Denver careless driving - 4 points ticket (insurance, lawyer, legal)

[sumantasoren]

Hi,

I am from Kansas. I was on a vacation in Denver with my family. Everything went fine till our return. On returning I was on highway I-25, I was driving along rightmost lane. Since I was nearing an exit so I decided to change lane. There was a truck on my left. I turn on my turn signal, it looked to me truck was slowing down and I go ahead and started changing to left lane. But it was my mistake. The truck hit me behind, I accidently hit another car (although I don't remember how I hit the another car). Car got heavily damaged, although driver did not receive serious injury. My family was not injured. There was heavy traffic and I was not over speeding. Police booked me for careless driving with 4 points ticket with mandatory court appearance. I do have insurance.

Now, can you guys tell me how serious is this charge and what will be the verdict. Do I need to hire attorney.

Need suggestions.

Thanks
Sumanta
Kansas

[sammy87]

Originally Posted by sumantasoren

Hi,

I am from Kansas. I was on a vacation in Denver with my family. Everything went fine till our return. On returning I was on highway I-25, I was driving along rightmost lane. Since I was nearing an exit so I decided to change lane. There was a truck on my left. I turn on my turn signal, it looked to me truck was slowing down and I go ahead and started changing to left lane. But it was my mistake. The truck hit me behind, I accidently hit another car (although I don't remember how I hit the another car). Car got heavily damaged, although driver did not receive serious injury. My family was not injured. There was heavy traffic and I was not over speeding. Police booked me for careless driving with 4 points ticket with mandatory court appearance. I do have insurance.

Now, can you guys tell me how serious is this charge and what will be the verdict. Do I need to hire attorney.

Need suggestions.

Thanks
Sumanta
Kansas

I'm glad you have insurance cuz its the law. You can probably plead down to a lesser charge. Happened to me speeding charge. That said, considering it was your fault and nobody was hurt, 4 pts is not that serious considering what could have happened.

[sunsprit]

"careless driving" is a catch-all citation for just about anything that an officer can determine is a loss of control of your vehicle. Situational awareness is another place for a violation of this statute; ie, a lane change where you apparently are the causation of an accident.

I've had friends on motorcycles in Denver take a corner at low speed and hit an unobserved patch of loose dirt ... just enough of a layer that the rear tire was seen to "slip" by an observing officer. No accident, no damage, no problem except an observed "loss of control" for a fraction of a second. Yup, "careless driving". And the observation by an officer was all that it took for the charge to stick, even when the cyclist described the situation to the judge of a thin patch of dirt which he couldn't see due to the curb in his line of sight when entering the turn.

Your best opportunity to seek a plea bargain to a lesser charge would be to contact the DA ahead of the hearing date and ask if they are willing to consider a lesser charge. But given the serious nature of the result of your driving, don't be surprised if they want to press the "careless driving" citation. The evidence likely speaks for itself, you did something wrong which resulted in damages to others with injuries.

If you really want to make a big deal ($$$$) out of this accident, you can retain a lawyer to represent you. But the likelihood of a significant reduction in fines and penalties to justify the expense is minimal.

You didn't mention which jurisdiction wrote the ticket. If it's the CHP, their citations are typically held up in court in those cases where your "careless" driving resulted in an injury accident.

[Robert5]

As long as you do not ever return to Colorado you will be fine

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by Robert5

As long as you do not ever return to Colorado you will be fine

Really?

What part of "mandatory court appearance" in Colorado is the OP going to avoid if they don't ever return to Colorado? There are consequences for not showing up in court for these charges.

As well, with the damages and injuries that the OP's insurance will be paying out, this accident will likely also show up in the Kansas driver's license records for their purposes.

[bluescreen73]

If the charge is Careless Driving Resulting in Injury you'll probably get the "With Injury" removed by taking a driver's safety course (more than likely here in Colorado). Unless you plead guilty as charged you can expect at least one court appearance, but probably two if you take a plea deal. Don't count on getting it reduced to something trivial like Following Too Closely or Defective Vehicle.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Robert5

As long as you do not ever return to Colorado you will be fine

Not even close to accurate.

There is reciprocity between KS and CO. The charge is not a big deal, but it must be taken care of.

[DavidBilly]

Come to a chat room for legal advice??
Rots of Ruck

[BarryK123]

I've never understood how cops here can give a ticket for something they didn't witness.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by BarryK123

I've never understood how cops here can give a ticket for something they didn't witness.

Several ways.

1. You give a statement and admit guilt. For example: Cop: Do you have any idea how fast you were going? You: I was only going 1 mph over the speed limit. Cop: Admission of guilt, here is your speeding ticket.

2. Evidence at the scene of an accident. Skid marks, damage to vehicles, etc. The cop is a witness to that, and will testify as a witness in court.

3. Statements given to the cop by witnesses. In this case, the cop is not a witness, but will give you a ticket, expecting that the witnesses will testify in court, the same thing they told him in their interviews.