Driving without insurance is a crime punishable by as much as one year of jail and a fine of $1000 for a first offense and as much as two years of jail and a $1000 fine for a second offense. A conviction can also add five points to your Maryland license. Five points are enough to markedly increase your insurance rates, require a driver improvement program even if you have no other points. If you do have other points, or if you accumulate more in the future, a conviction may also result in your license being revoked or suspended. The judge can also grant probation before judgment, which allows the judge to penalize you, but without adding points on your driving record.
I can help you avoid these possibilities, and help you keep your record clean, even if you were driving without insurance and then got involved in an accident.
In order to prove your guilt, the State has to prove that the vehicle was not covered by insurance that meets Maryland’s minimum insurance requirement, and that you drove the vehicle. They are theoretically supposed to have to prove that you knew the vehicle was uninsured, and the ticket itself even misleadingly expresses it as “Knowingly Driving Uninsured Vehicle”, but the law itself contains a presumption that you knew or had reason to know that the vehicle was not covered by insurance if the MVA has no record of it. Effectively, it often means that you may have to show that the vehicle was insured, or that you did not know it was uninsured.
There are many ways that I can defend you as your lawyer in these cases, and some of them can be effective even if you knew the car was uninsured while you were driving.
A Driving Without Insurance charge can result in jail, fines, and points. They can also be a permanent blot on your record that can cause problems in the future, especially if you drive professionally or if your employer insists that you keep a clean driving record. I can help you avoid all these problems. Call (301) 556-8709 so that we can get to work on your case.
