Photo by washingtonydc

For most of the motorists who received one (or many) of the 2.6 million tickets the District handed out last year, forking over a fee seemed like much less of a headache than challenging the violation. But those who chose to fight their traffic citation or parking ticket were remarkably successful, according to an analysis by the AAA Mid-Atlantic.

AAA found that moving violations were the ones that drivers were both most likely to contest and most likely to win. More than 27,000 people, or about forty percent of those who received such a ticket, took their case to court—and an almost astonishing 71 percent of them got it dismissed. That is a sizable increase from years past. Hearing officers dismissed 63 percent of challenged moving violations in 2014 and 53 percent of them in 2013.

“The records show ticketed motorists are more inclined to fight citations for moving violations perhaps because they want to avoid points on their driving record, and to avoid a costly increase in their car insurance rates,” said John Townsend, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s manager of public and government affairs.

But drivers who received a slip under their windshield for violating one of the rules on a cryptic sign or those who were caught by a camera were much less likely to put in the effort, contesting just nine percent of parking tickets and six percent of photo-enforced tickets.

The AAA points out that it is still often worth it, though. Hearing examiners dismissed more than half of all parking tickets that they reviewed. And even twenty percent of tickets from red light or speeding cameras were dropped.

“Unlike citations for moving violations, automated traffic camera enforcement tickets and parking tickets aren’t reported to the insurance provider and no demerit points are added to driver’s licenses,” Townsend said. “Still, it is better to mount a legal challenge against any ticket, especially if you suspect or have evidence it is erroneous.”

Despite the pretty high success rates, only 189,128 traffic and parking tickets were challenged and adjudicated last year. So maybe think twice before swearing and automatically writing a check to the DMV this year—and may the odds be ever in your favor.