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Woman guilty of separate traffic violation

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A Newport Beach woman who could face possible vehicular manslaughter charges from a fatal crash earlier this week pleaded guilty Thursday to an unrelated traffic violation Thursday, her latest in a long string of tickets.

Danae Marie Miller, 22, pleaded guilty at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana to driving while using her cell phone in November and was given a fine. She was arrested Monday night for allegedly hitting and killing a bicyclist on San Joaquin Hills Road with her car.

Police said she failed a field sobriety test at the scene of the crash, which was only a short distance from her home.

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Court records show that since 2005, when Miller was 17 years old, she has received 15 traffic citations for multiple violations, the bulk of them in her first years of driving.

According to DMV officials, a driver’s license can be suspended if drivers accumulate four points on their record in 12 months, six points in 24 months or eight points in 36 months. Between July 2005 and January 2008, Miller was convicted of eight traffic violations, each worth one point. They ranged from speeding to running a stop sign.

They were never logged against her, DMV officials said, because she went to traffic school, which reduced her point count.

Drivers can attend traffic school for certain violations once every 18 months; it removes the points against the driver’s record.

In July 2005, Miller was cited for speeding, following a car too closely and making an illegal turn — each violation worth one point — according to state records. In April 2006, she was again cited for speeding, which would’ve earned her a fourth point, per state court requirements.

Later that year, in November, she was cited for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. She paid a fine for earlier speeding violation and waited until April 2007 to clear the wrong-way ticket, when she went to traffic school and got the point off her record.

In 2007, she was cited for speeding and running a stop sign in separate incidents, each worth a point ,and pleaded guilty, state records show.

The time between her tickets from then on, though, never added up to enough points in a given year to suspend her license.

In all, Miller has been convicted of nine violations worth one point each on top of two cell phone tickets, state and county records show.

A memorial for the victim from Monday night’s crash, Amine Britel, 41, will be in his native Morocco, a family friend told the Daily Pilot Thursday.

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