Never Let Chance Steer Your Driving Career
As an Oklahoma attorney, I know it takes hard work to get and keep a professional license. When you have a CDL, it is because you put in the time it takes to earn that commercial drivers license. You invested in training then took time to build a career. You staked your future on your professional investment.
Now, you put in long hours to provide the kind of service it takes to maintain your reputation as a valued driver. Yet just one or two Oklahoma CDL tickets can take you off the road – for a couple of months, a year, two years, three – even for life.
Penalties for commercial vehicle license violations are unique, because you face not only fines and sanctions – you can also lose your livelihood. Years of training, experience, and effort can disappear like a lost load that slides off in a hairpin curve.
Your first line of defense against a CDL ticket is always prevention. Caution, prudence, and common sense serve as a cinch to keep you and everybody else safe while you are out on the road.
Yet prevention is not always enough. Just like you work hard to keep schedules and make payload quotas, traffic officers have organizational expectations to meet. Their assessment of driving performance can be different than the way a commercial driver sees it.
While you are watching the road, wrangling a heavy load in busy traffic, and battling a crosswind, a patrol officer might be looking for nothing more than potential violations. These different viewpoints can sometimes mean a traffic citation even for conscientious safety-minded commercial drivers.
You know driving. When you get a commercial driving ticket, you need someone who knows the law to help navigate. To schedule your initial strategy session with a Tulsa CDL ticket attorney, call 918-879-1681.
Oklahoma CDL Suspension
When you are handed a CDL ticket – much like a lost load – the solution is never to just move on. For some Oklahoma CDL violations, a second violation can mean a CDL disqualification. Unlike suspensions for Class D licenses, there are no hardship waivers or work permits allowed for commercial driver’s license disqualifications or revocations in Oklahoma.
Two CDL tickets within three years for unsafe lane change or following too close can mean two months out of work. It is the same with tickets for using a cell phone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle. A third CDL traffic ticket can mean four months on the sidelines.
Other CDL violations can result in immediate disqualification. A conviction on just one alleged mistake at a railroad crossing can take you off the road for 60 days. A second railroad crossing violation within three years can put you out of work for a year.
Some offenses can cost you your CDL for life. A felony drug violation can mean a permanent Oklahoma CDL revocation.
You might think it could never happen, but how often do commercial drivers carry people and loads without fully inspecting every item they take on board? Only every day they work!
Oklahoma CDL Violations
Many of the laws that can lead to CDL suspension, disqualification, or revocation rely on subjective language. For example, what does “following too close” mean in Oklahoma?
Does the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety’s recommended three-second rule for following distance published in Class D drivers manuals carry the weight of law? Or will Oklahoma courts rely instead on the statute in the law books – which refers only to reasonable and prudent following distance?
Without the representation of a skilled Oklahoma traffic ticket attorney, you would be rolling the dice to try to explain to a county court how your professionalism and experience provides better guidance than an officer’s subjective opinion about the way you drive.
You might be tempted to take your first Oklahoma CDL ticket in stride, confident you will not let it happen again. Paying a ticket and moving on might seem no more difficult to you than ignoring a nick you got on your knuckle while you were checking your rig. But a CDL ticket is different.
You can routinely ignore knuckleheads who makes a stupid moves in traffic, but a commercial driver cannot afford to ignore a CDL traffic citation. You might not have a ready defense when you need to fight a second ticket.
The second time around, a court might not care that your license inadvertently got left behind when you last changed vehicles — even if you were on your way back to get it. A conviction for failure to have a CDL license in your possession after one other “serious traffic offense” means you are off the road for 60 days.
Never take a chance that the next small town speed trap can put you on the sidelines. Even traffic tickets for violations when you are not at work can result in suspension of your commercial license. Points can add up, leading to eventual suspensions. Your best strategy is to keep your driving record as clean as possible.
Contact an Oklahoma CDL ticket attorney to find out what you can do to keep your record clean and your wheels on the road. When you have been handed an Oklahoma CDL ticket, find out from an experienced Oklahoma traffic ticket attorney what are your options.
Strategy Session: Oklahoma CDL Ticket Attorney
The Tulsa CDL ticket lawyer at Wirth Law Office knows how to fight CDL tickets. Whether than means working with prosecutors for amended charges that will not affect your driving privileges or persuading prosecutors the charges will not stand up in court, an Oklahoma CDL violation lawyer is your best ally when your driving career is in jeopardy.
In the event you need to go to court to prove your case, the Tulsa CDL attorney at Wirth Law Office has the knowledge, training, and experience to stand up for you. To schedule your initial strategy session with a Tulsa CDL ticket attorney, call 918-879-1681 or send an inquiry using the e-mail form on this page for a prompt response.
