Traffic Questions
The Judge is permitted to take your license for any willful moving violation. License loss is mandatory after conviction for numerous violations. Most well know are DWI, no insurance, leaving the scene, and all drug offenses whether are not you were driving. However, as a general rule you will not lose your license unless you are convicted of one of the mandatory statutes or you blatantly violated a statute, i.e. extreme speed or causing a bad accident. Even in these cases an experience attorney may be able to preserve your driving privileges or shorten the suspension. An attorney who indicates you will lose your license in any other case is just trying to scare you. Call my office for a free telephone consultation.
Will I get points on my license?
The Legislature enacted 39: 4-97.2, unsafe driving, to provide a 0 point plea option for defendants charged with two point moving violations. In practice, most municipal Prosecutors use this Statute as a basis for lowering any ticket 2 points for any defendant. The Prosecutors also assumes that competent counsel can reduce most tickets 2 points at trial. Therefore in most Municipal Courts a competent attorney can reduce a ticket 4 points while a defendant without counsel can only get a 2 point reduction. An experience attorney can sometimes reduce points even further and sometimes reduce the fines and surcharges as well using alternative 0 point statutes. A 4-97.2 conviction requires a $250 surcharge over and above the fines and Court costs ($436 altogether).
Are there conditional licenses in N.J.?
No. There are States that do not have reciprocity with N.J. You may be able to obtain a license there and drive, but not in N.J.
Can I ever get rid of traffic violations?
Yes. For 5 years after a conviction, and in some rare cases longer, you can file a post conviction relief petition (PCR) to overturn the prior Court action. This process is difficult, requires great amounts of time and expenditure, and is not always successful. It only makes sense if the prior conviction is enhancing a new charge or if the prior conviction is causing a present suspension. If the need is great enough the lower success rate becomes acceptable.
Can a person be guilty of drunk driving if he only had one drink?
The crime of drunk driving is generally defined in two ways: (1) having a blood alcohol content above the limit set by law, or (2) driving under the influence of alcohol. To find a person guilty under the first definition, a judge must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the person's blood alcohol content (BAC) exceeded a certain amount. The legal limit is .08 (or 8 percent). Therefore, if it is proven that the person's BAC at the relevant time was .08 or greater, he or she can be convicted of drunk driving, regardless of how much alcohol was actually consumed.
In contrast, the second definition does not refer to any particular BAC; it focuses on the driving behavior of the person. If the person's driving is impaired by the consumption of alcohol, he or she can be found guilty of drunk driving. Instead of presenting evidence of the BAC to a Judge, the prosecution seeking a conviction under this definition generally presents testimony about the person's driving and consumption of alcohol. A police officer will often describe the impaired driving that lead him to pull the person over and the person's ability (or lack thereof) to perform field sobriety tests, such as walking a straight line. Evidence is also usually presented concerning the person's consumption of alcohol. If the Judge then concludes that the prosecution has met its burden of proof, it will convict the person of drunk driving. A susceptible person may exhibit impaired driving after one drink and therefore be convicted of drunk driving.
