Driving a motor vehicle is an earned privilege, not a given right. If you do not follow the laws of the land, you may lose the freedom to drive. If you are operating that vehicle under a commercial driver’s license that gets suspended, you may lose valuable income needed to support your household. The problem is that there are so many laws a trucker or commercial driver has to follow that you’re bound to make a mistake at some point if you’re in that industry. Traffic Violations That Can Put Your CDL License At Risk

Luckily, a CDL traffic attorney can fight your tickets and help you get traffic violations or citations off your record. But knowing exactly what the violations entail can better ensure that you keep a clean record and stay out of the courtroom.

Serious Violations

Some traffic offenses are deemed “serious” by the federal government. If you are a commercial driver with two serious traffic violations over the course of three years, you may lose your CDL license for at least 60 days. If you tack on another serious violation within those three years, you could face a license revocation of 120 days, at minimum. That would leave you with three months of lost income.

Additional serious violations at the federal level include improperly changing lanes, speeding (typically 15 miles over the speed limit) and following too closely.

Major Violations

Although “major” and “serious” sound similar, they are not the same when it comes to CDL traffic violations. “Major” federal traffic violations include driving under the influence, committing a felony using your motor vehicle, or leaving the scene of an accident. If you get even just one major traffic violation, you’ll risk losing your CDL license for a minimum of one year.

It’s important to note that these are just some of the possible federal violations, which apply to all states. However, additional violations are enforceable at the state level.