WinkOsmosis
Banned
Fight the Man.
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First Ticket - Red Light: Fail To Stop @ 4:07AM ($190)
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I wasn't speeding, but I did accelerate at the last minute, STILL not breaking the speed limit.
I did not say you where speeding. I said you where going to fast for the conditions. you said in your first post.
Even doing the speed limit of 60kmph, I knew that if I locked the brakes I'd be in the middle of the intersection
Maybe you should have been going slower then 60. Just because the speed limit is 60 does not mean that you have to drive 60. It's called driving for the conditions. If you could not stop in time then you where driving to fast for the conditions.
I did not say you where speeding. I said you where going to fast for the conditions. you said in your first post.
Even doing the speed limit of 60kmph, I knew that if I locked the brakes I'd be in the middle of the intersection
Maybe you should have been going slower then 60. Just because the speed limit is 60 does not mean that you have to drive 60. It's called driving for the conditions. If you could not stop in time then you where driving to fast for the conditions.
imported_Tomato
Diamond Member
Just got a ticket for rolling through a stop sign at 15mph at 3am... $270. *sigh* Good luck to you, I feel your pain.
Pssst, gooo away. Sorry, but I don't care. Bottom line, the cop wrote the ticket on the basis that I entered the intersection with a red. Not true. He also stated that he had a green while I was still in the intersection. This isn't possible considering there is a 3 second transition while both directions have red... even below the speed limit I'm not going to be in that intersection for more than .5-1 sec.
Everyday, I drive 100km... from the city, to insane windy highways, to 8km of gravel roads. I drive in freezing rain, a foot of snow, etc. I don't have a choice. I'm very comfortable with my judgement and driving ability. I posted this thread because the ticket is bullshit.
I don't care about $190, I care about 3 demerit points and insane insurance.
CubicZirconia
Diamond Member
You don't have a clue whether or not the ticket was legitimate, don't pretend like you were there or something.
There are plenty of cases when going through a yellow is perfectly OK. As long as he made it throught the intersection before the red, he didn't do anything wrong.
If you got screwed, fight it. It can't hurt.
I don't need to be there, when he gave his description. "Conditions normal, a tad of slush on the road... but skinny little tires on a little tercel." No matter how much we like to pretend otherwise, cops usually do not outright lie. I don't know what the law is in Canada, but here in California at least, your rear bumper has to pass the first part of the intersection before the light turns red. And at older stop lights, the instant one light turns red, the other turns green. In the newer ones, there is usually a second or two delay, exactly for examples like this. The way they time lights, is if he was going to speed limit, he would either be able to make it through without accelerating, or he'd be able to come to a complete stop. If his brakes were going to lock up, he was going too fast, or didn't see the light in time. Whenever a light is yellow, I don't go through unless I'm literally at the intersection, I see too many idiots accelerate and go though, often when the light is turning red. I'm not calling Phuz one, but overall people who accelerate to make it through lights, they're trying to beat the light, and that makes it a close call. My first ticket was that exact scenario, a few months after getting my license. 69 in a 35 zone (mph). I didn't think I had sped up that much, and I thought if I did brake I'd stop in the middle of the intersection. Now, after a few more years, I realize I was cutting it close, it was totally my fault. Since then I've paid more attention to the lights, and haven't been caught in one since. So just because someone hasn't been caught, or thinks they're a good driver, doesn't mean they can call a ticket bs, and try and fight it. Just suck it up, and learn.
calbear2000
Golden Member
Exactly. Posting about fighting tickets here will awlays get you criticism even if you claim you were not in the wrong. For some, they cannot fathom the possiblity that a police officer may have been unjust
calbear2000
Golden Member
I can almost guarantee that there are some intersections in California where a yellow is too short in time duration to allow for a car travelling at or below the speed limit to either stop before or make it through the intersection.
There is a particular intersection I cross daily where I know its physically impossible. Thus I travel well below the limit to avoid such an instance.
And there are those that can not fathom the possibility that they might actually be right.
I don't know what it's like where other people live but here in Vancouver the amount of people that blow stop signs and stop light is crazy. I guess that why I feel so strongly about this subject.
Phuz anyway if your in the right then be my guess and go to court. That's what there for.
calbear2000
Golden Member
Thats why the people who don't know the full story refrain from making self-righteous assumptions that the officer was wrong or the driver was wrong. They don't say "Suck it up, slow down, and pay the fine"
Yeah, which is what I do as well. Instead of chancing a ticket, I just slow down around those intersections. I'm not saying that the cop could have been wrong, but I've seen enough of these instances to say that he was probably chancing it, and got caught. I won't deny he thought he was in the clear, but when things like this happen, the second you get pulled over, your memory of the event is changed.
I've already been burnt on this SAME road. I obey the speed limit. I've got nothing to gain by lying to a message board.. you guys aren't the jury.
The bottom line is there is a 3 second transition on the lights, and both directions have a red for 3 seconds. He couldn't have had a green. I mean, really. I'm not going to jeapordize getting t-boned in the busiest intersection of my town, simply to save 60 seconds.
I just wanted to ask the potential trouble of fighting it, if it was worth my time, etc. I didn't want you coming in here telling me how to drive, that cops are always right, etc.
Everyone, thank you for your opinion. Sigh.
What city are you from Phuz?
Did you call Points yet? If they choose to represent you it will cost you some money, but they could save your a$$.
Did you call Points yet? If they choose to represent you it will cost you some money, but they could save your a$$.
Amen to that. I have two speeding tickets in the system for a total of 8 points with a 4 point license, so I have to be able to get rid of those points. The first ticket (3pts) I guess I may have deserved, but the second one was total bullshit ( going about the speed of traffic, got caught in a radar trap) - 5pts. 🙁
I say fight it heck it is worth a shot....
I also love the people who are saying that if it is your word vs. the cop then there is no chance you will win...I was in many a situation where it was my word vs. theirs and I at least get the fine lowered....
Heck I even had one cop blatantly lie in court in front of the Judge and I pointed it out....I got pulled over with my college Roomate the day before thanksgiving as I was driving both of us home, we had just came out of some traffic because of an accident...the cop pulled me over and gave me a really hard time, finally unable to cite anything else he gave me a ticket for my window tint saying it was too dark, ticket was like $250.
A few months later I take it up in front of the magistrate and the cop that was there, I provided a bill showing that the tint was in fact the legal limit and also said that I would be more than happy to remove it if need be...the magistrate said I was not at fault and was ready to let me go when the Cop appealed the case (highly unheard of since the Cop has less of a chance in court if he loses to the Magistrate)...needless to say I was thoroughly pissed off as I would have to drive another two hours in a few months because of this and take a day off from work....
Well finally we go to court and since it was in front of the judge I wore a suit and tie, the officer seemed startled that I was the one he had pulled over as when I dress up I look a good deal older (people usually guess early to mid 40s even though at the time I was 20)...the judge asked him his side of the story, and at that point he blatantly lied...he said that he tested my windows and that he found them to be illegal but he gave me the option of having it removed and comming back to him at which point all of this would be dropped....
I proceeded to tell the Judge that if I had know the officer was going to blatantly lie in court I would have brought my roomate who was in the car with me to testify and that I was throughly appaled with the officers conduct, I also said that had the option been offered I would have not hesitated to remove the tint and save myself from over two days in court...
The judge ruled in my favor and did not seem pleased with the officer...
you gotta remember too, at least in the US the cops like going to court (maybe just in Mass) as they get a lot of overtime for it and they don't do a whole lot of work if it is just traffic court.
Good luck
I also love the people who are saying that if it is your word vs. the cop then there is no chance you will win...I was in many a situation where it was my word vs. theirs and I at least get the fine lowered....
Heck I even had one cop blatantly lie in court in front of the Judge and I pointed it out....I got pulled over with my college Roomate the day before thanksgiving as I was driving both of us home, we had just came out of some traffic because of an accident...the cop pulled me over and gave me a really hard time, finally unable to cite anything else he gave me a ticket for my window tint saying it was too dark, ticket was like $250.
A few months later I take it up in front of the magistrate and the cop that was there, I provided a bill showing that the tint was in fact the legal limit and also said that I would be more than happy to remove it if need be...the magistrate said I was not at fault and was ready to let me go when the Cop appealed the case (highly unheard of since the Cop has less of a chance in court if he loses to the Magistrate)...needless to say I was thoroughly pissed off as I would have to drive another two hours in a few months because of this and take a day off from work....
Well finally we go to court and since it was in front of the judge I wore a suit and tie, the officer seemed startled that I was the one he had pulled over as when I dress up I look a good deal older (people usually guess early to mid 40s even though at the time I was 20)...the judge asked him his side of the story, and at that point he blatantly lied...he said that he tested my windows and that he found them to be illegal but he gave me the option of having it removed and comming back to him at which point all of this would be dropped....
I proceeded to tell the Judge that if I had know the officer was going to blatantly lie in court I would have brought my roomate who was in the car with me to testify and that I was throughly appaled with the officers conduct, I also said that had the option been offered I would have not hesitated to remove the tint and save myself from over two days in court...
The judge ruled in my favor and did not seem pleased with the officer...
you gotta remember too, at least in the US the cops like going to court (maybe just in Mass) as they get a lot of overtime for it and they don't do a whole lot of work if it is just traffic court.
Good luck
I don't know about Quebec. But here in Florida (in the big/populated counties), all you have to do is take it to court. Once there, the judge offers a blanket plea to everyone there for a non-serious offense (traffic court is severely backed up and overworked). No points. No school. Just pay a fine and court costs. Works every time. I've done it a total of 5 times in 3 different counties. 🙂
And cops do lie. I'm living proof.....as I pay bogus parking tickets about once a month for PARKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. Apparently, there's some invisible "no parking zone" that extends 50 yards from the fire hydrant. Same two cops every time. Unfortunately, you can't reasonably fight parking tickets. GRRRR....
And cops do lie. I'm living proof.....as I pay bogus parking tickets about once a month for PARKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. Apparently, there's some invisible "no parking zone" that extends 50 yards from the fire hydrant. Same two cops every time. Unfortunately, you can't reasonably fight parking tickets. GRRRR....
Well it's been nearly 5 months since I got my first speeding ticket and I haven't yet received a summons from the court.. that's prob. a good sign that the system here is overworked 😉 However.. cops don't even have to show up here and I dunno how the system works. With only a 4pt license, I don't want to risk TWO license suspensions (8 pts = license gets suspended twice) which means I can't drive for 9 months and god knows what it will do to insurance.
Maybe some day?
You could start one yourself.
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