FAQs about Road Traffic Law

North London Road Traffic FAQs

What can an expert road traffic solicitors do for me?

Our road traffic solicitors are experienced and highly professional experts.  An expert road traffic solicitors can mean the difference between receiving a prison sentence, community order, license ban and a penalty.

Our solicitors will strive to craft the strongest possible defence given the circumstances of the charge against you if you are advised to plea not guilty, and will seek to capitalise on any mitigating factors which will lessen the penalty (such as inexperience or young age for careless driving).

I have 12 points on my license, how can I avoid a ban?

If you “tot up” more than 12 points within a three year time frame, you will be automatically banned from driving.  However, a ban can be avoided if you and your defence solicitor can show that losing your license would cause exceptional hardship to you and/or your family and dependants. If, for example, a ban would result in the loss of your livelihood, causing financial hardship for you and your family, this might be considered sufficient for an exceptional hardship defence to succeed.

The likelihood of succeeding depends on the skills of your defending solicitor, whether the circumstances resulting from a license ban are sufficient to constitute exceptional hardship and the severity of the offence you have committed (a drink driving offence is serious relative to “totting up offences”, such as three point speeding penalties).

What are mitigating factors and how will they help me when facing a road traffic offence?

Mitigating factors are things which dictate the degree of culpability and the level of punishment you will receive if convicted of a road traffic offence. Mitigating factors apply to offences that are not of strict liability.  Speeding, for example, is a strict liability offence generally (you are either speeding or not speeding), whilst determining liability in offences such as careless and dangerous driving is not as precise.  Mitigating factors include:

  • Age and experience of the driver
  • A relatively good driving record
  • “a timely plea of guilty”
  • “genuine shock or remorse”
  • “the absence of previous convictions”

If the offence resulted in an accident and injury of the offender, this may also be taken into account.