gonna fight a ticket

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:02 am

a while back my mother and I were out doing some shopping for something or other, can't remember now. I was driving her prius and we were leaving a fairly busy shopping complex onto a busy 2 lane with a center turn lane. I was making a left and traffic cleared up from the left. I looked to the right and there was one car that was going fairly fast and still accelerating looking like he was going straight. I again looked right to just make sure it was clear and about the time I thought the car from the right should be passing I started to let my foot off of the brake and roll forward. I had not gone 6inches and was about to look right again when there was a hell of an impact. The guy that was going fast enough I thought was going straight pulled a sharp fast corner to turn in and really his car hit me but of course the way it looked, I got a ticket for failure to yield for a left hand turn. Both me and my mother were shocked as she thought the same as me, we are sure he didn't have a turn signal on and was going to fast. I feel it was these things that led to the accident, not the 6 inches I rolled forward and I wish I got a pic at the point of impact but we had to clear the intersection as it was busy.

Now the officer that gave me the ticket put down that I have an arkansas license mistakenly instead of an arizona license. Do you think I can fight the ticket on the bases that the officer was obviously not paying close enough attention to the story, and can prove it with a ticket that is not filled out correctly?

Post by **mhyde71** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:05 am

^^^ thats atough one - maybe have some leverage there- schedule a court date- and if he dont show- it gets dismissed, right?

THEN if does show- state your case, and point out errors, that could be enough for the benefit of the doubt-

there is your PG Law and Order 101 - i-net style

really i have no clue- but if you (when I) think or feel it is un-justified I have always fought it

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:14 am

I am the same, I paid my speeding tickets when I got them but this time I do not feel responsible. I pleaded not guilty yesterday and go to trial in aug and I will be representing myself(yea I know the saying).

Post by **Bfowler** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:17 am

i doubt the officer not paying enough attention part will get you out of a ticket even if he put Arkansas.

but it sounds like you do have a fairly sound case that he was speeding and not using a signal.

since its for a accident AND ticket, its probably worth calling a traffic lawyer.

Post by **ttocs** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:37 am

I also don't think the officer got the whole story, he didn't talk to us seperatly he had us both there at the same time. I know he didn't ask any details such as how fast he was going, did he have his signal on, ect. I was going to ask him all those details, as well as if he took all of our info correctly which I am sure he will answer that he did. Is he sure that he took all of this info correctly well yes of course... Then I would show the copy of my az license with matching license number to show that he might have had some things incorrect. I am hoping by introducing the doubt that he was sure of that but was wrong would show that some of his other answer might not be correct or sure of either.

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:20 am

I would lawyer up. It's your word against the officers, even if he doesn't show up. And most of the time, the officer wins, even if he was wrong and you were right. You should have argued with the cop more at the scene about what happened, instead of waiting as well. The cop should have showed you the accident report at the scene. If he didn't, you should have asked to see it to make sure he got it all down correctly. I did this this year in fact when my wife got into an accident. In fact the cop showed all of us the report before we left the scene. I just double checked the accident report to make sure the officer got all the info correct and what happened correct. I will NEVER leave or let an officer leave the scene without seeing the report. That report is what is entered in as the truth according to the court, so even if the info is wrong, you should have corrected it at the scene, since it can come back to screw you if the officer gets something wrong, and then that info is entered in at the court.

I read a story about how an officer got the names wrong in a DUI case, and some dude that was sober and got hit ended up going to jail for a DUI because the officer got it backwards. It got corrected, but not after dude spent some time in jail for something he didn't do. So I will ALWAYS double check the report before leaving the scene of an accident. Cops make mistakes too

But I would lawyer up if you really want to have a fighting chance in court. Just my .02...

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:40 am

we were not more vigilant at the scene because we thought we were at fault at first because of the situation. It wasn't until later when she said that my mother was just as suprised as me and we didn't really understand what happened. She thought he was gonig straight too at the speed he was going and it wasn't until then that I thought about fighting it.

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:54 am

That sucks man! Lesson learned right?

I have been in too many accidents that I have learned these little things

I don't know if that's a good thing or not

Best of luck fighting it man! Hopefully you will get a good judge that will actually listen to you and take what you say into consideration before ruling. Good luck dude!