have not been resolved, our lawyers work with the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, the Traffic Ticket Violations Bureau (TVB), and the various local municipalities to clear those traffic tickets and keep your driver’s license from being suspended or revoked. We help to restore suspended licenses’ nationwide!In the past 20 years our Vehicle and Traffic practice in Westchester and surrounding Counties has grown to representing over a thousand motorists annually.

Mr. Dee previously represented clients in New York City after graduation from Brooklyn Law School in 1973. Mr. Dee was admitted into the First Department in 1974 and enjoys a 35 year, blemish free record, in representing clients in New York.

There are 10,000,000 drivers in the greater New York City metropolitan area and  motorists receive traffic tickets every day! We have helped thousands of motorists since1974. Because of that assistance, we have gained countless referrals. Please call our toll free number to learn our thoughts as to whether it may make sense to retain an attorney in a particular traffic traffic matter. An attorney may not be necessary or frugal depending on the charge one is facing. For example, equipment violations (cracked windshield, light out, bald tire) do not incur points or appear on your driver abstract. In such a situation and other than for convenience, a motorist doesn’t need a lawyer to appear on their behalf to protect the motorist’s interests.

Harold Dee has the unique experience, knowledge, and the particular background to best represent you in your current Drunk Driving, DWI or Speeding traffic ticket or DMV matter. Vehicle and Traffic Law is what we are about! Dee’s thirty six years as a lawyer and four years as a Judge at the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles Traffic Violations Division (NYS/DMV/TVB) has made him more knowledgeable than most lawyers in the requirements (and defenses) of the V&T Law. Is your lawyer DMV savvy? Is DMV going to have something to say about your lawyer’s result?If found guilty of three speeding traffic tickets, all issued within the same eighteen month period, DMV will revoke your license or NYS privilege (out of state motorist) for six (6) months. Incur eleven points in any eighteen month period and suffer a suspension of thirty days.

Literally, you can be of the road for a minimum six months with just “5” chargeable points. For example, receive three “3” point  speeds (65/55), attend the driver safety program and receive a license credit of four points (after taking the 6 hour class), resulting in having only five chargeable points. The three speeding convictions for traffic tickets issued within the same eighteen (18) month period will result in a six month revocation of privileges. Similarly, if your point total reaches 11, you may be suspended for thirty days. If however, the 11 points is reached after a (TVB) Traffic Violations Bureau  Hearing in NYC or Suffolk County, Long Island then it is up to the TVB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who officiated at your hearing. If that Judge does not issue a suspension then DMV Albany will not. This is opposed to reaching the 11 points after a guilty finding or guilty plea at a local city, town or Village Court, the local judge doesn’t suspend but when the violation reaches DMV Albany they will issue any suspension or a revocation for suffering a third speeding conviction or reaching a point total of 11 points. A restricted license may be available to you. Be advised that in order to be eligible for a restricted use license, (good for work, school, child care, medical and dental for you and members of your household) the suspension must be for a minimum of thirty one (31) days. Additionally, a motorist’s eligibility for restricted privileges is only once every three years. These tickets, when written, are only an accusation, which will not show up on your driver’s abstract unless you plead guilty or are found guilty after trial.

Click here to review a chart for additional information on violations and points.
(Moving violations generally carry points with the exception of equipment, cell phone, and adult seat belt violations).

All New York City tickets, as well as those issued in Buffalo, Rochester or Long Island’s Five Towns (Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, and Smithtown) are adjudicated in the New York State Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) Traffic Ticket Violations Bureau, the TVB jurisdiction. These cases are adjudicated by an Administrative Law Judge who has the authority to revoke or suspend your driving license or out of state privilege in New York State. Drivers issued TVB violations are required to answer the summons within fifteen days. No Supporting Depositions are offered by TVB. A Supporting Deposition will provide you with additional information regarding the basis for the ticket. If DMV/Albany does not receive a timely response to a ticket, your driver privileges will be suspended and a notice to that effect will be mailed to your address of record. DMV / Albany will notify you via a suspension notice dated approximately twenty two days before the effective suspension date. Continued failure to answer will eventually cause DMV to institute a default judgement. You will then be suspended for failing to pay the fine that was imposed. To clear the suspension an additional suspension elimination fee of seventy dollars (70.00) will have to be paid to DMV before your license or out of state privilege is restored!

In Westchester County, Putnam County, Dutchess County, Rockland County, Orange County, Ulster County, Sullivan County, Columbia County, Nassau County, and eastern Suffolk County, the normal procedure is to plea not guilty and await a conference (not a trial) date. Fail to agree on a disposition will require you and or your attorney to return to court on a trial date. Unlike New York City traffic tickets, where there is no plea bargaining, these jurisdictions allow for a driver to request a supporting deposition which is additional information regarding the summons charged. The request for a supporting deposition does not need to be made at the same time as the arraignment to be timely requested. However, it must be made before 30 days has elapsed after the arraignment date appearing on the ticket. If arraignment, as indicated above, occurs after the 30 days from the return date on the ticket, your request for a supporting deposition will be considered untimely and will not be honored.

If timely requested, the Court will order the Supporting Deposition from the police officer who issued the ticket. The police officer will have 30 days from the date of your request to mail you the Supporting Deposition. If an Attorney is retained on the matter he or she would file a Notice of Appearance and appear in Court on behalf of the defendant. Your case will then be scheduled for a non-jury trial; you and the attorney of record will receive written confirmation of the trial date from the Court. You or your lawyer can appear on the conference date and determine if a plea to a lesser or no point violation is available. If there is no agreement the matter would then be set down for trial in the next month or two. If an attorney is handling the case, the motorist need not appear.

At the conclusion of the trial, the Judge will either render a verdict (finding you guilty or not guilty) or reserve decision. If the court reserves decision, a written decision will be issued by the Judge, a copy of which will be sent to you at the address on file with the Court. If the court finds you not guilty on all of the tickets, this will end the case. If the court finds you guilty of one or more of the tickets, a fine and mandatory surcharge, if applicable, will be assessed. Notice of Appeal must be filed with the Court within thirty days of sentencing.
Also please note that you can choose to take a DMV approved accident prevention course which can reduce your total points total by up to four points and offer a ten percent reduction in auto insurance rates. This rates reduction is for three years and is one benefit of taking the course. The Course does not reduce the points associated with fines imposed by the Driver Assessment Program. See NYSDMV .com for info.

Nassau County Traffic Court