Need Reckless Driving Advice, I'm fighting it.

[r0nin89]

Everything in this post is all hypothetical due to legal reasons. I'm aware that anything can be used against you in a court of law today. Any accounts of me admitting to doing anything are not real life occurances and are all hypethetical situations.

So I am pretty much at a loss of words for wht happened in the last 2 days. I was given a summonce for reckless driving by a cop in school the day after all of these events. I was at my friends and suposedly peeled out infront of his house. After that someone called the cops and reported me for driving up the street after that and said "I was racing up and down the hill". I go to my house (about 15houses up the block) and park my car on the street. Go into my house and go out to dinner.

This part is all from friends and a friends mother who witnessed a cop do this. A cop shows up about 30mins later when I am out to eat. I get a call from a friend saying park your car somewhere else. I say I'm not worried about it its not like the cop saw me do it. So the cop asks my friend who doing burnouts and racing up the street. My friends are obviously reluctant to tell the cop. So they just go along with what he says. At one point he gets out of his car and says I dont beleive you. If you dont tell me the truth I'm going to issue you all $500 fines and take you down to the station. At that point a friend of mine who has a little bit of a record and cant get in trouble tell hims theres a camaro up the street and says its mine. The cop then goes to my house, knocks on the door (I had left 30mins earlier) for about 5mins and walks around my house through my backyard twice. The whole time my neighbor is watching him. After he accepts the fact that I'm not home he goes up to my car and feels the hood and the front tires.

So I come home and shrug it off still thinking he didnt see me what ever. Goto school the next day and get called down to my vice principals office. Theres the school cop and another one standing there with my vp. The cop says to me I heard you were doing some burnouts yesterday. I look at him and say I was out to eat with my mom. He then tells me that besides the person who called my friend ratted me out. He continues to tell me about how my tires were blazing hot and he could see the marks in the road down the street. I say to him that my neighbor told me about him feeling my front tires and he then says he felt all my tires and my hood and everything was hot. So I continue my arguement trying to avoid receiving it all together and he says "Dont even try to say it wasnt you" and I respond by say word for word "I wont try to tell you it wasnt me" and continue to say do you know how many other red Camaro's there are in the area. He then tells me that I have to show up for this court date and hands me the summonce.

So I've talked with some cops and a lawyer a little bit because I have the intent of having the charges fully dropped. I just need some advice about what I have as an arguement as far as a lack of their evidence goes. As far as I have figured when I go to court I plan to argue the witness didnt give my plates, that I see 5 red camaros on my way to work/school everyday and that I wasnt even reported for doing a burnout I was reported for "racing up and down the street" which I am completely innocent of. Further more I plan to argue that my friends were threatened if they didnt supply information and that the cop is now claiming he saw me do it when he really showed up 30mins later.

Basically I am wondering if anyone here has ever won anything like this in court. I mean despite the fact that I may have done the obvious I would still like to plead innocent and try to fight it based on lack of evidence. Just looking to pick up some advice on the legal system seeing as how this is my first time true. My main concern is points not the money btw. I know since its my friend offence I could pay $400 have it dropped to careless with no points. Thats what both of my friend that recently received their first reckless driving summonces did but I think I may actually have a shot at winning this all out.

BTW: I know it was stupid what I "did" but that not the matter at hand. he matter at hand is how do I not loose my license and get points ect. I would appreciate not being bashed for how stupid the events were or how it was stupid to do that on the road or on my own street.

[Savage_Messiah]

get a lawyer, tell them the whole story (the truth) and let them take care of it

[maroman88]

as far as i know a cop has to witness it for a ticket to be written, unless the caller signs complaints (like smokingss did)

[BonzoHansen]

*Get a lawyer if you feel you must fight this.
*A witness is required.
*Don't drive stupid in your (or anyone's) neighborhood.

[Tsar]

1. sounds like a load of :bs: to me.
2. based on the story (eventho i think its bs) from the begining you should've denied it. dont say maybe or any of that ****. Just "no sir, it wasnt me" he has to prove you did it.
3. stop making other young people insurances go up!

[Knipps]

I got a reckless driving chage... car pulled a 180 in the rain with a cop behind me; :oops: you know he couldn't have given me a break seeing as i had my license < 3 months.

i paid the 400 and still came out with points; only knocked down to careless
i don't want to know how many points i have total :-(

[JerzLT1]

get a lawyer. its probably someone filiing a complaint not an actual ticket cause the cop has to witness it to give you a ticket. this should be an easy one for any lawyer to get you out if

[r0nin89]

Yeah I think the lawyer might be the best way to go...

[Bandit]

Get a lawyer..

[Tru2Chevy]

Lawyer, it's the only way you have a shot.

- Justin

[baddest434]

i think driving wise is the only time it sucks to be young. cops have it out for young drivers. but you are guilty to some extent, suck it up and get a lawyer and see what happens. good luck be glad you were'nt in wall twp.

[Tsar]

i think driving wise is the only time it sucks to be young. cops have it out for young drivers. but you are guilty to some extent, suck it up and get a lawyer and see what happens. good luck be glad you were'nt in wall twp.
cops have it out for jackasses on the road. ive only been pulled over once when it truly wasnt my fault (got pulled over for broken taillight, tail light wasnt broken as i showed the cop and he let me go.) However i hear people cry that cops are ******** and pull their innocent like boy/girl over everyday. Respect the law or be ready to pay when you get cought. that's all.

[qwikz28]

i got one (along with many other charges at the time)... i got a lawyer and he took care of it. 40 hours of community service, no fines, no points. lawyer fees were 1500 bucks though :(

[Rich189]

cops have it out for jackasses on the road. ive only been pulled over once when it truly wasnt my fault (got pulled over for broken taillight, tail light wasnt broken as i showed the cop and he let me go.) However i hear people cry that cops are ******** and pull their innocent like boy/girl over everyday. Respect the law or be ready to pay when you get cought. that's all.

some cops do have it out for young people though.... ive been pulled over doing 57 in a 55 down rt 130 so the cop could give me a 20 min lecture on how us young kids in our muscle cars think we are tough and that we pretty much use our cars as a penis extension... funny part is my dad knew his boss and i just happened to have her phone number and his badge number and got him in a ****load of trouble.... but yea for the most part everytime u get pulled over its your fault so i agree with u to an extent

[Fleetwiz]

Lawyer

[Jared1970Chevelle]

lawyer for court.....beat the **** outa the kid that was a pussy and ratted you out....a brick throught the front window of the ******* old person neighbor that said you were racing up the block....and being your young i would say the cop touched you or harrassed you lol.... get him fired for going out of his way to busttt your balls,,,, what i would do but hypothetical of course for legal reason lol ;)

[r0nin89]

Thinking this may be a better route...

Gonna plead innocent and say that the road was wet from rain and I suspect that one of my friend put bleach on my tire (causing all the smoke left at the bottom of the street). Going that aproach I think I could legitimatly ask for careless driving and ask them to up the fine and take the points away. It still baffles me that I can say that john doe did something sign a ticket and show up in court to try to prove it was him...

I'm not sure if it would be wise to stick to the "It wasnt me guns" seeing as how I dont know if they gave my plate number or not. Hopefully they didnt and I will just say it wasnt me that I watched another car drive up the block and peel out when he saw me standing next to my Camaro. Then i went home behind him because I was going out.

I'll find out for sure whats going to court on monday because a neighbor of mine is a cop and I went to the station to talk to him and the first thing he says to me is "As a neighbor I am warning you that people mentioned you burning out on the street". Then I told him I already got written a ticket for it and he said come on monday and we'll look the report up.

[qwikz28]

Thinking this may be a better route...

Gonna plead innocent and say that the road was wet from rain and I suspect that one of my friend put bleach on my tire (causing all the smoke left at the bottom of the street). Going that aproach I think I could legitimatly ask for careless driving and ask them to up the fine and take the points away. It still baffles me that I can say that john doe did something sign a ticket and show up in court to try to prove it was him...

I'm not sure if it would be wise to stick to the "It wasnt me guns" seeing as how I dont know if they gave my plate number or not. Hopefully they didnt and I will just say it wasnt me that I watched another car drive up the block and peel out when he saw me standing next to my Camaro. Then i went home behind him because I was going out.

I'll find out for sure whats going to court on monday because a neighbor of mine is a cop and I went to the station to talk to him and the first thing he says to me is "As a neighbor I am warning you that people mentioned you burning out on the street". Then I told him I already got written a ticket for it and he said come on monday and we'll look the report up.
i think i stand for everyone on this board when i say that's quite possibly the dumbest thing i ever heard. not like funny and witty dumb. more like i feel bad for your ignorance towards life dumb. man up and listen to what every older and wiser person that has replied has said and get a damn lawyer.

too expensive? no its not, they'll appoint one for you. sure the court appointed lawyers suck and your better off paying one but its better then your sorry ass excuses. try that excuse in court, i hope the judge throws the book at you. (literally and figuritively)

[misterjuice]

so you're gonna lie in court....that it was wet. I wouldn't wanna be held in contempt...

[Bandit]

Thinking this may be a better route...

Gonna plead innocent and say that the road was wet from rain and I suspect that one of my friend put bleach on my tire (causing all the smoke left at the bottom of the street). Going that aproach I think I could legitimatly ask for careless driving and ask them to up the fine and take the points away. It still baffles me that I can say that john doe did something sign a ticket and show up in court to try to prove it was him...

I'm not sure if it would be wise to stick to the "It wasnt me guns" seeing as how I dont know if they gave my plate number or not. Hopefully they didnt and I will just say it wasnt me that I watched another car drive up the block and peel out when he saw me standing next to my Camaro. Then i went home behind him because I was going out.

I'll find out for sure whats going to court on monday because a neighbor of mine is a cop and I went to the station to talk to him and the first thing he says to me is "As a neighbor I am warning you that people mentioned you burning out on the street". Then I told him I already got written a ticket for it and he said come on monday and we'll look the report up.

hmmmm 99.9% say get a lawyer.. If you go to court without one you will wish you had one when the judge is done with you.

[r0nin89]

It was wet... Thats not a lie. The ground was damp from previous rainfall. Not like it just rained wet but like in the shade of a tree didnt evaporate from yesterday wet. I'm definatly going to use the appointed lawyer at least. But I know the appointed lawyer is just going to say I'll talk to the prosecuter and have it lowered to careless with the option to pay extra for no points. Thats what they do for every reckless the first time you get one in this town. I'm just thinking that I might have a fighting chance to not roller over and pay the $400 for the lowered charge and rather fight it to walk away clean.

[Bandit]

It was wet... Thats not a lie. The ground was damp from previous rainfall. Not like it just rained wet but like in the shade of a tree didnt evaporate from yesterday wet. I'm definatly going to use the appointed lawyer at least. But I know the appointed lawyer is just going to say I'll talk to the prosecuter and have it lowered to careless with the option to pay extra for no points. Thats what they do for every reckless the first time you get one in this town. I'm just thinking that I might have a fighting chance to not roller over and pay the $400 for the lowered charge and rather fight it to walk away clean.

do you have a job? Only people without a job or no means of support get a court appoint lawyer. You own a car, so you must be able to pay for it.

[Sphinx]

I had the school cop come up to me before, and threaten to give me a ticket and revoke my driving privilages to school b/c some Old ass female Adult Education student said she saw me pass 6 cars at one time... I smiled and left - came back the next day with proof i was at work during the "claimed" time of the incident, and i want my name removed from any attention. Plus i only had 2 gears....


but i would be prepared to get raped sooner or later in that situation. They will get your money, one way or another. Thats there job and they are pretty damn good at it.

[JL8Jeff]

If you spun your tires then you're guilty of careless or wreckless driving. Don't try fighting what you can't win. The big question is if the cop didn't witness it then is it still wreckless/careless if someone else witnessed it? Wet conditions are not an excuse for not controlling your vehicle so don't bother trying to use that. You're gonna owe something so keep it to a minimum.

[WildBillyT]

i think i stand for everyone on this board when i say that's quite possibly the dumbest thing i ever heard. not like funny and witty dumb. more like i feel bad for your ignorance towards life dumb. man up and listen to what every older and wiser person that has replied has said and get a damn lawyer.


Exactly. Do not under any circumstances lie under oath.

[TransAm619]

plain and simple.. judges dont wanna hear stories/exuses.. trust me, ive been to court many times.

Best bet, LAWYER!!!!!

ive gotten a wreckless driving and they let me go cause in the same instance as you, it wasnt witnessed by a cop

[GP99GT]

lawyer. dont give them a ******** excuse, youll get the ticket anyway and youll have to pay for the court fee too.

[Firebird67dude]

First, u cant plead innocent. U can plead NOT GUILTY. If your going to try and fight it then look up the laws. Do research besides just getting a lawyer. The "reckless driving" ticket is a great ticket for the police officer. He will not gladly give that ticket up. Worst thing he can do is take pics of ur marks u left on the street. He could also match the marks to ur tire tread pattern.

BOOM caught.

First thing u should of done was feed the officer's ego. If u did then u probably would of gotten out of the ticket. Well actually you wouldnt of. Your friends ruined it for you. If your going to do burnouts then do them in your drivbeway of a friends drive. Atleast then its private property.

Not meaning to be mean or an A-hole but I kno what its like to be a young moron with a hot car. I have 20 points on my DL. Im 20 going to be 21 next month.

You can try for "unsafe opperations" but i doubt ull get it. MY friend got a speeding ticket on 80 for 96 in watever the speed limit is. She went to court with a lawyer with ur GDL DL. She lost her DL for i think 3 wks and payed $400 to court n then watever the lawyer was.

[V]

ok, ive been to court many times, have cop friends and everything so i'll give my advice...

get a lawyer if you can afford it, like jake said, it could be as much as 1500, or as little as 500 too though, But you WILL save that much or more in insurance surcharges over the next 3 years, so in the long run it will pay off.

OR (if lawyer fees are something you cant tale care of)

go into court and talk to the prosecutor(you always get to before court) and see if the cop will agree to reducing the summons to careless driving and say you'll plead guilty to that(pleading guily to the ammended charge) That way you'll still have the fine but it'll drop the points from 5 to just 2. In this case, call it a lesson learned and deal with it.

Whatever you do, DONT try to make an excuse(bleach rain etc) because the judge will see right through it and then you WILL be found guilty of reckless.

[baddest434]

Thinking this may be a better route...

Gonna plead innocent and say that the road was wet from rain and I suspect that one of my friend put bleach on my tire (causing all the smoke left at the bottom of the street). Going that aproach I think I .


:rofl: that sure as hell won't work :lol: bleach :rofl:

[WayFast84]

i know i have no room to talk but..

1. this is why you dont need 400hp.
2. Dont lie, in court or anywhere else..unless its keeping some one else from getting cought..
3.If you have a ticket from the day before(what I thought i read) get the vasoline ready...

[Firebird67dude]

You have the GDL right? So right there the judge wont like you. Most likely by now the town cops along with the Judge know all thew GDL laws. A good Lawyer is ur best bet. If your debating between two and one is $600 and the other is $1200, then choose the $1200 one. Its worth it.

[Tsar]

if i was the judge and you told my your bleach story you would have no lisence. bleach?! bwhahaha dont be like brando and learn to drive in the rain...

[Ian]

bleach actually softens the rubber and makes the tires stickier. that story wouldn't work

[BonzoHansen]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/SIBLY/no20cops.jpg
You should have looked for this sign.

[Firebird67dude]

You should have looked for this sign.

haha.

[Savage_Messiah]

careless driving is 2 pts, yet unsafe driving is 0.. but i cant plead down to that again cuz ivce done it twice already, i need to wait :lol:

[Firebird67dude]

careless driving is 2 pts, yet unsafe driving is 0.. but i cant plead down to that again cuz ivce done it twice already, i need to wait :lol:


Yea. unless u get one of those nice prosecutoers that screws u and writes down the wrong statue number and ends up giving u a totoal of 4 points rather than 2.

[Savage_Messiah]

4 rather than 4 eh? ;)

[chrisfrom nj]

do what i did go to advance auto parts buy 2 brake calipers ,front brakes and 2 brake lines ,bring the recipt to court tell the judge that you had problm with your brakes tell him that your brakes locked and the car went skidding at 25 mph thats what i did i got off all the charges i still had to pay 400 no points i went without a lawyer try it good luck hope it helps

[Firebird67dude]

4 rather than 4 eh? ;)


Ok guy. I fixed it.

[WayFast84]

do what i did go to advance auto parts buy 2 brake calipers ,front brakes and 2 brake lines ,bring the recipt to court tell the judge that you had problm with your brakes tell him that your brakes locked and the car went skidding at 25 mph thats what i did i got off all the charges i still had to pay 400 no points i went without a lawyer try it good luck hope it helps
bahhahaha, then give them to me plz, i need brakes, but i guess im good since she doesnt run

[r0nin89]

Well heres the thing. The cops in my town hand out reckless driving's like its nothing. Two of my friend received reckless driving tickets (one for thoroughfair and one for donuts in the school parking lot). Now I know that both went to court talked to the prosecutor with the provided attorney and had it reduced to careless. Then were given the option to pay additional money for no points. This is what I would like to do. If I am going to get that same result from the appointed lawyer and my lawyer why am I going to pay extra?

I'm beginning to see I'll get the book thrown at me if I try to make any excuses. I'd still like to weigh on the whole the cop didnt see me thing though. This monday a neighbor of mine who is a cop is going to look the report up for me and find out if the witness identified my plate. If not I may call my lawyer about pleading not guilty and trying to get it dropped all together for lack of what I guess you would call evidence. The onyl other problem I see in doing that is that the cop went to my house afterwarda and claimed my tires were scorching hot 30mins later...

I'm so tempted to put a posi rear in my car and just go in there any say that cant be my marks are from and open rear... Ah in a perfect movie like world right?

[Knipps]

donuts = reckless.

i wish i was given that option... i have waaaay too many points on my license atm.

[Tsar]

ahh yes ur poor innocent friends werent BREAKING THE LAW, grow some nuts dude and stop bull****ting.

[baddest434]

I'm so tempted to put a posi rear in my car and just go in there any say that cant be my marks are from and open rear... Ah in a perfect movie like world right?


:huh: it be cheaper to pay the ticket!! ( i know you kidding). your thinking of way to many ways to beat this. that proves one thing......that your guilty. buck up and pay the price for being stupid. get a laywer have him get it knocked down to the best he can and pay up. next time thick twice

[Knipps]

:huh: it be cheaper to pay the ticket!! ( i know you kidding). your thinking of way to many ways to beat this. that proves one thing......that your guilty. buck up and pay the price for being stupid. get a laywer have him get it knocked down to the best he can and pay up. next time thick twice

+1 suck it up and pay for what you did

[JL8Jeff]

Geez, now I know why NJ has the highest insurance. Is there anybody that doesn't have any ticket or points? I didn't get a ticket until I was 25 I think.

[Knipps]

6 tickets; 3 major, 3 bs tack-ons

Reckless Driving; Busted Tail light, (had translucent red tape over it)
Speeding; 54 in a 35, Improper Display of front license plate
Speeding; 77 in a 55 (doubt it/going with the speed of traffic he just picked me out), obstruction of view [fuzzy dice]

[V]

AFAIK, you cant get points if the offense was not on a public roadway, ie parkinglots, driveway etc. but dont quote me on that

and if the cop didnt see you, and a witness didnt sign the complaint AND is able to ID you/show up in court, the ticket is BS

[maroman88]

i have ZERO points (knock on lots of wood!) i got a carless reduced to unsafe in jan 06, no front plate a few years back, twice loitering at the montvale parkway reststop and a few parking tickets

[trashman01]

thank god i live in CT. but i get harassed cuz of my car. its not loud(3" yipe, high flow cat, dynomax 2 3/4 cat-back) and yet i get pulled over once a week in the summer for "loud exhuast". also i get pulled over for no front plate, well my car doesnt have a front plate bracket and i aint gonna put one on damn it. windsheild is good enough. then ill just get pulled over for a "random seat belt check" but its more like they pull me over to inspect my car for anything they can find wrong(haha thank god im a mechanic and my boss doent let me half-ass things)

[Knipps]

thank god i live in CT. but i get harassed cuz of my car. its not loud(3" yipe, high flow cat, dynomax 2 3/4 cat-back) and yet i get pulled over once a week in the summer for "loud exhuast". also i get pulled over for no front plate, well my car doesnt have a front plate bracket and i aint gonna put one on damn it. windsheild is good enough. then ill just get pulled over for a "random seat belt check" but its more like they pull me over to inspect my car for anything they can find wrong(haha thank god im a mechanic and my boss doent let me half-ass things)

I didnt have a bracket and they gave me the ticket anyway...
now i have this ugy ass thing screwed into my bumper :(

[trashman01]

i woulda done it to the chin spoiler. they dont say where on the front

[r0nin89]

ahh yes ur poor innocent friends werent BREAKING THE LAW, grow some nuts dude and stop bull****ting.

No I'm done bull****ting I know I'm gonna have to pay something. I never said my friends were innocent I'm just saying that giving someone a reckless for thoroughfair is stupid. AND my point was that donut in a public parking lot is actually dangerous VS a small burnout. I just find it dumb that its the same ticket is all I am saying.

I guess I am going to see how much my parents lawyer will be and hopefully get it knocked down to careless and pay the extra for no points. Suposedly the first ticket you get the court appointed lawyer can get it down that far from what I've heard from those two friends. The other thing I was wondering is, does having a good word in say from a cop or two I've know for ever in the town mean anything in court?

[qwikz28]

The other thing I was wondering is, does having a good word in say from a cop or two I've know for ever in the town mean anything in court?
that could either work for, or against you. it may work or the cop may think you are trying to get away with something. how well do you know this cop?

ninjaedit: if you say i used to walk my dog past his cousins house or something ridiculous like that then im driving down to Point Pleasant and drop kicking you in the face

[r0nin89]

No one is a neighbor that lives on the other end of my street that I've known since grade school and the other is a friend of the families brother.

ninjaedit:I dont have a dog!

[ryanfx]

I'm pretty sure this one will be pretty easy.

If someone is just complaining about you, a cop has to see you do it.

If someone is signing a complaint they need your licence plate, and a good look at you. Nevermind to be in court I believe.

If you don't / havn't / never admit to anything I could be mistaken, but I dont think they can do anything! If you want to be safe, I agree, get a lawyer, but you could always take a chance.

[r0nin89]

Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow if they have my plate on the report from the witness.

[Firebird67dude]

I talked to one of my buddies that is a cop in OT. He said if your friends admitted that it was you then you are caught. Have any questions I'll forward them to him for you.