Re: [DMCForum] Re: Controversy

[Ryan Wright <ryanpwright@xxxxxxxxx>]

Marc,

I once received a ticket for an "illegal lane change -- turn &
position" when I was 17. I'd pulled up to a stop sign and needed to
take a right, then an immediate left. The road I took a right onto had
two lines, plus a turn lane. There was no room for two separate lane
changes, so I turned right into the second (outside) lane, then made a
proper (signaled) lane change into the turn lane.

The cop pulled me over and the conversation went like this:

Cop: Do you know how fast you were going around that corner?
Me: Uhhh, no. I was watching traffic.
Cop: So you don't know how fast you were going?
Me: No. I told you, I was watching traffic.
Cop: You should have known how fast you were going.
Me: Look, maybe 3 to 5 miles per hour? I don't know! I stopped at the
red light, made sure traffic was clear, then took a right! How fast
could I have been going?
Cop: You weren't watching your speedometer?
Me: NO, I told you, I was watching TRAFFIC. I wasn't moving! Who the
hell watches their speedometer when they're stopped at a red light?!
Cop: (loudly), THEN I'M GOING TO WRITE YOU A TICKET FOR NEGLIGENT
DRIVING FOR NOT WATCHING YOUR SPEEDOMETER!

Caveat: He knew me. He knew my car. I'd fought and won a reckless
driving charge for racing another car the length of one block not 3
months prior and this guy had an axe to grind. So at this point I
mouthed him off, because he just being a prick. "Go ahead f*****, make
my day." Something like that.

He didn't give me a negligent driving ticket because there's no way he
could have defended it. So he wrote me this bogus "illegal lane
change" ticket. Well, perhaps that's true - you're supposed to turn
right to the inside lane - but with this road, it was impossible. To
take a right and then a left required an illegal lane change of one
type or another whether he liked it or not.

I just dropped the ticket off with my lawyer. I didn't even have to go
to court - they just threw it out.

Moral of the story, if you get a BS ticket, you CAN fight it, just not
by yourself. Remember that judges are lawyers and lawyers like it when
you hire other lawyers. Lawyers don't like it when you try to defend
yourself. Even if you're also a lawyer.

--
- Ryan
http://www.memfrag.com - Store your bookmarks. On every computer.


On 12/18/05, Marc Levy <malevy_nj@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Yes, there are always other sides to a story.  But in
> court, the officers testimony is always more credible
> than the defendant.
>
> Over 15 yrs ago I got 2 tickets from the same officer,
> one was "changing lanes without signaling", and
> "improper lane change".  WTF?  They are the same
> thing, no?  Well, I was sure I used my turn signal,
> and at the stop the officer asked to so show him my
> signal worked.
>
> I went to court.  Cop gets on the stand "He changed
> lanes without signaling", I get up "I changed lanes,
> and used my signal properly".  Can anyone guess who
> won?  :)
>
> The fact that he issued me 2 tickets for the exact
> same thing should be evidence that (for some reason)
> he was biased.  Maybe he did not like a 18 yr old kid
> driving a restored 66 Mustang convertible?  Maybe he
> had a quota to make?  Maybe he way not paying close
> enough attention to my turn signal lights?  Either
> way, this was a simple case of my word against his.
> The judge took his testimony as the truth.  I always
> wonder why I was not charged with lying under oath
> too!  Maybe because there is no profit it in for the
> town?
>

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