Ticket Help (Wreckless Driving)

Chris,

You don't want a reckless driving on your record. Not good. It will impact your insurance, if nothing else, and will show up if you get stopped in the future. Plead not guilty, ask for a court date. Go to court, talk with the prosecutor before court. Once you are in front of the judge, it is too late to do anything. If you have a local attorney, take him with you if you've never been to court before and are really clueless about what to do. Try to negotiate it down to something that won't show up later and cause problems, like "failure to follow marked course." Pay a fine rather than take pts. and have a reckless driving on your record. It's worth the money.

Hope that helps,
Steve

 

You may be off in your terminology... In NJ Reckless is worth 4 pts, and Careless is 2pts.

You want neither on your record.

Get a lawyer.

 

You have two options.

1) Send it in with a not guilty plea, show up for the court date, and plead to the lesser offense.

2) If you don't want to go to the court date, hire a lawyer, who will do the same thing on your behalf for $200 or so.

If I had a dime for every "passing a traffic control device" I've gotten...

 

In NJ you can usually plead to "temporary unsafe operation" which carries no points. The flip side is that this deal requires payment of a surcharge ($250 over the ticket for the first offense, IIRC). Each subsequent trip up this particular aisle ups the surcharge - a lot - but still no points. Five years clean and it resets.

The state is overtly trading cash for points. It doesn't look good that NJ has such a bad rep for car insurance, so this can be win-win for you and the state. (For the insurance companies, not so much.)

If he really wrote you up for reckless driving (not wreckless, we all hope for that ), you should hire a lawyer unless you feel very capable of dealing with the prosecutor yourself. Saving a couple of bucks on legal fees will be a false economy if you wind up with a bad driving record.

 

5 Points For Reckless Driving in NJ

 

Yes Sir:

Reckless - Driving A Vehicle Erratically Purposely Resulting In Severe Endangerment Of Others; Insurance Companies Surcharge A LOT More For This Instance (5 Points)

Careless - Not Intentionally Resulting In Less Points (Basically The Slap On The Wrist For Reckless); Less Insurance Surcharges And Can Be Dropped To A Zero Point Ticket If You Appear In Court

 

Chris,

Here is effectively what the cop did to you:
"Gee, I caught you with this half smoked doobie. But I'll give you a break. I'll just write you up for possession of a pound of crack cocaine."

If you haven't figured it out yet, he screwed you, buddy. Just because he said it with a smile doesn't make it so. It definitely sounds like you don't understand what is going on. Do yourself and your insurance premiums a favor -- get yourself a local lawyer that knows the court down there.

 

OFF TOPIC - HIJACKED THREAD (sorry)

Do any of you guys here in NJ ever get together for a drive?

Again - sorry

Stu

 

Chris,

There are many times in ones life when you need a lawyer; this is not one of them.

I've done this a few times. If the officer suggested that he would consent to a no-point violation in court you should be OK.

Assuming it is a careless driving (the relatively minor offence), call the court and plead not guilty. The phone number is on the back of the ticket. The court will mail you a summons. Just show up in court on the correct date and time (if the date doesn't work for you, you can reschedule it a few times until they get pissy or the date and time works). Do not pay $500 for the lawyer, you will not benefit from it. You will have an opportunity to plea bargain the ticket. The prossecutor will anounce when it is time to do so. The offer will be the one mentioned in a previous post. It will result in $250 fine and no points. You can do this twice every 5 years in NJ.

It is a bit of a waste of time and money but you will be just fine. Think of it as paying for an interactive version of Court TV .

PM me if you have any other questions.

Regards,

Art S.

 

Ronbo,

I never bothered learning how to quote but you were slightly off on your description of "temporary unsafe operation".

Your version was:
In NJ you can usually plead to "temporary unsafe operation" which carries no points. The flip side is that this deal requires payment of a surcharge ($250 over the ticket for the first offense, IIRC). Each subsequent trip up this particular aisle ups the surcharge - a lot - but still no points. Five years clean and it resets.

The last time I did this, it was a surcharge of $250 + $30 court costs but no points. You can do this twice in a 5 year period, if you do it more than that, it is a 4 point violation and a $250 fine.

Regards,

Art S.

 

We certainly do Stuart and quite often actually.

Keep an eye on the board for the next gathering and we'll keep you posted for any that may take place off the board as well.

 

Art --

When I did it I thought the prosecutor said that it was not limited to 2x/5 yrs but I may have misheard. My wife, who is a lawyer, also believes that this option is limited, so I guess I am outvoted.

Ron

PS: SEFAC - self-lawyering is like self-surgery. Not recommended.

 

Art,

I respectfully disagree. You've got a guy here who can't even figure out what he got the ticket for, what violation he is being charged with. He's never even seen the inside of a courtroom. Sure, he can take his chances. But if you are completely unfamiliar with the system and don't know how to work it, you need help. In the long run, he may be better off having someone with him than going it on his own, IMHO.

Steve

 

Steve,

I'm, assuming he's a collage freshman. I think he's old enough to handle himself. If he was in danger or losing his license or getting a really big ticket like reckless driving, I would completely agree with you. He's got a 2 pointer that has only minor penalties. Very little can happen. The lawyer's fees in central NJ are usually $300 - $500 for one of these, he will be paying the lawyer everything he gains from the plea bargan. Also, if he panics, at the last minute he can ask the judge for a postponement to get a lawyer.


Regards,

Art S.

 

Well... which is it? Careless or Reckless???

 

goodluck. i have court on the 20th for speeding (4pt violation) as well.