Criminal Defense Attorney in Highlands Ranch, Colorado
What are some common major traffic charges in Colorado?
What are some common major traffic charges in Colorado?
More In This Category
View Transcript
yeah so a very common one is careless
driving so oftent times if you’re
involved in an accident um and the cops
determine that you’re the at fault party
um or even if they determine both
parties are at fault you can be charged
with careless driving which is just that
you were doing anything in an imprudent
manner um that you disregarded the
widths grade curves or any other
circumstances of the road so it’s an
extremely broad statute just discussing
pretty much that you disregarded some
traffic um whether it’s a traffic signal
or a curve or you’re going a little too
fast things like that and so we often
see it um with traffic accidents you
being charged with careless and it’s
just an imprudent manner and really a
negligent standard it doesn’t mean that
there’s any intentional behavior or
reckless behavior um in your driving
another major one is reckless which is
higher than careless driving and so
reckless driving is meaning that you
were acting with a willful and wantton
disregard for these traffic uh for the
traffic for signals for the road
conditions things like that and so it’s
a higher uh level of culpability um and
it’s a higher charge and then another
one is we see a lot of times leaving the
scene of an accident or also failure to
report an accident and so leaving the
scene of an accident anytime you’re
involved in any accident whether it’s
damage only or there’s injury um or
whether someone even um sadly passes
away there’s always a duty to stop at
the accident even if the other person
leaves and so leaving the scene of an
accident is actually strict liability
crime which means that you don’t have to
there has to be no there doesn’t have to
be an intention to leave the scene just
means that you left the scene in general
and didn’t stay after an accident and
it’s similar to reporting an accident so
even if you’re in a minor parking lot
fender bender you always have a duty to
call the cops or to file a police report
online or call the non-emergency line
and report that there was an accident um
even if you don’t intend to you know try
to evade law enforcement by not
reporting these accidents there’s still
a a requirement that you do no matter
what occurred and leaving the scene of
the accident can you can actually face
higher penalties and you can even face a
felony if someone suffers what’s called
serious bodily injury meaning a broken
bone or permanent disability based on
this accident and you left that scene of
an accident often times you see with
these types of cases with major traffic
offenses that we see all the time is
restitution and so that’s the damages
that someone can seek in a criminal
court that are related to um traffic
charges and restitution applies to other
crimes too but it just often applies to
these traffic cases it’s a way for
people to seek their damages um within
the criminal court system
Colorado Springs, CO criminal defense attorney Zoe Lavesque talks about some common major traffic charges in Colorado.
