What If I receive a ticket?
If I receive A Ticket For The Accident
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured as a result of the accident and were issued a ticket or citation in association with the accident but you still believe it was the other parties fault, DO NOT PAY THE TICKET OR PLEAD GUILTY TO THE CITATION.
Believe it or not, there are situations where law enforcement may not conduct a thorough or accurate investigation which may lead them to issue a ticket to the wrong party. Also, there may be situations where under the traffic code, there is no “legal” excuse for the traffic violation because traffic violations do not take into consideration the comparative fault of the other drivers the way that a personal injury case must. Traffic offenses in the State of Iowa are considered to be strict liability offenses. This means that there really is no legal justified excuse for a violation of the specific traffic law.
In personal injury actions that arise out of car accidents, the circumstances surrounding the alleged traffic infraction and legal excuses are taken into account when considering comparative fault [insert link]. While a technical violation may have occurred, there may be a legal justification which still imposes liability on the other party for the accident. A classic example of this situation is the offense of failure to stop at a safe and assured distance. Under that traffic violation, any operator of a motor vehicle upon a highway must drive their vehicle in a manner permitting them to stop at a safe and assured distance if other traffic stops in front of them or if a stop is otherwise necessitated. What then happens if another vehicle suddenly pulls out in front of your vehicle or slams his brakes on without an adequate justification? Sometimes in these circumstances the accident becomes unavoidable, not because of your fault but because of the individuals actions in front of you. While you may not stop in a safe and assured distance and end up in an accident, the accident is actually the fault of another individual. In the civil proceeding, all of the facts and circumstances are taken into account and all of the rules of the road are provided to the jury to determine who was more at fault for the accident. While you may not have stopped in time, the jury could still find the other parties more responsible or negligent for the accident taking place and you would still be permitted to recover your damages so long as you were not found to be more than 50% at fault for the accident. In traffic court however, the judge may not care or even consider the surrounding circumstances and may still find you guilty of the offense of failure to stop at a safe and assured distance.
In situations where you received a citation but do not believe you were at fault for the accident you should NOT pay the ticket. Paying the ticket is pleading guilty to the offense. Pleading guilty means that you committed the alleged violation, and is in essence, an admission of fault on your behalf. You cannot take back a guilty plea after you have been sentenced, which in traffic court, is the imposition and payment of the fine. Once the fine is paids the judgment entry is made and the admission is final and cannot be taken back. An admission by you can be used against you in the civil proceeding. However, if you were to be “found guilty” by the judge following a trial, Iowa law specifically provides that your record of conviction for a violation of the traffic laws is NOT admissible in the civil action. Iowa Code § 321.489, specifically provides: “No record of the conviction of any person for any violation of this chapter shall be admissible as evidence in any court in any civil action.” While your plea or admission would be admissible, a judge finding you guilty is not admissible.
In these situations, you are well advised to retain competent legal counsel that is skilled and experienced at both defending traffic violations or criminal charges in addition to prosecuting personal injury claims. A skilled and knowledgeable attorney can actually use the traffic offense trial as a way to develop the facts and lay the record of sworn testimony in a manner that assists your case as opposed to hinders it. Witnesses are under oath at traffic trials just like they are in other trials and potential defendants in the personal injury action usually have not consulted with an attorney and are not prepared to defend their position at this stage in the proceedings. Thus, a qualified attorney can often times get them to admit and concede certain facts and points under oath early on that they later would likely either forget or deny.
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