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.
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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