Bergen County attorneys protect accused drivers from excessive charges
At five penalty points, a reckless driving charge is a serious violation in itself and a devastating addition to other charges, such as speeding or DWI. A reckless driving conviction can lead to an immediate license suspension, burdensome fines and staggering insurance increases. In some cases, a two-month jail sentence is possible. If you’re facing a hearing for reckless driving, it is vital to have an experienced defense attorney with you in court. At the Law Offices of Richard S. Greenberg, we’re ready to fight for a dismissal or a reduction in charges to save you money and preserve your driving privileges.

New Jersey’s burden of proof for reckless driving charges
The text of New Jersey’s reckless driving law, N.J.S.A. 39:4-96, reads:

“A person who drives a vehicle heedlessly, in willful or wanton disregard of the rights or safety of others, in a manner so as to endanger, or be likely to endanger, a person or property, shall be guilty of reckless driving and be punished by imprisonment in the county or municipal jail for a period of not more than 60 days, or by a fine of not less than $50.00 or more than $200.00, or both.”

The statute requires the prosecution to prove a mental state bordering on deliberate endangerment of others. Yet, very often officers write a reckless driving citation along with a speeding ticket when the facts don’t support such a conclusion, forcing prosecutors to use scant evidence to convince a judge that additional punishment is warranted. Our attorneys use their trial experience to challenge the state’s case and expose weaknesses in the evidence. For drivers with otherwise clean records, we’ve had great success negotiating these five-point traffic violations down to careless driving, which is a two-point violation, or getting the ticket dismissed altogether.