Practice Areas
Traffic Court & Reckless Driving
By
Jul 3, 2008, 13:09

Reckless driving cases are fairly rare in New Jersey. The offense is covered by §1212 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, and is a misdemeanor. While jail time is possible (and we have seen it), it is rare. Fines are substantial, typically amounting to $300 or more. A reckless driving conviction also adds 5 points to your NJ driving record, plus 5-8 negative units which make it harder to get your license back if you get revoked. We usually see reckless driving charges where the defendant was also charged with a speeding ticket at a high speed. Combining an 11-point speed with reckless driving adds up to 16 points, which makes suspension likely, and you may get revoked. Also, the speeding fine can be up to $655 and the 16 points would lead to a DMV assessment of over $1000, making the total of fines and surcharges over $2000. To top that off, your insurance rates will probably increase dramatically.

For most reckless driving cases, we charge a flat fee of $1000 or more up front. This usually includes any other traffic tickets that were part of the same incident, and the fee includes all of the work we do except a trial. We would usually expect to get the charge reduced to a non-criminal violation, with substantial point reduction, savings in fines, and reduced impact on your insurance. If a trial is required there is usually an additional fee of $2000 or more.

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