A lot of people think a reckless driving charge is just a ticket. They pay it and wait for a possible insurance hike.
But it can have much more serious ramifications.
I’ve written before about reckless driving being a misdemeanor offense. It’s a crime, not just a traffic ticket.
Even worse, a reckless driving conviction can cause problems for some jobs. If you do anything related to driving at work, you should find out about your employer’s driving record policies. Some employers only a allow a certain number of moving violations within a certain time period. Others may have specific rules against a serious offense like reckless driving.
If a reckless driving conviction isn’t an issue with your current employer, you definitely need to keep it in mind for the future.
Many job applications ask if you’ve been convicted of criminal offenses. I always counsel clients to read those questions carefully.
If the application asks if you’ve been “charged” with a misdemeanor, you’d have to answer “yes” if you’ve received a reckless driving ticket. But if it asks if you’ve been “convicted” or “found guilty” of a misdemeanor, you’d only have to answer “yes” if you were indeed convicted.
The most important thing is to tell the truth and disclose any possible issue. You’d rather tell an employer that you have an old traffic conviction than have to explain why you misrepresented your past on the application.
Photo by paul bica