Driving without due care and attention

[johnnyo636]

Last september i was driving along a road in hemel hempstead in torrential rain when i collided into the back of another vehicle which bumped the vehicle in front. The road is a slight hill and there is a small hump back bridge at the top of the road after the traffic lights. After moving away from the lights and going over the bridge i then cam up to a queue of traffic. seeing the vehicle in front i braked, however the brakes responded but were not enough to slow the car after the torrential rain, the car aqauplaned into the back of the vehicle. No one was badly hurt, the driver in front was fine, however a passenger in the back of the car jolted his neck and his 5yr old son who obviously was not wearing a seatbelt landed on the floor but was unhurt. the damage to their car was minor hoever the damage was enough to write my little peugeot 106 off. everyhting is now sorted however i have been summoned to appear in court for the offence of "Driving without due care and attention" i feel this is very unjust as i was aware of the conditions, the speed i was driving at and did not have any distractions that would have meant i was driving without due care and attention. the car aquaplaned therfore i do not feel i was to blame. there is a possibilty that i could lose my licence and be fined. i do not know if i will be able to get out of it, there i feel is no evidence to prove i was driving without due care and attention. i am only 18 and have only been driving for less than a year so i dnt want to lose my licence as i only have 6 points because i am a young driver and this offence can give between 3-9 points. i have pleaded not guilty but im not sure if i have done the right thing. does anyone know of a similar case or can give me some advice as to what to say in court or any way i could possibly get out of this??

 

[zag]

johnnyo - it may well seem unfair to you, but the bare fact is that if you hit something else you *were not* driving with due care. I don't think there is a whole lot you can do about it. Driving with due care means taking everything into account - the fact is that if you did this you might have ended up moving at 2mph and got nowhere in those conditions, but that is no consolation to the car in front.

You seem to be arguing along the lines of "I had a crash, but didn't mean to and I was concentrating really hard so how can the judge find me guilty ?" The bottom line is - you crashed your car.

As for having 6 points - did you get those while also driving with due care and attention ?

z

 

[CCOVICH]

Last september i was driving along a road in hemel hempstead in torrential rain when i collided into the back of another vehicle which bumped the vehicle in front.

johnny-this is an Irish site and so may not be of much use to to you as I presume that you are UK resident and that this offence occured in the UK?