Yes, we all know that the best defense is to not be involved in any offense. Don’t we? But there are times when we end up getting accused of some kind of offenses, no matter what. And at these times, all that could save us is one strong and compelling defense. Or perhaps two.
There might be a situation that you’re wrongly accused of speeding when you were not, or you’re accused of any other form of reckless driving even when you were driving in the best possible manner, following every possible traffic rule. For such challenging times, defenses to your reckless driving charges would come handy because the penalties for the same could be more serious than you could imagine.
Some Penalties of Reckless Driving Charges:
- Fine of $150 to $1000 and a further payment of restitution to the alleged victim, in addition to the court fees and other surcharges.
- Incarceration from 10 days to 6 months in county jail.
- Community or useful public service
- Points on your Colorado DMV driving record
Some Defenses That You Or Your Traffic Ticket Attorney Can Build For Your Charges:
- You can present a strong defense by saying that it was not you who was driving. This is a strong defense because the prosecution must have a proof of you driving the vehicle.
- You can argue that you were engaged in careless driving and not reckless driving. While both are considered traffic violations, careless driving is considered a less serious offense and thus, penalties would be minimized considerably.
- Another strong defense would be to point to the fact that your reckless driving wasn’t willful or intentional and it was necessary because of some emergency which presented a threat to you or to the third party.
- Though it alone wouldn’t be enough, but you can state that you weren’t being reckless but rather negligent while driving. You can argue that you weren’t driving unsafely and that you followed all the other driving instructions like wearing a seat belt, etc.
- Distractions sometimes get difficult to dismiss. There may be a possibility that you got distracted by something that urgently required your attention, which resulted in the careless driving. You can present this defense for your reckless driving charge.
- There have been instances when the devices used for measuring speed aren’t maintained and calibrated properly, resulting in an inaccurate determination of speed. If such is your situation, then you might have a compelling defense.
These are only some of the basic defenses that you can build for your charges. There are a lot many defenses that only an expert and professional traffic ticket attorney can identify and present for your particular case.
