Traffic tickets in CA - wrong date?
Mike Pontillo
I recently received two traffic tickets in a small town in Northern
California. The first ticket has a date which is correct, but a day of
week that is incorrect. (or the other way around, I forget) I was
wondering, if when I go in to plead, if I could motion to dismiss
because of this. My thinking is that the ticket is a legal document that
says I committed the crime on that date -- but yet, you can't find the
date on the calendar... and what if it was crucial to my defense that I
know what date that the alleged crime was committed on? (I have not
received a courtesy notice from the court in the mail, any idea what
this means as well?)
The other ticket has a completely wrong date. I was 300 miles away at
the time and date of the alleged crime. (running a stop sign, which is a
law that is written horribly in my opinion, and if you really read into
it it says nothing about the car having to be stopped. the *driver* has
to be stopped.) Here is the text of the law:
22450. (a) The driver of any vehicle approaching a stop sign at the
entrance to, or within, an intersection, or railroad grade crossing
shall stop at a limit line, if marked, otherwise before entering the
crosswalk on the near side of the intersection.
If there is no limit line or crosswalk, the driver shall stop at
the entrance to the intersecting roadway or railroad grade crossing.
If I'm not mistaken, this says that the DRIVER OF ANY VEHICLE must
stop. It says nothing about the car. This could be taken to mean that
the driver must stop the act of driving and look around to make sure it
is safe to proceed into the intersection. The law also does not say how
long you must be stopped. Recall from Physics that a stop is a time
period where your acceleration, and velocity relative to something, are
both zero. The driver can be stopped without the car being stopped. Or
the car could even be stopped for such a short amount of time that the
officer doesn't even notice. Or, technically, you could even run a stop
sign at 15 mph and you would be perfectly legal under this law, as long
as you stopped. (presumably long enough to look around to ensure the
intersection is safe to proceed into)
Comments and/or answers would be appriciated. If you reply, please cc:
your reply to my e-mail address. (mik...@cs.sierra.cc.ca.us) I rarely
peruse the newsgroups.
Thanks!
Mike Pontillo
(poor college student)
Michael Angelo Ravera
in either and the cop could tell, there is a good chance that he busted
you for attempting to execute what is often, but misleadingly refered to
as a "California Stop". A "California Stop" is a a manuever in which the
vehicle intending to make a right turn illegally (that is to say facing
a stop sign or a circulary red light and not at an intersection posted
for "right on roll") fails to come to a complete stop before the right
turn is begun. A lot of California cops like to bust nonresidents for
failing to stop at stop signs as required so as to dispell the myth of
the "California Stop". Most cops in California will not bust residents
for true "California Stops" (especially for "near stop"), but certainly
will bust nonresidents for failing to stop before proceeding through an
intersection.
Mike Pontillo
Argh. No. I had California plates, and I am a resident of the
small
city I was pulled over in. (on both occasions) The cop was an asshole
though, he acted like the information on my license was wrong. He asked
me some lame questions, i.e. "Where do you live?" ... geez, i live like
5 blocks away from where I was pulled over... it was as if he couldn't
read my license or something. He asked me how long I've lived here too.
Mike
bryan
If you fucked up pay the danmed fine and be thankful you didn't run
over any kids or kill anyone. College huh? What a sad modern education
system we have....
-bryan
Joel Garry
<mik...@cs.sierra.cc.ca.us> wrote:
>
> Argh. No. I had California plates, and I am a resident of the
>small
>city I was pulled over in. (on both occasions) The cop was an asshole
>though, he acted like the information on my license was wrong. He asked
>me some lame questions, i.e. "Where do you live?" ... geez, i live like
>5 blocks away from where I was pulled over... it was as if he couldn't
>read my license or something. He asked me how long I've lived here too.
Those are simple trick questions to elicit if you are loaded or have
a fake id. Imagine a teen borrowing an older friends license to buy
booze and what his answers might be.
As far as the date stuff goes, my experience is muni judges ignore such
trivialities, whether or not they are legally or technically supposed to,
and there isn't much you can do about it. It does hurt to try, if you
must give up the opportunity to go to traffic school or pay a "small" bail.
If you've already gotten too many tickets for that, it might not hurt to
try. Get that Nolo press book about fighting tickets.
>
>Mike
>
>Michael Angelo Ravera wrote:
>>
>> Were you in a rental or in a car with out of state plates? If you were
>> in either and the cop could tell, there is a good chance that he busted
>> you for attempting to execute what is often, but misleadingly refered to
>> as a "California Stop". A "California Stop" is a a manuever in which the
>> vehicle intending to make a right turn illegally (that is to say facing
>> a stop sign or a circulary red light and not at an intersection posted
>> for "right on roll") fails to come to a complete stop before the right
>> turn is begun. A lot of California cops like to bust nonresidents for
>> failing to stop at stop signs as required so as to dispell the myth of
>> the "California Stop". Most cops in California will not bust residents
>> for true "California Stops" (especially for "near stop"), but certainly
>> will bust nonresidents for failing to stop before proceeding through an
>> intersection.
>>
--
These opinions are my own.
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