Title: Town of Saugerties Justice Court

 

County: Ulster

 

Address: 4 High Street, Saugerties, NY  12477

 

Phone: (845) 246-2800 

 

Fax: (845) 246-9996

 

Court Calendar: Wednesdays

 

Traffic Tickets: Prosecuted by Special Town Prosecutor (State Police) or local officers.

 

Criminal Prosecutions: Ulster County District Attorney's Office

 

Judges: Hon. Daniel N. Lamb Jr. & Hon. Wendy S. Ricks

 

 

The New York State Thruway runs through a large part of the Town of Saugerties, as a result a substantial number of speeding tickets are issued in Saugerties.  Enforcement on the Thruway is exclusively handled by officers from "Troop T" of the NYS Police (a special unit than only patrols the Thruway).  The speed limit along the Thruway is mostly 65 mph, howver there are extended sections in the south and west that are 55 mph.  Almost all speeding tickets are written for speeds more than 10 mph over the limit.  Stationary radar and laser speed detection are widely used.  The wide and often wooded median creates numerous opportunities for radar or laser speed traps that cannot be detected in advance.  Traffic law enforcement along all of the other roads in the Town of Saugerties is handled by a combination of NYS Police, Ulster County Sheriff's and local town police officers.  Enforcement is also intense on Rt. 9W and Rt. 32.

 

Traffic Court

 

TheTown Court holds  "traffic calendars" which are devoted to adjudicating traffic tickets.  The NYS Police are prohibited from negotiating plea bargains on traffic violations.  As a result, a special town prosecutor has been appointed to deal with tickets written by the NYS police.  95% of state police tickets are adjudicated through plea bargains with the special prosecutor.  The Town Prosecutor and both judges are reasonable about plea bargains as long as the speed was not more than 25 mph over the limit or over 80 mph.

 

Local police officers generally prosecute their own tickets, though the special prosecutor may substitute for them.  Again, most tickets are resolved through plea bargains.

 

Traffic court sessions can last several hours.  Attorneys are permitted to appear for the clients without the client being present.

 

All criminal prosecutions are handled by the Ulster County District Attorney's Office.  Following a tragic 8 fatality accident on the Taconic in 2009 the Ulster DA's office has taken an increasingly hard line on DWI prosecutions.    In 2009 there were more than 1500 alcohol related driving arrests impaired or intoxicated cdriving (DWI, DWAI, DWAI-D) in Ulster County.  Both the NYS Police and the Ulster Sheriff's Department made numerous arrests.  Most arrests occurred after dark with many taking place after midnight.  Police officers assume that many driver's who are out after midnight have consumed alcohol and or drugs.  As a result they are looking for any lawful reason to pull drivers over in order to investigate possible DWI incidents.  Alcohol checkpoints were established several times by the a combined task force of NYS Police and the Sheriff's Dept.  Several of these were along Rt. 9W and Rt. 32.

For more information about DWI, click here. 

 

To read some Frequently Asked Questions about DWI, click here.