Wife to appear in court for reckless driving because car's steering gave out?!?! (Charlottesville: school)

[blueheronNC]

My wife was driving from VA to NC to visit me for the weekend (coming down from Charlottesville). When she was about 30 miles away from home, her steering gave out for a second and she drifted off the road to the right. The steering was not responding at all. While she was trying frantically to correct for the problem, the steering came back on and caused her to overcorrect. She went across the road and up and over an embankment. SHE WAS NOT GOING OVER THE SPEED LIMIT OR ANYTHING. Apparently she now has to APPEAR IN COURT on a charge of reckless driving because the mechanic said that while the steering fluid was quite low, it probably shouldn't have been enough to cause what happened to occur.

This is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. She just had a full tune-up with fluid levels checked and topped off a couple months ago (so it's not like she was improperly maintaining her vehicle or anything). PLEASE advise what we should do?

[540_804]

Same thing happened to my older brother....he totaled the car and got charged with reckless driving...

Go to another mechanic....really all you may need is a statement that low fluid levels could in fact cause her to lose control....the first mechanic already verified that the fluid was low...

I do take issue with one thing the mechanic said

the mechanic said that while the steering fluid was quite low, it probably shouldn't have been enough to cause what happened to occur.

Its not enough to say that it "probably shouldn't" have occurred....if he can't say with 100% certainty that low fluid levels were not at fault then he can't rule that out as a possibility...

If you have records to prove that she regularly maintains her vehicle...even better...to let the court know that she has a history of responsibility and wasn't being just negligent..

[NeilVA]

The ticket is related to a failure to maintain. Get a certified statement from the mechanic that did the tune up. He needs to state the resevoir for the steering was full when it left his shop. This should nullify the "Guess" by the second mechanic. Power steering fluid does not just burn off within a few months. You will need to find the leak, repair it and bring the reciept to court. Depending on the judge (and no other moving violations within the past 5 years) you may be able to get this reduced to driving school and no points. But if its a by-the-book judge, then you know the answer. It all comes down to her statement to the officer. By VA law if she did not state that she attempted to slow down and pull off the road then she got the failure to maintain and thus the reckless. Hope that helps.