In Florida, careless driving is a moving violation and carries 4 points. New York has a similar offense but only imposes 2 points. As a New York traffic lawyer handing 1,000s of traffic tickets annually, I can tell you that this is not a commonly issued ticket. It is much more likely for a motorist driving erratically to be issued a reckless driving ticket instead. Reckless driving is much more serious than careless driving as reckless driving carries 5 points and is a criminal charge (misdemeanor).
Interestingly, if this incident occurred in New York, a careless driving ticket would likely not have been issued even though Mr. Woods hit a fire hydrant and a tree. In New York, a police officer must actually observe the traffic violation as a pre-requisite to issuing a traffic ticket.
Rather, than hiring a traffic lawyer, Woods quickly opted to just pay the $164 ticket. Too bad as I bet I could have beat it.
Update: That $164 may not be the only thing that this incident cost Tiger. As a result of this incident, it has come out that two women (Jaimee Grubbs and Rachel Uchitel) are allegedly paramours of Woods. This is going to cost him BIG TIME!
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