Transportation and Vehicle Safety: Following Too Closely/accident, safety cushion, conest

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I was involved in an accident where I hit the car infront of me because of the driver breaking suddenly due to the car infront of him breaking suddenly. The car behind me almost hit me, but they swerved (on the freeway) to a space in the shoulder. My vehicle has front body damage, while the guy infront of me that i hit doesn't have any damages. A state officer (Indiana) arrived an hour later and cited me for driving too closely, even after I explained the situation, and the guy I hit didn't really say anything in the matter. What do you think are my best options? Should I try to fight this in the court? or should I just plead no conest on the ticket and ask for a diversion? I tried to explain to the office but he told me to go to the court or ask for a diversion.
Please help, I don't have any points on my license currently but I had one dropped violation within the last 2 years.

Thanks,

Mike

ANSWER: Hello Mike and welcome to AllExperts!

I am really sorry to say that drivers are wholly responsible for what they do, regardless of what others around them do or fail to do.

While the vehicle in front of you had to skid to prevent a collision, due to not having enough stopping distance, you are also expected to have sufficient stopping distance so as not to resort to emergency stopping, or the results of not being successful in doing so.

We are required to keep 2-3 seconds distance between us and the car in front, regardless of speed. If the car in front skids to a stop, we can still safely stop in time if we follow this requirement.

Because you did not maintain that safety cushion, you had indeed violated that law, and there is unfortunately no way to win this in court. Ii really wish I could give you something more positive, but I must be truthful with you.

You should indeed plead no contest and ask for traffic school/diversion in order to remove this from your record.

Best of luck to you Mike!!

Terry

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your quick and informative reply Terry. If you don't mind, please help me with these brief followup questions: How do I plead no contest? do i need to go to my assigned court date, or can I just check the no contest plea on the ticket and send it along with my payment? also, will i need to complete the diversion program after the ticket and issuance of the points or before?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Mike

Answer
Hi Mike.....

Every County and every State is different in how they do this. Some allow you to make your plea on the back of the ticket, while others will send you a courtesy notice and your plea can be made there.

Others (if you qualify), will allow you to request traffic school/diversion on the back of the ticket while others again will do so on the courtesy notice.

Some will require you to go to court for a plea and/or traffic school. You may very well even see a variation on the above themes.

The easiest and best way to make sure is to call your city/county clerks office (traffic division) and ask them.

The problem with marking the 'No Contest' box on the back of the ticket is in doing so, you may not be able to get your traffic school/diversion. You are in essence allowing the judge to find you guilty without admitting to the violation, and may not be officially requesting traffic school / diversion.

Usually, points are only added if traffic school/diversion is not completed if available, or you find that you do not qualify. If this is the case, once your case is adjudicated (the judge makes a finding), then your DMV will be notified and points then are added.

If traffic school / diversion is available and you properly complete it, then the case is dropped and not reported to DMV and not placed on your record.

I hope this helps Mike!

Terry