Q: I hit black ice on interstate, hit median damage to my car only, Improper lane usage ticket. Worth fighting?

A: Yes, it is HIGHLY advisable that you hire an attorney. Within the last 1.5 months, the federal government has begun investigating the ways in which Illinois handles commercial driver's license tickets. The feds were upset that the state has been routinely amending moving violations to non-moving violations. As a result of this pressure, many prosecutors offices are giving their traffic prosecutors orders to not amend tickets as was previously the case. What this means is your improper lane usage ticket may not under the circumstances be able to be easily amended the way it was even just a few months ago resulting in a serious moving violation on your record if you are found guilty, regardless of if supervision is given. If you receive two serious moving violations in a 36 month period, you face a minimum 60 day cancellation. The speeding offense is a serious mover if it was 15mph or more over the limit.

If the officer doesn't show up, the case can be dismissed. If however your ticket was issued by the Illinois State Police, I would not readily expect this result as they are very good about attendance.

If I were you, I would DEFINITELY retain counsel because of the seriousness of an improper lane usage ticket for a CDL driver and the extremely hairy situation regarding CDL amendments that has only recently come up. My recommendation is if you appear on your court date and they are ready to go to trial with officer present, ask to speak to the state. If they can't amend the improper lane usage to a non-serious violation, let them know you weren't fully aware of the circumstances facing you and you wanted to hire an attorney to protect your livelihood.

Despite the resistance of prosecutors to make amendments for our CDL clients, they are still very compassionate and agree with the defense bar that these amendments should be available to CDL driver's, particularly if the offense is committed in a non-commercial vehicle. Different courts are handling these orders differently so its hard to say if they will allow an amendment.

What I can say is IF THEY DO allow an amendment to a non-serious moving violation, I would HIGHLY advise taking it because that deal is likely fleeting. If not, it may require you to continue the case a few times until the Feds back off of the Secretary of State's and Court's lax treatment of CDL violations.

Hope that helps and regardless of what you do, I STRONGLY suggest you seek an attorney and be direct with them asking them how much they know about the current climate created by the Feds. Some attorneys don't get out to the courts often and may not be aware of just how tense it has become and what strategies can be used to circumvent negative results.