How Do You Fight Careless Driving Charges

[jamjacket18]

Sure I know of the techniques to fight speeding, radar calibration, spedometer serial # etc

But the officer who pulled me over gave me careless driving for "swerving in and out of lanes" and "driving 68 in a 55".

It seems like you can be written up for careless driving FOR ANYTHING and theres no way to fight it except your word against the officers (in which case you always lose)

[aaron]

If you wish to dispute the allegations of swerving it's your word against the officer's, although you can always accept the officer's claims and try to convince the court that the conduct did not rise to the level of careless driving.

[truthbetold]

Good advice, Aaron. That is precisely my intent. I did a momentary swerve at 11:45 PM on a Saturday night. The P.O. thought there was a chance I was drunk. Likely the true reason I was pulled over. When he deduced I wasn't drinking, he gave me "careless driving" anyway. Punishment doesn't fit the crime. I plan to defend myself with that defense, as well as state that "it appears that this summons was given to justify the pretextual stop". This advice came from an advisor on the sister board, which seems to be good advice.