Road Law – July 2025
In the early days, we were concerned only with the motor vehicle record (MVR) of the driver and trying to keep his or her record as clean as possible.
Most safety departments, while concerned about certain driver violations, were not as concerned about a few blemishes if the driver was qualified to drive. But once CSA 2010 and DataQ came about, the landscape changed for all involved. In this article, we look at a recent case with a strange resolution.
Driver: I received a citation for speeding and Driver Vehicle Examination Report. Can you help me keep this off my record?
Attorney: We can certainly represent you and attempt to keep the violation off your record, and if we are successful, you can do a DataQ challenge to have the CSA score adjusted to reflect the outcome.
In all cases, we need to know whether we have any evidence for a defense or if we are purely negotiating for a reduction of the charge or charges. In this case, the driver has no mechanical problems with the vehicle and was speeding as alleged. On the court date, the officer was amenable to dismissing the citation with a donation. However, he would do this only if the driver and the motor carrier would not file a DataQ challenge.
Attorney: We have a plea offer on your case, which will keep the violation from appearing on your MVR. But the officer will dismiss the violation only if no DataQ challenge is filed by you or the carrier. Do you want to accept this offer?
Driver: I would like to keep it off my record. If it is dismissed, how can the officer take back the plea if we do a DataQ challenge afterward?
Attorney: Discussing this in full detail would be a lengthy response, but essentially, your case is being dismissed without prejudice. In legal terms, this differs from a dismissal with prejudice, which would prevent a case from being refiled against you.
For example, if you accept the deal and your carrier files a DataQ challenge, the officer can and may go back and refile the original charge, and a new hearing date will be set with the court. Since we don’t have any real defense to the charge, it is unlikely that we would prevail at a trial.
Driver: This seems like a strange plea offer. Why would the officer care if we did a DataQ challenge if he is agreeable to dismiss the charge in court?
Attorney: That’s a great question, and this is the first time we have encountered this situation. It may be as simple as that the officer doesn’t want to go through the time and effort to deal with the DataQ challenge. Or is there some other incentive or penalty at play here for the officer? While we don’t know the answer, it could be that there is a review process in effect here that looks at the number of inspections an officer does, violations discovered and the number of DataQ challenges to those inspections. Since the court side of violations is not addressed without a DataQ challenge, the officer can still negotiate and help a driver without blemishing his or her CSA performance. LL
We invite you to send any questions or comments regarding transportation law to: Road Law, 3441 W. Memorial Road, Suite 4, Oklahoma City, OK 73134; to contact us through our website at www.RoadLaw.net; or to call us at 405-242-2030. We look forward to hearing from you.