Tickets can seemingly come out of nowhere, baffling even the most prudent motorists. When one receives a ticket the decision then becomes whether or not to contest the infraction. Some may believe they are better off simply paying the ticket, so as to not think about it again. However, not every one is prepared to do so, choosing the other route, to contest. People may contest for a huge variety of reasons, most stemming from the feeling of injustice, that the ticket was undeserved in the first place. Therefore, while paying or pleading guilty to a ticket will see the points added to the file soon after receiving the ticket, deciding to contest is the longer route, and the infraction will not appear on your license until the case is finalized and closed. Before deciding whether to pay or contest a traffic ticket there are many factors that should be considered. There are many multifaceted consequences to contesting a traffic ticket. A person should be aware of the status of their driving record first and foremost to determine if their license is at risk or not. This information can be a massive deciding factor in this respect, as the loss of a licence can have negative and dire consequence to a person, especially is they depend on being on the road for their livelihood. There are also monetary costs to be considered. These monetary costs are not only related to the fine amounts of the ticket but to other impending costs. Adding demerit points to a licence can greatly affect your yearly licensing fees as the SAAQ, as well as raise your insurance fees. In addition, these fees can follow you for a number of years, as can the points on your license. One of the most common sorts of tickets given out in Quebec are speeding tickets. These tickets can start as low as just fines with no demerit points and can go up to over 18 demerit points with fines in the thousands of dollars. Speeding tickets can affect a license to varying degrees, depending on the speed you are found guilty of. Any speeding ticket below six demerit points, will work like any other ticket and the points will affect your license two years from the day you are found guilty. However, a speeding ticket over six demerit points will come with much more severe consequences. While the points will affect a license for the same two years from being found guilty, the infraction will remain on a licence for the next ten preceding years. This leads to higher insurance, as well as higher licensing fees for the next ten years as well, making these tickets much more serious than the average speeding tickets. Therefore, careful consideration should be taken when deciding whether to plead guilty or contest these infractions. Usually after such consideration one decides that it is better to take the chances to contest these tickets, as there is much to gain.