No one in Covington County wants to get a traffic ticket.
However, the reality is that many people, after they get that first or even second ticket, may just pay the fine or fee, take the defensive driving course if they need to and move on with life.
Truckers and others who driver for a living, though, have to take every moving violation ticket they receive seriously. After all, violations get carefully tracked by lots of people, including insurance companies, employers and prospective employers.
Major violations
In addition to any other penalties, drivers with a commercial operating license may face automatic disqualifications for certain traffic offenses.
As the name suggests, a disqualification means that the driver will not be authorized to operate commercial vehicles, even if he or she is allowed to continue operating a private vehicle.
For example, single conviction for drunk or drugged driving in any vehicle is a 1-year disqualification. Leaving the scene of an accident carries a similar penalty.
Future violations require disqualification for life, although a driver may be able to ask for leniency after 10 years.
Of course, one should never leave the scene of an accident or drive drunk. However, other behaviors can lead to a major violation as well.
For instance, a person who operates a commercial vehicle with more than .04 BAC receives a major violation, as does a person accused in any fashion of causing a traffic fatality due to carelessness.
Serious violations
Other types of traffic tickets, in combination, can also lead to a disqualification. The scary thing about many of these are that they can happen to anyone, even law-abiding citizens who are generally safe drivers.
For instance, texting and driving, speeding at or more than 15 miles per hour over the limit, and following too closely are all serious violations, even if the operator is accused of committing the violation in a private vehicle.
Likewise, a charge of reckless driving is also a serious violation. In Alabama, reckless driving can include any behavior that, in the police’s opinion, endangers a person or property.
Two serious violations in 3 years requires a 60-day disqualification, and any additional convictions require a 120-day disqualification.
The point is that a traffic ticket for a professional driver passing through this part of Alabama can wind up killing that person’s career. They will want to consider their legal options carefully.