Failure to Maintain control(Not trying to start a ticket theme)
- Thread starter Bigguns
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I got a Failure to Maintain Control in a single car accident when I was 16. I hit a pole on a neighborhood side street. I was on the way to the homecoming dance.
Totalled the parent's car, ruined my date's night, and the cop handed me a $150 ticket. The $150 sucked at the time, but it did nothing to make me "drive safer". The total embarassment from the incident did, however.
Totalled the parent's car, ruined my date's night, and the cop handed me a $150 ticket. The $150 sucked at the time, but it did nothing to make me "drive safer". The total embarassment from the incident did, however.
Sounds like it was the correct ticket for the situation, and I don't think there's any way you can get out of it.
I once contested a reckless driving ticket for spinning my tires in an empty parking lot, and it was dropped because there was nothing around to hit, and the ticket should have been excessive acceleration. This doesn't sound like that type of thing.
I once contested a reckless driving ticket for spinning my tires in an empty parking lot, and it was dropped because there was nothing around to hit, and the ticket should have been excessive acceleration. This doesn't sound like that type of thing.
Call me ignorant, but is "excessive acceleration" really a ticketable offense? How about "excessive deceleration" or "too slow acceleration"?
It's less about the acceleration and more about the burn out. I've heard of "Exhibition of Speed" also. They both would be more Reckless Driving to me.
My daughter was recently in an accident where she went off the road onto the soft shoulder. She said it felt like she was going to shoot through the ditch into on coming traffic. She over corrected, the car turned sideways and rolled. I realize she could have died and I am hesitant to even complain(I will not complain to her I don't want her to think the whole thing is not a big deal or that she is getting the shaft). She was cited for Failure to Maintain Control. My issue is this, nearly everyone in a single car accident and half the people in 2 car accident fail to maintain control yet I don't think it is a common ticket. I think it is a very common ticket for young people. I say this because I got 1 when I was about 17 and my son got one when he was about 17. My question is should we fight the ticket, I think we could win, or should I count my blessings and just be thankful that that terrifying phone call wasn't much worse?[/Q
Pay the judge!!
It's called officer discretion. Cops don't have to write everyone tickets. That officer felt that she needed the ticket so he wrote it. Sounds like she could have easily killed herself or someone else on the road. Pay the ticket and learn from it. Don't waste everyones time and money just because everyone else doesn't get the same ticket. I am willing to bet that if everyone got the ticket and your daughter did to that you would be on here complaining that is unfair that everyone gets the ticket.
I was wondering this as well. Normal motor vehicle operation does not include the execution of barrel rolls. You could debate with the judge and police officer as to whether it was necessary to ticket her for failure to maintain control of the vehicle, but you can't really debate whether she did in fact maintain control of the vehicle or not. Pay the ticket and move on with life.
Agreed that its probably a violation by the law, but its a pretty ridiculous citation to have. Is it supposed to be a deterrent? The thousands of dollars damage to the car wont deter them, surely a $100 ticket will!
was this in iowa? i got one last night. really icy slide right through a stop sign and hit someones bumper. While we were sitting there 4 other cars slide past the stop sign and about 10 mins after I went through the snow plow went through with salt and fixed the problem.
Your answer is right there. Don't say anything to her, be thankful she is alive, but make her pay the ticket. I nice reminder that even if you don't mean to make a mistake in life there are still consequences.
I've been in law enforcement and fire protection and from what you described it sounds like it was entirely her fault. Weather doesn't appear to be a factor. Unless the edge of the road was on the wrong side of the fog line, you really can't blame road conditions. I'm guessing she wasn't paying full attention and drifted on the shoulder. I think everyone has done that, but being an unexperienced driver she couldn't pull out of it. To me the cop did you a favor, because your now able teach her a lesson while not appearing to be ungrateful she is alive.
Count your blessings and pay the ticket... issuing a ticket in that circumstance is a huge **** move but I don't think it would be worth fighting. The police need revenue and they'll get it any way they can, even if they have to take advantage of a near death experience to do so.
It just seems so immoral to me to ticket someone for this... Part of me wants to tell you to say "F it!" and just not pay it, but you should pay it and just realize how flawed our system can be. The police are mainly here to profit off of us, once upon a time the police were solely here to serve and protect us...
It just seems so immoral to me to ticket someone for this... Part of me wants to tell you to say "F it!" and just not pay it, but you should pay it and just realize how flawed our system can be. The police are mainly here to profit off of us, once upon a time the police were solely here to serve and protect us...
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I don't deny that some cops can be jerks or even worse, but they are still here to protect and serve. Think about if someone had been walking along the shoulder of the hwy at that moment. She would have to be dealing with a lot more than just a ticket, like civil negligence or even criminal manslaughter.
Yes it was a accident, but we still have to own up to our mistakes and in my experience the harder it is to detach oneself from a mistake, the less likely it will happen again.
Yeah, but I can see his point about the fine. If I'm about to lose control of my vehicle, I'm not thinking "oh ****! I'm gonna end up with a $150 fine! I'd better regain control of this thing!," I'm thinking "oh ****! I'm about to total my vehicle and possibly kill myself and/or others! I'd better try to regain control of this thing!"
The fine itself isn't going to keep an incident like this from happening again.
fight it..don't know if u will win, but my 16 yr old daughter slid on ice in my truck goin 20 mph and hit a parked car, she left her name and number and my name and number since no body was home..they called the cops instead of us and the cf cop gave her a ticket for failure..said it would not hurt her license, so we just paid the 130 bucks..well she got letter (which we r appealing) from DOT and they are taking her license till she is 18. not sure if we fought we would win, but she did the right thing and the cop didnt need to ticket (but has right too) and unless we win appeal she doesnt have license for 20 months
I'd suggest you just pay the ticket. If you go to court and don't win it's going to cost you a lot more than the original $150.
That said, wouldn't be a bad idea to call the insurance company and see how much your rates might go up with that on your record. If it is going to be pretty significant you might as well just go all in and try and fight it and see what happens. Maybe get it reduced to something else or have your daughter go to some class or something to prevent it from going on her record and counting against her insurance.
It sounds like she should receive the ticket, and all those people who don't get it in other accidents who don't get it it probably should. It always amazes me to how many people complain about speeding tickets and what not when the simple solution is to just not break the law.
That said, wouldn't be a bad idea to call the insurance company and see how much your rates might go up with that on your record. If it is going to be pretty significant you might as well just go all in and try and fight it and see what happens. Maybe get it reduced to something else or have your daughter go to some class or something to prevent it from going on her record and counting against her insurance.
It sounds like she should receive the ticket, and all those people who don't get it in other accidents who don't get it it probably should. It always amazes me to how many people complain about speeding tickets and what not when the simple solution is to just not break the law.
I received a ticket for "speed too fast for conditions" when i was in an accident. Went to court and the judge immediately said - not witnessed by cop, dismissed! You might try the same thing.
In your case there was no evidence that you were speeding. In this case, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the driver failed to maintain control of her vehicle.
