Meg had a bad March... A lot was going wrong for her. Nothing too serious, but still altogether frustrating. Toward the end of March, she got a ticket while driving Joe to baseball practice.
My first instinct was to fight it, so I asked her, “well, did you do what they said you did?” Meg hesitated and I sighed.
She approached her left hand turn. Because of congestion, she decided to enter her turn early, using the left-turn assist lane (the solid-and-hashed yellow lines that divide many highways and roads.) She completed her turn, and was subsequently pulled over. The officer accused her of “cutting in line.”
The actual ticket was for violation of CA Vehicle Code 21460(a) or “crossing a double-yellow line. Click the picture below to see a gallery of images that describe the situation. You can click on the right side of the image to go to the next; left, previous.
So did she cross a double-yellow line? Yes. But was it reasonable to expect that she’s know that her maneuver was illegal given the road markings? No.
I insisted that we fight the ticket. I found online that you can fight any traffic violation with a trial by written declaration. This allows you to plead and present your case without having to appear in court, and it’s available to everyone. I submitted the aforementioned images and stated our case.
The officer is giving 30 days to respond to the case we present, and then a judge is supposed to make a decision as to the outcome of the case. On May 30, the officer’s 30 days was up, and we still hadn’t heard anything. We crossed our fingers.
Yesterday, we received a plain form letter from the Superior Court of Ventura County. The boxes for “Guilty” and “Pay fine” were checked. And that was it. No explanation of the evidence presented against us. No response to the evidence we provided to the court.
Nothing.
It’s not that I’m unhappy that we have to pay $260, plus traffic school. I’m unhappy that we weren’t treated with more respect. Explain to me why you felt our case had no merit.
Maybe we should have plead “no contest.” Because with the both state and the county facing budget crises, that’s what it was.
No contest…
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