From an article in MSN Money..
Myth
If the officer makes even a single mistake on your ticket, the case will be dropped
Guillot says:
A ticket should be seen as an accusatory instrument and a basis for prosecution that must be factually valid, says Matisyahu Wolfberg, an attorney and former police officer from Spring Valley, N.Y., who represents defendants in traffic cases. Clerical mistakes, such as a wrong number or wrong order of a person’s name, are usually overlooked. Material mistakes, like the identity of the driver, the direction of travel, the street where the citation occurred or the description of the vehicle, can usually help a driver win the case. “Any mistakes that involve who, where and how usually can be used to beat the case in a trial. If the description of the vehicle is inaccurate, the officer will usually lose,” says Wolfberg. He recalls one recent case in which the officer cited a white Mercedes when the defendant was actually driving a black Porsche.
My Take On This
Clerical errors occur quite often. This occurs more often with officers who write a larger amount of tickets. For instance, I write a lot of speeding tickets in a 45 mph zone and occasionally, I will work at 25 mph zone and write someone for 38 in a posted 45 zone. It’s only an error and judges will not throw out clerical errors. Most traffic units also have in car video which will clearly show that it is nothing more than a clerical error. In other words, quit digging!
