Careless driving in Nebraska is a Class II misdemeanor, not a simple traffic infraction. The standard fine is $100 plus $49 in court costs, and a conviction adds 4 points to your driving record. Because it’s a misdemeanor, a judge can impose up to six months in jail and a fine as high as $1,000, though jail time is uncommon for a first offense with no injuries.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 28-106 – Classification of Misdemeanors The ticket creates a permanent criminal court record, which is the part that tends to surprise people.
What the Charge Actually Covers
Nebraska Revised Statute 60-6,212 makes it illegal to drive any motor vehicle “carelessly or without due caution so as to endanger a person or property.”2Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 60-6,212 – Careless Driving, Defined You don’t have to actually hit anything. Creating the danger is enough. Typical fact patterns include drifting into another lane while distracted, rolling through a stop sign without checking cross-traffic, or following too closely and nearly rear-ending the car ahead.
The statute targets inattention and lack of care rather than intentional bad behavior. Careless driving is also a lesser-included offense of reckless driving, so some careless charges arrive through a plea reduction from a reckless or willful reckless citation.
Fines, Court Costs, and Jail Exposure
Nebraska’s uniform waiver and fine schedule sets the baseline fine at $100.3Nebraska Judicial Branch. Waiver Fine Schedule Rule Amendments If your citation is marked “waiver allowed,” you can pay that amount plus court costs without appearing before a judge. Court costs run $49 on every traffic citation in county court, regardless of the fine.4Nebraska Judicial Branch. Filing Fees and Court Costs The minimum out-of-pocket if you waive your appearance is $149.
That $100 is only the baseline. Because this is a Class II misdemeanor, the judge who hears your case can impose up to six months in jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.1Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 28-106 – Classification of Misdemeanors There’s no mandatory minimum, which gives the judge wide room based on the circumstances, your driving history, and whether anyone was hurt. When careless driving causes a crash, the court can also order restitution directly to the person whose property was damaged, on top of the fine and court costs.
Points on Your License
A careless driving conviction adds 4 points to your Nebraska driving record.5Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Nebraska Point System Points are counted from the date of the violation, not the date of conviction, and they stay on your record for five years. The number that matters for keeping your license, though, is how many you accumulate in any rolling two-year window.
Four points from a single ticket is a lot. A basic speeding ticket of 1 to 5 mph over is just 1 point. Reckless driving is 5. If you already have 8 or more points from the past two years, a careless driving conviction pushes you to 12 and triggers the revocation threshold.
When It Costs You Your License
Hitting 12 or more points in any two-year period triggers automatic revocation.6Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Point Revocations The revocation runs six months from the date the order is signed, or six months from your release if you were jailed, whichever is later.7Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 60-4,183 – Point Revocation Reinstatement Driving during the revocation is a separate criminal offense.
Reinstatement isn’t automatic once six months pass. You have to complete a state-approved driver improvement course first.7Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 60-4,183 – Point Revocation Reinstatement You also have to file an SR-22 certificate of financial responsibility with the DMV and keep it active for three years from the date you become eligible for reinstatement.8Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. SR-22 For Revocations and Suspensions That requirement follows you even if you don’t own a vehicle or leave Nebraska. SR-22 policies typically cost more than standard coverage, so a revocation keeps costing you well after the fine is paid.
Ways to Keep the Points Off
Pretrial Diversion
Some Nebraska counties run pretrial diversion programs that let a driver complete a safety course and have the citation dismissed outright, with no fine, no conviction, and no points. Nebraska statute 29-3606 authorizes pretrial diversion plans for minor traffic violations consisting of a driver’s safety training program with a state-approved curriculum.9Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 29-3606 – Drivers Safety Training Program These programs are run by individual county attorneys, so terms and availability vary.
Where they exist, programs generally require enrollment before your court date, course completion inside a set window (often 60 days), and a program fee in place of the citation fine. Participation is usually blocked if you’ve used a similar program within the past three years. Call the county attorney’s office listed on your citation to find out whether your county offers one.
Driver Improvement Course
If you have fewer than 12 points, you can voluntarily complete a DMV-approved driver improvement course to remove 2 points from your record.5Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Nebraska Point System The course has to be at least four hours. If you only have 1 point, the course removes that single point. You can only use the option once every five years.
Here’s the trap: the course has to be completed before the date of the violation that would otherwise push you to 12 points. You can’t rack up 12 points and then take the course to drop below the threshold. If you already have 8 points and pick up a careless driving ticket worth 4 more, the window closed on the date of the new violation.
If You Hold a CDL
Careless driving isn’t on the DMV’s list of “serious disqualifying offenses” for commercial drivers. But the DMV’s rules treat any conviction that results in a license revocation as a serious offense.10Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Commercial Drivers License Disqualification So if your careless driving conviction is the one that pushes you to 12 points and triggers revocation, it becomes a serious offense on your CDL record.
- Two serious offenses within three years: 60-day CDL disqualification
- Three serious offenses within three years: 120-day CDL disqualification
CDL holders are also typically shut out of pretrial diversion programs, so the usual escape hatch isn’t available.
Paying, Pleading, or Fighting the Ticket
Your citation lists the county court handling the case, based on where the stop happened. If the ticket allows waiver, you can plead guilty and pay the $100 fine plus $49 in court costs online through the Nebraska Judicial Branch’s payment system using a credit card, debit card, or electronic check.11Nebraska Judicial Branch. Nebraska Judicial Branch Internet Payment System Paying the waiver amount is legally the same as pleading guilty. You get the full 4 points and the misdemeanor conviction.
To fight it, plead not guilty at your court appearance and the judge will set a trial date. At trial, the state has to prove you drove carelessly in a way that endangered people or property. A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but accepts the conviction, which can matter if there’s a civil lawsuit over the same incident. Missing your court date or the waiver deadline can trigger a bench warrant and a separate failure-to-appear charge.
Getting a Conviction Set Aside Later
Nebraska’s set-aside statute, 29-2264, lets some people petition to nullify a conviction after completing their sentence. Subdivision (3)(b)(iii) specifically excludes “any misdemeanor or felony motor vehicle offense” under the Nebraska Rules of the Road from the set-aside process in subsection (3).12Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 29-2264 – Probation, Completion, Conviction May Be Set Aside Careless driving falls under the Rules of the Road, so that door is closed.
A narrower path exists under subsection (2) of the same statute, which covers people sentenced to a fine only, probation, or community service. That subsection doesn’t contain the motor vehicle exclusion. Since most careless driving sentences involve only a fine, some drivers may have grounds to petition under subsection (2) after paying in full. The court looks at your conduct since sentencing, the likelihood of future offenses, and whether setting aside the conviction serves the public interest. The interplay between the subsections is complicated enough that a lawyer is worth consulting before you file.