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I find it suspect that the officer should say he's on your side when he could have just written you a simple traffic ticket in the first place.

kimberlyclark said:
Should I just pay the speeding ticket and take the points to my record, or go to court for that and ask for community service?
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Just pay the damn ticket and drive more carefully.

kimberlyclark said:
What do I need to do in terms of updating the schools I'm currently applying to? Do I have to tell them now or after I go to court, depending on what the outcome is?
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You don't need to do anything right now. You've been charged, not convicted, which means you're innocent since they haven't proven you guilty. If the charges are reduced to a simple traffic infraction, you don't need to do anything at all. If you're convicted of a misdemeanor, you'll need to notify the schools, and I should think they'd LOL and tell you not to sweat it.

kimberlyclark said:
And if the charges are dropped (not convicted of a misdemeanor) do I need to release the information on applications in future cycles?
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Only if they ask you to disclose minor traffic infractions.

And don't freak out. Your future won't be canceled over a couple minor driving infractions.
 
HomeSkool said:
I find it suspect that the officer should say he's on your side when he could have just written you a simple traffic ticket in the first place.


Just pay the damn ticket and drive more carefully.


You don't need to do anything right now. You've been charged, not convicted, which means you're innocent since they haven't proven you guilty. If the charges are reduced to a simple traffic infraction, you don't need to do anything at all. If you're convicted of a misdemeanor, you'll need to notify the schools, and I should think they'd LOL and tell you not to sweat it.


Only if they ask you to disclose minor traffic infractions.

And don't freak out. Your future won't be canceled over a couple minor driving infractions.
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I think the officer had to write me a reckless because I "endangered property" i.e. the pole that belonged to the restaurant lol

But thanks for the advice, I really was thinking that professional school was off the table for me
 
The only medical school that asks about minor traffic offenses is the "Cincinnati University School of Medicine".

At least from what I know.

95%+ of secondaries won't ask about "minor traffic offenses". Maybe even 99%.

Personally, I'd fight for it to not be a misdemeanor, but I certainly wouldn't fight an infraction.
 
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PreMedMissteps said:
I doubt that the PO “had” to write it up as reckless driving. What brought him to the scene?
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My airbag had deployed and someone standing nearby thought smoke/fire was coming out of my car (the smoke was actually from the airbag) so they called 911. The officer told me that in my state, any non-speeding tickets are put into a catch-all "reckless driving" and that he couldn't charge me with "improper driving" which I think is a traffic infraction. But my charges could be dropped to improper driving at court which is up to the judge's discretion.
 
TheBiologist said:
what? I completely disagree with this, why would you want to have a misdemeanor on your record when there is a chance it can be dropped in court?

do NOT just pay it, get a lawyer and go to court
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There are two different issues here: the misdemeanor and a totally separate speeding ticket. I'm saying to pay the speeding ticket.

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Robin-jay said:
The only medical school that asks about minor traffic offenses is the "Cincinnati University School of Medicine".

At least from what I know.

95%+ of secondaries won't ask about "minor traffic offenses". Maybe even 99%.

Personally, I'd fight for it to not be a misdemeanor, but I certainly wouldn't fight an infraction.
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Nope. UVM. Although this year they framed the question in a strange way. It literally said “Speeding tickets?” with a yes/no box. It was not even a complete question.


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MCATISEZ said:
Nope. UVM. Although this year they framed the question in a strange way. It literally said “Speeding tickets?” with a yes/no box. It was not even a complete question.


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I’d say no and then tell them I interpreted it as “do I like speeding tickets?”
 
DokterMom said:
OK, so how is it that you hit a pole in a parking lot with sufficient speed to deploy your airbags? While not driving recklessly, of course?
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I was in a lane next to the parking lot itself that was a 35MPH zone. Another driver drove through a stop sign coming out of the lot and almost hit me, so I overreacted and swerved to the right to avoid hitting them, but ended up hitting a pole that's in one of those grassy things bordering the parking lot. When the cop questioned the other driver, they said they had fully stopped and already made the full turn. So the other driver didn't get charged with anything and isn't coming to court. The witness who saw the smoke didn't stay after calling 911. It's so frustrating.
 
I have a lead foot, so I unfortunately know a fair amount about traffic violations in my state.

I think you need to talk to a lawyer about both hitting the pole and the speeding ticket. I've had several speeding tickets and I've never had a single one of them stick. Lawyers can get you out of a surprising amount of stuff - one could maybe reduce your speeding ticket to an improper equipment violation (does not count as a moving violation in my state/no points on insurance), and maybe the hitting a pole to something more basic.

Or maybe, with any luck, you could use a prayer for judgment continued on the speeding ticket (does your state offer this? I used it once) and get the hitting the pole reduced to an improper equipment, so you'd have zero actual traffic violations on your record. Either way, I would not go to either of those court dates without a lawyer.
 
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kimberlyclark said:
I was in a lane next to the parking lot itself that was a 35MPH zone. Another driver drove through a stop sign coming out of the lot and almost hit me, so I overreacted and swerved to the right to avoid hitting them, but ended up hitting a pole that's in one of those grassy things bordering the parking lot. When the cop questioned the other driver, they said they had fully stopped and already made the full turn. So the other driver didn't get charged with anything and isn't coming to court. The witness who saw the smoke didn't stay after calling 911. It's so frustrating.
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If this is true, you should get a lawyer and fight this. If you’re just trying to save face on an anonymous Internet forum for some reason, then I’d just try to get it knocked down to a traffic infraction.
 
kimberlyclark said:
When the cop questioned the other driver, they said they had fully stopped and already made the full turn.
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If that were true, why did they even notice or stop when you hit the pole??

If i had completely made my turn, i’d be on my way and likely not even notice that someone now behind me had then hit a pole. When making a turn usually your eyes are not at all paying attention to what is going on behind you. Attention is towards what might hit you or what you might hit from the front/sides.

That person is claiming that they safely completed their turn and then afterwards you hit a pole. If that were true, why would they have even noticed you?

Sounds like the person stopped after they saw you hit the pole, which would suggest to me that they could not have fully made their turn.

I hope i’m visualizing this correctly. You’re driving along a road next to a parking lot, the person is pulling out of the parking lot to join the road you’re on, but pulls out in front of you causing you to swerve and hit a pole. If so, then the reason he noticed your accident is because he had not fully and safely completed his turn.

If i’m visualizing this correctly, then there’s your argument that that person lied. He didn’t keep going, he stopped because he hadn’t completed his turn and therefore saw your accident.
 
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PreMedMissteps said:
If that were true, why did they even notice or stop when you hit the pole??

If i had completely made my turn, i’d be on my way and likely not even notice that someone now behind me had then hit a pole. When making a turn usually your eyes are not at all paying attention to what is going on behind you. Attention is towards what might hit you or what you might hit from the front/sides.

That person is claiming that they safely completed their turn and then afterwards you hit a pole. If that were true, why would they have even noticed you?

Sounds like the person stopped after they saw you hit the pole, which would suggest to me that they could not have fully made their turn.

I hope i’m visualizing this correctly. You’re driving along a road next to a parking lot, the person is pulling out of the parking lot to join the road you’re on, but pulls out in front of you causing you to swerve and hit a pole. If so, then the reason he noticed your accident is because he had not fully and safely completed his turn.

If i’m visualizing this correctly, then there’s your argument that that person lied. He didn’t keep going, he stopped because he hadn’t completed his turn and therefore saw your accident.
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Yes, it's the latter. They lied to the police so that they wouldn't be at blame for running a stop sign. It wasn't even that they just "rolled through" the stop sign. They hardly slowed down at the stop sign itself, I almost hit him because he was still halfway through the turn, and now this is the mess that I'm in! Luckily my insurance is covering everything and the lawyer I spoke with said they could reduce it to improper driving which is a traffic infraction. I don't really have the money to pursue an actual legal battle against the other driver.
 
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