Contesting an Inattentive Driving Ticket
My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Washington
I am not the ticketed driver, but a direct witness, asking for my brother who is the ticketed driver. We were in a car accident, he was driving, no injuries to any involved. Traffic came to a sudden stop and my brother rear ended the driver in front of us. He tried to stop, but his car does not have ABS and we were on a downhill slope.
The police officer on the scene (arrived after the accident) ticketed my brother an inattentive driving citation for $136. I was in the passenger seat and can testify that he was paying attention, he was not using his phone, and was not playing any music. Before we hit the back of the car we were even discussing the fact that cars were slowing down and may stop, while my brother began to slow down. We also had the police officer measure the skid marks my brother’s car left as he tried to slow down; they measured 81.9 feet.
He plans to contest the ticket and I am willing to testify as a witness.
His question is how much a citation has to be to be assigned an attorney, or if it’s worth hiring a lawyer for.
Re: Inattentive Driving Ticket; Contesting
When you rear end someone, it's greatly presumed to be strict liability, in other words, an animal did not run out in the road causing his reaction, etc.
The charge is a basic Assured clear distance offense. I would greatly presume for minor traffic offenses, no counsel is appointed and it would be throwing away money to hire an attorney who can not win anyway
Re: Inattentive Driving Ticket; Contesting
There's nothing to fight here.
In my state we call it unsafe speed for conditions, but it all comes down to the same -
You are required to maintain enough distance between your car and the one in front of you, for the speed you are driving, to ensure you are able to stop without striking the car in front of you when they stop. When you fail to do so it is because of inattention to speed, traffic, road conditions, etc.
Your testimony that your brother was aware cars were slowing down and may stop and even discussed it with you, will only demonstrate that despite his knowledge of the risks, he failed to take appropriate corrective action, failed to slow sufficiently and as such, was inattentive. Your testimony will only hang your brother and not help him.
Tell your brother to pay the fine and count this as one of life's lessons.
Re: Inattentive Driving Ticket; Contesting
This statute is not unsafe speed for conditions nor is it following too closely.
The "Inattention to Driving" statute has no equivalent RCW so the DOL is not able to enter them in their computer records. Thus, "Inattention" is an invisible ticket and a very desirable resolution in a majority of cases. This officer did your brother a favor and wrote him a ticket which won't appear on his record. However, the accident will appear on his record (and the associated insurance increase will happen), so the only reason to contest the ticket would be to avoid paying the $124 fine.
You can contest the ticket and hope that your brother made no incriminating statements to the officer and that no other witnesses show up. Accident cases are a headache in most cases as they're almost entirely worthless to prosecute.
Re: Inattentive Driving Ticket; Contesting
Whatever the code/ordinance # is, we do not know, if the OP can post it, we can see exactly what it is and says.