Commercial drivers, especially truck drivers, are subject to much more scrutiny from insurers and employers for traffic violations. They have federal regulations that pertain to their ability to drive. Tickets matter more to people with commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs as we call them.
How Many Violations Can Lead To Suspension Of Driving Privileges In Michigan?
Typically, if you receive many violations that results with twelve points off your driver’s license, then you are going to be brought in for a driver’s license reevaluation. They are going to make a decision as to whether they can impose a license suspension or they can put you on probation, which means that you cannot receive any more points off your license for a certain amount of time. Typically if you get any other additional points you will lose your license. Any time you get to that level of having ten or more points off your license, you are in serious jeopardy of losing your license. Once you reach eight points off, then you become subject to a driver responsibility fee as well, which is an additional fine that they impose upon you for being a poor driver.
What Are Some Long Term Effects Of Having Traffic Violations On Your Record?
One of the major long term effects is your insurance rates will go up. In addition, some places will not hire people who have poor driving records, because they feel they may be unable to ever drive a company vehicle, or because their company’s insurance will not cover those kinds of people. The main problem for people is companies will not hire anyone with poor driving records because they do not want to pay the higher insurance premiums.
Do Traffic Violations Ever Fall off Someone’s Record?
Yes, as time goes on the points will start to drop off on someone’s record. The state law requires that the points stay on your driving record for two years from the date of conviction. After two years the points will come off your record, but the offense will still be present on your record. If you showed up in court and a prosecutor or a judge reviews your history, the conviction does not disappear permanently, although the points will no longer be counted on your record for purposes of your licensing.
What will happen is as you move along, if you accumulate more than eleven points in any two-year period off your license, you will receive warning letters or correspondence asking you to come into the secretary of state for a review hearing as you get closer to that limit. You can have a fair number of points taken off your license before your license will be taken away. But they can add up fast because some tickets are a higher value, such as reckless driving which is six points. A DUI is also six points, an implied consent violation, which is an offense for refusing a breathalyzer test that is six points. So if you pick up higher point value offenses and then a normal speeding ticket or stop sign ticket, you can easily reach that limit quickly.
Does Everyone That Gets A Traffic Violation Need A Defense Attorney?
The best way I can say this is, you are to be better off having an experienced attorney who knows the local courts, and understands the way the police think, and who knows how to explain your point of view in the most succinct and legally related manners. That is going to result most often in the best deal. However having said that, I would still recommend to clients that if you cannot afford to hire an attorney, that you should at least try and do it yourself. You are generally not going to make it worse unless you actually make someone angry.
Someone might say well how can it get worse? If you were really going twenty miles per hour over the speed limit and the cop only wrote you for five miles over the limit, if you contest it and annoy them enough, they can dismiss the ticket and rewrite it for the full twenty miles per hour over the limit. So there is a bit of an art form to negotiate the best possible outcomes. In my opinion, you will find some prosecutors and some police officers who will be more generous in their offers to attorneys, because they respect the fact that the client has spent money to hire somebody and they offer some professional courtesies to most attorneys.
Generally speaking I would not say you must have an attorney, but I would say you are better off with an attorney. But even if you cannot have one, do not just throw in the towel, try and fight it.
For more information on Traffic Violations & Commercial Drivers, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (248) 451-2200 today.