Traffic Ticket for Auto Accident

www.kisslinglaw.com

In most cases if you are given a traffic citation when you are involved in an accident, an attorney can get the charges dismissed if your insurance company pays the property damage for the other vehicle.  The charges are typically for Failure to Reduce Speed, Unsafe Movement and other infractions.  Sometimes, the officer will charge you with Reckless Driving when it is a single car accident with not witnesses.

However, what happens when the insurance company disputes liability and will not pay for the property damage to the other vehicle?  In most cases, the District Attorney will not dismiss the charges and your attorney will need to find another way to get the charges dismissed.

The first question is why did your insurance company deny liability?  If they are playing games based upon the contributory negligence law that allows them to deny liability if the other party is partially at fault, there is not much you can do expect threaten to plead guilty which will put them in a bad position if they have to defend you in a civil suit.  The threat of this will usually cause them to rethink their position. 

If the insurance company is denying liability because you were not actually at fault, there is another way to get this ticket dismissed.  This will require speaking with the officer who issued the ticket but did not likely witness the accident.  It is often the case where the reporting officer did not speak with all of the parties involved or speak with all of the witnesses.  You may need to provide more information to him that may cause him to change the accident report and dismiss the ticket.  This might be the case where a person is issued a ticket for Following Too Closely because the hit another vehicle from behind.  If the officer may need to be made aware of the fact that the vehicle that was hit cut in front of the other vehicle thereby closing the gap the driver had allowed themselves to make sure they were not following too closely. 

If the officer will not alter his report and dismiss the citation, another tactic may be to show the District Attorney that you do in fact have insurance and assure them that this is really a civil matter.  In some cases, the District Attorney may dismiss the citation and let the insurance companies work things out themselves as to liability.

If none of these tactics work, the worse case is you may have to use a Prayer for Judgment to keep this off your insurance.  While this is not a great option, it is always better than taking an insurance hit for both the accident and for the ticket if you insurance company decides there is liability some time down the road long after you have concluded this ticket.

Lawrence J. Kissling III is a traffic ticket attorney in Raleigh NC.  He handles cases in 10 counties including Wake, Johnston, Nash, Harnett, Halifax, Lee, Chatham, Sampson, Wayne and Surry.