I would think going to court and pleading the case to the judge may benefit. Or it may not. Worst case you still pay the same amount had you not gone to court and spend a couple hours of your time. I say make the case to the judge, sounds to me like you did the responsible thing. Sounds like a petty ticket in my book, although the law does support it. Every once and a while I would like to see some logic applied to the rules of the road, not just by the book.

 

You were using the carpool lane improperly, so what's the issue? If there is trouble in your lane you should be following at a safe distance and be able to stop in time. Swerving into adjacent lanes or the shoulder is not a safe thing to do. If you get rear ended, that's their fault.

Why do you hate LE for doing their jobs???

 

its a few bad cops that ruin it for everyone else, lately it seems like its more than half the force. on top of that, they seem to have gome from helping citizens to enforcing laws, it's like they have the city's best interest instead of the peoples, i just think it's retarded taht you explained that to him and you still got a ticket, i mean seriously? most cops with a good explaination will let it go because it's excusable, i'd tell the judge the exact same thing and plead not guilty, very similar thing happend to me two years ago but in a shoulder lane (not really a lane) but after a thorough explaination to the judge, she let me go and said to the cop not to write a bogus ticket like this again.

 

Good defensive driving there. You saw the situation ahead + idiot behind you tailgating/not paying attention and avoided being rear-ended. Even though person behind you would've been at fault, who wants to be rear-ended if they can avoid it safely (I'm sure you looked first in side mirror) and you did by changing lanes...uh duh.

Not trying to be a Monday morning quarterback, but the only place where I see you went wrong in that whole situation was speeding up passing cars to get back into non-carpool lane. Could've slowed down to let SUV idiot now blocking you get ahead, then tuck back in your original lane behind SUV or when safe while turn indicator was on. Speeding up and passing cars at 75mph in a 65 imo, is what changed the whole situation in the officers eyes. Least officer didn't give you both violations for speeding and carpool lane + no front plate and non current sticker.

Guess try stating situation in court, but I'd leave the speeding up and passing cars part out, unless asked.

 

How can you be so sure?

 

^ Ask him

 

Gotta agree here... even if some dumbass tries to get into my lane with me there, I won't budge simply because it'll be their fault and their insurance, but if I swerve and hit someone else, it'll be my fault and my insurance... or a ticket for using the carpool lane illegally.

Gotta disagree with that. Good defensive driving would have avoided the whole situation to begin with.

If you go to court, plea "No contest", not "guilty". Although they are similar when it comes to sentencing, there are huge differences between the two when it comes to liability.

 

On the contrary, he did avoid the situation by getting out of the way knowing the tailgater wasn't paying attention to the situation ahead and he was. And if he did pre-check it was clear to safely get in other lane, that's defensive driving in my book. He knew the situation ahead of him + situation behind him and I'm assuming along side of him. He avoided being in an accident.

Anyway for sake of argument, I'm on the OP's side, except for speeding up and passing cars after avoiding being possibly rear-ended.

 

Pm me if you need to take traffic school.

 

Definitely +1.

For everyone who says OP was wrong to drive in the car pool lane no matter what, picture this --> It's rush hour and traffic is crawling except the car pool lane which is empty. You hear screeching tires behind you and see the car behind about to you hit you.

Do you
a) Move into the empty carpool lane besides you to avoid being hit or
b) Take it in the rear, wreck your G, and risk bodily injury to yourself because driving in the car pool lane is a no-no and/or because the person's insurance should cover it?

I say 99.9% of ppl will pick A. Wrecking your car and injuring yourself when it easily could'be been avoided is just plain stupid.


Now, I'm not saying that the cop was wrong to ticket the OP, but I think it definitely has a chance of being dismissed.

 

If you noticed something like that, you should have gotten out of that lane a long time ago... if you drive defensively, you don't let yourself drive with a wall of death around you anywhere when there's a dumbass like that driving behind you. If the driver in front of you and the driver behind you are cool, then the wall of cars to your right and left aren't that big of a deal.

And yes, they can crush the G and pay for a new car... it's not that great of a car...

 

wasn't the carpool fine raised to ~$1000 in cali last year?

 

I drive like probably the biggest a$$hole on the road compared to you guys and still haven't gotten a ticket or have been pulled over in 4 years. Maybe, it's because I'm white?.....lol

 

When I received the ticket, they told me traffic school is not necessary therefore its not available...No contest might get you a reduced fine but youre not admitting youre guilty. Even though my situation was very similar to yours, I plead guilty because the bottom line is that I was in the diamond lane and I got caught. I figured pleading guilty would also show that Im taking responsibility and not trying to bs...

 

Ok, I'll finally bite on this one. Of all the carpool tickets I write, guess what 75% of the people use for an excuse? Same thing the OP stated. It's not the cop being the a**hole, it's the carpool cheaters who know what the are doing and try to use that lame excuse. They ruined it for those who actually do need to swerve. A few things; If you have to swerve to avoid rearending someone, you need to increase following distance. One car length for every 10 MPH is a general rule of thumb in perfect conditions. If the asswipe behind you is tailgating, increase your distance from the car in front of you so you both have more time to slow down. The times I have gone to court or seen other officers testify on a carpool violation, its always this same excuse the defendant gives the judge. Whether or not they are telling the truth, the judge will always find them guilty. The judge has to base his decision purely on what is specifically outlined in the vehicle code regarding the rules of the carpool lane. The will agree with the violator the evasive action may have been necessary, but......The judge says treat the carpool lane like it doesn't exist as a lane, or instead of a broken white line, think of it as a brick wall between 5am-9am, 3pm-7pm. Counties and the state are hard up for money. Where do you think a traffic commisioner's paycheck comes from? At $450 a pop, why do you think we get grant money to write carpool tickets on overtime? The carpool lane was originally designed to promote carpooling to save on gas, reduce air polution, and reduce congestion. But we Californians love our automobiles. I personally think the carpool lane is a waste and only leads to further congestion. But that line of thinking will prevent me from ever promoting. I'm a fart smucker.

Hint: There is one commisioner in Santa Clara County that says its his own personal policy to reduce the fine for first time violators of the carpool lane.