Delaware distracted driving ticket underage Maryland driver

[Anonymous]

My DS got a distracted driver ticket in Delaware and will need to appear in court. He will be very apologetic and is ready to face any consequence. Is there a chance his Maryland provisional license could be revoked? Should we be hiring an attorney to go to court with him?
TIA!

[Anonymous]

I am not sure how Maryland would find out about it.

[Anonymous]

Good thing this happened now at the beginning of his driving career so he hopefully learns not to text and drive rather than after he kills innocent people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My DS got a distracted driver ticket in Delaware and will need to appear in court. He will be very apologetic and is ready to face any consequence. Is there a chance his Maryland provisional license could be revoked? Should we be hiring an attorney to go to court with him?
TIA!

Honestly, I hope it’s revoked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good thing this happened now at the beginning of his driving career so he hopefully learns not to text and drive rather than after he kills innocent people!

+1

Early intervention in young Maryland drivers is essential, so they don't further become a meme.

OP, what was your kid doing? On his phone? Where did he learn that habit from?

[Anonymous]

There's probably little benefit to appearing with counsel if he's not going to contest the ticket and if the potential maximum penalty is relatively trivial, i.e., no possibility of jail time. Traffic infractions can sometimes be negotiated down to a lesser offense, resulting in fewer points or a lower fine, but there may not be anything "lesser" than distracted driving for a judge or prosecutor to settle on instead, so the best approach may well be to simply acknowledge culpability and express remorse while hoping for a relatively light sanction. With luck, he'll just be fined a few hundred dollars plus court costs and will have learned something.

This may impact his/your current and future insurance rates, though.

[Anonymous]

Insurance rates will go up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My DS got a distracted driver ticket in Delaware and will need to appear in court. He will be very apologetic and is ready to face any consequence. Is there a chance his Maryland provisional license could be revoked? Should we be hiring an attorney to go to court with him?
TIA!

Honestly, I hope it’s revoked.

Agree 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Insurance rates will go up.

Yeah this will be painful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My DS got a distracted driver ticket in Delaware and will need to appear in court. He will be very apologetic and is ready to face any consequence. Is there a chance his Maryland provisional license could be revoked? Should we be hiring an attorney to go to court with him?
TIA!

Honestly, I hope it’s revoked.

Agree 100%.

+1. I think OP should also want it revoked before he kills someone.

[Anonymous]

Op- if money is really not an impediment I’d call a lawyer near the DE courthouse — you’re probably getting solicitations from these types already. They’re in court every day, they know the judges and prosecutors.
Otherwise, just do as you said — go, have him dress in decent clothes, be respectful. No one knows exactly what will happen. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's probably little benefit to appearing with counsel if he's not going to contest the ticket and if the potential maximum penalty is relatively trivial, i.e., no possibility of jail time. Traffic infractions can sometimes be negotiated down to a lesser offense, resulting in fewer points or a lower fine, but there may not be anything "lesser" than distracted driving for a judge or prosecutor to settle on instead, so the best approach may well be to simply acknowledge culpability and express remorse while hoping for a relatively light sanction. With luck, he'll just be fined a few hundred dollars plus court costs and will have learned something.

This may impact his/your current and future insurance rates, though.

You don’t know the benefit
You don’t know the potential penalty
You don’t know every crime or traffic offense
You need a lawyer to negotiate with the prosecutor if you want to negotiate
Sometimes hope and luck are on your side.

[Anonymous]

Get a lawyer these charges are usually a cash grab

[Anonymous]

I’m not a big “natural consequences” person but I would definitely be all about that in this case … no lawyer no coaching. He pays for any increased insurance rate and has driving privileges severely curtailed if not removed. Possibly required to drive without a phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing this happened now at the beginning of his driving career so he hopefully learns not to text and drive rather than after he kills innocent people!

+1

Early intervention in young Maryland drivers is essential, so they don't further become a meme.

OP, what was your kid doing? On his phone? Where did he learn that habit from?

Come on, now, pp. Everybody looks at their phone when driving. You know this.

Is there some reason you deliberately went out of your way to try to make OP feel bad? Is this impulse of yours a symptom of a bigger character defect? And was the defect innate or learned behavior?