Very few, professional, careful, and safe truck drivers have not received a citation at some point during their career. What you do after receiving that citation will have a large impact on your CDL, your MVR, and your CSA score.
To protect yourself you must understand what a citation really is. First, it is the opinion of a law enforcement officer that you violated the law. Second, it is a summons to either pay a fine or appear in court to answer for the alleged violation of the law. Third, if issued during an inspection, it is a violation that may add points to your CSA score.
Fortunately for the driver, the decision of guilt or innocence is left to a judge or jury, neither of which witnessed the alleged infraction. Unfortunately for the driver, the citation/violation issued during an inspection is left to the officer who did the inspection and wrote the violation, which was there and has little inclination to change his mind later.
When you have a citation in your hand, what are your options?
- Guilty Plea: You could just pay it which is a guilty plea and go on down the road unless the judge demands you show up in court.
- Not-Guilty Plea: You could plead not guilty and get a court date, where you could return to the court and defend yourself.
- Ignore the Citation: You could just ignore it and hope it goes away. I suggest you DO NOT ignore it and hope it goes away because it will not; it will get big and mean and come to find you. When it does find you, it will either put you in jail, out-of-service, suspend your license, give you a big fine or all of the above plus the fine.
What is the best thing for a driver to do when they receive a citation?
Fight it, fight it, fight it! You should fight the citation because you might win, you might get the charge reduced or the fine reduced; all which help you keep your CDL. The citation today may not cost you your job or your CDL, but if you add it with future citations it certainly will cost you your job or CDL. Sounds harsh, but it happens every day.
If you think you are guilty, should you still fight it?
Yes! You should fight every citation you receive because you never know what the next citation will be and how it will add up with the current citation. The government must prove you violated the law as cited beyond a reasonable doubt. If they can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, then you are found not guilty and the citation goes away. This happens when the officer fails to appear for trial, or when there are conflicting witnesses, or the evidence the prosecutor offers is insufficient to prove your guilt.
If you fight the citation should you defend yourself in court or act as your own attorney?
Get an attorney. I have seen people defend themselves in court only to be found guilty because they know the facts but not the law. The facts are easy; the law is very complex which is why most people acting as their own attorney end up admitting their guilt to the judge as they tell their story about what happened. Here is an example of an admission against interest (magic words in the law): “Judge I was only going 59 and the officer wrote me up for going 65 in a 55.” Admission of guilt by stating the facts; the driver just admitted exceeding the 55 MPH speed limit by telling the judge he was only going 59.
If you fight the citation should you get a specialized attorney that deals with trucking laws?
Yes! If you decide to fight the citation, then you need to hire an attorney that knows and understands trucking law. Trucking law is different from regular traffic law because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association has a whole book of rules and regulations that only apply to the Commercial Driver’s License, trucks and carriers.
Here is an example of a local attorney that thought he was doing the driver a favor but in fact made his situation worse. The attorney had a general practice (wills, divorce, contracts, etc.) The driver was from Illinois and received the citation in Ohio for going 68 in a 55 MPH zone. The attorney was able to have the ticket reduced to 59/55 MPH and both the driver and attorney were happy.
Three weeks later the driver received a notice from the IL DMV informing him his license was being suspended for 30 days because this was his third conviction in a 12 month period. The local OH attorney knew nothing about IL law and ended up causing the driver to be suspended. Had the driver been licensed in OH where the attorney practiced, all would have gone well. The moral of that story is hiring an attorney that knows trucking law and works nationwide so they know the laws of every state as they apply to truck drivers.
What about the citation received during an inspection where the officer writing the citation is judge, jury and executioner?
In that situation you can do a DataQ Challenge, but you will need to provide all the documentation you can as well as present your story so that a reasonable person could take your side. If you can convince the officer he made a mistake, then he will remove or reduce the citation and the points on your CSA.
There is a huge driver shortage out there right now, however a lot of that shortage is caused because carriers refuse to hire drivers with too many points on the CDL or CSA. You should fight every ticket you receive. You should do a DataQ Challenge on any inspection you receive where the officer puts points on your CSA. Always follow the law and be a safe driver, but if the time comes when you do receive a citation, be smart about the steps you take afterward and it could save you money and your career.
For more information on fighting a citation call 800-333-DRIVE (3748) or go to www.interstatetrucker.com and www.driverslegalplan.com.