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Seat Belts Tickets: Officer Observation and Testimony is Enough

by Seth Azria on 1/02/2024

To be pulled over, it is enough for a police officer to observe the driver or passenger not wearing a seat belt. People v. Smith, 158 A.D.3d 1081 (4th Dep't 2018).

To be convicted of the seat belt charge, it is enough for the officer to testify that he saw the driver or passenger fail to wear a seat belt. Of, course the driver will testify that he was wearing a seat belt. This creates and issue of credibility for the judge to decide. In Whitten the judge decided in officer’s favor and convicted the driver. Whitten v. Martinez, 24 A.D.3d 285 (1st Dep't 2005).

However, a person wearing belt, under the arm rather than over the shoulder is "restrained" and therefore permissible within the meaning of the law. People v. Locke, 1 Misc. 3d 482, 765 N.Y.S.2d 468 (City Ct. 2003).

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I live just shy of NYC and got a traffic ticket in this law firms jurisdiction while upstate for a wedding. Traveling several hours north to attend traffic court wasn't something that was possible for me with my hectic work schedule in healthcare. Azria & Bruffett handled my case without me ever having to be physically present and were able to drop my ticket to a small fine with zero points on my liscence. Money well spent.

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Making this short and simple: I had over 15 traffic infractions/violations for driving without a license, speeding and among other serious infractions. Needless to say , Ralph took care of this all for me and I ended up just paying fines for the traffic tickets - Also , I'm a licensed driver now! 

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Seth provided me with everything necessary to reduce my ticket and worked with me through every little detail. He kept me up to date on each exchange that happened between the court and my case. He reduced it to it's lowest amount and charged me very little for doing so and appearing in court on my behalf. I would highly recommend him to anyone in the area. Thanks again Seth.

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