[Jeff Higgins]

The key to ending all of this is to demand that our right to due process in traffic court be restored. In Washington state traffic courts you:

Have no right to representation.
Have no right to a jury trial.
Have no right to appeal.
Face a standard of evidence known as "preponderance", which has a precise legal meaning - 51% of the available evidence points one way or another. It's meant to be a standard used in civil cases, wherein a judge must decide a dispute between two citizens. It was never meant as an evidence standard to be used in a trial where the state brings charges against a citizen.

On top of that, neither the officer nor the prosecutor need be present. The judge serves as prosecutor, and the written report from the officer serves as evidence. 51%, by the way. It's a no-win situation. Our only hope in this state is to hire a lawyer specializing in traffic citations and have them seek a dismissal on some technicality. If it goes to trial based on "evidence", you lose.

The restoration of due process would go a long ways towards ending the abuse of this system. In America, the state is ostensibly not allowed to bring charges, try, and convict a citizen of anything, no matter how minor, without running its case past our fellow citizens - a jury. The state must make its case to us, not to itself. The profit motive has clearly corrupted this particular venue of our legal system. It's time we all write our representatives and demand a restoration of due process in traffic court.