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Reckless Driving

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decimel

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

I was on a single lane road which I never been on before and was following my GPS. Behind a pick up truck that was doing roughly between 30-35mph on 4th gear on 35mph limit road. There appeared a second lane, which I took and slowly started passing the truck. At this point I lowered to 3rd gear to speed up, to around 35mph. While I am barely ahead of the truck which is on the right lane, I see that the lane is ending and merging to the right and becomes left turn only lane. So I speed up to pass the truck to change my lane. I barely get into the lane and hit a debris on the road, and hear noises, car shakes. My DSC (electronic stability) light starts flashing, which means that car is loosing balance and traction.

I fear I have a blowout, and truck is following me very closely, so I do as instructed in safety courses I have taken and keep my foot on the accelerator and not touch the brakes, while looking for a safe way out of the road. I pass two turns because one is two narrow and the other has a car at the corner. So I take the first corner I think I can safely turn, and I turn a little too fast, barely missing a car at the corner. Park my car, with emergency lights on.

I hear someone shouting, turn the vehicle off, I do and turn around to see that the unmarked vehicle is a police officer. At this point my hands are shaking because of the adrenalin, and I explain the situation to the officer. He tells me that I barely made the turn and didnt have a flat, and that he will write me a ticket. I dont argue with him and very politely ask what I should do, he tells me that I should plead not guilty and go to court, that he would help me reduce the points, and writes me a ticket for "Driving at safe speed" 3361. Even gives me the directions for the court, withing the hour I go to court to get a court date.

That night I realize that I do have a flat rear driver side through a little damage on the wall of the tire, also damage to my front bumper and undercarriage of the car, nothing major. I take pictures with dates, fix the tire myself and all is good.

Then a week later I get a ticket in mail on same road given to me while passing the pick up truck for , speeding with charge "Reckless Driving" 3736. With a 250 fine attached to it. I immediately go to courthouse, learn that that its his squad mate, clerk kindly attaches both for the same court date as they are related and I nervously walk out.

Couple of days later, same officer pulls me over because my tires screech at while making a turn, I tell him that I didnt expect the turn to be so sharp so I briefly lost control of the vehicle. He writes me a "Careless driving" ticket with 110$ fine. So today I am deliberating whether or not to plea not guilty for that ticket as well, which I probably am going to plea guilty because, I believe I was at the wrong. In any of the cases I didnt go over speed limit and if I did, by a margin.

I printed my full record online, which shows that I have no accidents and only one prior speeding ticket, which I couldnt go to court for because my mother passed away that week. No accidents, or tickets other wise. I also have a letter from penndot saying that I have currently 0 points on my license.

I am driving a BMW sports vehicle, that looks and sounds fast, but is 10 years old and fairly inexpensive, so I dont really blame the officer for the tickets. But it seems that I will be loosing my license, because there is no speed attached to any of the tickets, and it is basically my word against theirs. I cannot afford a lawyer because my wife is a full time student and we barely make ends meet, and these tickets will hurt us.

I feel like all is lost, and that I will definitely lose my license. Any advice will be appreciated.

PS I will be taking the pictures of my vehicle and damages, googlemaps satellite pictures of the road and the area, that I had the tickets, and my history (which I am not sure if I should show and explain) with the letter from penndot.

EDIT I also have an article from National Highways Safety association and a Captain in police force describing that applying brakes while having a blowout is the worst thing you could possibly do.
 
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racer72

Senior Member
A couple of points why your excuses are lame.

1. When passing a vehicle and you suddenly realize you cannot safely complete the pass, what is the correct thing to do?

A. It is not speed up, it is slow down and fall in behind the vehicle you attempted to pass.

2. What do you do when you get a flat tire?

A. Let off the gas, slow down and gently brake till you can stop at a safe location.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
I agree with racer....despite how high performance your car is, taking your foot off the gas and applying judicious braking goes a long way for both problems.
 

decimel

Junior Member
I agree with racer....despite how high performance your car is, taking your foot off the gas and applying judicious braking goes a long way for both problems.
My request though is I was doing maybe 40mph, how do i argue to judge without calling the officer a liar?

I am not arguing if i were wrong or not, nor giving excuses. However I never intended to be reckless, careless maybe. I would appreciate advice along those lines believe me I am no disagreeing with what officers said, just trying to keep my license.

Thank you..
 
My request though is I was doing maybe 40mph, how do i argue to judge without calling the officer a liar?

I am not arguing if i were wrong or not, nor giving excuses. However I never intended to be reckless, careless maybe. I would appreciate advice along those lines believe me I am no disagreeing with what officers said, just trying to keep my license.

Thank you..
If your license was that important to you, you wouldn't have driven so wrecklessly. Hopefully the judge orders driver's safety course. :cool:
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
I think the police saw what we see from your posts. Either a poor driver or a reckless driver. Their solution is to cite them out of a license. Not trying to stir the pot. Just giving you the appearance of your situation.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I fear I have a blowout, and truck is following me very closely...
You mean...the truck you had just cut off, right?

Seriously - take a defensive driving class. You drive way too fast for conditions and have very poor decision-making ability behind the wheel. My opinion is formed solely on the information presented in your post.
 

mraikes

Junior Member
Argument:
If your tires squeal it does not mean you are driving recklessly. So long as you have complete control of your vehicle it is not illegal. It could be you were accelerating into your turn while cutting it a little sharp.
Argue that as you had complete control and did not leave any skid marks, you were not reckless by any means.
In fact, as you had your four ways on for the one ticket, and they did not give it to you right away, and your tire was in fact blown, that ticket must be removed unless they would prefer you endangering people and driving with a flat...
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Argument:
If your tires squeal it does not mean you are driving recklessly. So long as you have complete control of your vehicle it is not illegal. It could be you were accelerating into your turn while cutting it a little sharp.
Argue that as you had complete control and did not leave any skid marks, you were not reckless by any means.
In fact, as you had your four ways on for the one ticket, and they did not give it to you right away, and your tire was in fact blown, that ticket must be removed unless they would prefer you endangering people and driving with a flat...
Please...just stop :rolleyes:
 
Argument:
If your tires squeal it does not mean you are driving recklessly. So long as you have complete control of your vehicle it is not illegal. It could be you were accelerating into your turn while cutting it a little sharp.
Argue that as you had complete control and did not leave any skid marks, you were not reckless by any means.
In fact, as you had your four ways on for the one ticket, and they did not give it to you right away, and your tire was in fact blown, that ticket must be removed unless they would prefer you endangering people and driving with a flat...
That may fly in Canada but not here :p
 

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