“Truck Driver - Careless Driving”

Earlier this fall i was driving my truck (full length tractor trailer) on highway 17 (1 lane each direction) and came up to a slow driving pickup truck. I had good momentum already from going slightly downhill and decided to make a quick pass as soon as the center lines allowed. I had good line of sight ahead and there were no oncoming vehicles. I completed the maneuver in about 10 seconds. Problem being is that in the midst of doing the passing the pickup truck driver started to honk at me angrily and later on the road when we came to a stop at a construction site red light the pickup caught up to me and the driver got out of his truck and at first i thought he was going to come to me. Actually got scared and made sure my doors were locked and windows closed.

I think he was just trying to check out my vehicle for identification as later on the road a police car was waiting in the center of the divided section of the highway and followed me then eventually stopped me. The pickup truck was still following and i presume made a statement as it took a while before the police officer came to see me. I admitted to doing the maneuver but i insisted that i did it safely, that there were no collisions, no near miss, no oncoming vehicle and i didn't had to force the pickup truck to slow down to allow me to merge back. So I don't see where the issue was, but I was still given a ticket for careless driving.

As getting this ticket would very likely cost me my career, I contacted a paralegal. He recently called me saying the prosecutor was willing to offer a reduced plea for "Change lane not in safety" for 3 demerits instead of 6 and probably not considered a serious offense. But i am not sure I even want to agree to this.

To my current knowledge my paralegal has not received the various depositions yet, officer or witness. While my job safety is paramount, I don't want to rush and take a plea when I don't believe myself guilty of anything. But I still afraid if i don't take it i might regret it, so i am not sure what's best.

I think I'd wait for disclosure and then decide on the plea. At least see what all the evidence is. Also I find at the time the person who complains is all wound up and it is the biggest problem in their life. Come the court date though and the kids have to go to school, someone else has to be taken to the doctors, work wants to know when he will be in, and now he has to worry about court because he thinks you did something wrong. I think court will be a back burner project that he can do without months down the road once he's cooled down and realizes it is going to take more time out of his day than it is worth.

Of course that is just an opinion based on things I've seen in the past.

Good luck