Take the Ticket, Fight It Later

Hey everybody, we are here, episode 113. This one is a little bit different. You know,
we've had a lot of guests, all wonderful. Today we have a guest that doesn't ride, but she's going
to be of immense use to riders. Her name is Kim Usjack. She's from Queens, New York right now.
She owns and operates Traffic Court Pro, and she is a traffic attorney.
Kim, I'm going to have a lot of questions for you, not only from me, but from the scores of people
on the Facebook group. But thanks a lot for spending some time with us today. Of course,
I was really excited when you asked me to come on. I saw it come through and I was like, yes, yes,
absolutely. You know, you know, they say the best ideas and things, you know, come to you when
you're either like in the bathroom or exercising. And I was shaving this morning and I was
thinking, you know, there's that famous courtroom scene. I'm not out of order,
your honor. This court's out of order. I think it's Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman. You know, the
movie I'm talking about.
I don't. It's pretty famous, you know, and I'm thinking, you know,
how are how different is traffic court from the court scenes that, you know,
people see on movies and TV, would you say? You know, that's a really interesting question,
because out of any court, some of it could some of it could be in the movies in New York City
traffic court in particular, because there is it's. Their rules of evidence are very lax in New
York City traffic court. There really aren't any. And you're just you're dealing with a DVB,
a DMB employee who's the judge and just the police officer. And some of it can get really
ridiculous. And there's you don't really know what's going to get said. Right. So there's been like
a lot of surprises. And I I'm not super proud of it, but I have also mouthed off to some judges.
You could kind of like lose your temper in it. Not my favorite thing to do, but so. Is it like a
movie? You'd be surprised, actually. Are there any juries? No. No, no,
no, no, no. Even the state of New York, it's just if even if you're outside. So there's no jury
trial in New York City, but in the track of court. But even if you're outside, it's all bench
trials. So just the judge. Got it. And, you know, that's a great point to make for the for the
folks at home, which everybody is. Tell us what traffic court covers. And what it doesn't cover.
So does it cover like speeding? Does it, you know, parking, tolls,
all that stuff. So what is your wheelhouse? And what is like, hey, man, if you hit a cop, that's
another thing. Yeah. So the moving violations.
So something that carries points, speeds, telephones, moving between lanes. Got it.
Helmet violations. Those end up in. traffic courts specifically most of the time.
And it really depends. So New York City has joint jurisdiction with the vehicle and traffic law
with the criminal courts in New York. So occasionally you could end up in, like with a pink ticket
it's called, you can end up in New York City's criminal courts in the summons part. But for the
most part, moving violations, New York City, tolls, that's governed by bridges and tunnels,
the Port Authority, MTA, and the... New York state through way. And then they kind of outsource how
to handle it. And parking is the department of finance, all different. So, and,
and, and so we, like I was telling you earlier, we have this Facebook group and, um, a lot of
people post checkpoints, like they try to give everybody. So does that fall under now?
Sometimes the checkpoints are at the bridge and tunnels, I guess, to see if people are the scoff
laws, like hiding the plate. So hiding plate, that's not a traffic or obscuring your plate. Is that
traffic or is that a non-traffic? Oh, that's that's actually so. So the obscuring a plate is a
moving violation. So most of those will end up in New York City Tracker Court or in the five
boroughs. Occasionally you can get a pink ticket for that. But what I've been seeing is if you have
ghost plates and it comes back as forged, I've been seeing people getting arrested with the forged
instrument. And so then they're arrested. They get a desk appearance ticket. And they have it's a
whole other process for that. So but just blocking the number. Generally, that's just like a
obscuring play ticket ends up a traffic court. No points. Can they impound? Because so many, you
know, and you see, well, you know, I don't think Mom Donnie's done it yet. But when Eric Adams was
and before that, de Blasio, they used to have all these videos of them. crushing all these illegal
cars and motorcycles that had the ghost plates and they confiscated them. So can they do that for
an obscured license plate or just a ghost plate type thing? Assuming everything, no. If it's just
like one letter's blocked, they should not be. And I don't want to say never,
because you never know with the NYPD, but it's one letter, it's just a ticket. If it's a fake plate
or there's a registration issue or no registration, that's when you start seeing the... bikes get
impounded. Got it. Got it. I know you do cars and trucks and motorcycles. What percent of your and
I'm sure it's seasonal, right? But what percent of your practice would you say, you know, you're
talking to motorcycle motorcyclists?
It's small. Most of my clients are like Uber and Lyft and professional drivers.
The when I get motorcycles, a lot of it comes in from. uh uber eats drivers and so they're
technically driving a motorcycle but it's not like a hobby uh it's like a different type of bike i
would say like probably five percent would be classed at in the motorcycle category yeah that's
because we're always fleeing from the scene i'm just kidding but let's talk about that right
because part of the thing is you mentioned earlier so well let's let's start with the stop okay so
well let's start with Can they make the New York City speed limit any lower?
Can they make it a negative miles per hour? And I'm all about safety. But if you're on Broadway or
First Avenue, which is sometimes light, you can't go 25. You can't go 25.
And they have the speed camera. Or Queens Bowl. You're from Queens, right? I get it. But I've been
snapped going like 34 miles an hour. Is that fair? No,
no. And can they make it lower? Yes, there is a conversation that they want to lower the city
speed, unposted speed limit to 20 miles an hour. 20? Yeah, there's a conversation happening. You
can probably run 20 miles an hour. Not quite. Yes, but it is very, very slow. I mean,
there's already in school zones and their cameras are going and they're ready tickets. It's 15 now
across, I think, like 800 different school zones in New York City. So fun fact,
the camera should not snap on if you're going. nine miles an hour it only snaps on or it should 11
so that's when it should turn on just so everyone knows now is that those violations part of
traffic or is it part of finance and tolls parking it's fine it is parking okay great so there's no
points on them it's so everyone should know that yep and okay cool now let's say you know new york
city has a lot of tourists people coming in from jersey and pennsylvania and connecticut and all
that stuff i'm kind of curious like a lot of people think You know, they see in the movies,
oh, I'll just plea bargain. I'll plea bargain 80 miles an hour down to an illegal left-hand turn.
Is that a reality? And is that part of the service that you offer kind of thing? So that, yes,
if I'm outside of the city of New York. If we're in the city of New York and we're in the Traffic
Violations Bureau, that is not an option at all. You either win or lose. There's no plea
bargaining. So you either win, no points, no fine, or lose, points and fine. All or nothing.
So if somebody, so you defend speeders, obviously. Oh yeah.
So.
I mean, it's tough to generalize, but let's say somebody comes into you and, you know, they have a
few points on their license and, you know, is there a rule of thumb that you say to them,
like, since you can't plea bargain, you know, I think like, you know, testing the,
I guess, what would you say to somebody that wants to maybe either fight a speeding case or,
or not, especially if they, more points is going to get them in trouble. Well, if you don't want
points, you have to fight it, whether you have a lawyer or not. That is because in New York City,
in the whole state, if you don't plea not guilty, you plead guilty, you get to the points.
So, yeah, have to plea not guilty if you don't want to deal with points. What would I say to
someone in New York City? They think I told you it's win or lose. Speeding tickets are hard in New
York City. People think that, oh, you challenged the calibration of the radar gun. Well, NYPD
doesn't really use radar. They use LiDAR, and the judges kind of take their word. If they say it's
calibrated, it's calibrated, and they just say it. So they don't have to bring in the calibration
certificate. There's no tuning forks. There's none of that with the LiDAR device. So, you know,
I'm honest with people. Speeding's hard. Not impossible. I do fight them. I do win them. But, you
know, we're just in New York City. it's tough speeds. So we, yeah, you know, we have a lot of,
uh, you know, New York city is a melting pot. And if you ever come to our two wheel Tuesdays, just
to give out your business card or whatever, you know, we have a lot of minorities and a lot of
minorities and people of color and, you know, they feel like they're being singled out. I'll be
quite honest with you. They feel like they're being singled out sometimes. And they also feel like
at the end of the month, there's that quota. So I guess.
Are quotas a real thing and is probably tough to prove if people are being singled out,
but what would you say to those two things? Okay. Well, first, generally, if an officer is assigned
to write summonses and that's their job, because there are some officers that don't really write
summonses and some that do, if the officer is part of a summons writing unit, yes, there is a
quota, I said. There's an expectation that they write a certain amount of tickets a day, not even
just at the end of the month a day. So that's if their job is to write tickets. So highway
officers, people in a summons part of a precinct, that sort of thing. Now,
as far as getting targeted, yes. I mean, yes, that's all I could say. Tough to prove,
though, probably tough to prove that they're doing that, I would say. Well, I mean, back in the
days at Stop and Frisk, it was proven, but that's, I suppose, different than the driving. But most
of my clients are people of color. And I know the laws are always changing. About 10 years ago,
you know, I live in Murray Hill, 37th and 3rd, and I made a turn. Nobody was around.
It was, you know, and the guy, he pulled me over and he was kind of laughing about it. And I was
very polite. What I did do, oh, what I did do is I postponed it enough.
that I ended up pleading guilty like over two years later. I think maybe the rhythm is a little,
maybe it's not. So I ended up paying 300 bucks, but when I called up DMV and I waited on hold for
two hours and 15 minutes, but it was back in the day, right? Maybe that's still the case. She told
me that because I waited so long, yes, I was guilty, but the points come off every 18 months.
So does that still happen? So I would like to clarify that. The 18 months and now it's two years.
Summons is issued after February of 2026. Now there's a two year look back period.
But it was it was 18 months. That kind of DMV looks at how many points you have. So they look
backwards. And this is especially relevant for someone who has a six point speed or a high speed or
they get a lot of tickets within an 18 month period. So close together, even if the case is heard.
Three years from now, the DMV is going to look backwards that 18 month period. Now, if you just had
one ticket, you know, and it was under six points, there really isn't going to be too many
ramifications for you with the DMV. Now, your insurance is a different matter. They typically look
back for five years. It really depends. Really? They'll look backwards that way. So I get that a
lot. Like, oh, if I push it back, it doesn't count. It will. The DMV finds ways to get you.
So if you're over six points, you get the driver assessment fee. At now, 10 in two years,
there's suspension. And so and they're always looking backwards. So it's not generally not super
advisable to push it out as far as you can, unless you're someone who gets one ticket every 10
years or so. Got it. Got it. And, you know, the other kind of myth that runs around is, oh,
fight it. The cops never show up or it's rare that the cops. Is that like a myth or how often does
that happen that the cops don't ever? Yeah. In New York City, they have to show up. They get in
more trouble for not showing up to New York City traffic court than not showing up to Permanent
Court. So expect your officer to show up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As far as the ramifications for them,
it's lessened over the years. But there was a ticket fixing scandal about probably 15 years ago.
A lot of enforcement now for the NYPD as far as showing up to traffic court. And they come with
scripts. They come prepared. So don't, for the most part, don't expect your officer not to show up.
You should come ready to go. Do you, does, you know, and what's the,
I guess you cross examine police all the time, right? Is there,
yeah, is there like in the last couple of years, is there one memorable time that sticks out in
your head where you cross examined a cop or an official that's that where it just really turned out
well for you? All the time. I mean, I actually just off the top of my head, since we were talking
about checkpoints, I had a case yesterday or the day before officer was describing a checkpoint.
And the deal with checkpoints is just and there's a lot of case law. So they're very regulated as
far as police activity because of the rights you have. So how NYPD does it is they're supposed to
do every third vehicle random safety checks. So they can't just. stop you if you're being directed
to a checkpoint because they think your car is old or something. Every third vehicle. My client was
charged with disobeying a pavement marking, and the officer described setting up a checkpoint. And
he said he's the third vehicle that was stopped, and I stopped him for disobeying this traffic
device. And I'm cross-examining him, just like, well, what kind of checkpoint is this? So you let
two people before him. disobeyed this traffic device and you stopped him.
And he was like, yes. And I just said to the judge, like, this is an improper checkpoint.
And the judge agreed and dismissed the ticket. So that one stood out to me. I like fighting
checkpoints because there's a lot of case law behind it.
And the judges in New York City in particular, they're also attorneys. They know this as well. So
it's a funky moment for police activity in those stops.
That's a great answer. That's good. And, you know, I have a sponsor of the podcast. They're a
personal injury firm, Heyman Law Firm. I'm not sure if you ever heard of them, but really nice
people. And most of these PI firms, I guess, they'll rarely take a case if they know that they
can't win, both for financially and also for the service to their clients. You know,
is it that way with you on the traffic court side? I will take difficult kids.
I will take difficult cases, but I'm always very honest. So the New York City,
the Staten Island traffic court in New York City is terrible. Extremely,
extremely hard to win. Very hard. Any reason for that? What do you think? The judges are bad.
That's really the only way I could put it. If you have listeners from Staten Island that have dealt
there, they will know that one judge. He's kind of famous. So, yes.
It's terrible. So if I get a case in Staten Island, I am very honest. I will fight this for you.
I will do the absolute best I can, but we have an uphill battle. In other courts,
for the most part, there's always a shot of winning, even if the officer is very seasoned.
But Staten Island is a rough one, so I'm honest with that. But generally speaking, I won't turn
someone away unless they're being difficult.
Before the ticket, before the violation, well, let's say you maybe pulled over for a violation.
Is there any tips that you can give people to either minimize their chance of getting a ticket or
just how to be friendly? Does being polite and friendly actually help? By the time they pulled you
over, they've decided whether you're getting a ticket or not.
Most of the time, the officers I've spoken to and I've spoken to a lot, for the most part, they've
decided if they're going to give you a summons or not. But the way to get more summonses is by not
being polite. Mouthing off. So it doesn't hurt you to be polite.
It hurts you to argue with them. And the other thing is with New York City tickets in particular,
if you argue with them, they write thousands if they're a summons writing officer. If you start
arguing with them, it's going to be easier for them to remember you. And it's going to be a lot
easier for them to convict you if they remember who you are. So being polite is don't argue.
They give you a ticket. Don't I thought you were going to give me a break. Don't do that. If they
give you a ticket, take the ticket. Don't admit to anything. Don't make it harder for yourself
saying, oh, I know what I did. Don't do that. Just say, take the ticket. Have a nice day, officer.
And that's it. And then you if you get a ticket, duke it out in court. I got it.
You know, and and, you know, it was like maybe when was Cuomo our mayor,
like not Mario, the Andrew. Yeah. So I guess a while back, the state troopers never really liked
Andrew Cuomo, you know, and I got pulled over on the Taconic and and I was going maybe.
Well, he said, do you know how fast you were going? And I knew, but I didn't say it. And and then I
said, you know, I'm sorry. I was going I was on my way to an anti Cuomo rally. Which wasn't really
the truth. But, you know, he laughed. He was like, oh, really? You know, because there was like
some friction between the troopers and Cuomo. I don't know if you remember, but something years
ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he actually said, you know what? It looks like your speedometer is not
working correctly. You should really get that fixed. I'm going to give you a warning today.
So that was good. Well, what I have found is if you are military,
you can show that. It's like as far as PBA cards.
If it's not like the golden shield or it's not someone like your mom or your brother, because you
can buy them online. I have cops come over and just hand them. I have a few just because they give
them to me. And I haven't ever really had the need to use it. But military,
MTA workers, like city workers, you know, if you just say like, show them the cart.
And it's up to them whether they take it or not. One thing you shouldn't do is go to court and then
show the judge your PBA card or your MTA card as if they're going to care. They're not going to.
When you do go to trial, it's probably case by case, but when do you advise your client to testify
and when do you advise them not and keep their mouth shut or not testify?
99% in New York City, most actually throughout the state. 99 of the time my client's not there oh
really oh i didn't know that yeah okay no they don't have to that's one of the nice things about
having a lawyer you don't have to go um but um with if i want them to testify it's because they're
going to tell me something that the story that they have told me i believe is credible and either
has an emergency justification or it didn't happen
actual innocence would be. But if you're going to come and just say like, I was keeping up with
traffic or, you know, I was, I was just looking at my GPS or whatever. I don't need you there.
Keep your mouth shut. Don't say anything. Got him. Got it. That's interesting. And,
you know, again, because we do have a lot of people speaking Spanish or other languages as their
native language, and I know a lot of writers that, you know, they're from Colombia, Ecuador,
Brazil, Portugal, but, you know, their English is not always great. And we actually had one
insurance company last year come down just to talk to people, and they brought people who were
native and Spanish, and it was great. Do you find, like, what if somebody just doesn't speak very
much English? Like, what would you say? And I've actually translated some of my shows into Spanish
and Mandarin Chinese. I might do it with this one. I'm not sure. But what would you say, you know,
in that case?
Just take the ticket. Take the ticket. Muchas gracias. Thank you. Muchas gracias.
I mean, a lot of my clients don't speak English. I have my assistants be Spanish to help me with
that.
Uh, just take the ticket. And then, uh, what I can say is if you're finding the ticket yourselves,
the courts are obligated to, they have a language line now. So, but, um, just take the ticket.
Don't argue. Uh, especially right now, be as nice and forgettable as you can. Got it.
Um, have you heard of this place? Um, a lot of people think that hell exists on earth and it's
called, uh, the BQE. Oh gosh. Right. I was hoping you were going to say that.
You know, and, you know, white lining and traffic filtering.
Right. Or, you know, part of the reasons why we ride motorcycles in New York City is to get to
where we're going faster, quicker and maybe not necessarily safer. And we actually had this one
gentleman. really loves to ride, and he was actually on the LIE, and he was riding in between
traffic, going about 30 miles an hour. I think he was going to a mech game, I want to say. And two
paddle vans tried to change lanes, and they ended up sandwiching him. But they sandwiched him at
the same time. He didn't go down. They hit him, and they're going 30 miles an hour, and then they
went. And he pulled off at the next exit because he thought he was dead,
and he was alive.
Do you see a lot of infractions for lane filtering? Because to a motorcyclist,
we kind of feel like it's our right. Do you see a lot of that? Yes.
Yes. The lane splitting violation. So the language on the status is motorcycle riding between
lanes. It's a two-point violation. I understand, especially sitting in the traffic in the BQE in
my Toyota RAV4, I understand the inclination to want to do that.
And if you could get away with it, okay, but I can tell you NYPD Highway is waiting to give you a
ticket for that, especially on the BQE, on the Brand Central, on the Southern State, on...
They're there. So you are not allowed to split lanes.
You have to ride as if you're... a passenger vehicle same as everyone else uh so um and i can tell
you and why uh new york city judges in particular don't love those violations uh probably because
they're also sitting in traffic in a little jelly but yeah it's uh yeah you can't i think some i
think there was legislation that was going to be brought up that or in other states where if you're
going less than 15 miles an hour faster than the traffic in the lane it's it's legal but i guess we
haven't gotten that far yet in new york no and i have not seen anything come out of committee to
that effect in albany because there's two types of lane splitting right there's one you know the
idiots on jamaica avenue or you know the lae that do when everybody else is doing 10 or 20.
And then there's people like me that if it's crawling, I'll be doing 15 or 18 miles an hour when
everybody's doing four miles an hour. And I guess both are equal in the law's eyes. In the law's
eyes, if you in New York State, if you are operating a motorcycle, all of the rules of the road
that apply to passenger vehicles apply to you. OK, that's good to know. And then I'm going to start
reading from some of the Facebook questions. A few of them were like, is it cheaper to do this
myself? And how much are, you know, do our fees for lawyers? Do they charge by the hour,
by the case? When is payment due? That type of thing. Can you speak to that a little bit? Sure.
I mean, so if you're in New York City, my fee for any moving violation is one hundred ninety nine
dollars. So it's whether you get one ticket or five tickets. go by the stop. So one stop, five
tickets, same price. Wow. Cause yeah, I just value my, my logic. I care about my time.
So it might be a little bit of a harder case, but I'm fighting everything at the same time. So
that's how I think that's whether you go to court or please, well, there's no please. So you're
actually going to court for each of those. Okay. All right, cool. Yeah. So I do most of my cases
virtually in New York city. They have a virtual option. So yeah, but if. I don't,
then traffic attorneys generally, it's a flat rate. They're not, they don't, we don't bill it by
the hour. Got it. For outside of the city or if we're in criminal court, it's $350 and same logic.
If you have one ticket or five tickets, same price because the thing I care about is my time. So
yeah, other lawyers, other firms have different price models, but that's just fine.
Yeah. Okay, cool. Finding it yourself, that's really up to you. You have to decide whether it's
worth it for you or not. Got it. Okay.
Can we ride in, I'm assuming this is no, but I'll ask you. Can we ride in bus lanes and emergency
lanes without issue? No. No, no, no. So just so you guys know, you can ride in a bus lane if you're
making the next available right turn or left turn, depending on where it is. But no. And emergency
vehicles only in the emergency lanes. You'll get a hazard marking violation for that. Got it.
I see, this goes back to the lane split. I see mopeds lane split in front of cops.
all the time and they never do anything i guess that also goes back to your random thing a little
bit and all these uber drivers like some of these uber guys you know i do see plates and some of
them i don't and they'll do cartwheels in front of cops and you know the cop is like texting his
girlfriend you know in bayside new york seeing what they're doing that night and no offense to cops
because you know we love cops but a lot of these unplated uh delivery guys what do we do about
those people So it comes in enforcement waves,
right? So when Adams was the mayor, I was seeing a lot of they were running red lights and they
were impounding the vehicles and the red lights were ending up in criminal court.
So that was a big enforcement wave. I'm seeing less of that now with Mom Donnie.
As far as it happening in front of a cop, it really is going to be random because some officers
simply don't write moving violations in New York City. They don't do traffic enforcement. So as an
interesting sort of tidbit, say you don't know you have a suspended driver's license,
right? And you get stopped. If the officer that stops you is someone who writes summonses and
that's what they do, they are much less likely to arrest you. because they write summonses. But if
you get stopped by just a beat cop for whatever reason and you come back, your license isn't
suspended, they're more likely to arrest you. So it really is a random, depends on who's watching.
Got it, got it. Here's something that comes up a lot in our forums and on the Facebook group. Often
officers will want to take our keys out of stop. Is that legal?
You know, that's a good question. And I don't want to give, you a wrong answer without knowing.
Well, if you want, you could always email me after I edit it. I could always like put it at the end
or something like that. That's a good question. My inclination is no, you know, but I'm sure there
is. My thought is no. If they're taking your keys to prevent you from fleeing,
I would say no. But there's like a balancing act with officer safety. So I really don't know.
But my thought is no. OK. Why do motorcycles with an with an expired inspection sticker get towed
and impounded? But cars that are out of inspection do not just get a ticket and not towed.
So an expired registration or a suspended registration? It says an expired inspection sticker.
I could not answer that question. If that's happening, I'm going to take your word for it because
it's definitely just a ticket for passenger vehicles. All right. So if you don't have an
inspection, they can't take the bike, right? I would think no. That's insane. We've heard of that,
though. But maybe they have other. Now, what if you can't produce your documents? You know,
and I guess, and here's the one for the younger kids out there, right? I still have, you know, I
print out everything. I got this Epson printer. I freaking love it. Right. But, um,
it's driver's license insurance registry and proof of all that fine on your phone.
So I don't think it is technically yet, because I know that there is like the digital ID of the law
coming somewhere in the legislature. So you are required to have the physical, at least your
driver's license, the insurance. What I can tell you is there is a violation called failure to
produce documents that's issued during the car stop. That is no points, but that's for not having
essentially those documents on you. What ends up happening is you don't have your driver's license
on you and the officer issues you an unlicensed violation. And that is actually the incorrect
charge. Or you don't have your insurance documents on you, but the vehicle is insured. The officer
gives you an uninsured summons. In those cases, as long as you plead not guilty and you are
licensed in the state of New York and your vehicle is registered in the state of New York and
insured, Albany should just dismiss them. But that's just incorrectly issued. But there is a charge
for not having your documents on you. Got it. Okay. OK, cool. And I guess let me just see if
there's any other questions that people sent in. We talked about plate coverings. Parking is not
really you. You know,
are radar detectors still legal or illegal these days? You could use a radar detector. But what I
can tell you, you can. There's a certain calibration with them. Like you can't use a radar jammer,
but you can use a detector. But what I'm going to tell you guys about radar detectors, especially
if you're riding in New York, is city. And YPD doesn't really use radar. They use LIDAR. So it's
not going to ping your radar detectors if you have them. So, you know,
I don't know how helpful they are if you're five-borough riding. Troopers and everyone outside of
the city, they still use radar. I had this woman also from Queens. Her name is Jamie. And she moved
here from Taiwan about 15 or 18 years ago. And she rides a very nice motorcycle. And she said when
she first came to this country. She would and was writing that she would just avoid writing Fridays
and Saturday nights because that's when everybody was drunk and she wanted to stay off the roads,
you know, during that time. She said today those times are actually safer because a lot of people
are taking Uvers to the nightclubs or, you know, home from the nightclubs. And she said it's more
dangerous during the daytime because. Everybody is doing something else.
Guys are placing their FanDuel bets at 3 o'clock on a Sunday on the Giant game on their phone.
You know, women and other people are doing their hair and makeup and doing everything but, you
know, so distracted driving.
Are cops pulling over people for distracted driving, or is that something that they can only pull
you over if you're doing something else?
Distracted driving charge, I really have not seen it. It will usually be for something else.
The cell phone and electronic device violations is primarily what the charge someone ends up with
if they're driving like that. For hair and makeup, like if you're doing your makeup or whatever. It
could end up being like a weaving violation or just a reckless driving. I have really seen the
distracted driving. I actually was working in the state legislature when they passed that in like
2009 and 2010. So they can't pull you over for that? They can. Oh,
they can? Yeah, but I haven't seen that specific charge. Distracted driving?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll see other charges. Got it. Okay. That go with it. Yeah. That go with it. Oh,
the result of it. So if somebody's texting and still staying in their lane, they can't necessarily
be pulled over just for that. Oh, no. Yeah. No, that in and of itself is a violation. Oh, it is.
Okay. You can't have your phone in your hand at all if you're moving, guys. Keep it out of your
hand. Got it. And what about if you're in a Tesla that's self-driving? Can't.
We haven't caught up to that yet. So keep it out of your hand. Cars moving. Keep it out of your
hand. and you're in the driver's seat got it and now we have speed cameras that prove speed uh we
have other cameras is that just the officer's word uh that hey i saw him you know texting on the
phone and is is texting for one second the same as is there a minimum amount of time or if you're
just texting for one second even if you pick up the phone to answer it is that distracted driving
there well it's there Portable electronic device and mobile phone. So there's two charges.
Talking on the phone is one charge. Everything else, texting, all that, that's another charge. One
second, one mile an hour, if the car is moving and the phone is in your hand, it's something. So
even if you're crawling up to a red light, keep it out of your hand, mounted, hands-free.
Yeah, they should make it more of a public, you know, kind of... ad campaign or something because
so many you know the effects of that they say are actually worse than drunk driving because i've
heard that yeah yeah yeah yeah i on the road i can tell when someone's texting uh because they're
doing too slow and they're swerving i could tell yeah got it All right. This has been great.
I'm going to let you go in a minute or two. So we're going to post your website. You're fabulous on
Instagram. You have a great personality. You know, like I could, you know, I don't know. I haven't
checked your followers lately, but we'll put your Instagram. Are you on TikTok as well, too? I'm on
TikTok. Yeah, I'm old, so I don't use TikTok yet, although I have a 22-year-old daughter. So I'm
going to have to start using TikTok. So we'll post all that, how people can get in touch with you.
And typically, the sooner they get in touch with you, the better. Do you have like a...
Like, hey, if your court case is in, you know, three weeks, I need a week's notice. Like, how does
that work typically? I mean, I can get, if it's in New York City, same day is fine.
Here's what I'm going to recommend to people. If you get a ticket, it is probably better to give,
and I'm going to hedge everything because I'm an attorney. It's probably better to get, and you
want a lawyer, it's probably better to get the lawyer now. as opposed to waiting or rescheduling it
yourself. Because as you reschedule the case yourself, you take away chances to try to get in front
of a good judge or play. So, you know, my best clients and the ones with the best outcomes are
honestly the people who get a ticket and have me on the phone. And again, that's not a sale. That
is just honestly, if I have control of it from the start, it's a lot easier to win. Got it.
You know, I played baseball in high school and, you know, we had, you know, umpires that we really
liked and we knew umpires that freaking sucked, man. And I'm sure it's the same with the judges.
Like, what is it? What type of judge ends up in, you know, and if any judges are listening, you
know, Hey, you're doing your job, like just like everybody else. But, uh, you know, you picture
everybody wants to be a circuit court judge or a Supreme court judge or a criminal judge. Like what
kind of. What kind of judge, you know, ends up in traffic court? Well, so at New York City traffic
court, they're DMV employees, right? Oh, so they're not all judged. Like, do they have a law
degree? Yeah, they all have law degrees. They're what's called administrative law judges. So
they're hired by the DMV to serve this function. So a lot of people are just people who want,
like, an easy nine-to-five. You don't take work home with you. It's still a law job. You get the
state benefits, et cetera, et cetera.
What makes a good judge is someone who is listening very closely, someone who doesn't automatically
believe anything that comes out of an officer's mouth, and someone who understands the law. Someone
who's just going to rubber stamp an officer saying he did something is a bad judge. So that would
be what I would say makes a difference. But they come from everything, the judges in New York City.
Excellent. Excellent. Well, this has been great. Kim Juszczyk, we're going to have all your contact
info. I'm sure you're going to be getting a lot of inquiries from our group. And thanks again.
Totally appreciate it. Yeah, this is great. Thank you.
Okay, cool. Do you have like a headshot that you can send me? Uh, yeah, I'll send it for my
website. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so I'll put that, you know, we have podcast cover art. I'm sure
you've seen that and they'll probably go live. I'm going, I'm taking my motorcycle trip to Vermont
next week. So I'm going to try to put it live before I go. Very nice ride. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to
go to Burlington. Have you been up there? I have. I love Burlington. It's so nice.
And yeah, no, it's great. Vermont's a wonderful state. Talk about Staten Island. I kind of know
what you meant about Staten Island, but I didn't want to go there, right? Oh, look, this Judge
Levine, it's such a fuck. Oh God, I'm waiting for him to die. And it seems like a lot of the, you
know, Cosa Nostras are there too. I don't know if that's still the case anymore. Maybe not in fact.
Well, you know what's funny about it is that port actually back in the day used to be a Cosa Nostra
thing. And he came in and the whole vibe shifted. That was like in the 80s or 90s,
so I'm told. Son of a gun. Staten Island's a dump. Do you do a lot of Bronx?
So Staten Island is also virtual, so you don't care which borough then. Yeah, yeah, for the most
part, unless something is like... I'm going to need to really, really talk to the police officer
ahead of time. For the most part, I do it virtual and I get good results that way. I like doing
cases in the Bronx. Bronx is a good Ford, good, thoughtful judge in the Bronx. Got it, got it. And
are the judges like at home or are they working? Do they have to go? No, they're in there.
They actually, they didn't have a virtual option for years. This was a COVID invention.
So, and it's actually kind of a funny story. We were fighting it for a while and it turns out I use
it. Excellent. Where in Queens is your office? I'm in Brooklyn.
My office is in Greenpoint. I was just at the Jubilee Market like two days ago.
You ever go there? I'm on West Street, so it's right down the block. We used to have the drive-in
theater over there, which now they're building things, but we used to have meetups there. My office
is literally overlooking the drive-in. Or what was the drive-in? You know, my mother's 83.
And when she moved here from Italy, you know, Greenpoint was all the Italians and the Polish
people, right? And the Polish. It was the Italians and the Polish people. And it was like a little,
yeah. No, it's very, very gentrified now. My friend just, because there's that daycare center right
next to the Jubilee Market. My friend Claire had a baby. And I said,
oh, how's the daycare for an infant? at that daycare center is $3,800 a month.
Yep. My wife and I are trying to have a baby now, and I'm putting five grand a month away. Good for
you. In anticipation of, yeah. Good for you. $199 sounds low, though. I mean. How long does he
take? Of course, it can't take you 10 minutes for $199. Well,
I mean, it's keeping track of it. No, the hearing could take 10 minutes. Less, honestly, depending.
Honestly, it's a philosophy for me. I actually... Genuinely, I want to provide good representation
to working people. So that's why I keep it low. Hey, Kim, last question I have for you. And this
has been great with all the moving violations in traffic court. But you know what? Us
motorcyclists, we get a lot of parking tickets. And, and, and we also get a lot of,
uh, you know, toll violations and, and some of it's not our fault because of the, the mechanism is
not always, uh, readable on a motorcycle and that type of thing. So some of my friends and guys we
ride with, you know, they have one, two, three, $7,000 and they, and they, they're scared shit
that somebody's going to either get arrested or whatever. So is there a U of parking and or tolls?
Uh, yes, there, well. You don't have to be an attorney to do the parking and the tolls.
So I don't, but I do have someone who does handle that. And so when someone calls me, I direct them
to him. And what would that person's name be? And we can put their name. His name is Omar Alam of
Metropolitan Inc. He handles parking tolls. And handles a negotiation.
In particular for the tolling violations. Yes. Yeah. Great. He's got like. some kind of savant
stuff going on with the dealing with the customer service people. So I don't,
I don't know anything about it. I tried once or twice. He's very good at it. Yeah. Got it. Okay. So
we'll put, you'll text me his info. We'll put it on the, on the show notes page. So, so what does a
traffic court lawyer do on the weekends typically? Oh, well, this weekend I'm going out to a winery
for someone's 30th birthday. Oh, great. That would be one on Long Island. What do I do?
Gosh, a lot of movies. That's cool. A lot of time spent with the wife, you know,
just normal stuff. Yeah. Is it tough to put this, like, since your traffic, you know, when you're
driving in your Toyota RAV4 that you're saying, like, is it tough to compartmentalize, you know,
your work and your business life? Or do you say, oh, man, there's a potential client right there.
Do you do that a lot? I have to fight the temptation when I see someone getting pulled over to
throw my card out there. And I'll tell you what I do on my social media,
because you mentioned it, is like when especially like on holiday weekends, I see them and I like
let people know they are writing on four ninety five. They're slow down.
So, yeah. But I also definitely I haven't gotten a ticket.
My wife's not so much, but I haven't gotten one. So and, you know, a lot of the pops. know who i am
at this point so i drive i drive safely but with a little less concern in the city at least very
cool all right cool well cool thanks again we'll put all the info for how do people contact you and
omar and it's been great thanks again yeah thank you this was lovely