Reckless By Driving a Vehicle Not Under Control
Reckless driving by vehicle not under control refers to when someone is driving a vehicle and they lose control of the vehicle due to something such as faulty brakes or something defective in the mechanism of the vehicle. The most common ways that this is charged are when someone loses control of their vehicle or when they have brake lights that fail causing an accident. This charge, like all reckless driving charges in Norfolk, is treated seriously, and should be addressed with the aid of an experienced Norfolk reckless driving attorney.
Faulty Breaks
If a vehicle poses a hazard to other drivers on the highway due to the unreliability of the brakes functioning properly when necessary, then this is considered faulty brakes. If someone has maintained their vehicle properly and they have routinely had it inspected for safety and have kept up with all of the required repairs, then there is no reason that someone should not know that there is a defect with their vehicle. If someone has done all of these things, and still had some faulty brakes, then they are in a good position to defend the charge if they can provide this paper trail to show that they were doing what needed to be done, and the incident was an unexpected fluke.
Differences From Reckless by Speed in Court
Reckless driving by vehicle not under control is different from reckless by speed because what is being charged of the driver is behavior that occurs at different points in time in the incident. When someone is charged with reckless by speed, they are guilty the second that they speed which is arguably the whole incident. But when someone is charged with faulty brakes, they are actually being charged with being guilty of negligence prior to them even entering their vehicle, and they are being charged with this negligence leading to the incident that brought attention to their reckless behavior.
Pretrial Steps
Before trial an attorney can help collect the evidence to show that their client’s vehicle had been routinely inspected and maintained adequately. They will make sure that they can get the proper paper trail that shows that any required repairs that the client was made aware of were taken care of in an efficient timeframe. An attorney can also help their client understand what the officer needs to prove in court in order for them to be convicted, can explain to them what a conviction ultimately would mean, and what their options will be going forward with or without a conviction.
An attorney can help their client understand what evidence will help them and what evidence is not relevant for these kinds of situations. They can also help them do other unrelated things like community service or volunteer work in order to have a stronger case when they do go forward.
Effect on Commercial Driver’s Licenses
Any type of reckless driving can affect a commercial driver’s license. This is true whether the driver was guilty of the offense while they were driving a commercial vehicle or they were actually in their own personal vehicle. Reckless driving is considered a serious violation. Two convictions of serious violations within three years leads to a 60-day disqualification of your commercial driver’s license. Three or more convictions for serious violations in three years results in a 120 day disqualification.
Disqualification means that an individual is not allowed to drive a commercial vehicle at all. This is very detrimental to people who drive commercial vehicles for a living, which is why hiring an experienced lawyer to defend their case is so important.