Reckless driving in PA? Wasn't Speeding?

From reading what you have said, I don't see that you did anything wrong at all and I would plead not guilty and go to court and tell your story to the judge and this should be thrown out........

Here are the penalties for "Reckless Driving".

You may be charged with reckless driving if you drive with willfull or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. Similar to careless driving, this is a summary offense. You may serve up to 90 days in jail as well as a fine of at least $200.

This offense will also land you a 6 month suspension of your driving privileges. If you incur three or more reckless driving charges you will lose your license for 5 years.

http://www.pennsylvania-criminal-defense.com/carel...

Are you one of those people who will drive in a river because the GPS tells them to? Yeah go back to the old fashioned idea of using maps and routing things out if you are going to be using the highways and such. Your best bet is to fight the ticket. Even if you don't win there is a chance the Judge will at least lower the charge from reckless driving. Even though you weren't speeding(and I am hoping you were going the speed limit or lower, not 5 over, if you want to say you weren't speeding) what you were doing sounds kind of dangerous in this description. Sure you weren't cutting people off, but you were like all over the road. The problem is with you signaling they can't call it improper lane change or anything else really, so it will be hard to get the ticket charge lowered. The Judge though could still give you a lower punishment. Not sure where my Driver's Manual is so not sure if it says the punishment for reckless driving. I honestly think if you fight it though they won't give you the 6 points for a suspended license.

There is no replacement for a thomas guide, and GPS does not know everything. The rapid changes in lane and failure to turn as indicated by the left turn lane violation warrant the reckless driving . sudden changes in lane and unpredictable driving is what caused the ticket. the time to fix this was when the cop pulled you over. He was just trying to protect the public. SO what I would suggest is that go to court, as promised, tell them the truth, bring in a thomas guide, tell them it will never happen again, and beg for traffic school so ti does not end up on your record. and commit to driving safely. also if the gps is part of your employment, fine, but if it distracts you from your responsibility to operate safely you should have it removed from the driving area.(this is in the vehicle code) as long as you are not doing anything wrong or illegal you have nothing to fear from your employer and he should be more concerned with the safe efficient operation of his fleet anyway. If he is not then you have the wrong job.lastly, purchase a copy of the vehicle code from DMV.

Sounds to me like you were so intent on your GPS that you did not notice that you were cutting people off. You were not speeding, but were you going anywhere near the speed of traffic? Were you watching the traffic around you? Doesn't sound like it if you caught the attention of the cop.

Driving is a full time job. You need to learn to pay full attention to the traffic around you rather than paying attention to your GPS and slowly meandering back and forth between lanes and being a traffic hazard.

Don't know about now, but back in Michigan in the '60's reckless driving was only half way to losing your license. With zero points you are likely OK, just don't do it again.

Fight the ticket. Explain to the judge what you were doing and that you were lost or unsure of where to go. The cop gave you a ticket because you were changing lanes too often or something. I have a GPS and sometimes it can be confusing of where it's telling you to go like it'll tell you to turn left .2 miles and when you get close to your turning point, it'll tell you to turn left and if you miss your turn, it'll tell you to turn around. And also when you need to get into another lane on the freeway, it waits until you are less then a mile of the needed lane change to tell you. I usually prefer to look at the signs above the freeway to see what lane I need to be in.

The real moral of the story is look at maps ahead of time and figure out the route so you know where you're going. Burying your head in black boxes instead of paying attention to the road and the traffic situation around you will get you a ticket every time. Electronic devices are fine as aids not as the ultimate decision maker.

You must have made some sudden manuevers during all this confusion. You have to learn to drive a little slower, and not to make sudden moves.

And the moral of this story is that multitasking on the highway isn't a good idea.