Another good point. For example, I live near a large mall, and the city's police are the entity responsible for enforcing the laws there. I got harassed for snapping pic of my car in one of the parking garage's there after hours ny real cops, not security guards.

 

If you're going to go with the oil spill idea. At least spill some oil at the scene and take pictures to show its true.

 

The ticket was for driving recklessly. Does not matter how it happened. To add to it, are you going to bring proof that the condition on the car was corrected by a mechanic? If not, your car could be deemed unsafe which could lead to more fines and impounding your vehicle. Also how is your driving record prior to this? Did you drive that "crazy" vehicle in a safe manner after the cop issued you a ticket? Pay the ticket and save the donuts for the track.

 

GET A LAWYER

I had a serious issue on one of my motorcycles about 5 years ago. This was in California. 2 misdemeanor charges (serious) and 2 traffic violations. Lawyer talked to DA and judge. All charges were dropped but I had to pay all the fines. Cost me $2500 but it was way worth it. Do you know what your insurance will look like with a reckless driving conviction? Way cheaper to hire the lawyer and pay the fines.

 

Another option is to call and get an appointment to meet with the local city/county/states attorney that will be bringing this against you in court and plea bargain with them. You don't need an attorney to do this. If the discussion doesn't go the way you like you can still hire a lawyer.

When I was 19, I got a reckless driving ticket reduced to careless driving. It was half the points on my license and probably a lesser fine. I don't remember what the fine was. It was over 30 yrs ago.

 

ohh...suck it up, go to court, plead guilty and say, "listen I just bought my first sports car with my hard earned money, and I was so excited to have it I went to completely open parking lot with no obstructions and did 2 doughnuts. It was a stupid, irresponsible move, and the police officer drove by right when I was finishing". Police arnt stupid, and every judge and district attorney has heard every excuse in the world.....believe me. Admit that it was really dumb, and the police happened to be around for the 10 seconds you were doing it, and im sure it will get knocked down to a non-moving violation or something minor along that line. Saying there was an oil spill, or my foot slipped, will just **** off the district attorney, the cop if hes there, and definitely the judge, and you might be made an example of. I used to believe in making up excuses for tickets like, "check the last date the radar gun was calibrated", or "I was rushing home because my girlfriend called me with a serious emergency"... then I just started owning up and being straight forward and admitting I messed up and it worked a lot better. Ask any cop

 

I hate letting cops win. But you were doing donuts...not smart. Try to fight it if you want, but if you have to bite the bullet and pay consider yourself lucky the cop only saw the end of it.

 

not a bad idea i may use that forever ha ha

 

Reckless driving is a pretty bad offense. I would definitely get a lawyer.

 

+1...best idea so far

 

I recieved a reckless driving ticket (my first reckless driving ticket) but i was speeding through a residential area and the cop said i ran a stop sign when i didnt. he also said i was moving to fast when he has no speed on me and he says i failed to yeild to a sign when i was the first one into the roundabout. he also hit me with my own door and i quote " im going to find anything i can write a ticket about for you" he wrote me 3..

 

^This is why tickets like Careless and Reckless driving are bullshit. Its pretty much up to the discretion of the cop. If he thinks you were driving to "erratically" for his tastes, he can pull you over. You might not even be breaking any traffic laws but he can still find something to give you careless or reckless for.

I got a careless driving last fall because I got too close to someone before I passed them! Can you believe that? Then the cop said it.. and I quote "looked like I was going pretty fast." Then he proceeded to tell me the person I had passed honked at me. First of all that has nothing to do with my ticket, and second of all, I had my windows down and radio off and I heard NO honking.

When I went to talk to the city prosecutor he read me the notes the cop had written and I was pretty appalled at the amount of lies and hearsay in it. He wrote it "looked like I was going over 50." So now you can be prosecuted without any hard proof? Then he wrote it took me too long to pull over... he turned on his lights when I was in a very large intersection what does he want me to do?


I'm attributing this all to the fact that it was a young dick cop.

tl;dr, cops lie alot... reckless and careless driving are bullshit tickets because they give too much discretion to the cop.

 

No doubt there are crooked cops out there for real but in this case the OP broke the law and the cop did what was right.

 

 

You could have beaten this ticket by waiting until the cop walked up to your window before saying: "Hey, I thought you guys liked donuts?"

 

In some states reckless has objective measures. In Virginia, where reckless can be applied to almost anything, it includes specifics like changing more than one lane in a single continuous motion.

I think that in most states if you spin your tires they've got you. A couple of years ago a NASCAR driver chirped his tires pulling out of a 7-11 in Richmond, and they nailed him for reckless.

Good thing it doesn't snow all that often down here.

Ken

 

Reckless isn't something you ever want on your record. Consult a lawyer, and if it appears you can get it reduced by having a lawyer in court, then hire him. Insurance hike with reckless is going to be much, much worse on a young driver than a lawyer's fee. He might not get it dropped, but at least reduced to something that won't kill you financially.

Or just tell the judge that an RX8 has no torque, therefore spinning tires is all but impossible!

 

it's always funny to see all the excuses people come up with. shakeyourbreaks has it dead on. man up, move on, and ask for the judge to be lenient. everythign else will just **** them off b/c they know very well that all of the excuses are just that - excuses.

 

say you have the runs

 

just pay it

 

Id agree with shakeyourbrakes on being upfront with most other offenses. But for reckless driving the consequences are pretty severe in some states and it's not something you'd want on record in the future. Relying on the judge to have mercy can be pretty risky. As already stated in the thread, contact your local DAs office, they usually have hours set aside each week specifically for traffic offenses, see if they'll offer a plea to a lower offense with the same fines (like an equipment violation) and take it if they do.

 

I guess it really all depends on the state. In PVA's (public vehicle areas) stop signs and speed limits are NOT enforceable, unless you blatantly run a stop sign at a cross walk with people in it or are driving to fast for the conditions. Ofcourse doing donuts in a mall parking lot is safer than doing them in the street, but it's still stupid and possibly dangerous.

To the OP, deal with the consequences and learn from your mistakes.

Credentials- NC Law Enforcement Training Cadet

 

You can maybe squeak by with the learning how to drive a stick if the vehicle hasn't been registered in your name for very long. As in a less than 2 weeks. Otherwise own up, admit it was wrong, but state that you chose the parking lot because it was vacant with the least risk to everyone and everything.

Cops and judges are more lenient when you own up to your own mistakes. It shows you learned your lesson and are making amends so they won't see as so much a threat to public safety and you won't be doing it again. And they won't treat you as the moron just trying to get away with what he can.

 

I'd be leery of trying to beat it since your whole case is based on the assumption the cop only caught they "tail end' of you doing donuts. How many donuts did you do? You realize that you left tell tale marks on the ground so the cop could have simply looked down and saw the 30 + rings of rubber you left on the ground?

Try to get it reduced by asking for a break, but if you go in their and "white lie" the judge is probably going to do nothing.

 

I got the ticket in Oklahoma, where I go to school. Ticket price is $240. I've come to assume that telling the truth might be best. More likely than not if you are prepared to fight a ticket they are prepared to give you a second option before you actually go to court. Courts do that to avoid court, but I've also been told that sometimes to 'even out' everything that the lesser fine can come with a larger fine.