How do I legally defend myself against a traffic fine?

Quick overview

• You don’t have to accept the fine on the spot – you can refuse the block procedure.

• The case is then dealt with in the administrative procedure.

• The authority must prove that you actually committed the offence.

• You can challenge the speed measurement, the evidence or the police procedure.

• You can appeal against the decision.

If you are not sure how to defend yourself in the administrative procedure, you can write to us. We will assess the evidence and suggest a course of action to protect your rights as much as possible.

Speeding ticket: don’t sign anything to the police

If the police stop you while you are driving and want to give you a speeding ticket, do not agree to the penalty and do not sign anything. The police will no doubt persuade you that the administrative procedure will cost you more and indeed, if you are facing a speeding fine of only a few hundred and you are aware that the needle on the speedometer was more to the right than it should have been, it is worth not dragging the matter out and simply paying.

But if you’re not sure, ask the officer for a photo from the speed camera. Allow for a +- 3 km/h (3 mph) deviation, which is the tolerance for radar in the Czech Republic. In practice, if you are travelling at 50 km/hr, the officer can only fine you if the speed is 54 km/hr and above.

If the deviation was not observed and properly read, and you were still fined in the block procedure, you have violated the law.

In practice, we often see people accepting a block fine simply because they feel they have no other option. But in reality, by signing a block fine, they lose the possibility of defending themselves later on.

Proceedings before the administrative authority

If you know you have been wrongly accused of an offence, administrative proceedings are the way to defend yourself. Proceedings before an administrative authority or even criminal proceedings deserve the advice of a lawyer.

Here,the administrative authority is based on the facts of the case and the questioning of the police officers itself serves as evidence. However, such evidence is not always sufficiently convincing.

Every detail can play a role. How the police acted, whether they correctly conducted and evaluated all the evidence and whether their actions are not open to challenge.

The most common mistake is that drivers do not present any evidence in administrative proceedings and rely only on their own testimony.

When someone else was driving

If you find a blue-striped envelope in your mailbox with a notice to pay a fine for, for example, speeding or parking, and you know you were not driving your car at the time, just tell the administrative authority the identity of the driver involved. However, if the police do not find the driver, they will still deal with you. You can then recover the amount from the driver through civil proceedings. The authorities are no longer interested in the excuse that a person close to you was driving. The owner of the vehicle has to ensure that the vehicle is used properly.

Point system and fines for Czech drivers – the most common cases

What are the most common offences and what do you face for committing them? The points system and fines are uncompromising and often devastating.

• Driving without a vignette – we have had a relatively short system of electronic vignettes in the Czech Republic. Remember that a police check can fine you up to CZK 5,000 for driving without a vignette and can go up to CZK 20,000 in administrative proceedings.

• Driving under the influence of alcohol – if you are under the influence of alcohol, you can be fined up to CZK 25,000 in administrative proceedings or banned from driving for up to 18 months. If the driver is in a state that precludes the ability to drive, he or she may commit the offence of driving under the influence of an addictive substance; in practice, this is often considered to be an alcohol level of around 1‰ or more.

• Fines for running a red light – if you do not brake your car before the traffic light and drive through it when the light turns red, you can be fined up to CZK 5,500 for running a red light, or fined up to CZK 25,000 in administrative proceedings, 6 penalty points and banned from driving for 1 to 12 months. Especially for professional drivers, a fine for running a red light is not really worth it.
• Cycling under the influence of alcohol – having a few beers on a bike is a bit of a Czech hobby. However, a drunk cyclist poses a serious risk on the road and is liable to a fine. If he or she has up to 1 per mille, the fine can reach 25,000, and above one per mille, the fine can be up to 50,000 crowns. On the other hand, even if the cyclist has a driving licence, he cannot lose it, nor can he receive penalty points.

• Winter tyre fine – from the beginning of November until the end of March, you must fit your car with winter tyres if the road is covered with a continuous layer of snow, ice or frost. You should also assess the overall condition of your tyres, which should have the required tread depth (greater than four millimetres). Various cracks and excessive wear are also a problem. The fine for flat tyres is CZK 2,000. The fine for summer tyres in winter is the same amount, which can be increased in both cases up to CZK 2,500 in administrative proceedings. In such an offence, you will at least get off without points.
• Cracked windscreen – anyone who fails to ensure that their car is roadworthy and does not endanger traffic safety while driving is liable to a fine for a cracked windscreen. However, a damaged windscreen in the so-called wiping area does not meet this condition and you can be fined up to CZK 10,000 for a cracked windscreen and receive 6 penalty points. If the damage to the windscreen covers more than 50% of the windscreen area, you could also have your small licence confiscated.
• Speeding fine – if you get carried away on the road with the prospect of the upcoming weekend and go a little bit more than the speed limit, expect to be fined for speeding depending on how much you exceeded the speed limit. If you drive faster than 40 km/h in the village or more than 50 km/h outside the village, this is a serious offence, which is generally dealt with in an administrative procedure. The risk is a speeding fine of CZK 7,000 – 25,000, the award of 6 points or a ban from driving, specifically for 6 to 18 months.
  If you exceed the speed limit in the village by more than 20 km/h or outside the village by 30 km/h or more, you can be fined 3 500 CZK. In administrative proceedings, you can be charged up to CZK 10 000. You can also face 4 points and a ban.
  The lower level is medium speeding, i.e. 10 km/h or more in or outside the village. In this case, you can expect two points and a fine of up to CZK 2,000 on the spot, and up to CZK 5,000 in administrative proceedings.
• Fines for driving without a licence – did you look at your licence the last time you received it and since then it has had a place in your document box where you don’t take it out? You might want to do this occasionally and check its expiry date. And if you take to the roads without a licence, you could face a fine of up to CZK 75,000, a ban for three years and even a prison sentence of up to one year, you don’t know how. The fine for driving without a licence is one of the most severe.

Summary

You don’t always have to automatically accept a fine for a traffic offence – if you don’t agree with it, you can refuse the block procedure and have the matter dealt with in an administrative procedure, where the authorities have to prove that you actually committed the offence. Defences can include challenging the evidence, the way the speed limit was measured or the police procedure. Traffic offences can result in a variety of consequences, from a financial penalty to the addition of points to a driving ban, and in serious cases, such as drink-driving, can even be a criminal offence. Common offences include speeding, running a red light, driving without a motorway licence, being unfit to drive or driving without a valid licence. If the offence is committed by another driver, the operator of the vehicle can declare the identity of the driver, otherwise liability can be dealt with. As administrative proceedings can be complex and the authorities’ decisions depend on the specific evidence and circumstances of the case, it is worth consulting a lawyer in some situations who can assess the chances of a successful defence.