Last Friday on my way to work I got my first traffic ticket in over two years. I was heading east on a four lane road with a turn lane in the center. The eastbound right lane was closed for construction, and I was stuck in the left lane along with about sixty other cars, moving about an inch every thirty seconds. Several cars made their way into the left turn lane and took a side street to escape the jam, and eventually I followed suit, only to be motioned to pull over by an angry-looking motorcycle cop.
I pulled over and tried to think of what I had done wrong. Technically, I had crossed into the turn lane a few yards before the break in the dotted yellow line. Normally, crossing the dotted yellow line into a turn lane is not illegal as long as you stop upon entering the lane, then execute your turn when traffic allows. I had passed several cars before turning, as had the van in front of me, which had also been pulled over. Several other cars that had accompanied us (including a few that entered the lane behind me) weren’t pulled over, however. Puzzling.
Finally, the cop approached my window and, without introducing himself or offering an explanation, asked for my license. Before producing it, I asked if he could explain why I had been pulled over. Sure enough, he had pulled me over for “misuse of a special left turn lane”. I decided to push my luck a bit and ask him why he hadn’t pulled over the cars behind me, and he said, “Well, they continued eastbound,” which could only have meant that they had either merged back into traffic or traveled the wrong direction in the oncoming lane. Odd, I thought. I asked him if he thought it was a little strict to ticket drivers on their way to work based on a technicality while they were trying to avoid a traffic jam, and he got upset. I decided to stop pushing my luck.
I produced the necessary documents and he went back to his motorcycle to run through the usual fifteen minute ticket-writing routine. I haven’t got the slightest idea why it always takes at least fifteen minutes to write a ticket. This time it actually took thirty minutes; fifteen minutes for the van in front of me and fifteen minutes for me. When he returned, I very politely asked him if he could point out to me where on the road I had entered the left turn lane and where I could have entered it legally. He seemed a little miffed by the question and said that we couldn’t see it from where we were (which I thought was strange, because this is where he had been when he had supposedly witnessed the whole thing), but pointed in the vague direction of where I had been and tried to answer my question. I thanked him and took the ticket. He then stressed, quite pointedly, that since this was only a traffic violation, I didn’t need to go to court if I and paid the fine by mail.
I made a mental note to plead “not guilty” and go to court, since it sounded like he really didn’t want to have to go. Still, assuming he does show up and I have to present my case to the judge, I don’t have much to go on. I did, technically, break a law, although if I had done the exact same thing just a few yards ahead of where I was, my actions would have been completely legal. I’m more than a little angry, since I’ve spent the last two years making every possible effort not to get speeding tickets, only to end up being ticketed for a minor offense that didn’t even endanger anyone. What’s worse is that, here in lovely Oregon, “misuse of a special left turn lane” is a Class B traffic violation, which is the same class as leaving a baby on your hood and driving in highway traffic. I’m not kidding. The law is right here, section 811.205.
So, what has this taught me? It’s taught me that next time I misuse the special left turn lane, I’m going to do it with a baby on my hood and get my full value out of the ticket.
Comments
Karma theory, revisited
Is it possible that all your good machine-karma is really just the expression of a karma imbalance? I mean, it certainly appears to me as if you have some kind of magnetic attraction to bilious traffic cops. Bad traffic cop karma. If there is such a thing, I believe it is very likely that you will agree to the notion that you're a prime example. Am I mistaken? :o)
Re: Karma theory, revisited
Actually, all things considered, I think I have pretty good police karma. I've gotten away with way more stuff than I've been pulled over for, it's just that I always seem to get pulled over right when I least expect it.
Re: Karma theory, revisited
I see, so all it really is, is just rebounding hubris? ;o)
Government Income
It is a well-known fact that, when you get behind the wheel of a car, you are effectively taking off your pants and bending over. (In other words, you are giving up pretty much all your rights.) It is only a matter of time before a cop does to you what they do best.
And let us not forget that cops are a source of income to your local government, and not writing "enough" tickets is frowned upon.
I cannot think of any other activity besides driving where:
going to court...
in your case, if you take it to court, you will almost certainly win. when it comes down to the old "your word vs his" the judge often doesnt want to deal with it and lets you off, assuming he shows, which he more than likely wont. that has been my experiance at least. there is no way to prove that you were actually not in there except the cop says you were. he has no radar gun readout, nothing along those lines. you could claim paralax because of the angle or any number of things. i would fight it, if nothing else just to annoy the jerk off cop. good luck!
Re: Karma theory, revisited
Hmm. This may be a more general karmic thing, based on my parents as it is.
I hope and pray that law is mostly for letting your kids sit in the back of a pickup truck -- I figure they'd cite you for child endangerment of majorly nasty proportions if you actually put zee baby on zee hood.
Re: Karma theory, revisited
As for your father's bad traffic karma, you should convince him to go driving on the Bonneville Salt Flats sometime and see if slow moving vehicles still manage to find him. That would be interesting.
angry cops?
also , your ticket was unfairly given , if the cop does show , all you really need to say in court is how other cars did the same thing , and none were ticketed for the offense , you can also use your good standing license as grounds for why the ticket might have been unfairly given .. as far as the baby on the hood thing goes , looks like your state is a bit strict about petty laws .. i dont think a left turn made in some "special" (wtF makes it so "special" anyway) constitutes the same punishment .. i feel your pain about officers of the law , alot of them are just hungry to give tickets and meet their lame quotas .. or to harass innocent citizens even in front of their own homes (happened to me for just sitting in front of my own house , not kidding , a friend and i were waiting for dominos pizza at 1am , quietly) .. cops are jerk offs , enough said .. i hope your ticket is thrown out of court , and that the officer gets thrown out of court on his head , with it!
Breaking the law
Hold on a min here kids. Wonko the website person did break the law ("I did, technically, break a law") and your all telling him to goto court and lie? C'mon Wonko, take it like a man and pay the fine or what ever.
Tickets by mail
You can only plead guilty by mail, you can't plead not guilty by mail. Failure to plead guilty by mail is an automatic request for a court appearance, where you can then deliver your plea. Better hope the cop doesn't see this site, since you've publically admitted to the violation.
Probable cause
I think you mentioned probable cause: It's routine for people to grossly violate traffic code.
Re: Breaking the law
A "not guilty" plea is just that, a plea. I need to make the judge understand that even though I broke the law by a technicality, I did not do it dangerously or maliciously, and there were special circumstances that made it necessary. I'm pleading with him not to charge me with the violation, I'm not saying I didn't do it.
Re: Tickets by mail
As for pleading "not guilty", read my reply to Springfield's comment where I describe what a plea of "not guilty" means. In addition, the only way to get an actual trial in court is to plead "not guilty", therefore that's what I must plead if I want a judge to hear my side of the story. By appearing in court, I increase my odds of having the ticket dropped substantially. The cop might not show up, or he might not remember things well, or he might slip up on some important detail, or the judge might be in a particularly good mood, or I may actually be able to convince the judge that I don't deserve the ticket.
The fact is, I think I was ticketed unfairly despite the law, and going to court is the only way I have even a tiny chance of making my point of view heard by a legal authority.
Re: Breaking the law
did you read the part about the cop ignoring 8 other cars?
Re: Tickets by mail
yeah , im sure the cop has nothing better to do than scour the internets millions of sites looking for people he might have unfairly given tickets to =P
Not all cops are bad...
I was in a car accident this last January, and the Washington County sherrif who responded was very efficient and nice. I think that policemen who pull people over must get rather embittered by seeing so many people break the law and then almost all of them think that they should get out of it because they're special. I'm not saying that you deserved that ticket, wonko, I'm just thinking about his point of view.
Re: Breaking the law
What? Why should that matter? I can't say for sure but I'm guessing those yellow lines are there to stop collisions or something. You went over the line that is there to stop dangerous accidents.
Re: Breaking the law
How is it less dangerous for me to do exactly what I did, only after the yellow line ends? The same danger is there. The only difference is that in one instance I crossed some paint. Illegal, yes. Dangerous, no. If there had been other traffic in the turn lane, I wouldn't have done it. I would have faced the same dangers crossing into the turn lane legally as I did when I crossed into it early.
Re: Not all cops are bad...
I also once had an interesting experience when I was driving home one evening. I turned right onto a residential street near my house, which is a blind turn, and came face to face with a cop who was speeding straight at me, in my lane, on the wrong side of the median, with no traffic impeding his way in the proper lane. He had his lights on, but I had no way of seeing that from where I made the turn. If not for fast reactions on both our parts, there could have been injuries.
Anyway, the point of all this is that there are just as many stupid cops as there are stupid civilians, and yet there's no way for us generally law-abiding citizens to keep them in check. They can ticket us, but all we can do is write down a badge or license plate number and call it in, which rarely accomplishes anything.
This concludes another episode of "Why wonko is a bitter old man at the age of 20".
Re: Breaking the law
Like I said I'm guessing the yellow lines are there for a good reason. I obviously have never seen the place this happened so I can't comment whether the line is too far in one direction or another, but thats not the point anway. What this boils down to is if you think it's not dangerous your allowed to break/bend the law?
Re: Breaking the law
No, what it boils down to is really two things. One, I don't think the officer was in a position where he could clearly see where my car was in relation to the yellow line. And two, I think the punishment doesn't fit the crime. A $175 ticket plus a class B traffic violation on my record is absolutely insane for this violation. As I stated in my post, this is the same penalty I would have received if I had been driving on the freeway with a baby on the hood of my car. That's absolutely ridiculous.