[Cerek]

DA - If the information on the ticket is unreadable, incorrect or completely missing, then it IS possible that might get you out of the ticket.

There are several tips available for beating traffic tickets (just do a Google or Bing search). Most of these relate to speeding tickets, but a lot of the ideas apply to any ticket.

1) First thing I would recommend is arriving at court early. The court will have an attorney present to speak with anyone who disagrees with their ticket. Since the judge wants to waste as little time as possible with traffic tickets (usually), you can often get a reduced offense or get out of the ticket by speaking with the attorney before court starts. Be polite and respectful. Show the ticket to the attorney and point out how unreadable it is, then let him/her tell you what your options are.

Other tips I've seen or heard include the following:

2) If your court date is scheduled for a holiday, that can be a reason for dismissal.

3) If the officer who issued the ticket is not in court, that can be an automatic dismissal because you have a right to face your accuser. Most people only think about this in criminal cases. You can increase your odds of the officer not showing up by doing some legwork ahead of time. Find out which station the officer works out, then call that station each day and ask if the officer is on duty today. If they transfer you to him, just hang up. The idea is to find out what day he is NOT working. Then you go to the Clerk of Court's office (IIRC), show them your ticket and explain you can't be in court on the day listed, so is there anyway to change it. When they ask what day works best for you, pick the day of the week the officer is not on duty. They usually have the same day off each week and an officer is NOT going to come to court on his day off for a seat belt ticket.

4) Did the officer actually see you NOT wearing your seat belt while the car was moving? Since you are the passenger, chances are he probably didn't notice until he got to the car. You could always try to say you had unbuckled your belt so you could retrieve the insurance and registration info for your buddy. When that is questioned by the judge or officer, you might give them a brief summary of the physical and emotional problems you've had recently and say you know it didn't make any sense to unbuckle your belt, but you just weren't thinking clearly at the time because of everything that has happened. The car was stopped and unbuckling your seat belt was just a reflex action.

Your best bet will probably be to see the attorney before court. He/she has the power to reduce or dismiss tickets outright. I got a ticket several years ago for an expired tag because I hadn't put the new sticker on it yet. I went to the attorney in the courtroom and explained I was in the hospital recovering from surgery when my tag expired. My parents had renewed my tag, but I had forgotten to get the sticker from them when I finally got home from the hospital. He told me to go back to the DOT office and get that tag renewed TODAY, otherwise I would have to pay the ticket. $20 (tag sticker) vs $110 (ticket and court costs) was an easy decision to make.