I was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving for going the speed limit in heavy rain and hydroplaning into another car. My fault for sure, but a criminal charge seems over the top.
Spent $1,500 on a lawyer who negotiated it to a trivial “failure to maintain control” ticket with a maybe $100 fine.
The system is dumb. Or maybe it’s smart, giving people with means, like us, favorable treatment without having to outright say “poor people aren’t worthy.”
> I was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving for going the speed limit in heavy rain and hydroplaning into another car. My fault for sure, but a criminal charge seems over the top.
If they charged every rain related accident in Arizona as a criminal offence the court system would be clogged up for months after the monsoon season...
Restricted access highway, no cyclists allowed or present.
I don't think “reckless” is the right word. Clueless, really. I didn’t know there was a problem until I lost traction.
Whatever you want to call it, do you really think that’s worth a criminal charge? Possibly destroying my livelihood over this? Do you think the possibility of criminal charges is what stops me from doing it again, versus the potential damage to life and property, including my own? Lay it out for me.
I was taught not to drive fast on roads like that, specifically due to the risk of hydroplaning. Significantly slower than the likely speed limit, unless the speed limit on your highway was 60 kmph. You never do know how good your braking action is going to be, so preemptively slowing down is the only option.
I don’t believe your driving was safe. I also don’t believe you were taught driving correctly, assuming you’re American, and I might also believe that driving slowly would have been equally dangerous, if the other cars did not.
Furthermore, I don’t believe a reckless driving charge without injury should be a criminal matter or that a criminal conviction should destroy someone’s livelihood.
However, four wrongs don’t make a right. It just makes a mess.
From your use of “kmph” I’m going to guess that you live in a country with decent driver training.
I’m in the US, where driver training goes just slightly beyond checking if the candidate is capable of fogging a mirror. I learned in a northern state so we learned a lot about how to deal with ice and snow, but I don’t think there was anything about rain. If there was, I’d forgotten it in the 20+ years since I last had any training or check.
I agree with you that my driving was unsafe and I wasn’t taught well. I don’t think my behavior even came close to criminal.
I am confused about your assessment of my charge. You previously said it was correct. Now you think it shouldn’t have been a criminal charge?
Well, I originally missed the “criminal” bit. I was agreeing that it was reckless. A misdemeanour wouldn’t be considered a criminal charge where I live; it goes through a similar system, but has far fewer implications.
Ok. Unfortunately that bit was the entire point. If it had been a “reckless driving” traffic ticket I wouldn’t have a problem with it and wouldn’t be commenting about it here.
Well I met those requirements and still didn’t know enough to avoid this.
On one hand, there’s a responsibility to seek further knowledge and self-evaluate. I accept responsibility for not doing that here.
On the other hand, having the government sign off on your training as officially adequate, then threatening to jail you and put a conviction on your record when it wasn’t, seems rather uncool. Hold me liable for damages? Sure. Ticket me? Ok. But charge me with an actual crime?
People gain more experience. Many/most also naturally become more cautious with age. I know there's a school of thought here that if we just made licensing more time consuming and expensive--whatever the cost in employment possibilities etc.--problems would go away. But I'm not sure how much classes, beyond a certain point, for a young driver really help.
Spent $1,500 on a lawyer who negotiated it to a trivial “failure to maintain control” ticket with a maybe $100 fine.
The system is dumb. Or maybe it’s smart, giving people with means, like us, favorable treatment without having to outright say “poor people aren’t worthy.”