Rhode Island Traffic Ticket Lawyer

Every kind of Rhode Island ticket, one firm

• Speeding tickets — RI fines run $95 for 1–10 mph over on a first offense, and jump to over0 per mile over the limit with a $205 minimum. Our full speeding defense guide covers laser, radar, and pacing issues.
• Suspended license charges — civil for first and second offenses, a criminal misdemeanor by the third. High stakes; specific playbook.
• Cell phone / hands-free violations — among the most common summonses we see, and frequently defensible.
• CDL and commercial driver tickets — commercial drivers are shut out of the good driving statute, so every charge must be fought. Defense from $1,500.
• Colin B. Foote Act cases — facing a fourth moving violation in 18 months means exposure to fines up to $1,000, 60 hours of driver retraining (the course alone runs about $850), 60 hours of community service, and suspension up to a year or revocation up to two. Defense from $1,950.
• Out-of-state drivers — got tagged on I-95 heading through? One flat fee, no matter where you live: $750, and in most cases you won’t need to come back to Rhode Island.
• Good driving statute dismissals — clean record for three years? Read our honest guide first; you might only owe the court $63.25.
• How we resolve tickets without you in court — the logistics of our no-appearance representation, explained.
• Town pages — local guides for Providence, Cranston, Warwick, Pawtucket, East Providence, North Kingstown, Coventry, Barrington, and Warren.
• More violations we defend — red light and stop sign, laned roadway, obedience to traffic devices, and suspended registration charges.

One boundary worth knowing: reckless driving is not a Traffic Tribunal matter. It’s a criminal misdemeanor prosecuted in District Court, and our criminal defense team — not the traffic desk — handles those cases.

Our published flat fees

We publish our fees because guessing games help nobody.

No hourly billing, no surprise invoices. Court costs, where assessed, are separate and go to the court.

How the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal works

Most civil traffic violations statewide are heard in one building: the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal at 670 New London Ave, Cranston, where nine magistrates hear the docket — though many town-police tickets are routed to your local municipal court instead (the hearing-location box on your summons controls). The volume is enormous — the RI Judiciary’s annual report counted 78,043 summonses covering 111,231 total violations in 2024 — and every hearing is now conducted in person. Your case is one file among tens of thousands. An attorney who is in that building every week knows the magistrates, the prosecution patterns, and which arguments actually move a given courtroom. That familiarity is a large part of what you’re buying.

Go deeper: your summons explained box by box · your first court appearance · your trial, explained · the Traffic Tribunal guide · ticket lookup & payment · missed your court date? Town-police ticket? Start with your municipal court guide.

Why drivers fight instead of paying

Paying the ticket feels efficient. It’s usually the expensive choice:

1. The three-year record. Rhode Island has no license point system — the violation itself sits on your record for three years, visible to anyone who pulls it.
2. Insurance. Carriers reprice at renewal based on that record, and a single violation can cost multiples of the original fine over three years of premiums.
3. Foote accumulation. Pay four tickets in 18 months and you’ve walked yourself into a Colin Foote hearing with suspension on the table. Every ticket you dispose of without a record entry resets nothing — it simply never counts.

Who handles your case

Morgan Alger runs our Traffic Tribunal practice and appears there weekly — this is her regular courtroom, not an occasional stop. Matthew T. Marin and Stefanie A. Murphy, the firm’s partners, direct strategy on suspension-exposure, CDL, and Colin Foote matters and step in personally when a case escalates. Clients work out of whichever of our four offices is convenient: Providence, Cranston, East Greenwich, or South Kingstown — though most traffic matters are handled entirely by phone, text, and email.

What outcomes look like

We resolve a high proportion of civil tickets through dismissal — via the good driving statute, evidentiary problems, or negotiation — and reduce many of the rest. Past results don’t guarantee future outcomes, and no honest lawyer will promise you a specific result before reading your summons. What we will promise: a flat fee quoted up front, straight talk about your odds (including when the $63.25 good-driving dismissal is the right call), and an attorney at the podium so you don’t lose a workday to Cranston.