• Convictions for DUI, Physical Control, alcohol-related offenses, Deferred Prosecutions, Vehicular Assaults and Vehicular Homicide Convictions remain on your driving abstract for 99 years.
• Convictions, bail forfeitures and committed findings for traffic tickets and other driving related offenses are kept for five years from the date of conviction/adjudication.
• DOL suspensions, revocations and disqualification records are maintained for 5 years from the end of the suspension.
• Failure to respond or pay to a traffic infraction (FTA) is reported for at least ten years (FTA expires after 10 years, but the court has the option to renew) or until the outstanding balance is paid.
• Commercial motor vehicle convictions, forfeitures of bail, or court findings that an infraction was committed appear on your driving abstract for 55 years from the date of conviction or adjudication.
• Collision reports, including involvement, fault, number of vehicles involved, whether they were legally parked or moving, whether the vehicles were occupied at the time of the collision, and whether the collision resulted in any injury or fatality are kept for 5 years from collision date for non-commercial vehicles and 10 years if a commercial vehicle was involved.

Washington statute controls who can access your information and what information is available to that person or agency.

• A complete driving record, including all of the information above, can be obtained by the person named on the driving record, attorneys, law enforcement and government agencies and includes all convictions, violations, collisions, suspensions, revocations, and disqualifications, deferred prosecutions and failures to appear (FTA)
• Your insurance company can access your “3-year noncommercial insurance abstract” which includes all non-commercial convictions, violations, collisions and FTAs from the previous 3 years.
• For commercial driving insurance policies DOL will report to the insurance company (and their agents) the past 3 years’ commercial driving convictions, violations, collisions and FTAs.
• Your life-insurance company is entitled to all the information regarding the past 3 years of commercial and noncommercial driving listed above
• Employers and potential employers, considering hiring you for a driving position, can access all of the information maintained by DOL, including ALL convictions, violations, collisions, license suspensions, deferred prosecutions and FTAs.
• If you are, or are attempting to be, a school bus driver or volunteer vanpool driver (or if you are under 18 or over 65, and driving as a volunteer for an organization) the employer or organization, like above, is entitled to your entire driving abstract from DOL.

The scope of information maintained and reported demonstrates how important it is to address every DUI, speeding ticket or driving related incident head on. Beyond the obvious consequences of jail time and fines, DUIs and traffic infractions can have consequences that go far beyond the conviction. These negative effects can haunt one for years (or even a lifetime). If you are charged with a DUI or traffic infraction get legal help today.

If the debate were about public safety there may be some good reasons to increase efforts to hold violators accountable. Instead, the discussion is about how to generate more income from an already suffering citizenry.

According to Mike Carter, Seattle Times staff reporter in Crackdown in Traffic Court, “the King County District Court will bring in a prosecutor to work traffic cases, saying the integrity of the system suffers under the current system in which challenges to tickets are met with silence and citations are often dismissed regardless of whether the law was actually broken.”

Every day in King County District Court, dozens of traffic citations are thrown out, often over technicalities and with little regard for whether the law was actually broken.

The court’s chief judge, Barbara Linde, cringes when it happens.

“Motions to dismiss are granted one after another,” the judge said Wednesday, and it’s mostly because the King County Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t staff traffic court. Casual courtroom visitors have complained that “it looks like the fix is in,” she said.

“It is eroding public confidence,” the judge said.

It’s also costing the county revenue from lost fines at a time when budgets are being squeezed like never before.

Since 2009, budget reductions have required cuts amounting to 36 full-time prosecutor positions and 14 of the support staff.

Linde’s solution, recently approved by the Metropolitan King County Council, is to require Prosecutor Dan Satterberg to assign a lawyer to traffic-infraction hearings.

. . .

The move to require the Prosecutor’s Office to staff traffic hearings comes at a time when Satterberg has announced that he must cut 16 prosecutors and eight support-staff members to meet his reduced budget. He has said prosecutions of serious property crimes and domestic violence will likely suffer as a result of the cuts.

“I’m sure this is a frustration” for Satterberg, Linde said.

Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the prosecutor, said Linde’s assessment is accurate.

. . .

That’s because nearly 250,000 citations are filed in district court every year, “the large bulk of them traffic cases,” Linde said.

She expects the position will result in additional revenues, at least enough to fund the cost of the traffic prosecutor’s salary and benefits.

Some other jurisdictions have implemented similar programs. On Monday, for example, Kitsap County started assigning prosecutors to traffic court.

Linde said some jurisdictions have reported a decrease in the number of dismissals and an increase in revenues. She did not have specific projections for King County.

The good news is that it is usually very hard for the prosecutor to prove these tickets. Most of the time the officer’s report looks similar to “there was an accident therefore the driver that caused the accident did something illegal.” The problem with this logic is that people who are following the law get in accidents all the time. Often accidents are just accidents, nothing more. The WSP trooper has the burdne to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the infraction was committed. Without witnesses, or other evidence (the actual accident report is inadmissible at an infraction hearing under Washington law) this is often impossible.

The most common traffic tickets issued by Washington State Patrol at as the result of an accident are listed below.

“Too Fast for Conditions” – RCW 46.61.400(1): “No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing. In every event speed shall be so controlled as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any person, vehicle or other conveyance on or entering the highway in compliance with legal requirements and the duty of all persons to use due care.”

“Following Too Close” – RCW 46.61.145(1): “The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway.”

Negligent Driving in the Second Degree – RCW 46.61.252(1)(a): “A person is guilty of negligent driving in the second degree if, under circumstances not constituting negligent driving in the first degree, he or she operates a motor vehicle in a manner that is both negligent and endangers or is likely to endanger any person or property.”

“Failure to Yield When Required” – RCW 46.61.190(3): “(3) The driver of a vehicle approaching a yield sign shall in obedience to such sign slow down to a speed reasonable for the existing conditions and if required for safety to stop, shall stop at a clearly marked stop line, but if none, before entering a marked crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or if none, then at the point nearest the intersecting roadway where the driver has a view of approaching traffic on the intersecting roadway before entering the roadway, and then after slowing or stopping, the driver shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another roadway so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time such driver is moving across or within the intersection or junction of roadways: PROVIDED, That if such a driver is involved in a collision with a vehicle in the intersection or junction of roadways, after driving past a yield sign without stopping, such collision shall be deemed prima facie evidence of the driver’s failure to yield right-of-way.”

“Failure to Yield When Entering Roadway” - RCW 46.61.205: “The driver of a vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from a private road or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles lawfully approaching on said highway.”

If you received a traffic ticket from the Washington State Patrol, or other police agency, as a result of an accident on I-5, State Route 2, Hwy 525, Hwy 522, Hwy 528, Hwy 99, or anywhere else in Snohomish County, the Law Office of Scott Lawrence can help you fight your ticket.

19321 44th Avenue West
Lynnwood, WA 98036-5664
(425) 670-6668
Website

The City of Lynnwood Municipal Court has one courtroom. The courthouse is located near the Lynnwood Library and shares a building with the Lynnwood Police Department and Lynnwood Jail. Very limited off-street parking is available. The Hon. Judge Moore is the presiding judge. This court hears misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil claims which occurred within the city limits of Lynnwood.

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If you have a DUI, criminal case or traffic infraction in the City of Lynnwood Municipal Court it makes sense to have an attorney who is familiar with the judges and prosecutors. Scott W. Lawrence, attorney-at-law, is an experienced and effective Lynnwood Municipal Court criminal and traffic defense lawyer.

10116 Northeast 183rd Street
Bothell, WA 98011-3416
(425) 487-5587
Website

The City of Bothell Municipal Court has one of the more modern courtrooms in the area. The courthouse is located in downtown Bothell and has very limited parking available. The Hon. Michelle Gehlsen, a former Snohomish County Prosecutor, is the presiding judge. This court hears misdemeanor, traffic cases and civil claims from within the city limits of Bothell only.

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If you have a DUI, criminal case or traffic infraction in the City of Bothell Municipal Court it makes sense to have an attorney who is familiar with the judges and prosecutors. Scott W. Lawrence, attorney-at-law, is an experienced and effective Bothell Municipal Court criminal and traffic defense lawyer.