Reckless Driving By Failure To Maintain Control Charges in Newport News

Failing to maintain control means that you’re being charged with driving a vehicle with either faulty brakes or recklessly handling a vehicle to the point where you lose control. The common ways that this is charged are if somebody’s brake lights failed and caused an accident or if someone is swerving in the road to avoid something and they lose control.

If you are charged with this offense it is important you seek legal representation as soon as possible as you are facing a criminal misdemeanor that could potentially stay on your record forever. To learn more about this type of reckless driving charge read below, before calling and scheduling a consultation with a Newport News reckless driving lawyer.

How is Vehicles Not Under Control Proven in Court?

To prove a reckless driving due to a vehicle not being under someone’s control, the police officer has to show evidence that the defendant’s vehicle was not properly controlled and that it was the defendant’s fault.

With that said, it can be pretty difficult for an officer to prove this unless there’s some additional evidence coming from the defendant admitting that this was what happened. Your lawyer can help refute the officer’s allegations by providing an alternate explanation for what happened and providing documents that show that the vehicle had been maintained and there was nothing wrong with it as far as the defendant knew.

What Kind of Defenses Can Be Used in This Type of Case?

If your vehicle is not under your control, it’s not necessarily always going to be your fault. For example, if an object appears in the roadway and makes you serve or if you swerve to avoid hitting a car, then you will generally not be convicted of failing to have your vehicle under control.

As far as faulty brakes go, as long as the driver had no warnings that the vehicle’s brakes were faulty and they weren’t negligent, then you will generally not be convicted for that as well.

Can It Be The Mechanics Fault?

If the defendant can show that they took their vehicle to a mechanic and the mechanic found something wrong with it and didn’t say anything to bring it to the attention of the defendant, then it could be said that it’s the fault of the mechanic. However, this is going to be a very hard path to go down as it is hard to prove. It is usually in the best interest of the mechanic to try to fix any problem they find, rather than avoid it.

What Does The Term ‘Faulty Brakes’ Mean?

Faulty brakes mean that your vehicle poses a hazard to other drivers on the highway because of the unreliability of your brakes functioning properly when necessary, or that your brake lights were out and you failed to fix them.

As long as you are properly maintaining your vehicle routinely and you have brought your vehicle in for all of the requisite safety inspections, there’s really no reason to not be aware of any defects in your vehicle.

How Is This Type of Reckless Driving Charge Different From Reckless Driving By Speed?

This charge is different because most of the time it is necessary to prove that the defendant did (or didn’t do) something before they even step into the vehicle. With a reckless by speeding charge the officer is alleging that the driver was driving their vehicle at an excessive speed at the time of the incident, whereas in contrast, reckless driving by faulty brakes means the officer is alleging that the defendant was negligent before they stepped into the vehicle.

What Are Some of The Steps An Attorney Can Take To Help You With This Charge?

Your attorney can help you gather evidence that will demonstrate that you have been abiding by routine inspections and you have been taking care of problems as they come up rather than just letting them accumulate.

Your attorney can also explain to you what the law states and what needs to be proven by the officer in court in order for you to end up convicted. Knowing this and knowing what you need to do to prepare is priceless and can be the difference between a conviction and a complete dismissal.

How Can This Charge Affect Someone Holding a CDL?

Every type of reckless driving is considered to be a serious violation for purposes of commercial driver’s licenses. If someone gets two convictions within three years, then their commercial driver’s license is disqualified for 60 days. Three or more convictions in three years result in a 120 day disqualification. This means that someone would not be allowed to drive their commercial vehicle during the period of time that their license is disqualified.

This is very important for someone to keep in mind as it’s  possible for someone to be disqualified even if they were driving their own personal vehicle at the time of the incident.