triton3k

I got a summons the other day for supposedly running a red light, but when I crossed the intersection, the light was yellow rather than red. How in the hell can I fight this so I wont get any points on my license?????

Help is greatly appreciated.

chfields

If it's a photo ticket, the light was red, pay the fine and be more careful.

triton3k

No it wasnta photo ticket. the cop pulled me over after about 4 blocks from where I crossed that intersection.

chfields

You are still going to be hard pressed to beat the ticket, because it's your word against the police and in court the police win. Try to take traffic school so it gets wiped out and no points on your licence, otherwise, unfortunately you are SOL......

bpker

ticketassassin.com. worked for me. good luck.

Boardman

Some good advice above but here's another thing to remember. Where was the cop when he / she viewed you allegedly running the light? You might be able to make an issue out of where the officer was and challange his / her line of sight to the intersection. That is usually the only way to successfuly defend against this type of alleged violation.

Also, often officers will say that they issued the ticket as they saw you speed up to run the amber and make the light which, as far as a justice is concered, is a lock. Again, if the officer says that is the case you might want to think about where the officer said he / she observed you from and access his / her ability to judge your speeding up in to the intersection without radar.

Also, you indicate you were pulled over approximatley 4 blocks from the intersection in question. Depending on geography, 4 blocks seems like a long way past the point of infraction to pull you over for such an offence which may also play in to a potential dicussion on the officers positioning and his / her ability to make a judgement regarding your alleged running of the light.

Finally, and I don't know if this is applicable to where you are, but here - before the traffic court begins - the prosecutors usually play "lets make a deal" where you can plead to a lesser charge - lower speed, fine and no points etc etc etc. Maybe that might be another option if all else fails>

Best of luck with this one!

Korriguine

Yeah, without knowing more about the details, it's hard to tell you how to BEAT it. Your best bet is to plea it down - maybe something that's a fine with no points.

To be honest, to BEAT a traffic ticket you've got to prove pretty much complete negligence on the part of the cop, which isn't easy to do. I'd go with the plea bargin. Usually if you're cool about it, the junior DA and the cop are more than willing to drop the points... unless you've already got a shitty record. :P

Oh, and 4 blocks isn't far at all when pulling someone over, fyi... I've been on both sides.

drdamian

i would just go fight it... if you have a clean driving record they will let you slide...

2002Dawg

It all depends on the state it happened in, so if it's California, I've heard the website mentioned above is very useful. If it wasn't in California, here's what I'd suggest.

Call the court well in advance of your court date (3 weeks or more if possible). Ask to talk with the prosecutor assigned to your case, and be really really nice. If you're record is relatively clean, I'm pretty sure they'll do a no-points-plus-fine thing so it won't show on your insurance. If they know you by name, you're kinda screwed either way. You could ask them for traffic school, but it's up to them at that point. The prosecutor would rather not go to court twice for your case, so they'll usually do anything they can to plead you out.

leedogg

one sneaky tactic i've heard lawyers use for speeding tickets is postponing the trial if the cop shows up, until they dont...

CLsuperhero

yeah if the cop doesn't show up it gets thrown out. other than that you can argue the fine down in court. if they won't budge then you may have to take like a defensive driving course to get all your points back.

triton3k

Thanks for the advice.
Im not too sure where the cops were when I passed the intersection. All I know is that I passed 4 blocks and thats when I saw sirens behind me. When the cop approached me and asked if i knew what I was being stopped for I said no I dont know. He told me for running the light and im like what light are you talking about, I never ran the light. I told him the light was turning yellow when I approached the intersection. He then to proceeded to tell me that when he saw me that it was red. Im like it must've turned red after I passed it but I never ran a red light. He goes and gives me the ticket anyway.

kennyc

That used to work for a while, but since everyone is now asking to postpone the hearing, the court clerks now schedule all the postponed cases on the same day for each officer.

As everyone else recommended, plea the charge down. There are usually a good reason why the police pull someone over.

Do not use your word against an officer's. You will always lose.

Hines57

I'm a law enforcement officer in PA. Here is my advice. I actually got pulled over out of county a few months ago and I didn't want to just pull out my badge b/c "I felt like it was not ethical." Anyways, I didn't tell the Trooper that I was in law enforcement and took the ticket. I pleaded not guilty and took it to court. However, I had to reschedule b/c I had Court (for my job) on the same day that it was rescheduled. I called and he said that i needed a really good reason why i needed to postpone the hearing. I told him i was a PO and it was rescheduled. I went to Court, talked to the State Trooper and i STILL didn't tell him. I got caught speeding (70 in a 55) and he pleaded it down from $141.50 plus points to under 5 mph ($110 ticket and no points). 99.9% of the time they will plead it down. SO i would recommend taking it to court and asking to possibly pay the fine and ask if they would wipe out the points. I then went into the MJ District and the judge knew i was a PO and wiped out everything He said just flash my badge if i get pulled over in "his" county...haha. I guess thats a perk of the job.

Cliffnotes: Plead not guilty, go to court, and they will plead your ticket down b/c its a waste of everyone's time to take it to "trial."

Korriguine

Hines57 - same as here in Detroit... it's just not worth it to go to trial over mis-d's.

Work for the plea, man... you'll be better off.

leedogg

I think it was good of you not to flash it, and pursue this like an average person I agree with you though. Dont ever fall for the "guilty with an excuse" option.

noah82

That is pretty respectable, but if I could flash a badge to get out of a ticket I would!

S PAW 1

Chances are better than 50/50 that the cop won't show up for a court date, and the charge may be dismissed. But that is not always the case.
Took my only speeding ticket to court in a little town called Urbana, Ohio.
Judge "suzy" wouldn't dismiss, even though the pony tailed prosecuter forgot to subpeona the cop (nothing against ponytails except when they are officers of the court), and made me reschedule. Then the cop lied through his teeth under oath when he did show up the second time. He said that he clocked me with radar when he was directly behind a schoolbus, coming from the opposite direction, which throws a false imaging shadow on a radar. My V1 didn't go off either.
These new red light cameras are showing up in new communities every day.
The taxpayers are financing the expensive installations. So far found unenforceable around here. Running traffic light accidents have decreased, which is good. Rear end collisions have increased dramatically, which is not.
You are just another "law breaker" that can join the hundreds of thousands of ticket recipients that are issued every year to law abiding citizens to finance the coffers. Good luck, but I have to agree with KennyC, it's your word against a "law enforcement officer".

rodneyc77

iTrader: (1)

triton3k,
I would fight the ticket... plea not guilty... take pictures of the intersection from all possible angles. Your court date is not going to be for at least six to nine months. The officer most likely will not have enough recollection of what actually happened, if he/she didn't take good notes of the incident. You know how these officers in the BRONX blitz at the end of the month to meet their quota (yes, there is a quota in nyc). They write so many in such a short period of time that they get their facts mixed up in front of the judge. Plus like others have stated... postpone it a couple of times.... (the second time you postpone it, you will have to go to DMV in person and pay a bond of like $30 to do so). When you finally get your day in court... listen to the officers statement very carefully (he has to state his case first) and challenge any holes in it... most likely the judge will go in your favor if your argument is clear and you sound confident... (remember, address the judge with "your honor" and look at him/her straight in the eyes)... This has worked for me plenty of times...

Mike_TX

This probably isn't the place for this, but we need a better system.

If you come to a yellow light and have plenty of time to stop, that's fine. And most of the time it happens like that. But every once on a while, the light turns when you're pretty close to the intersection. What do you do?

You have a split-second to make a decision. Literally. You evaluate your speed, the condition of the road surface, cross traffic, the weather (wet streets, etc.), your ability to clear the intersection rather than slide into it and create a hazard, whether traffic behid you might slam into you, etc., etc., all in a fraction of a second. Then you make a decison and either stop or go.

And even though your decision might have been the safest alternative, it's a "gotcha" if you miss that 3 or 4 seconds of yellow light ... or if the cop SAYS you did.

Now, I hate people who barge through red lights, or even purposely run yellows all the time. But we will ALL get caught at times by a yellow. And once in a while, it will turn red before your rear bumper clears the crosswalk on the other side. And if they get you, you're as guilty as the sh!thead who runs them all the time.

That sucks, especially if you tried to do the safest thing you could.
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