BS ticket story

[Insomniator]

I'm not gonna fight it, I'm just gonna pay it and be annoyed forever.

Sitting in traffic on the FDR in NYC last night... 3 lane road with one marked as exit only for the next exit. That lane is moving with cars flying down it.. and you know what? They are all going into the white striped lines merging in front of everyone just before the exit. Typical BS crap... people letting them in for no reason or they are just forcing themselves in. literally 50 cars probably merged in front of me by the time I passed that little section. My exit is maybe 1000 feet down from that, with its own lane also. I try to go into the exit lane which requires going into the white striped area for a few hundred feet. There is a cop car SITTING there that immediately tickets me 130 bucks + 2 points for disobeying pavement markers. His car is at the end of the white striped area, blocking anyone trying to get by that way. I went right in front of him into the lane after the ticket... I might have been in the striped part for 75 feet actually. He must do that all night.

So basically its OK to use an exit lane to skip 20 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic and forcefully merge and disrupt traffic in all 3 lanes, but NOT OK for me to go into the white lines for a few hundred feet to ACTUALLY take an exit.

cool story and me mad i know

 

[rcpratt]

That's obnoxious.

 

[gorcorps]

Two wrongs don't make a right. You fucked up on your own, the other cars have nothing to do with it. $130 for impatience... hope you learned something

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Cops can be ass hats sometimes

 

[mugs]

What the other drivers did was stupid, illegal, inconsiderate and possibly dangerous. What you did was stupid, illegal, possibly dangerous, but probably not inconsiderate.

Everyone involved deserved a ticket. Everyone except you should be sent back to kindergarten to learn about waiting in lines.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mr-roadshow/ci_21863728/roadshow-traffic-cops-weigh-dumb-tickets

From a CHP Officer:

Motorists don't know what the stop is for, but in many cases it causes them to do a self-check. They slow down a little, they set down the phone, they buckle their seat belts. They are also aware that there is enforcement occurring, which further supports safer habits.

Meanwhile, the individual being stopped may be upset, or they may be polite, courteous, even enjoyable. However, the stop and the ticket isn't always about them. It's about the violation initially observed.

So I issue him or her a citation for not wearing a seat belt. That person then proceeds home, to work or to a social event and they possibly tell everyone how the horrible CHP writes "dumb" tickets. The end result is every person who hears that story is aware that CHP issues tickets for seat belts and hopefully they double-check themselves and make sure to secure their seat belts and those of friends and family. It becomes educational for everyone who heard the story.

Regardless of the reason for the ticket, hundreds of unrelated people are potentially affected and improve their habits, even if for a short time. That is one of the reasons we write what some perceive as dumb tickets. It does influence behavior, and improved behavior saves lives and reduces injury.

 

[Jeraden]

I feel your pain, my commute every day involves one of those intersections. 2 lane road. Traffic backed up for a mile to go straight. Right hand lane splits off to the right to another road with no stoplight. That's the way I need to go. I should be able to just breeze right through without slowing down. Yet every day, that lane is backed up just as much because everyone rides it down and cuts over at the last minute into the lane that barely moves. Especially frustrating when I finally get up there and have to wait for some asshat in front of me to merge left before I can continue on my way.

 

[Crusty]

Hah, my dad got a ticket for the doing the same thing in Boston once. At that particular exit they had moved the exit ramp further down the road a bit, but the original lane markings exist as well as the new ones.

We were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and as soon as the 'original' exit lane appears we pull into it. Note that there wasn't ever an actual lane just a superwide right lane that looked like it was turning into an actual exit lane. Only 50' later it just sort of disappears and merges back into the main lanes.

We hadn't passed any cars at this point and were now half in a lane, half in the breakdown lane but we see the actual exit lane about 100' up the road. So we just stayed in traffic, straddling the white line marking the breakdown lane waiting for the exit ramp to appear.

A cop pulls out of traffic at least 20 cars behind us into the breakdown lane, turns on his lights/sirens and fly's up onto our rear bumper yelling to get out of the way. We figured he had somewhere to go so my dad just moved back into traffic completely to let him pass. As soon as he gets in front of us he merges back into traffic and forces us to pull over and stop. Blah blah blah long lecture about not driving in the breakdown lane in Boston(car had TX plates) blah blah more nonsense about how he had a real emergency to get to but just couldn't let us go because apparently what we did was so egregious. Eventually he gives my dad a ticket for some stupid moving violation, cost about $75 I think.

The whole reason we were getting off the highway was to get gas. We pulled into the first gas station we saw, right behind the cop that pulled us over. He needed to get gas, that's why we were in his way. My dad was furious, he made me get out and pump gas.

 

[Insomniator]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mr-roadshow/ci_21863728/roadshow-traffic-cops-weigh-dumb-tickets

You don't actually believe that do you? That cop can make the city 2 grand a night sitting there. They don't give a crap if I'm wearing my seat belt or tell my friends and family to do so. I'm not blaming the cop, he was fine... sounded like he was on a script.

Its just if you are going to give out tickets over and over again for the same thing, do it half a mile back where people are stopped in the middle of an exit lane trying to jam themselves back into the continuing lanes and forcing people actually trying to take that exit to slam on their brakes. THAT would help more motorists and still get that hilarious point described in that article across.

 

[xanis]

Huh, didn't realize that there were actually traffic laws in NYC.

My mom got a ticket for something similar. She wanted to get into a right-turn lane, but did it further back so she was in the shoulder for a few feet. Cop gave her a ticket.

 

[Murloc]

using a preselection lane wrongly in jammed traffic is not dangerous and it's a slight crime.
Driving that many meters on striped areas is just begging for a fine and if everyone did that and an accident happened everything would be blocked for emergency vehicles.

The city should put a continuous white line between the exit lane and the transit ones and leave less space to enter it, someone who is prepared will get it anyway. This way it can't be exploited the way OP described (people would be able to overtake just a few cars), and doing it anyway would be a serious violation so cops could give big fines and drivers will clearly see that their violation of the law is not slight.

Or just ban overtaking on the right like it is in most countries.

 

[ichy]

It's funny how every single person who gets a traffic ticket thinks it's BS. I have yet to see a single person admit that the ticket they got was actually legit.

 

[KeithTalent]

Sounds like you deserved it.

KT

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

You don't actually believe that do you? That cop can make the city 2 grand a night sitting there. They don't give a crap if I'm wearing my seat belt or tell my friends and family to do so. I'm not blaming the cop, he was fine... sounded like he was on a script.

Its just if you are going to give out tickets over and over again for the same thing, do it half a mile back where people are stopped in the middle of an exit lane trying to jam themselves back into the continuing lanes and forcing people actually trying to take that exit to slam on their brakes. THAT would help more motorists and still get that hilarious point described in that article across.

I'm not saying he was in the right. Of course there are ways to better enforce the law, or if he wanted, to ding everyone possible. There's always a better way.

I'm just saying that it's interesting and they made a good point in the article, that even if it's "dumb" you will go around telling everyone. You told everyone on this forum, and probably a good # of your friends and family. The ticket did more than teach you a lesson. Now I'm sure more people out there know about "stupid tickets" and will less likely go out there to make the same mistake. Once again I'm not defending the cop or siding with you. It's just an interesting phenomenon.

 

[EPCrew]

I'm not gonna fight it, I'm just gonna pay it and be annoyed forever.

Sitting in traffic on the FDR in NYC last night... 3 lane road with one marked as exit only for the next exit. That lane is moving with cars flying down it.. and you know what? They are all going into the white striped lines merging in front of everyone just before the exit. Typical BS crap... people letting them in for no reason or they are just forcing themselves in. literally 50 cars probably merged in front of me by the time I passed that little section. My exit is maybe 1000 feet down from that, with its own lane also. I try to go into the exit lane which requires going into the white striped area for a few hundred feet. There is a cop car SITTING there that immediately tickets me 130 bucks + 2 points for disobeying pavement markers. His car is at the end of the white striped area, blocking anyone trying to get by that way. I went right in front of him into the lane after the ticket... I might have been in the striped part for 75 feet actually. He must do that all night.

So basically its OK to use an exit lane to skip 20 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic and forcefully merge and disrupt traffic in all 3 lanes, but NOT OK for me to go into the white lines for a few hundred feet to ACTUALLY take an exit.

cool story and me mad i know

Sounds like the Brooklyn Bridge exit...

 

[zerocool84]

It's funny how every single person who gets a traffic ticket thinks it's BS. I have yet to see a single person admit that the ticket they got was actually legit.

I recently got a ticket for speeding, 84 on the fwy which in LA realistically isn't that fast for a Sunday morning but I got caught and it's $376.

 

[Blackjack200]

It's funny how every single person who gets a traffic ticket thinks it's BS. I have yet to see a single person admit that the ticket they got was actually legit.

Actually, I've gotten several speeding tickets that were legit, so I guess you can never say that again for the rest of your life.

FWIW, I've also gotten BS tickets. Once I lent my car to my brother not realizing the registration had expired. He parked it in Philly and got a ticket. No problem so far, my mistake, I'll pay the fine. An hour after he got that ticket he had parked the car somewhere else and it got another ticket for the same offense. Ok, well the second parking maid didn't know about the first ticket, so I'll just call the city and straighten it out. Call them Monday morning. Oh no, they tell me, I have to pay both tickets. Now are you going to tell me with a straight face that that's a legitimate and fair ticket?

In my experience, many people are generally willing to pay fines and deal with consequences when they are legitimately in the wrong, but these same people become enraged at petty bullshit like what I describe above. I have to wonder if the city thinks about the kind of resentment it sews with that kind of behavior.

 

[ichy]

Ok you're right, that was hyperbole on my part.

I've gotten one speeding ticket in my life and it was completely legit. 73 in a 60. I wasn't happy about it but the cop caught me fair and square.

I have received some parking tickets that were complete BS. Most obnoxious one I got was a $150 citation for abandoning my car (never mind that I drove it to work every day.) Challenged it in court, meter maid didn't show up, it got dismissed.