3 replies to this topic

[Cthom95]

I am 17 years old. I did something incredibly stupid and now I have two tickets, one for reckless driving and the other for failure to report an accident. I was driving too fast ( I admit that) and when turning a corner went over the curb and hit a stop sign. I did not see any damage to my vehicle(yes i know I should have reported it) and kept on going. While driving my car caught fire,oil pan had been damaged. The police arrested me and held me for an entire day, then released me. It has been 3 months and an officer came to my house and handed me the tickets,stating I would be hearing from the court for a hearing date. Both offenses are misdeamors here in Michigan. I am told by the officer I could get 3 months jail and $500 for each offense. I am still in high school and afraid I will not be allowed to finish the school year because I will be in jail. If I get a court apponted attorney will they be able to reduce the charges? I live with my grandparents and they have very little money, I know with these fines they will have to miss a house payment in order to pay. In addition just a day after they delivered the tickets to me, I was with my girlfriend, she let me drive her car, I thought that the headlights were on as the dash lights were lit up completely, but I had not turned the knob far enough and only fog lights were on, officer gave me a ticket for driving without lights, even though I apologized and told him I was just not familiar with the car, on top of that her Dad had forgotten to place new insurance proof in car, two more tickets. All of this in the same city where I live.
What kind of fines am I looking at, and can I expect to do jail time. I have had my license for less than a year. My grandparents did not replace the car which was totaled and they do not allow me to drive. I am just plain scared.

[adjusterjack]

I doubt that anybody's going to put a 17 year old in jail for all this. But the fines can be rather heavy.

If there's no jail time on the table, it's not likely that you would qualify for a public defender so you'll either have to hire a lawyer or check out your local legal aid.

[LegalwriterOne]

If there's no jail time on the table, it's not likely that you would qualify for a public defender so you'll either have to hire a lawyer or check out your local legal aid.

Juveniles are treated differently than adults and generally if the case goes to juvenile court vs. traffic court, a court-appointed attorney is available. To the poster, you need to understand that the fines are not your grandparents' to pay--they are YOUR fines. If you don't have a job--get one or start collecting recycleables to pay them.

[FindLaw_AHK]

You may visit the Traffic Laws Center and read Traffic Tickets as a good resource to learn more about this subject matter.