i'm at a shell gas station at Roswell Rd and Darymple just driving through it bc i just noticed they had a sign for e85, so i was excited about that. i should have never even drove through there, bc the way you have exit to you have to cross like 3 lanes of traffic to get back on Roswell rd south. there is no "no left turn" sign so i figure i'd be cautious about going. i'm waiting for a bunch of traffic to pass, then light turns red at the intersection. the cars come to a stop and the 2 in the closest lanes give me room to go. i guess since i'm low, i didnt have 100% visibility passed the car in the second lane, especially right behind him was a tall truck....so i'm pulling out and as i slowly creep passed the second lane car, i look to my right to make sure there was no oncoming traffic coming from the opposite way. i'm fully in the middle lane literally not moving 1mph, then about 3-4 seconds later, i hear screeching tires, and automatically i think to myself, noooooo not me. then crunch. so basically, the 2 cars stopped, but someone jumped out into the middle lane somewhere a little farther back to get to the left turn lane and kept coming i drew a crappy illustration...i did it on a laptop with no mouse so forgive the crappiness. also, a google maps overhead of the location http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...549,-84.364742&spn=0.000728,0.001153&t=k&z=20 We pulled into the chevron across the street and waited for the police. The officer came to us and we explained what happened, albeit a generally vague description. He automatically said I'm at fault and gave me a ticket for improper turn. I have to go to court for the ticket on Friday...and I'm looking for opinions on if I should jsut pay, or actually go in and contest... Yes, I did make the turn, I am not denying that, but that car (Toyota Sequioa) that hit me, I feel he should not have been in that lane yet per GA state law, which requires you to enter the lane no more than 300 feet before turning (straight from the driver's manual). Where I entered to make the turn was basically at the entrance point of that turning lane, and since there was a line of cars behind the two the stopped to give me room to go, no one should legally be in that lane coming down. So far for court, I have overhead map printouts to show the judge, in addition to the printout of the page from the driver's manual. Thoughts? The fine is $185 Here are pics of the accident. You can see from the damage how my car was into the lane based on where he hit me and where the damage is on his car. My car was at an angle upon entering the lane which is why he didnt t-bone me basically and just hit the fender.
actually that cop is WRONG. the law in GA states, that the person who let you out in the lane closest to the shell station is liable. they are assuming responsibility for you since you can't see around their lane of traffic. this happened to a friend of mine in high school. EXACT same situation. someone let him out of a mcdonalds parking lot and a car came flying up in the second lane and t-boned him. totaled his 65mustang. the cop cited the person who let him out. i forget the violation, but like i said that person is assuming the risk, because you can't see. this is also why i NEVER allow anyone to let me out of a similar parking lot, nor do i EVER let anyone out. i'm not going to be responsible for how other idiot GA drivers drive, especially on my bike. regardless, you can sue that person for assumption of risk under tort law.
Really??? Damn makes sense. Would happen to have a link to that law, as I am having trouble digging up lists of traffic laws. Can't really sue since all of the traffic that witnessed the accident basically drove off.
damn dude...that sucks. I've had a few law enforcement officers tell me that the center lane can be used as a lane for 'normal' driving. If that makes any sense.
yeah, i would imagine the person who let you out is long gone, but you might be able to use that as a defense. as far as finding it, i haven't had luck except for tort law. i just KNOW thats what happened. and have followed that principle for the last 10yrs. ask a lawyer?
when he handed me the ticket, i started to question him about the legality of my turn based on where i was, the fact that there was no "no left turn" sign, and the guy in the middle lane, etc....he said "whoop, gotta go" and jumped in his car and drove off. yea, i will ask a lawyer i think
If the person in the turn lane got early they are at fault in this situation. my wife's best friend was in this same situation only she was the one in the turn lane and was hit and pushed into oncoming traffic. I drove up there to make sure her and the kids were alright. I argued the point Jake was making to no avail...she was at fault for getting in early. To the OP I would see what the point assessment is before spending the money for a lawyer. Actually I would argue with the prosecutor or whoever that is you speak to first and say look I just want to maintain my clean record and will pay the fine. Most of the time they will do whatever as long as they get their money.
Well I guess in this case, the prosecutor will be the cop that gave me the ticket. I checked on the points, and improper turning will be 3 points on my record.
ohhh i see. i've never been in traffic court before. so will the cop still be present? and how the hell can someone else build a prosecution off of 10 seconds information me and the guy told him about the accident
In answer to your question, yes, you should fight the ticket in court. If the accident is found out to not be your fault, you won't be responsible for the fine $185 and you won't access points on your license. Also, if the accident turns out to be the Sequia's fault, their insurance would pick up the repair for you damaged car.
to my knowledge, if the car coming down the turn lane passes over the double yellow line and continues to drive, they're at fault. I don't know what it's called, but I do know a friend of mine that was cited for this for entering a turn lane too early (to avoid the long traffic line at the red light).
Eh, I would not count on beating this one. I have never heard of the whole person letting you out is liable thing. If anyone can find the law that states that I will be impressed. The person making the turn is responsible in my opinion. The person coming down the center lane, while violating a law (IF he entered the lane too early), would still be less at fault than the person entering traffic. While traffic was not my specialty when I was an officer (I focused more on trying to catch burglars, thieves, etc), that is my understanding of the situation.
again, it may not be a law. but it is most definitely a tort, and therefore the person letting someone out, could lose a lawsuit. however, in my friends case. the person who let him out was ticketed and he sued, winning easily. granted, the mustang was totaled
granted most city cops are setup for traffic enforcement, not all county patrol cars have radar. Face it if every officer was concerned with trafic offenses we'd all be driving on a suspended license As for the ticket, common sense would tell me that if you do not have clear view then don't go. Sorry but today you pay
You would be surprised. Most cops don't focus on traffic, it is secondary. Some city departments try to force it on you by "suggesting" a minimum number of traffic encounters. I wrote more warnings than tickets. Tickets were for the rare occasion I had to work an accident. But then I worked night shift most of my 5 years.
Would tend to agree with this...tax collector wants your money It's funny because cops or former cops always say this, but I've yet to meet a person who would actually agree. Even when I go through (illegal) roadblocks, cops always seem to act with a better than thou attitude...almost like b/c they have a badge they have more power than you, the citizen. I'm not one to stereotype, but from my limited experiences with them (my one ticket for 15 over when it dropped from 55 to 45 at 4:00am...deuche wouldn't even drop it 1mph to 14 so I had to go to court), they are always asshats.
I had almost this same thing happen to me in my old car and fwiw I doubt you'll have any luck in court. You're entering the road that the truck was already on. You might be able to get your ticket dropped but I can't see any way they'll give the driver of the truck a ticket at this point. Also the traffic court has very little to do with what insurance company will pay. That would be settled in a civil court and one insurance company is not going to take another to civil court for the amount of damage you're likely looking at. I felt the same way I'm sure you're feeling right now, I got hit by a 16 year old that was going 50 before the turn lane started to try and make a light that was changing ahead. Best of luck but I wouldn't get your hopes up
Screw the $185 cost. That's nothing in the grand scheme of things. 3 points on your record is going to drive up your insurance significantly, for years. You need to lawyer-up. Any half decent lawyer will approach this in 3 ways: Is it worth contesting to have the charges dropped due to the citation being incorrect/inaccurate/whatever? Will a no-lo plea give you zero points? Is there an option to pay a higher fine and/or attend defensive driving classes in exchange for zero points? If the cop doesn't show, the first option is in play. If he does, it's risky and #2 or #3 are preferred. This is all about making sure you get zero points. You've left this very late. IMO, you need to start making phone calls asap. A lawyer might cost you <$400 or so. That's a relatively wild guess, based on the last speeding ticket I contested. Again, it pales in to insignificance when compared to the increased premiums. And what if you get a second ticket in the not-too-distant? The term exponential would be useful if that happens. edit: Now that I recall, my <$400 was for fine, court costs and lawyer. That was for somewhere in TN. Going down a big hill.
that's because the insurance company most likely doesn't know about them. They don't just ping accounts to check for points, but if they're given a reason to, such as a claim being made, they'll do the research
Just remember even though you may get all the points dropped the incident will still show up on record. Insurance points will then be affected if/when insurance company evaluates/reevaluates your record. I left Progressive and went with State Farm bc they offered me almost $1000 less a year if I bundled everything with them. But lo and behold my ticket from the EWG noise maker showed up when State Farm pinged my record even though the points were dropped. I had to go to the judge (friend) and get him to notorize a paper saying that was a mistake and not valid charge and will be removed so the insurance wouldn't penalize me for that.
Maybe if you were wrongly accused of a DUI, but this? I bet the cost of a lawyer, missed work, plus court costs after loss will equal or be greater than the cost of just paying up. If you don't have a history of being an idiot behind the wheel I bet you get a pass from the insurance company. Besides the etch-a-sketch drawing and the lack of witnesses "you" pulled into a lane that was not "clear" If you were in front of some Podunk country judge he may just add to that $185.00 for wasting his time.
you got a ticket for EWG? So far since I have been licensed at the age of 20, (in the north NYC we dont really need to drive which is why I didnt get mine until 20) I have gotten 3 tickets. One in 2007 in PA for speeding, 18 over...dropped to 5 over, paid the fine, no points. Second here in GA for rolling through a stop sign in front of a cop...at the time, I still had a PA license while living here...PA does not report out of state tix on your record at all, paid fine, obviously no record or points transferred over when I got my GA license. Third was this one 3 weeks ago.
Yup. Pulled out fast out a parking lot to beat oncoming traffic. Cop couldn't prove I was racing but he heard the EWG and slapped me with a noise ordinance ticket. :|
i had 14 points AND lost my license before i was 18 and my insurance never changed a cent. not until 2yrs later when i got in wreck. then they checked my record and said, well what do we have here?! insurance went from ~$1000 a year to $550/month on my old wrx
This seems to be a common theme as the ones you are likely to encounter in road blocks and getting pulled over are the traffic nazi jerks. It is how stereotypes are started. Ask Andy, I made his ticket a warning (how he and I met). My sgt was making sure we performed our "suggested" traffic encounters that day, lol.
agreed 100%. Between this and the fact that some cops are blatantly abusing power and arresting citizens that speak up and confront the situation with video evidence...let's just say the law enforcement reputation is headed down the shitter at warp speed. unfortunately, there's not much an individual can do about. It's going to take some pissed off trust fund baby getting pushed around before someone's willing to sink the time / money / effort into getting the system fixed. Unfortunately, right now, it's uber fucked...
I wouldn't go with your bet. Sure, your rates may not change. BUT: they probably will. And if you change insurer, it's highly likely they will. Another thought: what if you were to interview for a job that required a clean driving record? If you hire an attorney, there may be no need whatsoever for either of you to appear in front of the judge. Typically, a deal (brief conversation) is done with the prosecutor, before the session starts. In fact, I recall an instance where the deal was done weeks before court. The court session did confirm/notarize/approve or whatever the deal. But no judge-time was needed. No missed work either.
Ultimately, greenc51 needs to do what he thinks works best for him. Until Friday, all of this is nothing but conjecture. However, calling a reputable lawyer's office and asking 'what can you do?' costs $0.
And unfortunately, the decent cops often times leave. I know in my personal situation, I tried to turn in a dirty cop and it turned out they covered for him and erased all evidence. Next thing you know I was getting pushed to leave. This happened to 3 officers that I knew of at my previous department. There are some definite issues with our current law enforcement agencies, but not sure what will change it. It is not as bad as mexico yet, but it is heading there.
i think i will just pay the ticket.....i really dont think i have a case since all i have is an overhead picture, pictures of the damage, and my version of what happened. i dont have witnesses or anything of that nature that is more solidifying
nolo is no contest. You get to plead that once every 5 years. It means you're not claiming guilty or not guilty. You still pay the fine, but no points are attached to your license.
I'd consider that. From an insurance standpoint, you'd probably still be held liable because you have to 'assure your own clearance' when you cross traffic flow no matter how many people 'let you out.' at best, you can get the other person also blamed for being in the lane too soon, or even for speed, but it won't absolve you i'm afraid. In all my claims, i've never heard of the fault or 'assume the risk' as others have called it anywhere in the country... ....What Shell on Roswell Road has e85??? I've never seen it...
that's what i was going for though...to prove i was not 100% at fault since the other guy was in the lane when he was not supposed to be. the shell on roswell up towards the classic subaru has the e85...i was surprised...2.399/gal when i saw
i did a pre-trial with the prosecutor. i guess my relatively good driving record was noticed...reduced to paying the fine with no points and no record
yessir. today is turning out to be a good day so far. in addition to the ticket, i was having a major problem with ETA's for application docs for my KSU graduate application, but i found they got everything yesterday. also learned i've got a nice paycheck coming next week... ...awesome
nah, you just have to think about what they deal with on a daily basis. When I had to go to court to get mine dropped 1mph, all the people in front of me were for reckless driving, driving without insurance, possession, etc. (I'm talking the first 5 people had ALL plus more of these). When He looked at mine he just laughed and made some snide remark about the cop being an ass for writing the ticket to begin with... it's not all the time they see responsible people who DON'T actually belong there