[RonPaul4Prez]

Originally Posted by THE JEDI

375 for a ticket or 200 for a lawyer..I'd take the lawyer..dude it's all a big ole plan states need money cause all our money is in Iraq...fight the power cops are getting scary...I was home in May, and I looked at a cop he rolled down the window and goes..you got a F^&&cking problem I was like..WTF asshole, but on the flip side I hadn't been home in so long asked this sexy black cop for directions and she smiled and gave it to me.......fight the ticket.

If you want a decent attorney, spend more than $200. that'll only get you an attorney who will plead you and do no real work on the case. My firm charges around $1500 for minor traffic violations. Not everyone thinks it is worth it. Some do.

[Buschy]

you might as well pay it./ you aint gettin out of it without an attorney which may cost more.

[335icopeman]

check out ticket assisian (sp)

[AndreTheGeek]

You need to convince the judge that a stop could not be safely made. If your car had already entered the intersection when the light changed, then you had the right to clear the intersection by continuing forward.

[uabimmer]

Originally Posted by 335icopeman

check out ticket assisian (sp)

whats that??? website?

[Chowbow]

Cops don't write tickets for money. They don't get paid more if they write more tickets. They don't have a true quota like people think they do. If people on your force write 100 tickets and you write 3, then there's a problem, but there is no official quota.

They are there to enforce the law which they do not dictate or set. They also think a lot of laws are stupid and useless, but they are supposed to enforce it. The OP ran a red light and made an illegal u-turn, both of which he knew was against the law and got busted. A cop just happened to be there and I would have pulled him over too if I saw that. I think the OP is somewhat lucky that he only got written up for 1 citation rather than 2.

I'm not somebody who follows every step of the law, but if I get busted for something I was doing illegally, I'm not going to try and squirm my way out of it. I'll just pay the fine, and suck it up. If the cop was really a bad guy then he would have wrote 2 citations instead of 1.

EDIT: a number of replies came up after I started writing this reply. I wrote this reply in regards to a member saying that cops are there to give out tickets to pay for the war in Iraq and that they are becoming nasty. Such is not the case. Cops are regular people like you and I. Many of my good friends are cops and unless they were in uniform, no one would have any idea.

[RonPaul4Prez]

Originally Posted by uabimmer

-thanks for the replies guys

uhmm does anyone think i have a chance of winning this one... keep in mind most of my witnesses are not even 18 so wouldnt that cause a problem with the signed statments ?? do you think a judge is gonna believe a bunch of teenagers??

and yeah i definatly sped up to get over the line cause i knew it was gonna be close...


maybe i should just plead "guilty with explination" and at least try to reduce my fine instead of spending costs just to realize I'm screwed

Just because you're a minor doesn't mean you can't provide testimony. What you may be thinking of is a minor's ability to make a contract. It is a completely different thing. Don't worry.

Depends on the teenagers. If you guys are honor roll students that clean up well and your judge isn't an a-hole (probably is at the city level), then you have a shot. No harm in trying (well sometimes...some judges will slam you for going through a trial with a steeper punishment than you would have gotten if you had plead).

Who cares if you speeded up? You may not have been driving recklessly or have been speeding, so big deal. Get a lawyer.

[Chowbow]

Originally Posted by RonPaul4Prez

Never underestimate the ability of the government to screw up. There are a number of reasons why an officer may not show up to a hearing. But they probably will, and if it is your word versus theirs (no video, etc) good luck.

In CA, police officers are given 4 hours of overtime to show up in court if it is not within their shift. Provided that the OP got the ticket at night, this cop probably works in the afternoon / night shift. He/She has a lot of incentive to show up to court, even if they were to go in, sign in and say they have no recollection of the incident, and leave. That's 4 hours of OT, and I know of very few officers who will give that up unless hell was freezing over.

More and more judges are reluctant to let tickets pass when officers don't show up and those officers quickly get a bad reputation for doing so and their supervisors hear about it. Although you are right, there is a chance they won't show up or have something better to do at that time. Compared to years ago though when there was really no incentive for officers to show up, I wouldn't count on it nowadays.

[uabimmer]

actually i didn't make an illegal U-turn, those were the cars in front of me.

chowbow i respect your honesty but hell yes I'm gonna do everything in my power not to pay a high fine for something that was too close to call.

[ejazbmw]

Originally Posted by RonPaul4Prez

The judge in a bench trial and the jury in a jury trial will decide if any of it is believable.

thats why it's stupid most of the time they wouldn't believe friends or families. unless there really good at convincing them at it

[TurboFan]

Originally Posted by uabimmer

Well here's the deal. I'm driving around with my friends on Friday night and i need to turn left at a traffic light. The sign says "no U-truns 9pm-6am" and two cars in front of me do a U-turn. The light turns yellow and i decide to go for it ... and this was a close one but according to me and my passangers my rear axles were probably ON the line when the light turned red. edit: he didnt stop the Illegal U-turn cars!!! WTF

So everything is fine until 10 seconds later i see flashing lights in my rear view.
The cop asks me why i ran the red light and i very politely reply that i though i made it. then he asks who is in the car with me ... i reply my friends... anyway "license & registration" ... so i get the ticket.
In California a red light is $375.... that is one big ticket. I havent got anything in the mail yet but i am planning on fighting it cause i didnt run it!!

Anything I can do?? Its basically the cops word verses mine and we know how that works out.... police officer > 19 year old ...

I cant even take traffic school cause my last ticket was 12 months back....

Does anyone know of a way to get out of it.... PLEASE

I thank you in advance..

Hate to break it to you, but if you're in the intersection when the light is red, you ran the light. If you go to court, you're likely to hear what I've heard a judge say many times (not to me! ) - yellow means stop.

Sorry, not much pity. I have no love for people running any red light. You speed, oh well, more of a danger to you than me. You run a red light, you're likely to screw someone else. My wife is an ED physician, and can't keep track of the assholes that run red lights and kill / injur other people.

[e90fanatic]

i had the same problem...hire a lawyer, it'll end up 40-100 bucks no points

[RonPaul4Prez]

Originally Posted by TurboFan

Hate to break it to you, but if you're in the intersection when the light is red, you ran the light. If you go to court, you're likely to hear what I've heard a judge say many times (not to me! ) - yellow means stop.

Sorry, not much pity. I have no love for people running any red light. You speed, oh well, more of a danger to you than me. You run a red light, you're likely to screw someone else. My wife is an ED physician, and can't keep track of the assholes that run red lights and kill / injur other people.

The OP should find out what CA law is as he may not have ran the light legally speaking.

[canucklion]

achien, thanks damn E90post, I can't quit you.
Actually been really busy lately.

Yeah, I agree, your friend can try to testify, but as achien said, they'll be cross-examined, so better not try anything funny, otherwise, you'd be charged and your friends charged with perjury.

as another poster said, you rolled the dice. In Ontario, yellow means proceed with caution, i.e. if you're already moving and you don't think you have reasonable time to brake, then you continue on. However, you were clearly stopped at the light waiting to make a left turn when the light turned yellow, you took the gamble and you lost.

You stated that U-turn is illegal from 9pm to 6am, what time did you make the turn? if you made the turn during that time frame, then your excuse of "well, the two cars in front of me did it too" will not fly in court.

Originally Posted by achien

If his passengers/friends has no direct family relationship with the OP and they are willing to testify under oath, I believe this is possible.

One caveat though, your passergers/friends can be charge with perjury if they lie under oath.

p.s. welcome back canucklion, haven't seen you posts on this forum for a while...

[SES_D]

ticketassassin.com < -- it works. I've got a ticket cleared.

[e92phreak]

Do some reading and goto your local Barnes and Noble or Borders. There are a couple of books that help you beat your ticket. I think Nolo Press has one called "Beat Your Ticket."

If I remember correctly, as long as your wheels are past the limit line, then you have made it. This was in a traffic school that was taught by a CHP officer. I made an illegal U-Turn and was ticketed and fought it. I proved that had I not made the illegal U-Turn (I was actually turning left into a driveway) that an accident would have occured.

If you decide to fight this ticket, try and bombard the police dept and the officer with as much paperwork as possible. File for a "discovery," which is a request to see the officer's notes pertaining to your case. You want to have this available so that you know what he has against you. This is a formal written request for the disclosure of all the notes and information pertaining to your case. Your request could go ignored, and you can go and make a pre-trial motion to demand for these notes. If that is ignored, you can go back to the judge and request for the case to be dismissed.

[scoop]

What were road/traffic conditions like?
Perhaps if they were benign, a judge might like upon the case a little more favourably.
If you were already in the intersection, did you clear it in a hasty, yet safe, manner?
That too helps your case.
Not sure about down there, but if you fight it, a cop, unless he's a real hard-ass, will typically try to plea bargain with you right before your case is heard. Judges often convict you of a lesser charge for your trouble.

[Zeroday]

tickets are over analyzed here. 9 times out of 10 if you go to court and just ask for mercy they will convert it to a non moving violation. at least that's the way it's worked for me in the NE. just show up in in court early and dressed nicely and be overly polite. some of the posts here sound like you're in for an OJ simpson trial. No. You talk to the cop when they call your name before court, he almost ALWAYS offers a deal, unless you were a total ass to him, he offers the deal to the judge, the judge accepts it.

[RonPaul4Prez]

Find a local attorney who knows the courts in your area. He/She will do more for you than any marginal legal advice from non-lawyers and out-of-state attorneys.

[Zeroday]

Originally Posted by RonPaul4Prez

Find a local attorney who knows the courts in your area. He/She will do more for you than any marginal legal advice from non-lawyers and out-of-state attorneys.

WRONG! Lawyers in traffic court only piss off judges and cops. Unless it's a DUI, leave Johnny Cochran at home.

[Zeroday]

btw Ron Paul is a nut case.

[RonPaul4Prez]

Originally Posted by Zeroday

tickets are over analyzed here. 9 times out of 10 if you go to court and just ask for mercy they will convert it to a non moving violation. at least that's the way it's worked for me in the NE. just show up in in court early and dressed nicely and be overly polite. some of the posts here sound like you're in for an OJ simpson trial. No. You talk to the cop when they call your name before court, he almost ALWAYS offers a deal, unless you were a total ass to him, he offers the deal to the judge, the judge accepts it.

This is the way many attorneys who simply take your money to plea you handle a case. Personally, if I felt that I was innocent of what I was charged with, I wouldn't just bend over for the government.