I'm an unsafe driver. I speed, follow too close, use my cell phone, program my GPS, and otherwise multi task when I should pay attention to driving. This, combined with covering 30,000 miles a year on average, means many meetings with Officer Friendly. If the ticket is righteous I don't fight it too hard and never, ever argue with Officer Friendly. Courts are for arguing.
What rankles is a flat out wrong ticket like I got last week at 11:10 p.m. for running a stop sign. One, I did stop and two, the officer's view of the area behind the stop sign was blocked by a bus stop, trees, bushes and a banner welcoming the troops home. All he could see was my headlights after I entered the street.
Game on! Think Alice's Restaurant. I've taken several pictures and printed maps. Now I'm drawing arrows and writing notes. Court is 1/23/09 so will plead "Not Guilty". If I can't convince the City Attorney to drop it will get to play Perry Mason.
2 comments:
As a frequent Traffic Ticket collector. I Can honestly say that out of my 9-10 Tickets i have had in 7 years that i deserved all of them, i was just flat out speeding. Now there were 2 tickets in Fire-stone that were for like 4-5 mph over that those dick heads could had not written me. But i hope you beat the system. Is it a big deal to fight a ticket?
I got your email. In Virginia you have to stop at the stop bar (the white line painted at the stop sign,) or in the absence of one before the crosswalk. In the absence of either of those at the closest edge of the intersection. Our state code is online, you may want to look for Colorado's on the net too.
If you stopped far enough back that the officer couldn't see you due to obstructions the question the judge will ask is how could you see the road to pull out safely with those same obstructions?
I don't know the intersection and I wasn't there so I don't know what happened and can't comment on your individual circumstances. You are right however in avoiding an argument on the side of the street. The place for that is in court. If you really think the officer is mistaken then by all means let the judge know.
Good luck!
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