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Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:05 pm
by D-Day
So, while riding my motorcycle before work last night on a section of road I was unfamiliar with, I ended up in a ditch. Walked away sore, not a scratch on me. More damage to my wallet than anything...AAA didn't cover the $150 tow, even though I'm a top level member for almost 8 years now.

Deputy said he had to cite me for failure to control. I figure I'm pretty much screwed, but is there any way to contest this or get this reduced? Will there be a harsh insurance increase, etc.?

This is my first incident of this kind. Only one speeding ticket in my life before this.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:16 pm
by Javelin Man
Sorry about your incident. Why didn't AAA take care of towing? They hauled my murdercycle when I wrecked...back in 1982.

Can't say anything about your insurance, they might have accident forgiveness, maybe not.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:29 pm
by D-Day
Looking at the ticket and code, I was cited under 4511.202A of the ORC.

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.202" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(A) No person shall operate a motor vehicle, trackless trolley, streetcar, agricultural tractor, or agricultural tractor that is towing, pulling, or otherwise drawing a unit of farm machinery on any street, highway, or property open to the public for vehicular traffic without being in reasonable control of the vehicle, trolley, streetcar, agricultural tractor, or unit of farm machinery.
I don't see a whole lot of leeway with this.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:31 pm
by TJW815
D-Day wrote:So, while riding my motorcycle before work last night on a section of road I was unfamiliar with, I ended up in a ditch. Walked away sore, not a scratch on me. More damage to my wallet than anything...AAA didn't cover the $150 tow, even though I'm a top level member for almost 8 years now.

Deputy said he had to cite me for failure to control. I figure I'm pretty much screwed, but is there any way to contest this or get this reduced? Will there be a harsh insurance increase, etc.?

This is my first incident of this kind. Only one speeding ticket in my life before this.
Way til you find out insurance counts this as two incidents. 1.) failure to control 2.) the accident itself...
I know it sucks but you're pretty well up a creek. At least you aren't hurt.

Btw. Insurance will go up but not a horrible amount if your license was clear otherwise.

Source: personal experience. :wink:

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 7:48 pm
by A_F
In cases like this, I had it over to an atty. $500. It either goes away completely (last time) or gets reduced (time before) or gets deferred for a year then dismissed if no further tickets (time before the time before).

yes it gets expensive but my ins co is none the wiser and my driving record is squeaky clean.

Did the cop see you crash or did you tell on yourself?

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:06 pm
by WestonDon
Must have been a deer run out in the road that you swerved to avoid. Actually happens quite frequently in WC. I am sure you were shook up and forgot to mention that to the deputy.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:32 pm
by Mustang380gal
WestonDon wrote:Must have been a deer run out in the road that you swerved to avoid. Actually happens quite frequently in WC. I am sure you were shook up and forgot to mention that to the deputy.
You aren't suggesting he lie, are you?

Bad form.

Also against the TOS, no promotion of illegal activity.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:44 pm
by steves 50de
Mustang380gal wrote:
WestonDon wrote:Must have been a deer run out in the road that you swerved to avoid. Actually happens quite frequently in WC. I am sure you were shook up and forgot to mention that to the deputy.
You aren't suggesting he lie, are you?

Bad form.

Also against the TOS, no promotion of illegal activity.
Them darn deer are everywhere. :lol:

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:03 pm
by djthomas
A_F wrote:In cases like this, I had it over to an atty. $500. It either goes away completely (last time) or gets reduced (time before) or gets deferred for a year then dismissed if no further tickets (time before the time before)
With a little bit of know how a pro se traffic litigant can often achieve any of the above on their own. The deferral option is nice but you have to see if the court in question offers it. Not all courts offer deferral for traffic cases.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:19 pm
by bearkitty
First, I am VERY glad you are OK. I ditched mine once, and the first thing I thought of was to get up and moving before someone called 911. My bike was barely ride-able especially with bloodied knees, but I did ride away.

A lot of variables here:

How long have you been with your insurance co? If you've been with them a while and have not made any claims, you may skate by for another year or two before they find the citation. Most companies have a secret list of triggers or time frames for checking your records. If you have not thrown up any flags, you may be OK. Those reports are expensive and most carriers don't get them every renewal unless they have a reason to check on you. As for getting the FTC reduced, I have no idea on that.

Someone mentioned that it could count twice - 1 for the cite, 1 for the "accident". That's an Ohio thing because unlike other states, it will show up twice on your Ohio MVR. BUT, if you are not claiming damage to the bike, or to anyone else's property, you may fly under the radar on that too for a while. You may also be able to explain it away, honestly, as a no-harm/no-foul type of deal.

If your insurance company finds it and ups your rates, shop it with another agent.

Good Luck!

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:08 am
by D-Day
A_F wrote: Did the cop see you crash or did you tell on yourself?
Well...being covered in mud head to toe, bike totalled at the bottom of the ditch it was kind of obvious when they happened upon the scene. Can't say I was just enjoying the stars. I told it like it was and that was that.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:12 am
by D-Day
bearkitty wrote:First, I am VERY glad you are OK. I ditched mine once, and the first thing I thought of was to get up and moving before someone called 911. My bike was barely ride-able especially with bloodied knees, but I did ride away.

A lot of variables here:

How long have you been with your insurance co? If you've been with them a while and have not made any claims, you may skate by for another year or two before they find the citation. Most companies have a secret list of triggers or time frames for checking your records. If you have not thrown up any flags, you may be OK. Those reports are expensive and most carriers don't get them every renewal unless they have a reason to check on you. As for getting the FTC reduced, I have no idea on that.

Someone mentioned that it could count twice - 1 for the cite, 1 for the "accident". That's an Ohio thing because unlike other states, it will show up twice on your Ohio MVR. BUT, if you are not claiming damage to the bike, or to anyone else's property, you may fly under the radar on that too for a while. You may also be able to explain it away, honestly, as a no-harm/no-foul type of deal.

If your insurance company finds it and ups your rates, shop it with another agent.

Good Luck!
My motorcycle is through Progressive, but my vehicles are from an independent agent, although my motorcycle insurance is brokered through my local agent as well. I've had my motorcycle insurance for about 2-3 years now with them. I've thought of switching everything over to AAA since they have decent rates (well, before this whole incident anyway), so if they wanna say something I may tell them to pound sand out of spite.

Had a streak of bad luck the past month and I'm getting a little annoyed.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:17 am
by evan price
What I love about ohio. No damage except to your property and.still. They cite you.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:24 am
by weakhand luke
"Had a streak of bad luck the past month and I'm getting a little annoyed."

Look at it this way. Now you get a brand new bike. And you didn't sail thru the barbed wire on the other side of the ditch.

You're lucky.

Re: Failure to control

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 7:39 am
by Ole_grizzly
I highly recommend Watkins and Keyerleber insurance in Geneva. They found me a policy with a company out of wooster that was about 60% less than what progressive and geico were offering online for my motorcycle. (Suzuki B-king, sister of the Hayabusa, or in other words, a crotch rocket with Suzuki's fastest production motor.). http://wk-ins.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; One more plug for them, is that just about every year, they review all of my policies, and move me around to who they can get the best rate from, and are instantly helpful on the phone.

AAA has a policy that is above a normal plus or gold level for roadside assistance. I have a school bus that I tailgate with at browns games that is titled as an RV. The RV package includes the motorcycle towing, to my knowledge the normal plus and gold do not. It's about $25 or so more a year if I remember correctly, but you have to add it to gold, not just plus.

I hit a deer about 8 years ago, and there was an off duty policeman directly behind me. He said if he didn't see it happen, he said that likely I would have gotten a failure to control. He didn't agree with this, but said that many cops go out of their way to cite sports bike riders and will do so if given the chance. I however have found this not to be the case, in terms of prejudice, as I've gotten out of several speeding tickets while on my current motorcycle, by being polite, stopping right away, and declaring whether I was carrying or not. (here comes the flames).

Glad you're ok, even when you're not hurt when you hit the ground, it takes quite a while to get over it.