So is there an arguement since the ticket was marked 70+ as his speed, instead of an exact speed?

 

On the "docket" it didn't indicate "SPEEDING" as a violation...

So the arguement would be..Why did he say "unsafe lane change"...

And the other would be...Why did he yell at me and say I was speeding and didn't get cited for it....?

Hmmmm


Bobby

 

Ummm Bob, Would you rather he cited you for speeding as well? He probably was cutting you a break...On the speeding thing, was it in the red outlined box in pic below?

 

I'll give you my advice. If you tell me to pound sand, so be it. I won't be offended. Plead guilty and take traffic school. I say this for a couple reasons. If you plead not guilty and go to court, there is a good chance it will be on the officer's day off or outside his regular shift. That means overtime. And we get paid 4 hours minimum for showing up for 5 minutes of work. Guess who pays that? You do, I do, everyone that pays registration. CHP paychecks come from the DMV fund, meaning vehicle registration fund. If the officer shows up and gets paid 4 hours of OT, guess how the state compensates for the OT? They raise registration fees, so it affects everyone. Compound that by every officer in the state who has to go to court on OT. It adds up. And considering we all just got a 6.1% raise...(6.1% of 0 is still zero, we don't get paid crap).

The other reason is most people don't have a clue how to prepare or argue their point in court. We as officers have a lot of practice at it and are able to articulate the violation better, so the judge usually finds on our side. I will tell you this much. There is a process in the court room. The officer testifies first. Then you get to only ask questions. After you have asked the officer all the questions you want, the judge will ask if you would like to testify. You are not required to. The fifth amendment still applies. If you choose to, only testify to the violation you were cited for and how you did not violate it. The judge doesn't want to hear about the officers demeanor or that you were speeding to get home to take care of aunt Millie's sick cat. In your case, read 21658(a) VC.

21658. Whenever any roadway has been divided into two or more
clearly marked lanes for traffic in one direction, the following
rules apply:
(a) A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practical entirely
within a single lane and shall not be moved from the lane until such
movement can be made with reasonable safety.

Basically, you had to have affected another cars movement. Cut them off, forced them out of their lane, changed lanes 2 feet in front of them, something to that effect. If he cited you because you didn't signal only, then he cited you the wrong section. It doesn't say anything in there about signaling. Read the section and argue this section ONLY! Ok enough hints. There are many, many other things we have to include in our testimony. But I won't mention them here. After this, everyone is going to be going to court as it is.

As far as the speed written in the box, it has nothing to do with the citation. I never write in speeds unless it is a speeding violation. A new Sergeant came to me the other day and asked why I'm not writing speeds in on all my citations. Uh, because the missing mud flap on that big rig has nothing to do with speed. It creates confusion, your case in point. Some officer's were trained differently. Best of luck. PM me the officer's badge # if you want.

 

g35 chippie is 100% right on this. LEO's do get paid OT and 9.9 times out of 10 you will lose your case. Because believe it or not if the judge gives you a break then why doesn't he give every person after you with a more legitimate excuse a break? In addition, even if the LEO is slightly wrong to an extent he will not embarrass his fellow officer in front of everyone in the court room unless the judge and the officer are on bad terms but even then it's a maybe.

My best advice to you is that write a letter of declaration because:
1. You're not in the courtroom, you don't feel pressure, and you don't feel nervous so you are able to explain your side of the case much more detailed and calmly in the form on a letter.
2. LEO's do not get paid OT for writing their report and they have to do it either on their break or on their off time that's like doing homework
3. You have the ability to do your research and to properly prepare your case for the judge in the comforts of your own home
4. The judge will be in the comforts of his or her own chambers and be able to decide for themselves whether or not the case is well deserved
5. If the judge does decide to give you a break again he or her will be in their own chambers and will not have to grant ever other person behind you a break
6. If the LEO is wrong he will not have to worry about embarrassing him/her in front of their colleagues, courtroom staff, and so on.
7. Finally, if you receive the results of the case and you are dissatisfied with the outcome you can again declare to the court Trial de Novo which is a right to a in court retrial. So, that you're up to bat again to defend your innocence.

Good luck, you'll need it

 

Negative ghost rider. True I don't write trial by declarations while on OT, but I don't write them while on break or off duty. If I'm putting pen to paper, I'm getting paid for it. I don't take my job home with me. When I go 10-10, the brain shifts to "do the Spurs play tonight?"

 

hehe, my apologizes I meant to say they don't extra pay to write a counter letter. It's just their normal base pay, cause you know they get paid a grip after writing so many tickets... I kid I kid So, if you're busy giving tickets all day, you don't write the report on your break or when you're off duty, when do you write it? Perhaps, you don't even bother writing one...? Or maybe you'll just so happen to receive some season playoff tickets in your mailbox for the NBA out of nowhere...

 

Bobby,

I have a feeling the "unsafe lane change" is not because of your signal light but rather the way you changed lanes. You said in your original post that you changed "from the fast lane to the right lane". How many lanes did you cross and in what distance? You can turn your blinker on and shoot across three lanes of traffic and still be unsafe.

 

*** Update *** -

Re: License Plate - "Must be bolted onto the bumper" per Burlingame Police Department - He wouldn't sign off on the ticket having it displayed on the dashboard...Brought it back the same day "mounted"...Officer came back signed off on it...Took about only five minutes of his time

Re: Count 1 - No Front Plate -
South San Francsico Court -
The Judge was very understanding. He asked if I had the correction on my license plate corrected...Showed him proof...

Dismissed Count 1 - Front Plate Missing -

Re: Count 2 - Unsafe Lane Change -
Asked if I wanted to go to "traffic school for this one"...I explained what happned...He didn't dismiss Count 2 but "DISCOUNTED" my ticket from $300+ to only $150+processing fee came out to about $170.00.

Re: Speeding - CHIPPIE Gave me a break didn't cite me on the docket...!!!

I was happy with the result.

Tips if you go to court - Dress business like, and keep saying "your honor" and have your reasons and proof ready...!!!

Court took about 20minutes...

Re: Online Traffice School vs Regular School -
It's been about 10 years since I've gone.

How does the online class work?

If you had experience with online traffic school let me know what I should expecta and which one to go to.

Thanks for all your help fellas...!!!

BoBs =) -

 

the cops in that whole area including menlo park are very strict on their city. they enforce every law harder than other city polices. so my advice would be to find a new route to work/home/whatever

 

On line traffice school can be completed in about 4 hours if you don't take any breaks. My wife did it a couple of years ago and it is easier than sitting in a room listening to some guy tell you that you broke the law.

 

Bobby, glad to hear that things came out fairly good for you.

I had very good results with this traffic school:

http://www.traffic101.com/

It took me about 2 hrs to complete and they sent the results to the court for me. This was a couple of years ago.

 

thanks cru i'll check it out...

bobs =)