Yesterday I was driving on a two lane road, with one lane used partly as parking. I was stuck in the parking lane, and I couldn't leave as there was busy traffic all on my left. The roads were slick and icy (-15C weather), and I was gaining on a parked car in front of me. I knew that I had to get over so I tried to stop the car, but it just kept sliding. This was on a posted 60km/hr road, and I know that I was doing at least 5-10km/hr under the posted limit. Instead of slamming into the car in front of me or swerving into the left lane I decided it was best to veer off into the icebank, but I also hit a public light-post along the way; knocking it over. There was no damage to any building, the light-post sustained very minimal damage apart from being knocked over. All passengers including myself are completely uninjured, with the car being the only thing that sustained damage.

However, when the cop arrived and concluded his investigation, he gave me a court summons with a charge of Careless Driving.

How bad does this look for me? I'm 19 and have a clean driving record. No tickets, nothing.

In terms of insurance, careless driving considered top tier of driving charges. Pretty much worst of the worst. 100% increase on insurance and you run the risk of being booted.

At the very least you should try to see if they are willing to offer a lesser charge.

This is a tough one. Careless driving is laid far too often in my option and is often used as a catch all knowing that people won't take it to court for fear of the very severe repercussions if they lose. So they speak to the prosecutor, get a lesser charge and the matter never goes to trial.

If it happened as you say, then I would doubt that a Careless charge would stick in court but you'd need representation which costs and you also roll the dice in that, if you do lose, you have a catastrophic charge on your record.

If you were my nephew I'd try and get a plea bargain......if you can't get one then get representation and bring every passenger as a witness.

In addition to insurance rates going up as bend said, beware that a careless driving conviction will also result in 6 demerit points being assessed on your record. Or, I noticed you said you're 19, if you have a G1 or G2 licence, a careless driving conviction is an automatic 30 day licence suspension.

It's probably a good idea to get a paralegal or lawyer.

But just keep in mind that your summons date is not a trial date. On the date of your summons, the prosecutor will likely offer you a plea deal. You can choose to accept it. You will be asked to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and a date for the actual trial will be set at your summons.

As argyll said, plea deal is probably the best way to go. There's a lot of risk if you decide to fight it and lose - demerit points, insurance rates, licence suspensions.

Whenaxis wrote:

In addition to insurance rates going up as bend said, beware that a careless driving conviction will also result in 6 demerit points being assessed on your record. Or, I noticed you said you're 19, if you have a G1 or G2 licence, a careless driving conviction is an automatic 30 day licence suspension.

It's probably a good idea to get a paralegal or lawyer.

But just keep in mind that your summons date is not a trial date. On the date of your summons, the prosecutor will likely offer you a plea deal. You can choose to accept it. You will be asked to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and a date for the actual trial will be set at your summons.

As argyll said, plea deal is probably the best way to go. There's a lot of risk if you decide to fight it and lose - demerit points, insurance rates, licence suspensions.

Thanks for the advice !