Michigan Criminal Lawyer Blog
Unfortunately, a rear end automobile accident is not always avoidable. Rear end accidents can occur because of slippery/icy roads, distracted driving (texting) or inattentiveness to existing traffic conditions. Traffic tickets issued for rear end accidents are one of the most common traffic tickets that we see every day on our Macomb County District Court dockets. Anyone that drives regularly on M-59/Hall Road, on either the Sterling Heights side, or the Utica/Macomb Township and Shelby Township side, will probably witness a rear end accident at some point in time.
Crain’s Business Detroit, May 3, 2015, had this say about the situation on M-59/Hall Road: “Slogging through stop-and-go traffic on northern Macomb County’s main east-west thoroughfare — four lanes deep in exhaust and exhaustion — it’s easy to understand why some locals have dubbed it “Hell Road.”
A basic premise in Michigan is that a person is required to have control of a motor vehicle at all times. For this reason, a person that is involved in a rear end accident can expect to get hit with a ticket known as “fail to stop within assured clear distance” (abbreviated on the ticket as FTSACD). The offense of FTSACD is found in the Michigan Traffic Offense Code at MCL 257.627(1) and is a civil infraction which carries 2 points on one’s driving record. MCL 257.627 is the statute that covers FTSACD and also the traffic violation for failing to use due care and caution. The statute reads as follows: