MD/DE Citation Question

[Z28OC]

Hey all, I got a quick question regarding how points carry over from one state to another but with a slight twist. During the last snow storm that hit the eastern shore area me and my girlfriend went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant (Applebee's) due to being fed up with being couped up inside. There were tons of ice built up everywhere, feet of snow along the roads and thick ice patches all around (sometimes several inches thick as the entire area was completely unprepared for such a downfall). I was coming out of the parking lot and turning on to Rt 50 heading west. I needed to get into the immediate turning lane to do a U-turn to head East into Ocean City to go to the movies for an after dinner treat. Coming out of the parking lot (very slowly I might add) I merged into the turning lane to make my u-turn. What I thought was a line of ice that remained on the highway (maybe 3 inches and rounded on the ends almost like a tiny speed bump) was actually a small median separating the turning lane from moving traffic to its right. Now, I immediately noticed it was a median as I hit it since I was talking to my girlfriend and even she didnt notice what it was till the front tires touched (usually she's the first to notice when I do something retarded). At that point, and with no traffic on the road and with the angle I was at going into the turning lane I decided to just go over it instead of reversing into the highway and pulling forward to the next light. As soon as I made my u-turn an officer was waiting on me and gave me a citation. Not once did I say I did not see the median, I completely agreed that I went over the median and I was in the wrong. At that time my license was out of DE, and the citation was out of MD. Shortly after that incident I had everything switched to MD since I permanently moved there. I will be paying the fines but was wondering if the point will stick to me. Since it was an out of state citation and have since got a new license, does any of this matter? I tried looking this up everywhere on google but its a rather hard situation to explain in just a few words. If the point will stick, in your opinion would it be worth explaining to the judge the circumstances in which the whole situation took place and see if there would be some leniency just for the point?

[manahmanah]

The worst the judge can do is say guilty and you'll be no worse off than you are right now.

[phantasm]

If you're now a Maryland resident, and the summons was issued in Maryland (irregardless of if you were a maryland resident at the time of the summons) than it would go against your driving record in Maryland.

Honestly 1 ticket shouldn't be that big of a deal. Its up to you if you want to plead not guilty and fight the ticket. Sometimes it could help, sometimes you'll just be missing a few hours of work.

[CCBlueMan]

MD and DE have a reciprocity agreement. This means that any points you incur in MD are applied to you DE license and those points stay with you when you transfer your license from DE to MD.

You can always go to court and explain the situation to the judge. If you don't have a completely horrible driving record, the judge may cut you a break.

[Creeker]

Driver License Compact - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interesting:

States that are members
All states are members except for Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee (dropped out in 1997).

I guess I just assumed that all states were members by now.

[Z28OC]

MD and DE have a reciprocity agreement. This means that any points you incur in MD are applied to you DE license and those points stay with you when you transfer your license from DE to MD.

You can always go to court and explain the situation to the judge. If you don't have a completely horrible driving record, the judge may cut you a break.

I have a completely clean driving record, and thats what I was thinking, maybe given a little slack. Thank you all for your quick replies.

[ChaosXIW]

If you have a clean record, many judges in MD will give you PBJ. They'll basically fine you something, but you won't be officially guilty and the points get tossed.