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…
5 comments:
Traffic violations don't require "intent." If she admitted to crossing the line in what you submitted to the court, regardless of whether she claims she "didn't know" or "couldn't forsee" or whatever, they see that as an admission of guilt.
I don't know about that. Can you be written for disobeying a sign that's not possibly visible? There's no doubt that you did what the sign said not to, but there was know way to know what you were doing was wrong.
AFAIK, if the sign isn't visible, it's on them. But that's hard to argue, as it requires they actually go out there and check, which requires more effort (bureaucracy FTL) and so they won't follow up.
Agreed with Rachel about intent - but your point (sign visibility) is salient.
I'd say best of luck, but it sounds like it's over...
At least it's just money/negativity and not a hit-and-run...
I'm just saying that the lack of respect was the most disheartening part. At the very least, they could clarify the markings. I happen to know they now have $260 that they could put toward it...
Completely agree, I just try to stay away from expecting decency/ethics/morality from most agencies. That's a sure path down disappointment lane...
For something this civil, for lack of a better term, they really could/should expand on a blunt yes/no. Don't know if you're following up on it or not, but it could be a breach in procedure. There's seldom any oversight of this sort of thing, and so lots of "little people" get stepped on...
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