Prince George’s County Reckless Driving Lawyer
Reckless driving refers to when a person drives in any manner in which they are showing a willful disregard for the safety of other vehicles and property they are around. If an individual is caught driving recklessly, they could receive points on their license and be forced to pay a hefty fine. That is why it is necessary to consult a Prince George’s County reckless driving lawyer. A qualified criminal defense attorney could advocate for individuals who have received tickets for reckless driving. En Español.
Common Types of Reckless Driving Offenses
Reckless driving is a complementary ticket. It is not ideal but that is essentially what it is. It can go with other things such as excessive speed or something else. It can literally go with anything that is deemed to be a disregard, for those people around this person is driving the car. It doesn’t have a specific thing per se; it is more of one of those situations in which it accompanies other tickets when a person is doing something that they shouldn’t be doing. It doesn’t have to be given but it could be given.
Scenarios
If a person, for example, passes someone on a railroad crossing or a train is coming, it is not safe. Reckless driving can accompany a speeding ticket so a person who is going 20 miles over the speed limit could get a reckless driving ticket but it could be separate and apart from their speeding ticket as well and they could get both, but it is a ticket that complements other tickets
Seriousness of Reckless Driving Offenses
Reckless driving is big. It is not a jail-able offense, but it is a payable citation. Reckless driving includes points, often, maybe five points, but reckless driving is still a payable ticket. A person who gets a reckless driving charge could just opt to just pay the ticket and not go to court, so it is not a must-appear type of ticket. As such, it is not that this ticket has a point value but it also not a jail-able offense so a person doesn’t have to worry about that when violating or getting a reckless driving offense.
Reckless Driving Tickets
An individual will know that they have been charged with reckless driving because there will be a ticket that says ‘reckless driving’. It is just a ticket. Because reckless driving can be anything, a person would know that it will be a separate ticket like it is not a speeding ticket. It is a separate ticket that says ‘reckless driving’ so they would know.
Reckless driving differs from a speeding ticket because it is associated with a certain speed. It is a separate charge unto itself because it is not a speeding ticket. It can accompany anything such as failing to stop at a stop sign, but it is not a speeding ticket.
Necessity of Going to Court
A person would not need to appear in court unless they requested a hearing. Their other option would be to pay the ticket. The penalty for reckless driving is six points on a person’s license and a thousand-dollar fine.
If a person chooses to do so, they can go to court and hope that the officer does not appear. If the officer does appear and is not willing to knock down the charges, then hopefully the judge will knock it down but some judges are not fond of reckless driving because this means that the person was completely showing disregard for everyone else out on the road.
How Prosecutors and Judges Treat Cases
There is no prosecutor in reckless driving cases because it is not a must-appear ticket. It is not a jail-able offense. Instead, an officer would be there to represent the state. Because of the inherent name of the charge, the person was showing disregard for others on the roadway and not driving in a safe manner so it is often a frowned-upon citation.
Role of an Attorney in a Reckless Driving Case
A PG County reckless driving lawyer could try to negotiate with the officer and try to show that the person was not doing something in a reckless manner. Since the ticket can accompany anything, it is hard to pinpoint how exactly to go about it because reckless driving could accompany a DUI. It could accompany a speeding ticket. It could accompany failure to stop at a stop sign or passing a school bus. It is important for an attorney to figure out what strategy works best.
Importance of Working With a Prince George’s County Reckless Driving Attorney
Working with a Prince George’s County reckless driving lawyer is important because a reckless driving case carries so many points and especially heavy fines, that going in without representation is kind of a disservice to the person because no one wants points on their license. That, again, triggers a mandatory driver improvement case and a thousand-dollar fine is heavy, but once the insurance company finds that out, the person’s insurance is going to spike. A qualified reckless driving attorney could help an individual by fighting for a positive outcome for them.