Ticket *yield to traffic*... should I fight it or not??? (long)

[CleanS14]

Okay guys/gals... here's the situation. I got a ticket this weekend on my way home. The cop says it was for yeilding to traffic. But here's what really happened.

I was merging onto a street (speed limit 40mph) from lane 4 (slow lane) I looked twice behind me and in my blind spot only seeing one car (the cop) about 1/4-1/3 of a mile away. I figured that was a safe distance so I signaled and entered the street into lane 3. I checked my blindspot again becuase I needed to get into lane 1 in order to make a left turn at the next stoplight which was about 1/4 mile away. When I looked behind me it was safe to change lanes so I did signaling as usual... just as I was entering lane 2 the cop was right on my ass. He almost hit me so I moved out of his way into lane 1. At this time I was traveling the speed limit at 40mph. The cop swerved passed me like a retard. Mind you the road conditions were dark night, wet, raining hard! He was obviously speeding out of his mind!!! I mean how could he slide past me if I was going 40mph and he was supposedly going the speed limit??? Anyways he procedes to stop me.

The usual happens "Do you know why I stopped you???"... and of course I'm clueless. But I'm cooperating and give up the info. I ask him what the problem is and he says, "didn't you see me? I had to honk my horn and I almost hit you... don't you know you're supposed to yield to oncoming traffic? You yield to traffic it does not yield to you!" I take the book and sign it (holding onto it)... then I notice he put that I was only going 25mph which IMO even if I was going 25mph is a safe speed for the driving conditions on the road. I explain to him that he was inaccurately sighting me and he was infact traveling way over the speed limit and very dangerous for the road conditions. I then told him that I did see him and he was over a 1/4mile away when I decided to enter the street and for him to gain enough ground on me to almost hit me he must have been traveling way over the speed limit since I was infact going the speed limit because I relized that he was a police officer. His face was blank at this point... so I told him that I intended to see him in court with pictures of the area and that I have a math and physics minor which would allow me to calculate his approximate speed due to distance/time/speed. He was again silent. He then said "well you should just look out for traffic that is coming faster behind you... can I have my book back... we can discuss it in court."

It was about midnight and I was tired so I gave up the book and drove home heated! Anyways... I don't know what to do because although it was obvious he was speeding and I didn't do anything wrong... it's his word against mine. Not only that I am eligible for traffic school so I can get the point taken off my record if I don't fight it. But if I chose to fight it and lose... then no point off and no chance for traffic school.

Sorry for the long winded story... but... what do you guys think I should do?

Thanks,

-Jay

[WilloW]

Sorry to say but I think the cop got you man, them bitches considered it "unsafe lane changes/failure to yeild" when the other driver has to slow down due to your lane change. My former neighbor is an SJPD officer and I asked him about the same thing before, basically it's a judgement call on the cop. Not worth it to fight it unless you've got money out of your ass for a lawyer, that's when the odds are in your favor.

[CleanS14]

Damn... well at least I have traffic school eligibility...

That's what I figured though... one of my friends got a ticket for the same thing... but I feel like I got a ticket because I was in the cop's way... not because I made and unsafe lane change or didn't yield to him... either way... F|_|CK them cops!!!

[thelinja]

I really think that's BS. I know this law, and yes it is illegal to merge in front of someone if it causes them to slow down. This cop must have been flying if he traveled 1/4mile in the time it took you to merge over, however. The only thing that sucks is that all this cop has to say is that he was on call, that's a "legitimate" exuse for speeding in his case.

[NZO]

Might be some useful stuff in here (http://home.comcast.net/~debnar1/fighting_a_traffic_ticket.txt). It sounds like you could probably get out of it but i guess youd have to decide which is more likely to help traffic school or going to court. At least they have online trafficschools now. Good luck though, sounds like a really stupid ticket.

[aznpoopy]

:bash:

ok. you would've been OK if you hadn't mouthed off about seeing him in court. you see cops pull over tons of people all the time and chances are they aren't going to remember you, especially if you just act the normal routine. 'sorry officer, i didn't see you, etc...' he would then probably ticket you and forget you, or maybe even let you off if he knew he was in the wrong. but since you mentioned 'ill see you in court' to him, you can be sure hes going to be well prepared when you finally see him again. when it comes down to his word vs your word, the judge will almost always side with the officer, no matter what you do.

court is just another game and cops are quite good at playing it; he could've easily changed the numbers on the ticket or what not after the fact. if u do decide to challenge him in court theres a very good chance you are going to lose. if you hadn't said the typical 'ill see you in court,' then you would've had a much better chance of winning. as soon as a cop hears that you can be sure he's taking notes and such of driving conditions, speeds, etc... and dating them so that he can show the judge... 'look, i took notes...' REGARDLESS of what actually happened. on top of this, if u have a car like the majority of the people on this board, that is going to reflect badly on you.

for future reference if u do plan on challenging a ticket, don't make any indication to the officer that you are going to do so. good luck man!

[CleanS14]

Yeah... I wouldn't have gave him a mouthfull if he wasn't such an ass checking out my girl in the passenger seat!!! Or if he had stopped me for a worthwhile violation... I think I'll just leave this one alone and go the guilty route and ask for traffic school... :bash:

[Heartwork]

Originally posted by thelinja
The only thing that sucks is that all this cop has to say is that he was on call, that's a "legitimate" exuse for speeding in his case.

if he was going in for a call, he wouldnt have pulled iEatRice over.....a call would be more important than ticketing someone, just to "teach" them a lesson.....
if thats the case, i guess u can mention that in court, although it probably wouldnt help, but can make a point that he was speeding or not

[SimpleS14]

Yea, I wouldn't fight it. The cop was really fucked up...but then again that's how most of them are. :D Anyways, you should be lucky that he didn't ram your nice car. I'm very surprised that he gave you a ticket...usually when you have a nice girl riding inside the car, you tend to get off with a warning (if she says something).

[CleanS14]

Well the passenger (super fine) was pissed at him cuz he was staring at her like he'd never seen a female before. What a loser!!! I mean I don't care if he looked... I mean I look at other females all the time... but he had that :ghey: look on his face like he was undressing her with his eyes. I wanted to :hammer:

[Kaede]

If you lose in court and have to pay a fine, pay a check $5-10 more than necessary. The court will then send a check refund. Rip it apart and you won't lose any points and it won't be on record because the court can't process the record if they owe you money. Heard it from a friend. That's how he got out of a speeding ticket. Never been to traffic school, so don't know if this is worth your while.

[nokeone]

Originally posted by Kaede
If you lose in court and have to pay a fine, pay a check $5-10 more than necessary. The court will then send a check refund. Rip it apart and you won't lose any points and it won't be on record because the court can't process the record if they owe you money. Heard it from a friend. That's how he got out of a speeding ticket. Never been to traffic school, so don't know if this is worth your while.

Urban Legend...

[radhaz]

Originally posted by nokeone
Urban Legend...

/agree, heres a link with more info http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ticket.asp

[mrmephistopheles]

Snopes is da BOMB!

[airsoft]

you can win, just check out this book (require some research/reading...)
its called "FIGHT YOUR TICKET AND WIN"
my law teacher told us about that book. there are like many ways to fight it.

one is to delay it by writing it in saying you wish to fight although you still have to pay the penalty ( but refunded if you win ).

its called a written something hearing? testimony?... where you have about 6 months to write in an essay of what happened. and the cop writes his side.. judge reads it and presto he decides... but thatS not ALL !!!:eek:

the day or 2 before your due date you go to extend it for as long as you can whether they give you 2 months or 6 more months. the point is to delay it as long as possible. the cop will have likely turned his side of the story in. if he does'nt you WIN !!! if he does....

you subpoena his written testimonial and his copy of the ticket (cops write notes on the back of their side of the ticket so in court they can reread real fast what happened that night. you can use what he wrote against him basically.

you are allowed to subpoena both items ( no matter what dumbshit clerk says "no you can't") because it is evidence in your case. you gotta research and find the code for that also i forget.

now final step you send yours in... now if you actually do lose..
you appeal it, and ask to have the hearing before his honor or judge.

now @ the court date, ask to re extend again. now after that final re extention, you goto court. he will have most likely forgot what the fuck happened. and if he doesn't show.... you win...

the book will tell you what kind of questions to ask.

just as a tip, in court, it looks like this for traffic violations...

judge, defendant, officer

officer makes his statement. defendant questions officer. judge makes decision.

the point is to make cop look clueless, stupid, contradictive... like if its eg. 22350(unsafe speed), lets say 85 in 65, considering traffic conditions your speed wasn't unsafe.. you ask him, in your opinion how was traffic... he says light... (he can't lie ... cuz its obvious when traffics light or heavy) road condition... safe ... visibility ... clear... to the best of you knowledge was my speed unsafe, endangering any other vehicles or was the road in hazardous to myself? he says no but you were speeding. The VC 22350 is something like ( unsafe speed considering road hazards etc.) nothing about over the speed limit. so he got you for the wrong violation and you can ask the case to be dismissed.
THATS HOW I WON (( COP:confused: :boink: ME )) . but dickhead judge said i(HE) can change that, lemme think... but the cop was nice enough to say no hes right. he wasn't in violation at the time.

just read the book (or the areas of your concern). Don't let this piece of shit california traffic cop get you and he was lIEING !!!

in your case visibility was poor, he was speeding how did he know you were going 25mph. did he pace you. stuff like that. thats very vague but you get the idea.

language of the law, a whole new world
READ READ READ.... !!!!! =]

sorry for the long post.

hope it helps. i just hate traffic tickets. !

OOH YEAH !!!!! YOU CAN ALSOOOOOOOOOOO

i swear theres one more... ill repost a shorter one :P when i think of it.

GOOD LUCK

[Kaede]

Originally posted by radhaz
/agree, heres a link with more info http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/ticket.asp
Interesting. Then I guess my friend must really be hella lucky. Oh well.

[s15dude]

It is worth it to fight it, because even if you loose, u can usually get traffic school. In san diego we have a specail lawyer called mr.ticket who fight for you for $100. He is the bomb I used him more times than I care to admit. Anyways, he usaually wins, cops are stupid and a judge might be sympathtic if you are a well spoken person and can show your evidence really well. Goodluck, reminds me of teh ticket I got for making a "illeagal pass" when I drove around a stupid plate in the road, I crossed the double yellow line and a cop pulled out from an intersection and saw me. He prolly woulda let me go, cept he had this dumb rookie chick who filled out the ticket in her bubbly handwriting, mr ticket won this one for me by the way... goodluck!!! keep it real to the NWA song, "F$ck the police"