Dream Cruise Is Saturday: Michigan Reckless Driving and Exhibition of

The Woodward Dream Cruise runs this Saturday, August 15, the largest single day automotive event in the world: roughly a million people and tens of thousands of classic cars along sixteen miles of Woodward Avenue from Ferndale through Pontiac. It's also the most heavily policed sixteen miles in Michigan for one day a year, because every community along the route, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, Berkley, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield Township, and Pontiac, puts additional officers on Woodward, joined by the Oakland County Sheriff and Michigan State Police. If you're driving Woodward this weekend, the law that matters most fits in one read, and what you do with it decides whether Saturday stays one great day or becomes the date on a court file.

Key takeaways

Reckless driving under MCL 257.626 requires willful or wanton disregard for safety, and many Dream Cruise reckless charges are really careless driving cases written up at the higher level because of the crowd.
Careless driving under MCL 257.626b is a civil infraction with three points, no jail, no criminal record, and no 90 day suspension, and the gap between the two is the entire game in most Cruise traffic cases.
Exhibition of speed under MCL 257.626a has a lower threshold than reckless driving and can be established by tire chirp, parallel acceleration, or revving combined with movement, all of it on video.
Fleeing and eluding under MCL 257.602a is a felony at every degree, and it becomes a five year felony where the speed limit is 35 mph or less, which covers much of the Cruise corridor during the event.
Reckless driving causing serious impairment is a five year felony and causing death is a 15 year felony, and every fleeing and eluding conviction carries mandatory license revocation.

What is the central charge of Cruise weekend?

Reckless driving under MCL 257.626: operating a vehicle on a highway or other place open to the public in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. The base offense carries up to 93 days in jail, a fine up to $500, six points on the driving record, and a 90 day license suspension. It escalates sharply with consequences, because causing serious impairment of a body function is a five year felony with a fine up to $5,000 and license revocation, and causing death is a 15 year felony with a fine up to $10,000. The distance between a bad moment at a stoplight and those numbers is exactly one injured spectator, which is worth remembering on a corridor where the crowd stands feet from the pavement.

What does willful or wanton actually require?

This is the most important element and the most commonly misapplied one. Reckless driving isn't the same as bad driving, fast driving, or careless driving, because Michigan courts have held that it requires something closer to a conscious disregard of a known risk, more than ordinary negligence. What that means practically is that a great many Dream Cruise reckless driving charges are actually careless driving cases that an officer wrote up at the higher level because of the crowd, and that distinction is worth fighting over. Careless driving under MCL 257.626b is the alternative and the most valuable reduction available in these cases: a civil infraction with three points and a fine, no jail, no criminal record, and no 90 day suspension. The gap between a reckless driving conviction and a careless driving infraction is the entire game in most Dream Cruise traffic cases.

Where does exhibition of speed fit in?

Separate from reckless driving, MCL 257.626a prohibits engaging in a drag race or exhibition of speed or acceleration on a public highway, a misdemeanor with up to 93 days in jail, a fine, and license sanctions. The threshold is lower than reckless driving, and that's precisely what makes it dangerous on Woodward, because it can be established by rapid acceleration from a stoplight, tire chirp or spin, two vehicles accelerating in parallel, engine revving combined with movement, or video, and on Dream Cruise weekend, everything is on video. An owner who has spent two years restoring a car and pulls away from a light with some enthusiasm in front of ten thousand spectators has done exactly what this statute describes. Burnouts and donuts get charged as exhibition of speed, reckless driving, or both, and in a crowd environment prosecutors treat them seriously and juries do too, with felony exposure arriving the instant an injury results. Several Woodward corridor communities have also enacted local ordinances specifically targeting exhibition driving during the Cruise.

Holding a reckless driving ticket from Woodward? The reckless standard is a real threshold, and most of these cases can come down. Talk to a lawyer before your first court date.

(734) 453-7806

Why is fleeing and eluding the one that ends everything?

Under MCL 257.602a, fleeing a police officer who has signaled you to stop is a felony at every degree: fourth degree is a two year felony, third degree is a five year felony that applies when the flight occurred in an area where the speed limit is 35 mph or less or where a collision resulted, second degree is a 10 year felony where serious injury results, and first degree is a 15 year felony where death results, with every conviction carrying mandatory license revocation. Note the 35 mph provision carefully, because much of Woodward through the Cruise corridor is posted at or below that during the event, so a driver who panics and continues two blocks looking for a better place to pull over has committed a five year felony. If you're signaled to stop, stop.

What other charges come up on Cruise weekend?

Open intoxicants in a vehicle under MCL 257.624a is a misdemeanor that applies to any open container in the passenger area, whether or not anyone was drinking. OWI under MCL 257.625 carries up to 93 days for a first offense, 180 for a high BAC of .17 or above, plus a 30 day hard suspension and six points. Driving while license suspended under MCL 257.904 is a misdemeanor carrying up to 93 days plus an additional suspension, and it's the most common charge of the weekend, which is why checking your license status before you drive is the single cheapest piece of preparation available. Disorderly conduct under MCL 750.167 is a 90 day misdemeanor, and equipment violations, exhaust noise, window tint, lighting, and plate display, are civil infractions individually, but each one is a lawful basis for a stop. Beyond the legal checklist, verify your registration and insurance are current, expect attention if your car has an aftermarket exhaust, assume you're being recorded at all times from all angles, and don't argue with officers directing traffic, because compliance costs nothing.

What does a defense actually look like?

The most productive argument available is that the conduct didn't meet the reckless standard, because willful or wanton disregard is a real threshold and enthusiastic driving in a crowd isn't automatically over it, with the reduction to careless driving, a civil infraction instead of a criminal conviction, as the outcome to pursue. Every stop requires an individualized basis, and on a corridor with fifty thousand vehicles, whether an officer actually observed what the report describes is a genuine question. Video runs through everything: dashcam, body camera, spectator phones, and business surveillance all exist along Woodward, and footage frequently shows less than the report claims, though it also frequently shows more, which is why it needs to be reviewed early either way. And in a corridor packed with similar vehicles, identification, which car and which driver, is sometimes genuinely contested. If you're stopped, provide license, registration, and insurance, decline to answer questions about how you were driving or what you had to drink, decline consent to search, photograph the location, note the time and agency, preserve your own dashcam footage immediately, and get counsel to send preservation letters for police and business video before it's overwritten.

Which court will you land in?

The Dream Cruise route crosses multiple jurisdictions, and the court follows the location of the stop, not where you live. Stops in Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, and Oak Park go to the 43rd District Court in its Ferndale division, Royal Oak to the 44th, Berkley and Huntington Woods to the 45th, Birmingham, Beverly Hills, and Bloomfield Township to the 48th, and Pontiac and Auburn Hills to the 50th, with felonies bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac. For a Plymouth or Canton resident, all of these are out of county cases requiring travel to Oakland County for every appearance, which is one more cost of letting a reducible charge stand.

One Saturday shouldn't follow the car guy for years

Six points, a 90 day suspension, a criminal record, and an insurance increase that lasts half a decade, all from one Saturday on Woodward, and most of these cases can be reduced when someone actually contests the reckless standard, which is the core work of our reckless driving and traffic offense defense practice. Call Boria Law at (734) 453-7806 before you walk into court on a reckless driving ticket. Attorney Aaron J. Boria defends traffic criminal charges from the Dream Cruise corridor in Oakland County district courts, pressing the gap between reckless and careless until one great day on Woodward goes back to being just that, a great day, not a court file.

Quick answers

Will a reckless driving conviction raise my insurance?

Yes, and for a long time. A reckless conviction brings six points, a 90 day suspension, and a criminal record, and the insurance increase that follows can last half a decade. That's a major part of why the reduction to careless driving, a three point civil infraction with no criminal record, is worth pursuing rather than pleading to the original charge to get it over with.

Can spectator phone video be used against me?

Yes. On Dream Cruise weekend everything is on video, from dashcams and body cameras to business surveillance and thousands of spectator phones, and prosecutors use it. But footage cuts both ways: it frequently shows less than the report claims, which helps the defense, and sometimes more, which is why counsel needs to review it early and send preservation letters before recordings are overwritten.

Do I have to travel to Oakland County for every court date?

Generally, yes. Jurisdiction follows where the stop occurred, so a Plymouth or Canton resident cited on Woodward has an out of county case in the 43rd, 44th, 45th, 48th, or 50th District Court, with felonies bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac. An attorney can sometimes appear on your behalf at certain hearings, which is worth asking about at the first consultation.

Dream Cruise Is Saturday: Michigan Reckless Driving and Exhibition of Speed Explained