“Hydroplane Into Ditch, Careless Charge”

Hello,

I'm trying to help someone out. They were driving while it was raining. They were traveling the speed limit and were not distracted in any way (no cell phone, GPS, sat radio...etc). The car went into a curve but when they turned the steering wheel to exit the curve, the car continued straight... resulting in the car going in the ditch and rolling. Thankfully no one was hurt except for the car.

Witness travelling behind the car said that there was no excessive speed. Officer charged the person since "There's no other excuse for the crash".

I think it's a pretty heavy charge for what happened but oh well. I already said "fight it" but it this something that a paralegal should be hired for or should should it be fought alone?

Your friend can check with the paralegals to see what they can do.

Or wait till getting the disclosure to see what evidences the cop has or just some hearsay from the witnesses. If no witness shows up at trial charge may be dropped.

Very easy to beat. It's a shame the cost of a paralegal will probably be necessary if your friend is new to fighting tickets.

There was no excuse for that crash. However, a careless conviction may be too harsh (insurance increases) if a lesson has been learned. Good news for you is that careless is sometimes applied when no other charge seems to fit, and I hear the courts have high standards for a conviction.

seen ths one before. Almost the exact same accident.

"Was doing the speed limit".

Cop said "you should be doing under the limit if its raining, therefore, 'careless'". Speed limit means speed limit. Weather conditons require you to adjust accordingly.

This why there should be a new section added to the HTA for severity of this type of thing.

- leave roadway $110 and 0 points

- leave roadway causing damage $220 and 3 points

- leave roadway causing injury $325 and 6 points

It is a waste of resources (police, fire, EMS) responding to incidents where drivers can not keep their vehicle on the road.

I thought Fantino proposed that a few years ago. What became of it?

Squishy wrote:I thought Fantino proposed that a few years ago. What became of it?

think it was after some winter storm where there was well over 1000 vehicles needlessly in ditches and it was mentioned in the paper, but don't think any government mentioned it.

Just an update: the charge was dropped

Ya the police just want some money for responding to the scene. I guess the tax increaces arnt enough. They lay careless charges to easily. Glad you didn't have to pay. So Can you fill in the blanks as to how the charge was dropped?